Fidelity announced today that starting February 3rd, 2010, the price of all online equity trades through their brokerage would cost $7.95, with no limit on the number of shares. Previously, the commissions ranged from $8 to $19.95 per trade depending on asset value and trading volume. This is great news for my Self-Employed 401k at Fidelity. Phone and broker-assisted trades cost a little more:
Customers placing trades through Fidelity’s Automated Service Telephone (FAST) will pay an additional $5 per trade ($12.95 total), and those placing trades through a representative will pay an additional $25 ($32.95 total) per trade.
This move makes Fidelity more competitive with the other discount brokers out there, for example I have an account with OptionsHouse which charges only $2.95 per trade.
They also announced commission-free trades for 25 iShares ETFs, which seems like a direct response to Schwab’s commission-free ETFs.
It sounds like Options House is working out for you.
I picked Options House over Zecco for the free MaxIt and cheap options trades. (Used to be flat, but 15 cents per contract is not so bad either.) Well, that and Options House seemed a little better assembled, with better customer support.
Sorry, didn’t mean to pump OH in an article about Fidelity. It seems like Fidelity is always late to the game. They took forever to have index funds, and $7.95 is okay but not great, and not going to make me switch.
This sounds like a pretty enticing deal, especially since I use the more expensive VBS. But the experienced cynic in me wonders if this a bait-and-switch scheme instituted in order to boost their cash reserves during this recessionary period? I wonder what will happen when things eventually improve? I’ve seen Fidelity change their fee structure at a moments notice. Thanks though, I’ll take a closer look.