maxopedia

So, right now I'm doing pretty well with my trading. Last month was a bit of a downer, but this month has been good to me so far. I just need to stick to my rules and continue being conservative.

Here's a graph of my account values from April 30th to June 13th.

However, despite my relatively satisfactory performance as of late, I would be even better off if I hadn't had to pay those damned commissions.

I have paid $100 worth of commissions to Zecco and I have paid $147 worth of commissions to SogoTrade. I could have paid approximately $40-50 less in commissions to SogoTrade if I had signed up for their subscription trading package; $10 a month subscription and you pay $1.50 per trade instead of $3.

Current trading accounts total: $5710.14
Current total rate of return since Feb 1: 8.76%
Current $ return: $460.14

Same numbers, but assuming NO COMMISSIONS on ANY trade (but still SEC transaction fee slippage)

total: $5957.14
total rate of return since Feb 1: 13.47%
$ return: $707.14

Because of my small account, these fees add up to a large portion of my total return - 4.71% of my actual return is eaten up by commissions!

My first trade with SogoTrade that cost money was in early May, so if I turned on the $10 monthly subscription package for $1.50 trades, my SogoTrade commission costs would have been:

$20 for two months worth of subscription fees
$73.50 = 49 $1.50 trades
93.50 total commissions paid to SogoTrade

for a savings of $53.50 or 1.02%!! of my account

Thankfully, commissions and transactions fees are part of your cost basis for an investment when calculating gains or losses for tax purposes.

Also, a shout-out to my first referral to SogoTrade; I get an extra 25 free trades! It's almost like getting $75 in my pocket!