E*trade has joined Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade in eliminating trading fees on retail stock trades (and other financial products). The dirty little secret is that $5 per trade fee was never the reason your online brokerage loves you.
The real profits are in earning a portion of the “spread”, the difference between the price to buy a stock and what you receive when you sell the stock back. Retail brokers have long participated in “payment for order flow”, where a wholesale trading firm earns the spread and gives a portion of the income to the retail firm. The business practice was an innovation created by Bernie Madoff, one time head of NASD, which decides the rules for trading in cooperation with the SEC
https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/payment-for-order-flow
Well, at least I'll be saving *some* money when I make yet another losing options trade.
Consider selling covered calls – calls for stocks you own. That makes you the casino and as they say casino owners (except President Trump) always make money. 😉
Avoid following financial advice from web comments you see on the Internet. You are not the casino operator when selling covered calls.
Agreed. Additionally, please do not construe my comment above as financial advice, legal advice, or medical advice.