Archive for the 'Brokers' Category

SogoInvest is now SogoTrade

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

It’s been a while since I’d heard anything from William Yeh of SogoInvest, so I thought I’d drop by the website and snoop around a bit. To my surprise, SogoInvest has changed its name to SogoTrade.

Mr. Yeh, CEO of SogoTrade, states in a letter to clients that the name change is an effort to align the brand identity more effectively with the business focus and core strengths. He goes on to say that:

SogoTrade will afford greater clarity by powerfully expressing our enduring qualities of innovation, service, and value while also expressing our business focus - providing advanced trading technology at low commissions to meet …


Speaking of having your Cake…

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

I received an email from Steve Carpenter yesterday. Typically when I receive emails from someone I don’t know, I’m enticed to “file” the message accordingly, however I opened this one, not knowing what to expect.

Steve is the founder and CEO of Cake Financial Corporation.

After reading his email, I found myself intrigued with his new service. Cake is a new online financial service that allows individuals to display their actual portfolio,and keep track of how the portfolio has done over a period of time. It also lets you share your portfolio and real-time trading information with trusted …


ex24 Is No More

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

In a case of what could be over saturation in the online discount brokerage firm field, ex24 has closed up shop.

Back in November of last year, I had a chance to speak with Anthony Link, ex24’s Chief Operating Officer. Bound with excitement, both he and James Lennane, the company’s founder had high expectations for the company.

Perhaps the expectations were too high.

Despite marketing campaigns that included iPod giveaways, free trading periods, guaranteed portfolio performance and access to fractional shares of sought-after stocks such as Google Inc. (GOOG) shortly after its initial public offering, the platform never gained momentum.

“We were looking …


T. Rowe Retirement Resolution

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

A little over 3 weeks since T. Rowe Price “misplaced” over $9,000 worth of my retirement roll over, I’ve finally received word that they’ve deposited the balance into my account and backdated all purchases to the original roll over date.

So we’re square. Irritated, but square.

This is my first experience with target-date retirement funds, but I like the concept. You pick a fund with a target date close to that which you expect to retire. Over time, the funds allocation between stocks and bonds shift to a less aggressive portfolio and lower risk structure.

Since I’ve got a few …


A Zecco Review

Saturday, December 2nd, 2006

ML, at My 1st Million at 33, is test driving Zecco.com as a low cost brokerage.

Zecco is one of the latest ventures to join the low/no commission online brokerage game, and much like Sogo Invest, Bank of America, TD Ameritrade, and ETrade (among others), they are trying to blow open a new niche in the discount brokerage market.

So far so good for ML, as he’s got his initial ACH transfer deposited into his Zecco account.

Check out the post to follow up on his experience.


The Sogo-Sphere

Monday, November 13th, 2006

Thanks to a tip from David C., it appears that Sogo Invest has carved out their own little niche in the blogosphere.

With Sogo President William Yeh and Alex Kravets (content developer) as authors, Sogo is sure to get some great feedback from their site.

William was more than receptive to the response generated from my initial interview post, and it appears that customer requests have not been taken lightly!

Good luck with your blog guys!

SogoInvest Blog


ex24: An Investment Alternative

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

Yet another low cost brokerage firm has entered the market. Actually, they\’ve been in the market for a number of years, and the word is just now getting out.

ex24 is another player in the discount brokerage game, and like others in the same business, offer low commission trades for stock traders. Naturally, there are a few things that set ex24 apart from their competition, as well as a few areas left for development.

The ATS Order Book is a feature I’ve not seen anywhere else. Effectively, the ex24 platform hosts its own sub-market if you will, allowing account holders to trade stocks between each other around the clock. It’s kind of a neat idea.

ex24 does clear their own trades, which eliminates the middleman, and hence some pass through costs to customers.

I had an opportunity to ask Chief Operating Officer, Anthony Link, a few questions about ex24:

1. Tell me a little history behind ex24 and the parent company, bidnask.

The initial idea was to create an electronic stock exchange where participants could trade directly between one another similar to what ebay does now for all other items. In pursuing this idea and working with regulators, it was decided that we would build an Alternative Trading System (ATS) as defined by SEC Regulation ATS. From there, efforts set forth to build the ex24 ATS and to form ex24, Inc. as a self-clearing broker/dealer. Today the ex24 ATS (ex24 Order Books), provides 24/7, Member to Member trading and instantaneous settlements.

This fall ex24 unveiled its US Markets Trading platform. The ex24 US Markets Trading platform provides Members with additional avenues for order entry. Members can enter traditional share based orders or real-time dollar-based orders. Trades conducted on the ex24 U.S. Markets Trading platform are routed to outside market centers and have traditional T+3 settlement.


A New Look for TD Ameritrade

Monday, October 23rd, 2006

As a TD Ameritrade APEX customer, I’m getting a sneak preview of a revamped website for the broker.

The new look is, well, different. The menus have been redesigned, but the overall menu structure is the same. Data is organized a bit better, but the all-green layout is a bit overpowering.

New research material is provided by Ford Equity Research and TheStreet.com, both of which compliment the existing MarketEdge and S&P Reports nicely.

The Morningstar Portfolio X-Ray is a new tool that examines your portfolio for diversification, although you can use it free here. You can also use …


TD Ameritrade Level II with TotalView

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

 
TD Ameritrade has a new feature coming out for Apex customers called Level II with TotalView. 

Level II quotes show the market liquidity and if used correctly, can give you a very short term direct to the market sentiment of a stock.  Orders are shown for both the bid and ask (buy/sell) along with the order sizes.

The new TotalView features will include:

-All the liquidity for NASDAQ-listed securities at each price level from every market participant, not just the top prices from each participant.

-A timeline showing the best bid/ask prices from individual market participants, making it easier to see interest in a given stock depending on …


Update on Sogo Invest ACH Policy

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

I received an update from Sogo Invest on their ACH policy.  There has been a great discussion on their transfer policy in a previous post with an interview with Sogo’s President, William Yeh.

Since that discussion is getting a bit long, I thought I’d start a new post on the ACH topic.  Below is the latest reply from Sogo Invest management concerning their ACH fund transfer policy.  It’s refreshing to see a company so receptive to customer feedback!

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As mentioned in our earlier post, SogoInvest has now officially adopted a faster ACH fund transfer …