Comments on: Sogotrade Offers Online Stock Trading for $3 Per Trade

By: Adam Smith

Adam Smith — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:52:48 +0000

I have been using SogoTrade for 2 years now and have been very satisfied with their service. The trades are very cheap ($3 per trade), there aren’t any hidden fees or tricks to take more money. No maintenance fees or any other fees. The trade ticker is real-time, and trades take place within 1 second, with the option to cancel until about 3 seconds after. I’ve called their support line about 8 times to ask information, and I always immediately got on the phone with an intelligent representative who knew the answers to my questions.

To receive 25 free trades, use referral code 564838 when signing up for SogoTrade. The free trades are valid for 90 days after signing up. A minimum of $500 needs to be deposited before you can begin trading. You can do free ACH transfers to and from your bank account.

SogoTrade is probably the cheapest online-trader there is, with a service that is on par or better than the three other companies I used to use for stock trading.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:24:54 +0000

Another option for small potatoes traders is choicetrade.com. If your looking for a discount broker with no initial balance requirement and no extra charge for “penny stock” trades. I believe the rate for buys and sells is $5 which is higher than sogotrade, but it may be worth it if you don’t want to get hit with a surcharge for pink sheet trades.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:44:36 +0000

Good Advise to frugalgrad DR. I would like to add one thing concerning penny stocks. I am a fairly active penny stock trader (most of my stock purchases have been in the $2 and under range). I have found that the same thing applies to penny stocks as for blue chips – do your research and invest in the company, not the stock price or some promoter’s hype. For example, during the recent down turn Ford, Beazer Homes, Genworth Financial and Citigroup all fell to penny stock levels. The market should not be viewed as a short term way to make a fast buck, as the ones telling you that are trying to sell you the false idea that they can time the market.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:28:58 +0000

I’d stay away from the pennies, but you can do well with Sogotrade and $500. Research some stocks and trends in them, and the markets, and I watch Cramer- take half to heart and listen to the other half. The $3 trades are great, sounds like a lot when working with $500, but that’s what I started with, and gave myself rules. Take the trade cost into account when thinking percentages on gains/ losses. I don’t accept losses because if I’ve done the research, I don’t have them. I’ve only taken three losses on over 250 trades because I thought the stock was too high or I thought the market would tank. I then put the proceeds into something that had tanked to mitigate the losses and strenthen the position for the next upturn. It goes to the theory of buying low and selling high. It’s rare that you buy at the lowest and sell at the highest so my rule is if something hits +20-25% I sell, unless there is some big market move or a sector move. I then buy more of the stock in my portfolio that is at the biggest loss, but I never let anything lose more than 10%, unless it’s a cyclical commodity, then I buy more of it. It’s worked out that I never have more than an 8% gain or loss in the portfolio which keeps everything in balance and I don’t sweat the small things. There are the days where I took the 25% profit thinking the stock was too high and it went 60%, but at least I got 25%. The next day it drops all that and more. So be happy with what you get and play it smart. $500 and Sogotrade can do it for you. That’s what I started with and made some rules after some mistakes. Hope this helps.

By: DR

DR — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:18:04 +0000

frugalgrad, your idea sounds like the way to go. Penny stocks offer my hype that anything else. Also, if you are struggling to save up $500 for the minimum balance at Sogotrade, you might want to think about building an emeregency fund before investing anyway. Good luck!

By: frugalgrad

frugalgrad — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:19:27 +0000

That 500$ minimum balance is a big problem for me since… well, I don’t have it. All I can afford right now is Penny Stocks. But the problem is it’s not easily profitable as it sounds. Some people promote day trading with penny stocks and make like 200-300$ a day. Sound good but not true. Penny stocks went up and down like crazy. So I don’t think this kind of trading is for me. May be I better off saving up a reasonable amount of money, read Intelligent Investor, and then go from there for a long term gain.

By: DR

DR — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:07:01 +0000

I should mention that while I’m looking for a place to park my SEP IRA, sogotrade does not yet offer IRA type accounts. I’m told that they should have these available by the end of this year.

By: DR

DR — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:06:22 +0000

reinkefj, you and I’ll will have to agree to disagree on this one. I’ve never viewed Wall Street as a gamble or a casino, and never will. A long term, buy and hold strategy (whether mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks, bonds, etc) will do well. I’ve been at this “game” nearly 20 years, through ups and downs, and I still believe that a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds is the recipe for long-term net worth growth.

By: reinkefj

reinkefj — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:32:07 +0000

Nothing against discount brokerages, but may I suggest that it might be the “right answer to the wrong problem”. I was always enamored of the metaphor of “leaning your ladder against the wrong wall”. Recently, after many years of meandering and sometimes successful trading (i.e., went all in on a stock that tripled), I’ve decided that, like medicine, sometimes one can be too smart for one’s own good. I hired what I’ll describe as “an institutional portfolio manager”. (Yeah, have to a 500k$ portfolio to get into that game!) But, I’ve concluded that the “casino” (aka Wall Street) is no place for the DIY crowd like I once was. The electronic trading, the specialists, the “financial consultants”, mutual fund’s crass graft, and all the other machinations have taken the “game” to a new level. The globalization of finance has convinced me that the dollar is on a fast road to perdition. Even gold coins now carry a hefty 12% markup over spot. SO there is no “good” investment for the little guys. Even at cheap transaction fee!