December 9, 2009
What Is The Time Lag For Online Trading On E-trade Or Ameritrade?
I am a finance student, and I want to start investing through online trading companies. I have heard that ameritrade is a good company, but I am wondering about lag times for the purchasing and selling of stocks. Can anyone offer advice or personal knowledge on this topic?
I read somewhere a long time ago that younger companies such as e-trade and ameritrade perform fastest. Actually etrade was number 1.There was a day where stocks were plunging and online brokers could not keep up but etrade performed the quickest. I cant seem to find the article though. I use scottrade but am not a really serious investor so am not sure about there time lags. hope this helped somewhat.
I just opened an Ameritrade account myself just a little while ago, I am a college student so I think I know where you’re coming from. From what I’ve read there are 2 main types of orders you can place, a market order and a limit order…A market order is the idea where you want to buy a certain quantity of stock at the current market price, this can be very risky as the price of stock can fluctuate greatly in a matter of minutes…However, a limit order is much safer, you can control the quantity of stock you want to buy as well as the exact price you’re willing to buy it at. Market orders can be processed instantly if someone is out there willing to sell the stock, keep in mind the change in price can be quick and great. Limit orders can take longer to process because you are waiting for someone to sell a specific amount at a specific price but is safest in the long run, especially if you see a trend in the stock you are watching.