That’s not entirely correct – you can still get 10 free stock trades per month if you have over $25,000 in assets with Zecco.  That’s a tenfold increase of their prior $2,500 requirement – the main reason I signed up with them.  This change will go into effect March 1st, 2009.  If you currently have a Zecco portfolio between $2,500 and $25,000 – you’ll want to put in any buy / sell orders sometime this month, so you can avoid fees next month.

All is not lost, after all.

The loss of reasonably attainable free trades is tough to swallow, no doubt.  I will think much more carefully before making any Zecco trades in the future – and I can’t imagine I’m the only one.  However, on the good side, trades will still be among the least expensive around.  Regular Market and Limit orders will be available at just $4.50 per trade.  Options will run $4.50 per trade, plus $.50 per contract.  I’m fairly certain that’s the cheapest around these days.  Zecco also doesn’t charge any inactivity fees like some online brokerages do – so you can leave your holdings alone without fear of ridiculous charges appearing. 

An added bonus for heavy traders

I’m not a pure buy-and-hold guy, but I do lean toward this philosophy as a general rule.  For those who don’t, and prefer to go crazy with trading, Zecco doesn’t leaving you completely hanging.  In addition to the $25k in assets rule, there’s another way to snag 10 free trades from Zecco.  Once you make 25 trades in a month, Zecco will credit you with 10 free trades.  You will have to use them by the end of the month, though, as they don’t roll over to the next month.

I won’t switch from Zecco yet

I’m not happy about the changes.  It will put a damper on my small trades, which I’m not thrilled about.  However, Zecco still has the best fee structure around for my needs.  I don’t do any fancy voodoo trades or use any crazy charting software, so I wouldn’t benefit from features like that.  If you’re a basic investor like me, Zecco is still a great choice.