« Free money to test drive cars | Main | Save two bucks every time you fill up »
May 02, 2006
$500 signup bonus. Really.
TD Ameritrade is running a $500 signup promotion. Fund a new account with $10,000 and reach Apex status within three months. To do that, average five trades per month over three months (that is, 15 trades in three calendar months). To help you reach Apex status, you get 45 days of free online equity trades.
You have to keep the account open for nine months after the $500 credit posts. If the $10,000 earns 3.5% in Ameritrade's money market account and you use the free trades to buy & sell equities 15 times, you'll end up with about $10,850 after one year, or 8.5% nearly risk-free (assuming you don't lose money on the stock trades).
I use Ameritrade and like it since it's easy to transfer money in and out and their commissions are low. Plus, they've responded WAY faster than E*Trade when it comes to customer service (four hours vs. four days).
Please check out the details and fine print for yourself since your money will be tied up for a year. Also, don't forget that if you trade the same stock for three or more round trips in five business days, you are considered a day trader and must keep $25,000 minimum balance.
Ameritrade also offers a $100 signup bonus with a $5,000 opening balance, where you don't have to make any trades at all. You have to keep the account open for 9 months, which works out to a ~ 6.2% return, assuming you take advantage of the 3.5% money market account. That offer expires May 15.
Posted by brian at May 2, 2006 09:57 PM
Comments
I called customer service. The rep said that Apex status is automatically reviewed every three months, but you can reach it sooner if you call and ask. Basically, you just need to have made 15 trades and then they can give you Apex status, meaning you could get the $500 sooner than 3 months. That means you might be able to shorten the time the money has to be at Ameritrade from 12-13 months to 9-10 months.
Posted by: Tyler C at May 5, 2006 12:07 PM