For those looking for a discount stock broker, there is an interesting discussion pertaining to how they handle margin and ACH transactions in a pervious post.

“Vacman” and “indexfundfan” have brought to light some legitimate concerns about when margin interest is applied, and how long it takes to transfer money in to Sogo Invest.  What’s really impressive is that there are official responses to the discussion from Sogo Invest management (filtered through me).

The company is very interested in feedback, so if you have anything to contribute, please know that the management team from Sogo Invest reads TheCornerOfficeBlog regularly!

Check out the post and the discussion.

David Houle’s post on Sogo Invest and how they have cut commissions by eliminating the middle man sparked my interest, and I was fortunate enough to land an exclusive interview with Sogo Invest President, William Yeh.

My first reaction is that Mr. Yeh is very much in tune with what the every day investor wants in an online trading brokerage platform: low prices, ease of use and great service.

The following is a summarized transcript of our conversation:

Grant: Mr. Yeh, you’ve got a solid background in the brokerage industry with the development of Genesis Securities, LLC and the Laser trading platform.  Tell me a little about the Laser platform.

William: My history is in trading futures, and I believe in utilizing automation and electronics to remove the human hands from trading, making the whole financial process as fluid as possible.  That’s why we created the Laser system.

We developed the Laser trading platform to interact directly with the markets, and in turn we eliminated the need to buy information from a third party.  We get all of our data directly from the NYSE and the NASDAQ.  We also clear our own trades, eliminating yet another third party.

The Laser system was developed for the professional trader, and it has retained a Platinum rating from the NASDAQ.  Other trading platforms such as E*Trade have a Silver rating.

Grant: You’ve got great technology for the professional trader, and you trade between 2-4% of the daily volume on the NASDAQ.  What inspired you to develop Sogo Invest?

William: We really developed Sogo Invest for the simple, every day trader. While the Laser system is used primarily for the professional trader, we are taking that technology and putting into Sogo Invest.

Grant: How can Sogo Invest undercut the rest of the online brokerage markets in terms of commissions and fees?

William: Since we buy our own data directly from the NASDAQ and the NYSE and we clear our own trades, we’ve eliminated many of our third party costs.  We pass these savings directly on to our customer.  We could raise our commissions to $10, $8, or $6, and enjoy a larger profit, but we want to pass these savings on to the customer to get more people to join us, and more importantly stay with us.

The large amount of volume we clear every day also helps keep costs down, based on the economy of scale.

Our price speaks loudly, but service is also key.

Futurist David Houle (EvolutionShift.com) has revealed a new player that has entered the lineup in the discount brokerage game.  SogoInvest is making their public debut today offering up one of the most attractive brokerage packages out there for the individual investor.

What makes SogoInvest so competitive?  For one, their dirt cheap commissions starting at $3 per trade for investors with a Bronze account.  Want to cut your commissions even further? Opening up a Gold or Platinum account and paying the $10 or $15 monthly subscription fee will knock your commissions down to $1.50 and $1.00, respectively.

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