Stock Trading Commissions Can be the Difference Between Profit and Loss


by Mark Kelly - Date: 2006-12-28 - Word Count: 537 Share This!

The trading commissions you pay for the privilege of buying and selling stocks will be related to the type of stock broker you use. Generally, in order to buy and sell a stock you will require a brokerage firm and they all charge something for the privilege of buying or selling a stock for you. Choose your stock broker wisely because if you do not, you may find that they are the only ones making money. When you initially make your choice, determine what type of trading you are going to be doing, day trading, swing trading, position trading or are you an investor. Also, what types of stocks will you be trading blue chip or penny stocks or somewhere in between.

If you are looking for and enjoy the interaction of a full service broker remember that they charge up to approximately 2% commission for each transaction. This equates up to 4% for a complete buy and sell transaction. For many individuals, who lack the time and knowledge to trade stocks by themselves this may be the best way to go especially if you can find a good stockbroker. But what does 2% per transaction really mean. Well, to give you an example, if you complete one trade averaging $10,000 once per month at the end of a year you will have paid $4,800 in commission. With a $100,000 account this is equivalent to 4.8% just to break even. Using this as an example, you should be able to determine that with a $50,000 account you will need to earn a 9.6% rate of return, just to break even. In many cases, full service brokers may charge a lower commission or potentially, they will work for a yearly fee. But you need to discuss this with them before you trade.

For most stock traders today, online stock trading is impersonal and demands that we place the order ourselves at the cheapest costs. Stocks can be purchased through online discount stock brokers for as low as $1 per 100 shares up to approximately $30 per 1000 shares. For instance, let's say you want to trade 500 shares of a $20 stock. The commission to buy and sell this stock would likely be between $10 and $60 depending on the online discount stock brokerage service you used. This equates to a commission rate of 0.1 to 0.6% for this trade. Quite a difference between the approximate 4% charged by the full service broker. You see, improving your knowledge in the trading arena does have its rewards.

If we now look at trading $10,000 more frequently and decide we want to trade weekly, completing 52 trades per year will cost between $520 and $3,120. If your account balance is $100,000 you are now looking at a 0.52 to 3.12% gain just to break even. This puts far more cash into your pocket instead of the broker provided you know what you are doing.

If you are thinking about switching brokers or about starting to trade stocks, you may want to do some basic math before you start to identify what type of returns you need just to break even. This should be one of the criteria you use to choose your stock broker.


Related Tags: stock trading, stock broker, trading commission, stock trading commission, stockbroker, bokerage

About the Author

To learn the basics of building a stock trading system please visit http://www.knispo-guide-to-stock-trading.com/stock-market-trading-system.html Find more information on stock brokers, stock trading, stock market screeners and using technical analysis to buy and sell stocks at http://www.knispo-guide-to-stock-trading.com

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