Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Train Guy]

I just have to chuckle when people think that's expensive and yet the per share trading cost is way under a penny. Once you get under a penny per share, your trading costs are irrelevant. Sure it is $5.51 more than Ameritrade, but at .0058 or .0116 per round trip, it don't matter.

Your entries and exits are more important. For every penny you missed the exact top or bottom on 3000 shares cost you $30 or almost twice your trading cost. So how good are you at getting the exact tops and bottoms? And unless you're trading highly liquid stocks, at 3000 shares, you're probably getting partial fills. Then what's your trading cost skyrocket to?

At IB your trading costs start at a penny (minimum is $1 for 100 or less) and go towards half a penny. Partial fills add little to your costs. And with the costs so low, you can do scale in and out type trading. As it gets to where you think the top or bottom is, start scaling in or out trying to get as close as possible to the exact top or bottom. Try to hit the exact top or bottom with a per trade commission and you might not get a fill at all (to far back in the line) or a partial fill. Then what happens to your trading cost?