I'm 18 years old and eager to do a little day trading. I have less
than $5000 right now and I just want to experiment and get a feel for
the stock market. I'd probably make only one or two trades a month.
What internet trading company is right for me??? I want to be able to
trade easily and cheaply, and have good, clear records for taxes etc.
Thanks so much!

Hello audiophile15,

Thank you for your question.

I have given you two options, along with my recommendation.

Stock trading is very enjoyable and I wish you good luck.  I believe
that between the two following choices, you will find the best trading
company for your needs.  I give you two options because each works for
different trading methods:  Zecco gives you the option of free stock
trades, along with a forum and a Web 2.0 platform if you're into that
type of thing.  Scottrade is established, inexpensive (a flat $7 a
trade) and has great customer service.  I have personally used them
and they have been great.  If you live in any type of suburban or
urban area, there should be a Scottrade office nearby with a broker
you can personally contact if you have any questions or needs.  I give
you both options because Zecco seems attractive with its $0 trades,
but it only came out about a month or so ago and therefore has not
been proven.  They also might not have good customer service, which
can be important for someone starting out.  Therefore, it probably
would be best for you, as a novice, to start with Scottrade.  Once you
get more established as a trader and learn the ropes, you may want to
switch to Zecco, and by then it will be a more established service. 
If you don't think you need any type of trading guidance (and I
recommend that you teach yourself to learn the most), you could start
with Zecco from the beginning and try them out.

Zecco
http://www.zecco.com/Default.aspx

Scottrade
http://www.scottrade.com/

If you need any additional clarification, let me know and I'll be glad
to assist you.

--keystroke-ga

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Clarification of Answer by keystroke-ga on 28 Nov 2006 20:11 PST

An additional caveat with Zecco is that if you choose to trade on the
margin (in other words, borrow money from the company to buy stocks
that you think will go up), Zecco makes their money on their margin
interest rates and their rates are much higher than Scottrade. 
Scottrade pretty much has the lowest rates in the business for margin
trading.

Trading Winner Forum
http://www.tradingwinner.com/archive/2006/10/11/zecco-offers-free-online-stock-trading/

Scottrade's rates:

$0.01 - $9,999.99: 10.50%
$10,000 - $24,999.99: 10.25%
$25,000 - $49,999.99: 10.00%
$50,000 - $99,999.99: 9.50%
$100,000 - $249,999.99: 9.25%
$250,000 - $499,999.99: 9.00%
$500,000 - $999,999.99: 8.50%
$1,000,000.00 and above: 8.00%

Zecco's Rates:

$ 0 - $ 24,999: 13%
$ 25,000 - $ 49,999: 12%
$ 50,000 - $ 99,999: 11%
$100,000 - $249,999: 9.50%
$250,000 - $999,999: 9.50%
Above $999,999: 8.00%

I do NOT recommend trading on the margin until you really know what
you're doing, but if you plan on using this in the future, this is
another reason to go with Scottrade.

Search terms:
zecco review

--keystroke-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by audiophile15-ga on 29 Nov 2006 09:40 PST

Could you expound a little more on Zecco. $0 trades seems too good to
be true, is there a minimum investment? If they do in fact offer $0
trades, is it only for a trial period or what? Basically, whats the
catch? Thanks for your prompt answer.

---

Clarification of Answer by keystroke-ga on 03 Dec 2006 11:12 PST

Hello audiophile15,

The trade-off with Zecco is that their fees are higher, as I showed in
my initial clarification. If you're going to be doing anything beyond
simple trading such as trading on the margin, you'll pay more with
Zecco.  Zecco is also not an established company like Scottrade.  So,
that's basically it in a nutshell.

They say they can offer $0 trades because it doesn't cost much anyway
and they make up the money in advertising.

Good luck with your trading!

--keystroke-ga

http://www.savegoogleanswers.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4E5btrmqyA

You might like that video as well! :)

Overall excellent and very prompt, just needed a little clarification.

A note about your parlance.  You are not day trading.  Day trading
usually refers to an active trader who makes several trades in a given
day.

Another note; learning the ropes with $5k can be difficult.  For
instance, paying by trade, even a mere $7 fee can take a large chunk
out of your investments if you try to diverisfy (i.e. invest in a
larger number of stocks.)

If you want market returns, I would suggest plopping your money in an
index fund (using a service like Fidelity or Vanguard)  If you want to
learn the ropes of investing, I would suggest using one of several
free sites on the web that lets you creat a fake portfolio and make
fake trades.

Thats just my 2 cents.

Ubiquity is correct that you are not day trading.

Make sure you really have a grasp of how things work before you start
trading with real money, for the money's sake! :)

--keystroke-ga