TradeKing and Zecco Merger Details

If you’re an account holder at either online broker TradeKing or Zecco Trading, you probably know that the two agreed to merge recently. I think the merger makes sense, as they were pretty similar and there is room for savings in consolidation. I have accounts at both TradeKing and Zecco, so it will be interested to see how things work out in the end. The merger is currently awaiting regulatory approval, and here’s what I understand so far:

• For the next few to several months, both sites will continue to operate separately until they are fully integrated.
• Expect the pricing of trades should remain the same at $4.95 per stock or options trade plus $0.65 per options contract.
• As they already use the same backend clearing firm (Apex Clearing, formerly Penson Financial), you shouldn’t need to make any changes and future statements should look similar. Bank ACH relationships should transfer over without issues.
• What will it be called? TradeZecco? ZeccoKing? Actually, TradeKing will be the permanent name of the combined company, similar to how United + Continental = United. Zecco was supposed to stand for “zero commissions”, a business model that didn’t work out for them.

What will the final merged product look like? Let’s hope they pick the best features of both sides and drop the worst ones. Zecco’s Forex trading system is gambling as far as I am concerned. The time-consuming login process of TradeKing is something I’d like to see disappear. The features that I would like to keep are the Live Chat Customer Service of TradeKing along with the forward-thinking mobile trading apps of Zecco. As TradeKing is the larger firm, I would guess that their users would undergo the least amount of change in the future.

This may also be the last time you can double-dip on any bonuses, like the TradeKing Referral bonus and the Zecco Friends program, as the two accounts should be merged into one eventually.