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Zecco Review and Account Opening

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 4 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #232 in Business, #3480 overall

Rated G. (Control what you see)

Zero Commission Trades - Is it too good to be true??

 

Zecco stands for Zero Cost Commission and that's exactly what this new online discount broker is trying to do with their innovative set up.
 


The Top 10 Zecco Improvements of 2007 

Zecco has added a lot to their features since the beginning of '07

From the people I've talked to along the way about Zecco, I've gathered that one of the major gripes that many people had was the lack of features and the difficulty of navigation around the site. You were definitely not alone! I also noticed these same things.

But looking back on 2007, Zecco has seemed to have listened to these complaints and taken them to heart. These are my top 10 improvements to Zecco in 2007. Enjoy!
  1. New Navigation - Added drop downs and left hand side menus make finding what you want a ton easier.
  2. Site Search - Google Powered search site wide makes it way easier to find that form or FAQ you were looking for.
  3. Always on Trading Ticket - Being able to enter your order from any screen is pretty nice.
  4. Gainskeeper Powered Tax Tracking - I am a numbers nerd so any improved performance tracking is a huge plus in my book
  5. Complex Options - I'm not much of an options trader myself, but I think it shows Zecco's commitment to establishing itself as a full service broker.
  6. Stock Screener - Needs no explanation
  7. Options Analytics - Stock Screening Goodness applied to Options.
  8. Performance Scanner - See what's working and what's not with other members of the ZeccoShare community
  9. Zecco Share Feeds - Tracking your group's activities without having to visit the site is great.
  10. Faster Load Times - Who doesn't like this?

How to Open a Zecco Account 

Reviewing the Zecco Account Opening Process


I have been an avid supporter of SogoInvest ever since they hit the market as a discount broker in the summer of 2006. However, when I learned about Zecco, I decided to give it a shot so I could objectively compare the two.

This is a short time line of opening my account and what has happened at each step along the way.

Getting a Zecco Account : Day 1 

The Beginning of the process

Day 1 : I applied for the account. The application process was entirely online and probably took about 15 minutes total. You do have to provide your social security number to them over a secure connection in order to verify your identity. Overall, I found filling out the application essentially the same as the ones for SogoInvest, Scottrade, or TradeKing. Pretty Standard Industry-wide it seems.

Less than 10 minutes later I had an account approval email sitting in my Inbox. However, this does NOT mean you can instantly log into your account. I suppose that Zecco's Servers have to do an update. About 3 hours after I received the e-mail, my account number was listed in parenthesis after the words 'individual account' like this:


Zecco Sign In Screen Shot


 


Once my account number showed up here I was able to log on normally and access the account.

Zecco Review: Day 1 Continues.... Add ACH Accounts 

Adding a Bank account to your Zecco Account

From here I added my Bank Account. This was simple and only took a few minutes. Here's what you do:

Click on the Funding and Transfers Tab:

Zecco Funding Tab

 


On the Left hand side of the screen is an option to 'Add External ACH Account'

Here are the steps to get to the screen where you input bank information.Add ACH to Zecco

From there it was easy to add my bank account information and wait for my deposits. I added one checking and one Savings account to see if that made a difference.

Day One is in the books and the Account is Open and Bank Accounts are being set up. Not to Shabby!


Learn How to Trade Stocks on Zecco 

Stock Trading Education Material

Learn how to trade stocks. Take it slow and move at your own pace. Zero cost commissions at Zecco are a good way to get your feet wet.

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

This is a fantastic beginners resource for investing. It has helpful tips for anyone learning to invest.

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/26/2008)

Zecco Review : Day 2: ACH Deposits Completed! 

Zecco Review Funds Transfer Timeline

I woke up this morning and checked my bank accounts to see if the ACH Deposits had processed. They were already there!


Remember, Zecco will debit the deposits after you confirm the amounts with them. Depending on the type of savings account or money market account you have, you may have a limited number of withdraws per billing cycle. These will count towards that limit.

Another Minor gripe so far. I scheduled my transaction, but I haven't figured out a way to track my pending transaction.

I'll let everyone know when the deposit hits and we can begin testing out the trading interface!

Zecco Video Review 

A Video Review of Zecco Trading

Zecco.com launches on Wall Street

powered by YouTube

Zecco Review Day 4: ACH Continued... 

Trouble Using Zecco.com ACH Money Transfer


I logged onto Zecco Today to see if my ACH Transfer I initiated this past weekend was getting ready to process.

I looked in the transfer log and it showed my ACH Transfer as approved on one line and denied on the next. The time stamps for it are identical, which is even weirder. I've decided to try to run the transaction one more time before I call customer service. I think the transaction may have been declined because the trial ACH deposits were still pending on my account when I initiated the transfer....

Zecoo Review Day 6 : Ready to Trade! 

One Week from Sign up to Trade

Well, after some confusion with transfers and my eagerness, I ended up with two transfers in my account :). The original deposit began clearing after the test deposits cleared. I had initiated the transfer as soon as the deposits were pending. So this was not Zecco's fault, in typical fashion I got a little eager and jumped the gun. Now that we are ready to rock, we will begin exploring the features next week! I also have a Dividend Investment Strategy I want to try out that I will explain in conjunction with the features of Zecco.

