Trading Direct¶
- Name: Trading Direct
- Website: https://www.tradingdirect.com/
About Trading Direct¶
Trading Direct has served clients since 1997. It is a division of York Securities, a New York firm founded in 1979 that describes itself as one of the original discount brokers. Its office is at 160 Broadway in Manhattan, and customer accounts are held at Axos Clearing.
A single account covers common and preferred stocks, ETFs, closed-end funds, options, US Treasury and corporate bonds, and thousands of mutual funds. Orders can be placed online or by phone with a live broker. Online stock trades cost a flat $10.95 regardless of order type, and online options trades are $9.95 plus $1.00 per contract. Bond orders and option spreads are taken by phone only, and Trading Direct says it acts as agent on bonds and does not mark prices up or down. The minimum to open is $500 for a cash account and $2,000 for a margin account.
Trading Direct did not follow the rest of the industry to $0 commissions. What it offers instead is service. It says calls are answered within a few rings by a person who handles both customer service and order entry, and that emails normally get a reply within an hour. Margin rates for large balances go as low as half a point below the broker call rate. An optional Cash Plus account adds check writing, a debit card and online bill pay, and account data exports to Quicken and TurboTax.