“If you are an investor making relatively small trades, or an active investor who is frequently buying and selling ETFs, these savings can really add up,” Fidelity said.
A number of trading platforms now offer a range of commission-free ETFs. For example, along with free trades on its own line of ETFs, Fidelity Investments has expanded its partnership with BlackRock to include free coverage of the iShares “Core” series. However, potential traders should note that if a sale is executed within 30 days of purchase, investors will incur a short-term trading transaction of the regular commission fee of $7.95.
[related_stories]Charles Schwab’s OneSource ETF platform includes a large selection of over 200 commission-free ETFs over a range of asset categories from 16 fund sponsors, including States Street, PowerShares, Guggenheim, ETF Securities and U.S. Commodity Funds, among others. Since there are no short-term trading restrictions placed on the ETFs, active traders may find the platform appealing as a cost-free way to move in and out of broad market segments.
The TD Ameritrade platform offers a broad 101 commission-free ETFs from eight different sponsors, including iShares, Vanguard, State Street, PowerShares, WisdomTree, Market Vectors, PIMCO and iPath exchange traded notes. However, if sales are executed within 30 days of purchase, investors will incur a short-term trading transactions of $19.99 – the regular commission on trades is $9.99.
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E*Trade does not include products from the four largest ETF providers but offers commission-free trades on 117 products from WisdomTree, Global X and Deutsche X-trackers. If sales are executed within 30 days of purchase, investors will incur a short-term trading transactions of $19.99 – the regular commission on trades is $9.99.
The Vanguard platform includes access to its proprietary ETFs. It only offers commission-free trades on its own ETFs. The firm also allows traders to buy and sell the same ETF 25 times over a 12-month period without restrictions. If a trader goes over its allotted quota, Vanguard will restrict trading on the ETF for 60 days. Regular commissions varies but starts at $7 on accounts with less than $500,000.
The Merrill Edge self-directed investing account provides investors, whom maintain at least $25,000 in cash on the Merrill Lynch brokerage account or in a Bank of America bank account, with 30 commission-free trades per month on all available equities and ETFs.