ShareBuilder Offers: 2 Free Real-Time Trades, $50 New Customer Bonus

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Apparently ShareBuilder brokerage had some hiccups during the last few weeks, so like Zecco with their unlimited free trades in October, they threw out bonuses. A reader indicated that he was offered 20 automatic trades. Check your e-mails.

Existing Customers: 2 Free Real-Time Trades
I myself was offered 2 free “real-time” market trades. I don’t know for sure if this is transferable (update: looks like it is), but I did get a promo code so please try it:

1. Log in to Sharebuilder, and then click on the Promotions tab.

2. Enter (expired). If it works, you should see a confirmation, and get an e-mail that says “We have just credited your ShareBuilder Account with 2 free Real-time Trade credits. Your credit(s) will expire on 01/31/2009.”

Usually it costs $9.95 for a real-time trade, so this is useful if you need to sell a small position. As for me, I have been holding on to some old shares of EEM and BRKB for a while now from previous bonuses… but I think it’s time to let them go.

New Customers: Try ShareBuilder with a $50 Opening Bonus
You can get a $50 bonus for opening a new account and placing one trade.

1. Go to Sharebuilder, and click on “Get started today”.

2. When applying, be sure to check the box “I’m responding to a promotion”. Use (expired).

Details:

You must open a new ShareBuilder Account and purchase at least one security to receive this offer. Please note the $50 credit will post to your account approximately 4 weeks after the first transaction executes.

3. You can try out Sharebuilder as you like, but if you don’t like it there are a couple ways to simply exit with your bonus.

  1. Instant Gratification: Open with $5. Buy $1 of stock and pay $4 for commission. Wait for your bonus and cash out if applicable. Let the $1 in stock just languish there.
  2. Delayed Gratification: Open with $50. Buy $46 of a stock or ETF you like and pay $4 for commission. Get the $50 (or more), and treat it like you just got free stock. Let the dividends reinvest automatically, and just sit back for a decade or two while it grows.

The reason for this is that you can only sell with a real-time trade that costs $9.95. However, if the first bonus above does work, then you can theoretically sell your stock for free and withdraw that as well…

You can still get $50 for trying out TradeKing brokerage as well. Extended until 11/30/08

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Comments

  1. The RTTSITE code did work! Thanks! I did get an email for the advantage program but I must have missed this promotion code.

  2. Thanks for the confirmation, Joe. Glad to hear it. I actually didn’t get the 20 free trades with the Advantage program for any of my accounts, but no big deal.

  3. Nice! Worked for me. TYVM

  4. What are some good $46 ETFs?

  5. BINGO!

    Promotion Entered:

    Thank you for being a valued ShareBuilder customer. Your 2 real-time trades have been credited to your account and are available to use immediately.

    Thanks!

  6. Worked for me too! Thanks Jonathan!

  7. Sweet! the RTTSITE code also worked for me! Thanks for the info.

  8. Still working…Thanks for the tip!

  9. Worked for me. Nice that it does not expire for a few months.Thanks

  10. I received this message when I tried to use the promotion code:
    The Promotion Code you entered is not intended for Roth IRA accounts.

  11. RTTSITE worked for me. Great.

  12. My favs for long-term speculation:

    EEM = Emerging Markets ETF
    BRKB = Berkshire Hathaway

    Simple:

    VTI = Total US ETF
    VEU = FTSE ALL-WORLD Except-US ETF
    BND = Total US Bond Market ETF

    If you feel like short-term gambling, you could go with VIX or some short-ETF. Perhaps GLD.

  13. Promotion works! Thanks!

    Does anyone know if investing in the ING Mutual funds is free through Sharebuilder?

  14. Thanks Jon! It worked for me as well.

  15. I have a stupid question. If I have an account with one brokerage, and open one of these accounts, can I transfer my stocks from my other brokerage account to this one? Or must I sell my stocks with my existing brokerage, open an account here with the money, and then repurchase the stocks in this account? Thanks.

  16. Thanks for the tip it is a great bonus.

  17. Thanks for the tip! I signed up as a new customer for the bonus, then got the free trades as a newly “existing customer”. Free money rocks!

  18. Awesome, worked for me too. I have a dog or two in ETF’s that I was thinking of selling off this year, now it won’t cost me commission. Thanks!

  19. Thanks for the info.
    I was also wondering if you have an opinion regarding the Amazon’s Rewards Visa card offer ($30 back with instant approval)?
    TIA for your input.

  20. still working as of this morning. As a new customer $50 plus 2 free trades isn’t bad…

    i’m going to combine this w/ the tradeking bonus to have a little bit of play money… i’m going to try comparing the FAN wind ETF to the KOL coal ETF just to watch how the values compare over time…

  21. just noticed that it takes $2500 for 6 months w/ tradeking… where can i find out the current yield(s) on their money market(s)?

  22. That is great information. Thanks!

  23. I opened a new account with the 50GO28 promotion, combined with the two free trades, and this morning got an email saying that I’ve qualified for the promotion and should get the $50 within 4 to 6 weeks.

    However, I just got another email, this one from ING Direct, telling me that I can get a $50 bonus for opening a ShareBuilder account with this promotion code: ORANGE50CASH.

    It says that there’s only one promotional award per customer, but maybe this counts as a different one if I open another account? Anybody know?

  24. My turn… thanks so much it worked for me as well. Just the promotion code I was looking for today.

    Thanks for sharing.

  25. Has anyone received the promotion email that you normally get when you use the code 50GO28. I haven’t got mine yet. Just wondering if the code has expired.

  26. Mickey Blue Eyes says

    Darn! I missed the deadline to apply for the two free real-time trades. 🙁 I don’t have a “Promotions” tab when I log in to Sharebuilder.

  27. Mickey Blue Eyes says

    Oops! I lied! I looked for the tab in the wrong place. Nevermind! I got my two free trades.

  28. I got two free trades on 11/16/2008 PM ( but no e-mail response yet? ) thanks guys, for the 2 free trades!!!!!

  29. Anyone gotten their free $50 bonus from this yet? I’m guessing it’ll take the full 4-6 weeks to get it.

  30. The two free trades worked for me on 11/25. Thanks so much for the code!

  31. tried RTTSITE code on 12/3, has already expired… used it on another account on 10/29, worked fine.

  32. I just received my $50 today. I got an email from ShareBuilder about it and my account says “DEPOSIT $50 WEB CHANNEL OFFER.” I’m in the process of transferring it out now.

    Also, with the 2 free real-time trades good until January, I’m just waiting to collect my dividend from the one stock I invested in so I can pull out.

    Does anyone know if ShareBuilder has any maintenance fees if I leave an account with $0? Should I close it once I’ve pulled all my money out?

  33. Interesting info (not) on the 1099 from ShareBuilder. Anyone else notice they didn’t report the $50 bonus on your consolidated 1099? I guess they must have decided it was Misc. “Other Income” and didn’t report it since it was under $600.

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