Buy QQQQ with No Commission

Posted by Sun on November 21, 2006

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QQQDirect

According to SeekingAlpha.com, now you can buy the ETF QQQQ at QQQDirect commission free. The article on SeekingAlpha.com also reported that

The NASDAQ is sponsoring and subsidizing this arrangement. After opening an online account and choosing a payment option, QQQQ can be purchased automatically in amounts of as little as $25 per month.

After I checked their pricing and investment plans, I found that the commission-free of QQQQ investment is limited to one purchase per month:

The QQQDirect plan makes available one FREE Plan Purchase of QQQQ per month. Each additional Plan Purchase of QQQQ, or any other security, is just $3.99 per security. There is no annual or monthly fee for this plan.

The QQQDirect plan works similarly to the automatic investment plan at ShareBuilder. According to their website, purchase of QQQQ can be made on one of the four Thursdays every month. The plan can be funded via their CashLink, a service that links the QQQDirect account with bank accounts. Though the purchase can be made for free, all sales are subject to a $12.99 transaction fee. With AutoVest, an automatic investment plan similar to that of ShareBuilder, the minimum monthly investment amount is $10.

In addition to the QQQDirect plan, they also have a couple of other plans to invest in other securities via AutoVest on a weekly or monthly basis, but there are monthly fees associated with other plans:

Basic Plan: $5.98/month, includes 3 purchases, additional purchases just $2.99/purchase.
Diversified Plan: $39.99/year, $0.99/purchase.

Check out their website for more details about other plans. At first glance, the offerings are similar to ShareBuilder.com.