In a strongly worded press release, free trading company Zecco went after the new Well Fargo 100 free trade program.
Zecco Disputes Wells Fargo’s Claim to be Best Commission-Free Online Trading
Wells Fargo Restricts to a Few What Zecco Provides to All
Burlingame, California
Zecco.com, the industry’s first zero commission online trading site, points out that Wells Fargo’s new offer requires a high balance and gives investors too few free trades.
“We are pleased to welcome another legacy bank with a half hearted offer to the free trade community, but its too little, too late,” says Jeroen Veth, CEO of Zecco, which offers up to 480 stock trades per year with a minimum balance of as little as $0. “The old-school banks are trying to get into the free trading game, but all of them have a huge catch and none of them deliver value to investors like Zecco.”
Wells Fargo requires $25,000 in combined balances and gives customers only 100 trades per year. Bank of America requires $25,000 in uninvested cash, which can generate up to $1,000 per year of profit for them or more. And, both of them charge an additional account fee: $100 per year for Bank of America and $60 per year for Wells Fargo.
At Zecco, there are no catches. You can open a regular brokerage account and get up to 40 free trades per month with a minimum balance of $2500 in assets (and that’s NOT $2500 in cash). What’s more, you can open an IRA with $0 minimum balance and get up to 40 free trades per month.
Comparison of Free Trading Brokerage Accounts
|
|
Zecco |
Wells Fargo |
Bank of America |
|
Stock Commissions |
$0 (up to 480 per year) |
$0 (up to 100 per year) |
$0 (up to 360 per year) |
|
Minimum to qualify |
$2,500 assets in a brokerage account ($0 assets in an IRA) |
$25,000 assets in combined accounts |
$25,000 in UNINVESTED cash in combined accounts |
|
Penny Stocks |
$0 |
Greater of $24.95 or 2.5% of principal |
$0 |
|
Options Commissions |
$3.50 plus $0.60 per contract |
$9.95 + $1.00 per contract |
$19.95 + $1.50 per contract |
|
Annual Fee |
$0 in regular brokerage accounts |
$60 per year (with certain exemptions) |
$100 per year (with certain exemptions) |
Note: Zecco offers up to 10 free trades per day, 40 free trades per month.
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