Discount online brokerages like TradeKing has a flat fee of $4.95 per trade. Also, Bank of America offers up to 30 trades a month for free if you keep $25000 in your bank account with them.

Paul

Commission rates are usually quoted for trades up to 1000 shares of stock and then there is a small per share fee added for the excess. They also differentiate between market orders, which are orders executed at the prevailing price and orders where you set the price (limit).

Rates do make a differrence. I saw where someone bought 3 lots of 1000 shares of the old Wachovia stock and paid 540 bucks commission. Compare that to maybe 60 and you can decide which seems more fair.

Hey Paul !
Investment brokerages' commissions are usually flat fees that are charged every time to you make a trade. These commissions can be as low as $7 a trade or more than $100 a trade.

Commissions often vary depending on how often you trade, the number and price of the shares you trade, and how much money you keep in the brokerage account.

Commissions also vary depending on what kind of brokerage you're using. Full-service brokerages, which offer investment research and advice in addition to making your trades, usually charge more than discount brokerages (where you do the research and call all the shots.)

Check out our investment brokerage listings for more info. And please add a review if you've had any good, or bad, experiences with investment brokerages.

Good responses so far. Discount brokers are far less costly, though one should be aware the full-service brokers will often reduce their fees. Although most houses have "fee schedules" there's nothing holy about them. These days, there's so much competition that it will pay to request a reduction. If your broker refuses to negotiate go elsewhere. Brokers are salespeople, not advisors who will put your interest first. In most cases they're just repeating "advice" from research generated by the firm's analysts or perhaps research developed elsewhere. Very little in the academic literature suggests that these "ideas" have great merit. Save your money. Pay your broker less or go it alone.