What to Do after opening a New Zecco Account 

Sign up for the Money Market Account! Remember No Minimum Balance Required!

After Opening my account and having it funded, there are two important new developments that I have learned about.

The first is that Zecco no longer has any account minimums! One of the major criticisms that had existed for Zecco was that the minimum balance to open was $2,500 which made it difficult to set up and account just to 'try it out'. Apparently that has all changed!

From the FAQ:
What is the minimum amount required to open an account?
Zip, nada: there's no minimum deposit required to open an account. Margin accounts require $2,000 minimum.

Secondly, Zecco Offers a Money Market Sweep Account. However, you are not automatically enrolled in it. In order to enroll, fill out this form and fax or e-mail it back to Zecco. These rates are actually quite competitive and are as follows (As of 2/19/07) :
CAT MM Portfolio (4.38%)*
ICT Treasury Portfolio (4.33%)*
CAT Tax Exempt Portfolio (2.67%)*


Update: The money market does not become active unless there is at least $500 in cash in your account.

Some Other Personal Finance Info 

Finance and Investing Advice to Use with Zecco

Zecco Money Market Account Sign up Form 

Good things to have when you are starting your Zecco Account

Links to those pesky forms and files you can never seem to find....
Money Market Sweep Form
Make sure and fill this form out and send it in to enroll in the Money Market Sweep Account. You are not Automatically enrolled in this!

Trading Review 

Review of Zecco's Trading Platform

During the day Yesterday I made 4 trades on the Zecco Platform. I bought 4 shares of 4 different dividend stocks ranging from small with low volume to high with large volume. Here's how the trading works:

Step One: Order Entry

Screenshot of Zecco Order Entry


The Order Entry Interface is not rocket science to figure out, but I found it to be responsive and easy to use. You do Have a surprising large number of the types of trades you can perform including: Market, Limit, Stop, Stop Limit, Trailing Stop. You can perform any of these types that are applicable when Buying, Selling, Shorting, or covering. Considering I don't feel that I am a sophisticated enough technical investor yet to need much more than the Buy and Sell buttons, this was great. (Note: You have way more options with Zecco than with SogoInvest, which only offers buying and selling with market and limit orders as far as I can tell in my 6 months there)

After quoting your order you are taken to this screen:

Zecco Order Confirmation ScreenShot

Zecco Trading Review Continued 

The Rest of the Trading Process using Zecco

This screen shows you the Bid/Ask Spread (This one is really high because the market was closed when I took this shot. It's usually a couple of pennies difference) If everything looks okay, you click on 'Send Order'. Every time I did this, (One Market and Three Limit Trades) before I could click on the Executions tab, the order was executed. I would say the average order time was not able to be measured by me. Very Impressive!

After you make a trade your order shows up in a Positions screen as follows:

Zecco Holdings Positions ScreenShot

Not a lot of crazy analysis tools but I use Yahoo Finance for most of my analysis anyway, why do I need two sets of the same data??

Overall I was very Impressed with the speed of the order execution. For my purposes it was more than adequate.

Zecco Reviews From Across the Blogosphere 

The newest Blog Posts on Zecco

Zecco Stock Trading Birthday
Not the very best time (stock prices wise) so celebrate :) but Zecco trading just celebrated their second birthday. So happy birthday to Zecco.
Zecco Review: Why should you use Zecco?
Instant stock trade ordering - if you want to be at the right time at the right place and buy that stock you need something simple and fast. Again with online stock trading like Zecco you enter your order with a few clicks and you are ...
The Freeloader Investor
ZECCO - where I trade once every couple of days - using no commission trades - with my roll over IRA account. I have a small sum which is large enough to invest with that I have rolled over from a horrible ?Simple IRA? account. ...
eFinPlan Free Trial, Freebies, and Special Offers
Zecco is offering up to 10 stock trade at $0 per month if you maintain a minimum balance of $2500. Personally, I am no longer into trading individual stocks, preferring to build globally diversified portfolio of low-cost passively ...

Popular Zecco sites 

Zecco Links and review Resources

As hard as I try, I'm sure there will be something that I can't address fully here. Hopefully some of these links will help
Zecco Homepage
The Homepage of Zecco. When it's free to sign up and trade, might as well give them a shot.

Reader Thoughts on Zecco 

How do you Like Zecco? Is it working for you? Is it not?

Dawson Jones

A bait and switch? Don't be so paranoid, hey if they raise the rates, transfer to another place. Plus there getting very popular with commercials.

Posted February 19, 2008

Nick Jensen

I researched Zecco and decided it was a bait and switch. I signed up with scottrade.com and got 3 free trades with this promo code: DOOL8293

Posted December 22, 2007

WealthCreationMentors

Loyalis,

Thanks for the great information.

Frank
www.WealthCreationMentors.com

Posted December 11, 2007

Aika

well presented lens, easy to understand. Great job to you Loyalis.

Posted September 23, 2007

jukebox9988

Good review! It's nice to see more and more traders utilizes Zecco cheap trades and tools. I wrote a zecco review that walks you through my sign-up process as well.

Posted June 26, 2007

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