SogoTrade 100 Commission Free Trades Promotion

Looks like online brokers are running a lot of promotions these days to attract new customers.

SogoTrade is offering 100 commission free trades for every new customer. It’s quite easy to get the free trades: Open a SogoTrade account; fund the account with $500; receive the bonus. There is a restriction on the free trades though. The free trades must be used within 30 days after the account is funded, or they will expire.

On one hand, the offer is quite generous because the total value of the offer is $300. That’s much better than promotions from other brokers (OptionsHouse also offers 100 free trades). On the other hand, how many investors, especial small investors, can make 100 trades in 30 days?

SogoTrade Commission

I first looked at SogoTrade nearly three years ago, when the broker was offering scheduled investment plans, like those you get from ShareBuider. At that time, before there was Zecco and OptionsHouse, I concluded that the it was quit cheap to trade with SogoTrade. It appears that with so many discount brokers competing for your business, SogoTrade remains a solid option for trading stocks for less.

So how much does it cost to trade with SogoTrade?

SogoTrade is very competitive in terms of commission. It charges $3.00 per internet equity trade, regardless the number of shares. From what I know, the commission is only higher than what OptionsHouse charges at $2.95/trade, but much lower than the fee at other widely used discount brokers like Zecco, TradeKing, and Scottrade. For options trading, there’s another $0.70 for each contract.

SogoTrade doesn’t charge any fee if the account is in dormant mode and, unlike other brokers, it doesn’t charge a fee if you are not happy with SogoTrade and want to transfer the account to somewhere else. The transfer usually costs $50 at other brokers. But this is not the only benefit. If you like Sogotrade and want to transfer your account at another broker to SogoTrade, you will get reimbursed for the account transfer fee charged by the other broker up to $100 if the account balance is $25,000 or more.

So, what do you think about SogoTrade and this 100 free trade promotion offer?