While fees have come down massively over the years, they still chew into P&L. A incredibly simple habit is to reach out to your broker regularly, a couple times per year or until you hit your target price, and ask for a decrease on your commission. I’ve gotten my commission down considerably doing this consistently over time.
First, understand their perspective. They make money off of the capital in your account, like most banks via lending operations. They also make money off your account via your order flow (not just your commissions but what they receive for your flow via PFOF).
So two things help your case:
1. Capital in your account
2. Trading volume
So a few simple ways you can approach the conversation, I’ve used most of these previously. You can simply ask and see if they’ll comply. You can threaten to move your capital away. You can inform that you want to move more capital in but are waiting for better rates. You can bring a competitors rates that are lower (I hate Robinhood but they’re a good reference for this), they might argue their quality is better but I’d simply remain on the cost point. You can mention you want to trade more but it’s too expensive, if it were cheaper you could increase volume. Or a combination of all of these.
The main note is don’t look at the price and think it’s fixed. Just about everything related to money is negotiable.
Posted by esInvests