In April, 2010, CEOWORLD Magazine listed Scottrade as “Second Best Online Investments Stock Broker.” Every year, from 2001 to 2008, online investors voted the company first for investment satisfaction in the Online Investor Satisfaction Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates.
In the incredibly competitive world of online trade, these awards are rather impressive. Indeed, Scottrade has survived the Global Financial Crisis and the world’s on-going economic downturn with a resilience that few can boast.
The company did not lose a single employee as a result of the recession. In fact, 2008 saw them establish yet another 75 branches and take on about 1,000 associates. Two years later, they celebrated the opening of their 500th branch in New York City, and 2011 was witness to the beginning of Scottrade Bank. During a period in which the news has been dominated by stories of insecurity, lay-offs, catastrophic financial losses and bankruptcy, the story of Scottrade offers surprising tales of growth and success.
Scottrade was founded thirty-one years ago, in 1980, in Scottsdale, Arizona. From its current headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, under the leadership of CEO, Rodger Riney, the company employs more than 3,000 staff.
The awards and history of the company make it a rather attractive prospect when it comes to online trading. The company offers several other reasons for making them your first choice.
Firstly, their commissions and fees for trading are famously low. Clients do not pay at all for maintaining their account, for inactivity, for using mobile trading or for terminating or transferring their account. Any individual can trade online with just $7.
What’s more, new clients can take of advantage of Scottrade free trades. On a regular basis, the company puts out Scottrade promotion codes, which provide those opening a new account with three trades for no cost at all. This means savings of at least $20 and sometimes more. Codes are available on a range of websites and certainly offer a tempting reason to make that initial move to test out what the company has to offer.
Other deals and offers are also available on a frequent basis. For example, if an individual transfers their account from somewhere else, they can receive up to $100 back of the fees that they paid to their original company.
Given Scottrade’s awe-inspiringly successful track record, they have put a lot of time and effort into research and analysis. Much of the work that they have done is available to their clients. This means that the company provides not only a platform for investment, but also training and education that can maximize the potential of both new and experienced investors. Their constant growth, even during the recession, suggests that they must surely have a few secrets to offer that any investor would like to know about.
When a customer joins Scottrade, they can access a range of useful resources for free. These include important tools, such as 24 hour streaming of the Dow Jones and other significant trading figures. They also gain direct access to Scottrade’s Knowledge Center, which is an impressive collection of sophisticated research into trading and stocks.
Whether they are dealing with a veteran trader or a totally inexperienced individual who has happened to stumble across a Scottrade promotion code and wants to know more, the company has tools to suit everyone. A customer can ask them to create a tailor made trading toolkit. The Scottrade Trading Website provides constantly updated information, in both English and Chinese; the Streaming Quotes keeps track of changes in stocks as they happen; ScottradeELITE, designed for the advanced trader, allows for a lot of individual control and provides high-level analysis, and Scottrade Options First enables clients to develop and use techniques pertaining to complex options.
These many advantages are backed up by a powerful customer support system. Clients can call, email, chat online or visit one of Scottrade’s many branches. Given that trading success often depends on knowledge and confidence, this aspect of the company is inviting for many individuals. They can also get involved with the firm’s extensive online community, where they can meet thousands of other investors and read hundreds of stories.
Live Webinars, broadcasted pretty much weekly, are dynamic and engaging sources of information that enable customer interaction. They focus on techniques and tools for conducting research, up-to-date analysis of the market and trading orders, from the standard to the complex. If an individual needs a break from cyberspace, they can head along to one of the many happenings on the Scottrade live events calendar, which include branch-specific learning seminars and regular User Summits. There, they can make connections with like-minded people who live locally and further educate themselves in the world of trading.
This feeling of support is further confirmed by the financial security offered by Scottrade’s insurance policy. Like most of the big banks, they are part of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which means that most of the brokerage accounts held with them are insured; in their case, for up to $1 million.
They solidify this through their membership of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), with whom they have purchased both standard and supplemental protection. This means that each individual investor is insured for up to $25,000,000. A breakdown of exactly how this works is provided on the Scottrade website.
Scottrade reviews generally reflect high levels of customer faith, trust and satisfaction. Many people state that they are impressed with the company’s low fee, low commission policy. Several reviews point out that when opening an account, they used Scottrade promotion codes to take advantage of Scottrade free trades and found the offer to be genuine and certainly financially beneficial. Other individuals state that they learned a lot from the company’s extensive resources and education program and praise the high level of enthusiastic and knowledgeable support received. Given that Scottrade has rated so highly in online customer satisfaction surveys and has expanded, against all odds, in the face of international financial hardship, such positive reviews come as no surprise.