The Free Trade Wars Continue

Wells Fargo has joined the free trade wars, offering up to 100 online trades of stock or no-load mutual funds at no extra cost to U.S. customers with more than $25,000 with the bank, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Those balances can be a combination of assets and loans, and up to 10% of a home mortgage. Customers who do not meet these criteria pay $25 per month.

The announcement adds the San Francisco-based bank to the list of companies aiming to lure investors by waiving trading costs.

 Bank of America recently began offering no-cost online trades in specific states only. Wells Fargo’s program also is unique because it allows free trades on no-load funds across companies, whether Fidelity, Vanguard and T.Rowe Price.

Brokerage houses generally waive trading fees only on funds on their proprietary no-transaction fee platforms.

Fidelity, for example, charges $75 per mutual fund trade, in general, while TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab each charge $50, E-Trade takes $20 and Scottrade levies a $17 fee. 

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.