Good to see you and Great question madmechanic!

Wish I could help. I have zero money in stocks, so no personal experience with any entities related to this.

The last stock broker that I had in the 1980's to 1993, emphatically told me to not trade commodities because, in his words "It's worse than horse trading".

But that was in the old days, with high commission rates and the need for a broker to place orders.

wxgrant,

Who do you use and do you have a recommendation?

Thanks Mike!

Good to have a question to ask around here.   

I am doing a little more reading while I wait for the good folks here to chime in and it looks like TD Ameritrade might be the way to go. Like many brokers now it offers $0 trades but also offers foreign currency exchanges, foreign stock market trades and (supposedly) also offers commodity trades.

However, the one thing that would make me nervous about opening an account with them right now is that Charles Schwabb investments bought TD Ameritrade last year and the two companies are going to merge. There seems to be little information on how that will affect existing investors using TD Ameritrade.

EDIT: More reading has revealed that TD Ameritrade does NOT allow for fractional share buy, however, Charles Schwabb investments does (starting at $5 per fractional share). This is attractive as it allows for more portfolio diversity with a lower cost of entry.

Thoughts? All feedback is welcome at this time.

Some additional information. I'm not looking to day trade, just looking to dip my toes into investing on my own. I have a Roth IRA and a Simple IRA that are managed by other companies and I don't do anything with those other than add funds when I can and direct the investment managers on how much risk/volatility I'm willing to accept with those funds.

So I am looking for a way to get started buying some stocks and hold those for a while and see what happens.

I use TD Ameritrade. Good fills. Good charts which for me is important. I've used them for years and no problems. Paying $5 for fractional shares ...why? Plenty of stocks that you can buy without fractions. And buying 100 lots allows for some sales of options. See WXgrant  post

Thanks cutworm!

Thanks for the feedback cutworm!

To try address your question on why fractional shares, well, I'll admit I'm totally new to stock buying and I figured I would start by buying some shares in companies I know/recognize and/or like their products.

I also don't have a sizeable amount of money I can invest at this time, maybe only about $500 tops. So the idea of buying fractions of shares of companies is appealing as it means I can invest in companies I like but can't currently afford a full share in.

I am also interested in what WXgrant has to say about this. Hopefully his advice combined with yours will give me a good foundation to make a choice on brokers.

Hands Down ..  Fidelity.  For just about every reason I can think of.

Hello  Madmechanic

I understand about the small amount of funds to start the account. I started mine by not buying $10 worth of lottery tickets every week like my fellow employees did.

The cost of a trade is part of what every good trader tries to avoid. Kinda like a business man cutting cost. I know that everyone wants to own companies like AMZN, and  TSLA that are much more than $500. But you can own these companies and diversify at the same time. The q's like QQQ (NASDAQ) give exposure to these companies and many more. In my experience You can make more just holding these than letting some manager make a living from you. But discipline is a must.

TQQQ has triple the exposure or leverage. This works for you when the market goes up BUT is devastating when the market moves against it. This leverage works against you when in a bear market.

JMHO and it is worth what you paid for it

Cutworm

cutworm,

Wonderful post and advice!

 Everybody, regardless of their style of trading or experience should appreciate the profound value in it when looking at the big picture of investing.

I use TD Amertrade as well. Their ThinkorSwim platform is just great. It is customizable well. You are able to trade in the after hours and stock trade commissions are zero, however you will pay a penny in fees. I was using Tastyworks and I would recommend them if you will strictly be dealing with options. reason I left them is the $5 assignment fee. My main trading strategy is selling puts in stocks I don't mind owning. If I get put the stock there is no fee, with tastyworks it costs $5. You can also trade futures and futures options With TD. I like to sell /NG puts. Hope that helps and sorry for the delay. 

Thanks Grant!

Good things come to those who wait (-:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_things_come_to_those_who_wait

Good things come to those who wait may refer to:

• Good things come to those who wait (Guinness), a UK advertising campaign for Guinness stout in the 1990s and 2000s
• Good things come to those who wait (Heinz), a US advertising campaign for Heinz ketchup in the 1980s
• "Good things come to those who wait", a 1984 song by Nayobe

Proverb – Good things come to those who wait

https://funkyenglish.com/proverb-good-things-come-wait/

• Proverb – Good things come to those who wait.
• Meaning – Being patient is a good quality to have. Patience is a virtue.

If  you had bought 4 shares of TQQQ on 6-7 at the high of the day,($107.42) and held your $429.68 investment would now be worth $ 568.80. A 32% increase. Not bad for 4 months. If this was your profit for the year you would double your money every 2.25 years. so in sept 2023 you would have $859.36, dec 2025 $1718.72. march 2028 $3437.44 june 2030 $6874.88

See how time and doubling works. This and the $10 / week that I did not spend on lotto tickets, is basically how I built my account. Since 9-2011 Tqqq has gone from $1.45 to $140

But you cannot expect these kinds of returns all the time. 

I also use TD Amertrade have been happy so far so mostly sell cash secured puts on stocks. Only thing I have noticed since they took over they have closed several offices Scottrade had in my town.