Your broker is one of the things that can make a huge difference in your trading success. You have to pay commissions on your trades. You have to borrow stocks when you want to short sell.
Online brokers are very different from each other. A mistake most people make when they first decide to start trading/investing is to sign up with a broker they see advertised on TV without doing any kind of research on the broker.
I use SureTrader as my main trading account. Simply because I had to start with a tiny account size and this is the only broker allowing you to open an account with only $500.
Besides that they have lots of perfect borrows for shorting that you won’t find anywhere else. And very important when you want to daytrade with a small account you can by-pass the PDT-rule by having an account with SureTrader.
Low commission fees
Suretrader has one of the lowest commission rates for normal trades, so it is simply the best broker for penny stocks. Only be aware that it can become more expensive with additional fees and when one order is executed in several orders.
On their website, Suretrader’s standard commission structure is mentioned as; “$4.95/trade up to 1000 shares, $.00495/share.” This means that for every 1000 shares you trade, you’ll have to pay $4.95. Whether you’re trading penny stocks or not
Suretrader offers a solution for this! All you have to do is contact their customer support and tell them that you trade penny stocks. Suretrader will then change your commission rate to “$4.95/trade up to 10,000 shares, $.000495/share.”
Your new commission rate will essentially be $4.95 for every 10,000 shares you trade. This will be a big difference, because trading 10,000 shares will now cost you 10 times less! Now it really is the best broker for penny stocks.
SureTrader has become one of the best brokers for international traders and they have fantastic borrows for shorting.
Fully licensed
SureTrader is a licensed by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas to carry on the business of a broker dealer and investment advisor. Swiss America Securities is not intended for U.S. clients.
The SEC’s interpretation of U.S. federal securities laws limits Non-U.S. Broker-Dealers such as Swiss America Securities, Ltd. (SureTrader.com) to working with those permanently resident outside the USA. Non-U.S. broker-dealers cannot approach and/ or solicit U.S. resident persons because an Internet Web site is interpreted by the SEC as being the same as a telephone call to a client.
Non-U.S. Broker-Dealers such as Swiss America Securities, Ltd. (SureTrader.com) maintaining an Internet Web site can thus only accept a U.S. person if he or she has not been solicited either directly or indirectly through accessing their web sites under the ‘unsolicited’ exemption Rule 15a-6.
U.S. customers wanting to work with Non-U.S. Broker-Dealers such as Swiss America Securities, Ltd. (SureTrader.com) can thus only approach Non-U.S. Broker-Dealers under Rule 15a-6 if they have not been to their web sites and should be prepared to certify this fact in writing to ensure compliance with applicable law. They should also be prepared to certify in writing that they have not been solicited by the as Swiss America Securities, Ltd. (SureTrader.com) in any manner either directly or indirectly.
Downside of Suretrader
A big down side for me at SureTrader is that you have to pay to use the software with streaming Level II quotes. That’s why I also opened an account with TD Ameritrade.
I mainly opened my account here to get access to the ultimate trading software; ThinkOrSwim. You can use this analyse tool with little funding and it provides you with the best software in the market and live Level II quotes are available.
Another great feature of ThinkOrSwim that I often use is paper trading. At first you do have to request the customer service to activate Level II quotes on your paper trading account.
I hardly use my funded account at TD Ameritrade. I’m always logged into my paper trading account which allows me to test stocks and setups during the day. Even before, or instead of making a real trade in my trading account with SureTrader.