How to Get Free Real Time Quotes

This has been a secret of mine for a while now, but I figure that you guys need to get the inside info on how to truly take advantage of the your online stock broker. Unless you pay for real time quotes which costs around $20 a month (sites like yahoo finance sell package deals), the only other way is if you open an account with a broker which includes an initial deposit of $xxxx.

Most people think it isn’t worth the hassle to go through the online forms, fund their account, bla bla bla, all to be out a few grand in an account you never use. But, what most people don’t do is read the fine print, and the fine print will tell you that just because you fund your account with let’s say $2,500 doesn’t mean you have to maintain $2,500 in it. Curious yet? Read on.

Attaining the Free Stock Quotes

Any stock broker that doesn’t charge a minimum balance fee or an inactivity fee is eligible for this loophole, which from what I can relay off the top of my head includes: TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, and Etrade, to name three. What you do is take the 10 minutes online to fill out the application and fund your account electronically. The brokers above will give you instant access to your account… and your free real time stock quotes.

Then to setup one click deposits and withdraws, go into your account preferences and connect your bank account with your brokerage account. This may take a day or two to pend, but it will allow you to electronically transfer money freely in and out of your account. Once this is complete, remove let’s say $2,400 of that initial $2,500 (I’ve left as low as $50 in accounts and still had no problems). You now have $100 sitting in a broker account, and successfully have free real time stock quotes any time you want.

The alternative to this is to simply pay the $15 – $20 a month, which ends up to be somewhere around $200 or more a year. But who wants to pay that anyway?

Taking the Game One Step Further

So now you have access to free real time stock quotes with a basic stock broker account. But what about all the benefits of Elite status (Scottrade Elite, TD Ameritrade Apex, etc.). What if there was a way to get elite status which gives you everything from free level II quotes to last trades to in depth chart analysis, market commentary, heck free subscriptions to services that cost $100s a year… for free? I can tell you right now that it is possible because I have it setup right now and use it quite often, but that post is saved for a rainy day.

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