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Best OTC Brokers (BROKER) RSS Feed

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Created
04/09/09
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PUMP your favorite broker(s) and tell us why we should use them!

BASH the crummy ones and tell us why we should not use them!


The brokerages are based on a five thumb rating system. Please note that I bear sole responsibility for the opinions provided of these brokerages represented in the table below. I encourage you to quibble if you feel a rating is unjustified (either positively or negatively).

PLEASE NOTE WELL: The reviews in the table below are as unbiased as humanly possible. The thumb ratings are a sum of feedback from my own personal use, friends and associates comments, and other research I've done online. None of these brokerages are compensating me in any way.

ALSO REMEMBER: These ratings are in the context of the broker's usefulness for OTC trading. Many of the brokers that are unacceptable for OTC trading are great for big board issues. So everything posted about these brokers on this board are run through the filter of how it works for trading OTC stocks!

5 Thumbs = Out of this World Incredibly Awesome WOW

4 Thumbs = Truly Excellent

3 Thumbs = Acceptable but not writing home about it

2 Thumbs = Unacceptable and shoddy

1 Thumb = Truly Poor

Brokerage Name
Trading Cost Executions Customer Service Trading Platforms / Software Online Buying Restrictions Other Fees Market Maker Routes Other Notes Actual User Reviews

E*trade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading: 

$7.95-$14.95 online trading

Broker assisted = mor

Provides some of the worst executions for BB and Pink Sheets issues of any major broker.

 

 

Better not to call unless emergency situation! Most of the customer service reps have zero understanding of the OTC investors' needs and desires.

Etrade has one of the best trading platforms around...the Power Etrade Pro platform absolutely rocks. Too bad everything else about Etrade is horrible for OTC folks.

Certainly not as aggressive as Scottrade is in restricting some issues to call in orders only. But still above average in the number of issues it restricts.

There is a crazy $40 per month inactivity fee. There are some other ones but certainly not bad.

Very poor selection of routes, and you can only choose other routes if you have the Power Etrade Pro status (which you have to achieve through # of trades or through monthly fees).

I have personally used E*trade over a period of several years and would never recommend them if you plan to trade OTC issues.

Link #1

Scottrade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading: 

They charge % commissions on low priced stock. Will average you about $15-20 per trade (one way).

One of Scottrade's best features is the quality of their executions. They use NITE primarily.

 

Probably the best customer service in the business. Local branches. Native English speaking sharp people. Friendly, fast, and professional.

 

The Scottrader Elite platform is a very solid trading platform. You have to qualify for it though through balance amount or pay a monthly fee.

 

 

Absolutely ridiculous. Scottrade has lost a ton of good business because of their idiotic and dictatorial rules about restricting online buying of certain issues. This alone is enough to make the real OTC pro have at least one other brokerage account besides Scottrade.

 

Reasonable.

 

Terrible selection of routes.

I have personally used Scottrade. I would only recommend them as your primary OTC broker if you do not plan to trade actively (i.e. less than 2 trades per week).

 

T.D. Ameritrade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

 $9.99 per trade which is high for trading OTC  Executions are very good!  Pretty hard to beat TDA for customer service  Good platform and decent charting tools  They do restrict some OTC's but are by far better than Scottrade which is horrible       Link #1

SCHWAB

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

Maximum share size is 999,999. When playing triple zero stocks this could amount to quite a bit more in commission.

               

Interactive Brokers

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

Speedtrader (StockUSA)

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

Extremely reasonable trading costs as low as $2.95 per trade for high volume traders. If you have a decent sized balance you can call and negotiate a lower price. Average cost is about $7-8 per trade.

 

Not the greatest executions, but certainly acceptable. To buy, I've found NITE or UBSS to be the most effective. To sell, I've found NITE, HDSN, or DOMS to be the best.

 

Informed, capable, and professional customer service is the norm.

 

They offer the DAS Trader Pro platform. This is an industry standard and you'll find it at several of the more "professional" discount brokerages.

 

They very rarely restrict issues to online buying.

 

Since Speedtrader clears through Penson, you can get nickeled and dimed when trading OTC issues. This is standard with Penson though, and any brokerage you use that clears through them will have at least some hidden fees imposed by Penson.

 

Fantastic selection of free or extremely low priced market maker routes.

Clears through Penson.

 

Just2Trade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading

$2.50 per trade is tough to beat! Low commissions are the claim to fame for Just2Trade.

    

Very good on the executions. They have GTC for OTC's

      

Always prompt and helpful via email or phone.

     

They have a basic trading platform and a L2 which services the big boards only at no extra cost. Nothing fancy but the price is right.

      

NO restricted stocks!!!!

               

  

Everthing routed thru ETMM

            

Excellent bang for your buck!  Clears through Legent. I think right now, to trade both OTC, Nasdaq and options, its one of better ones out there.

 

Zecco

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

 

$4.50 per trade and you get 10 freebies if you have 25 executions within that month. Also if you maintain a $25,000 balance you automatically get 10 freebies per month

Customer service is not the best compared to others.

They use asp.net software. not dynamic. not good for day trading.

No restriction for most of the stocks

No hidden fees

PERT/NITE

Their trading platform is very basic and is not dyanamic. Trading platform jams up during trading hours making you feel helpless. Stay away. Zecco is the worst we have out there. You are paying for your trades in other ways besides money with Zecco! Frustration, time, etc.

 

MBTrading

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

NobleTrading

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

 $7.95 per trade with a minimum $500 to open a cash account                

SoGoTrade

Ovrerall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

OCSecurities

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

optionsXpress

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

LowTrades

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

HarmonTrading

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

commissions are ridiculous. You will loose more than you make.. 10$ comission plus other fees. Just for round trip you are paying close to 30$.    fast Forget it  DAS   No rest  lots of them. Stay away. not for retail customers.... few routes... bu they suck   On the whole, i would give them a one star....  

Fidelity

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

              Post R/S shares appear and are fully tradeable extremely quickly. LINK#1

A.B. Watley Direct

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

FirsTrade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

InvesTrade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

TradeKing

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

Initial cost is not too bad but they will really kill you in extra fees that "the MMs charge us." Don't use TradeKing if you plan to trade OTC issues, period.

Selling OTC shares was a real challenge with these guys.

Completely unacceptable. Rude, unprofessional, quick-tempered, fast-talking jerks on the take IMO!

They don't have much to offer in the way of trading platforms for OTC investors.

I found this to be acceptable.

Outrageous hidden fees for buying OTC issues. They accused me of trading "foreign" stocks when I had purchased HMGP.

No choices. You buy and sell their way or no way.

I personally used TradeKing for about 2 years. I signed up because of a sign-up bonus. I found the customer service to be rude, impatient, and unhelpful. They tried to charge me several hundred dollars months after I made a few OTC trades because they said these fees were being imposed on them by the market makers. Bunch of baloney IMO.

LINK#1

Terra Nova Financial

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

               Self clearing.  

ChoiceTrade

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

ShareBuilder

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

Level2Trader

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 

ThinkorSwim

Overall Rating for OTC Trading:

                 
Your Broker Here! ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???  ???

Please post or PM to me others to add to this growing list!


 

Full Service Brokers


If you are a broker that caters to OTC investors, by all means tell us about your service!!!

I would love to have an assistant or two that is interested in helping OTC traders find the best broker and platform to fit their investing style join me on this board! THANKS.

 







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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