Zecco.com

Zecco
Type of business Private
Founded July 4, 2006 (2006-07-04)
Headquarters San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people Michael Raneri (CEO)
Michael Feser (President), Zecco Trading
Industry Financial Services
Products stock brokerage
Website www.zecco.com
Alexa rank Decrease 382,129 (April 2014)[1]

Zecco.com (Zecco Holdings, Inc) is an online investing company that was merged with TradeKing in 2012 to challenge online brokerages such as E*TRADE, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab with discounted rates. Investors on Zecco.com have access to Zecco Trading, its stock, option, mutual fund and bond trading platform.[2][3][4][5] Investors also have access to Zecco Forex, which provides spot foreign exchange trading as well as spot gold and spot silver trading.[6][7] It also operates a financial community, ZeccoShare, where members can share investing ideas and view others' verified trades and performance taken directly from the brokerage.[8][9]

Timeline of events

Products

Zecco Trading offers customers:

Regulation

Both Zecco Trading and Zecco Forex are subsidiaries of Zecco Holdings, Inc., but the two are subject to separate regulatory bodies.

Zecco Trading is a registered broker/dealer, member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the primary regulatory body of the securities industry.

Zecco Forex is a separate but affiliated company from Zecco Trading. Zecco Forex is subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.

Criticisms

Initial reviews of Zecco were mixed. Zecco Trading went from concept to live online brokerage in a matter of 8 months, launching with a relatively basic platform and weak customer service. Over the years, Zecco Trading claims to have improved both the product and service.

The data seem to show progress. Barron’s ranked Zecco with 3 stars[25] in 2009 – compared to 2.5 stars in 2008.[26] This ranked them in the same category as Scottrade, ahead of companies like Banc of America Securities and Wellstrade, but behind companies like OptionsXpress and Thinkorswim.

Zecco Trading’s customer service was sometimes criticized in the early days, while Zecco claims to have improved service[27] more recently. Smart Money Magazine's Broker Survey seems to corroborate a turnaround in service quality: Zecco received one star in 2008 for customer service which improved to three stars in 2009.[28][29]

The low cost was seen as a trade-off for a less polished interface and simpler features than competitors.

Zecco Trading has also undergone criticisms for its accounting methods, which are seen as inaccurately portraying overall account performance, daily balances and trade executions.

Many users expressed frustration after some customers were accidentally given up to $13 million in buying power on April 1, 2009.[30] Zecco Trading explained this as a technical error and said only customers who egregiously abused the extra buying power were held responsible for their trades.[31] However, some customers felt they should have been able to keep gains but not be held responsible for losses.

As a reaction to website downtime at Zecco Trading and many other online brokerages in September 2008, Zecco Trading decided to cancel commissions on all stock trades for all customers during the entire month of October 2008 to compensate investors.[19][20]

Customers can only trade US markets at Zecco Trading. Zecco currently supports the AMEX, NYSE, NASDAQ, OTCBB, and the Pink Sheets.

Many account functions have fees associated with them, including $50 to transfer stocks to another brokerage (ACAT), $30 per year for IRA accounts, and $235–$575 to request stock certificates.[32]

Despite claiming that commission-free trading would continue indefinitely,[33] Zecco began downgrading and restricting the "free trades" offer as the company grew, and eventually it was eliminated altogether. Beginning January 1, 2008, Zecco instituted a $2,500 minimum balance to qualify for the free trades, and reduced the limit on free trades from 40 per month to 10 per month, claiming that the majority of their customers traded less than 10 times per month anyway.[34] Zecco also raised the price for additional trades from $3.50 to $4.50 per trade. The following year, effective March 1, 2009, Zecco raised the minimum balance for free trades from $2,500 to $25,000,[35] effectively eliminating free trading for many customers. Finally, on February 25, 2011, Zecco announced they would no longer offer free stock trades - despite the origin of its name, zero commission cost. Zecco also raised their prices from $4.50 per trade to $4.95 per trade at that time.

Competitors

Competitors in the discount brokerage industry include: E*TRADE, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, Firstrade, Sharebuilder, and TradeKing.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Zecco.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ System response and access times may vary due to market conditions, system performance, and other factors.
  3. ↑ Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options.
  4. ↑ Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of a mutual fund or ETF carefully before investing. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
  5. ↑ Zecco pricing and products page
  6. ↑ Zecco Forex
  7. ↑ Forex trading involves significant risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Increasing leverage increases risk. Spot gold and silver contracts are not subject to regulation under the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act. Before deciding to trade forex, you should carefully consider your financial objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. Other important information.
  8. ↑ ZeccoShare Community
  9. ↑ Investors share tips, track records online - USATODAY.com
  10. ↑ Zecco Management Team, Zecco Financial Backers
  11. ↑ "ZeccoShare - Stock & Options Trading Community". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  12. ↑ "Information and results for 'Zecco.com Enhances Its Leadership Team.' | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  13. ↑ "Zecco.com Adds IRAs to Free Services - InternetNews". InternetNews. 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  14. ↑ "Zecco Launches Major Upgrade to Trading, Options Analytics, Financial Community Platforms". Business Wire. November 26, 2007.
  15. ↑ "Zecco Trading Names Former E*TRADE Executive Michael Feser as President". Reuters. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  16. ↑ "Zecco Trading Names Former Schwab Executive Michael Raneri as CIO". Reuters. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  17. ↑ "Investors Observer". Investors Observer. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  18. ↑ "Investors to Heed the Call of the Zecco Zirens". Bloomberg News. August 25, 2008.
  19. 1 2 Beyers, Tim (2008-09-23). "Fool Blog: Sympathy for the Retail Trader (AMTD)". Fool.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  20. 1 2 "ZeccoShare - Stock & Options Trading Community". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  21. ↑ "Trade Commission Pricing Details". Zecco. Archived from the original on 2009-09-04.
  22. ↑ Whitehouse, Kaja (2009-04-07). "Online Brokerage Firm Zecco Trading Cleans Up April Fool'S Day Computer Glitch". NYPOST.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  23. ↑ "ZeccoShare Discussions - Important Zecco Trading Message". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  24. ↑ "TradeKing and Zecco are Now One Family", May 15, 2012.
  25. ↑ "How the 25 Leading Online Brokers Stack Up" (PDF). S.wsj.net. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  26. ↑ Carey, Theresa W. (2008-03-17). "Making It Click: Annual Ranking Of the Best Online Brokers - Barrons.com". Online.barrons.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  27. ↑ "ZeccoShare - Stock & Options Trading Community". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  28. ↑ J. Alex Tarquinio (2012-05-16). "SmartMoney's Annual Broker Survey 2012". SmartMoney.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  29. ↑ Byroya Wolversonneil Parmar (2009-05-19). "SmartMoney's 2009 Broker Survey". SmartMoney.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  30. ↑ "Zecco Accidentally Increases Some Customers' Buying Power By Millions". The Consumerist. April 5, 2009. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012.
  31. ↑ "ZeccoShare - Stock & Options Trading Community". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  32. ↑ "Low cost stock and options commissions - compare with other brokers - Zecco Trading". Zecco.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  33. ↑ "Zecco.com To Offer Free Stock Trading - InternetNews". InternetNews. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  34. ↑ "Zecco downsizes its free services. No more 40 free trades per month. « Democratic Investments by the people for the people". Deminvest.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  35. ↑ Find more in Investing (2009-03-01). "Zecco Brokerage Raises Minimum Requirements For Free Trades". My Money Blog. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
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