Online Tradings New Wave – Zecco.com

In the early days of the web, financial services companies were treading carefully, since they have a heavy regulatory burden and were branching out into areas they had barely touched before. Some brokerages had terminals and other services located at their offices which customers could use, but access to data and trading functions at home on a large scale was a big change. Many brokerages have clung to the role of advisor, with trades placed verbally much of the time with client specialists who would discuss the choice or at least review it, and protect the company’s interest both in liability and in profit.

In the new world of the internet based trading, financial services, like many other offerings, move from a specialty to a commodity. At first, customers were able to place limited orders, with overnight execution. A ticker was available, and maybe some historical data. The usual 20-minute delay applied to much of this information.

Then came the day traders, as some brokers moved into uncharted area, supplying “power tools” which allowed some carefully vetted traders to keep closer tabs on the market’s pulse, and to place trades for immediate execution on the floor.

E*trade was an early aggressive entry into the “busy-box” interface for traders, which provided a variety of information and ways of displaying it, and was relative open to allowing traders to try some of the more challenging and risky trading choices, such as options and margin trading.

There are a large number of online options now, many simply interfaces to traditional brokers, others venturing further into being a totally different animal from the suit and tie office. The image of traders sitting in their pajamas at home, watching graphs snake across the screen while they focusing intently on each short-term trade, has been popular in the entertainment media. Many traders use the information available for longer-term decisions, pursuing growth and balancing their portfolio rather than seeking aggressive and volatile profit.

A key indicator of the current state of the market is that feature laden online trading sites are now competing on price, and the competition is fierce. Stock trades that used to cost thirty, forty dollars or more are now costing less than ten dollars at times. In the case of Zecco.com, they are even advertising stock trades at no cost.

Zecco.com does charge for some of the more complex trading options, and it is backed by a brokerage house as necessary, but it seems to be an excellent choice for an beginning to intermediate online trader who wishes to not just sit in isolation, but as with investment clubs of the past, to join in their online forum and use the trading features as a functional backdrop to the sharing of information, tips and enthusiasm with other traders.

As with many things, discussing with other knowledgeable and experience people is an excellent way to temper your impulses, and with real money at stake, the voice of reason and sanity is sometimes a big plus. The information is still there to help you make your own decisions based on sound data, but you can test your interpretation as well, and learn in the process.

Opening an account with Zecco.com is simple – joining the online forum is as easy as others on the web, simply providing your information and getting started, and signing up for equity trades involves the usual brokerage application including, in this age of homeland security, providing identification, usually via a photocopy mailed to them. They have an interactive application which assists you in filling it out, and the result and the identification copy are then sent to confirm, while they proceed to process your information on line.

Once you become active both on the forums and in the trading environment, you have live support, blogs to follow, forum topics to discuss, and soon, your own stocks to track!

Zecco-based investments are insured at a high level as with other brokerages, and their business model, interface, and aggressive approach have been covered by many of the major financial news outlets, from Britain’s “The Economist” to CNBC and “The Motley Fool.” Since their launch in October, 2006 people are questioning whether there is a sea change happening, with the vestiges of the “big boys” and the institutionalized investment moving, as with e-businesses and other mom and pop translations to the internet, to a personalized, socialized, and empowering model.

With $0 trades for stocks, and low prices across the board, it looks like a winner, and you can join the boards and discuss how it is working for you. Start small, dream big, Zecco.com could be the place for you to do it!