Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

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investorpeter
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Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by investorpeter »

The other thread on the end of TD Apex client status got me nostalgic about all the various online discount brokerage accounts I have had over the years that have since closed, merged or consolidated. It is fun sometimes to reflect on the circuitous journey of some of my accounts.

TDAmeritrade was actually my oldest account until I closed it last year, after almost 20 years. Back then, it was called Datek Securities, before Datek merged with Ameritrade in 2002, and then became TD Ameritrade in 2006. When I opened the account 20 years ago the commission per trade was $9.99 which was a great deal at the time. When I closed the account 20 years later, the commission was $8.99, a terrible deal relative to competitors, and one of the reasons I decided to close the account.

My most interesting account in terms of name changes, was my Roth IRA that I initially opened with a new online broker called DLJ Direct (the online branch of defunct investment bank Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette), which then became CSFB Direct (Credit Suisse First Boston Direct), then Harris Direct, then E-trade. As I recall, all of these changes occurred within a relatively short period of time, at which point I lost confidence and transferred to a more stable bank.

I wonder if others have similar stories of their meandering accounts over the years. Or do Bogleheads just open up an account with Vanguard or Fidelity right out of high school and never look back?
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by saltycaper »

I opened my first brokerage account with DLJ Direct. I chose them over over TD Waterhouse (where the "TD" came from in "TD Ameritrade"), but I don't remember why. I want to say stock trades were $19.99. Wasn't there a premium for limit orders?

Thanks for making me look for my first trade confirmations. I think I shredded them years ago. :x
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Post by student »

Oldest is Waterhouse, which became TD Waterhouse, which is now TD Ameritrade.

Edit: Corrected a typo.
Last edited by student on Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by jhfenton »

I don't get nostalgic, but we were TD Waterhouse customers starting in 1998, a couple of years after TD bought Waterhouse Securities. We stayed through the acquisition by Ameritrade in 2005, and we finally jumped ship for Vanguard in 2015. We are actually back now in a limited way. Our HSA investments are held at TD Ameritrade through Lively.

There were a lot of paths to ultimately end up as customers at TD Ameritrade without affirmatively moving your account.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by htdrag11 »

investorpeter wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:21 pm
My most interesting account in terms of name changes, was my Roth IRA that I initially opened with a new online broker called DLJ Direct (the online branch of defunct investment bank Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette), which then became CSFB Direct (Credit Suisse First Boston Direct), then Harris Direct, then E-trade. As I recall, all of these changes occurred within a relatively short period of time, at which point I lost confidence and transferred to a more stable bank.
I used to work for DLJ Direct for about 10 months, so it was actually fun with a quasi-startup, trying to compete with E*Trade. Obviously my stock options were worthless.

I closed my TD account last year, consolidating into Vanguard but DW is still with TD, mostly managed by advisors for 1% fee. It is what it is.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by samsoes »

I know the "TD" in TD Bank's name stands for Toronto Dominion. Does anyone know if it means the same in Ameritrade and Waterhouse?
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by student »

samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:12 am I know the "TD" in TD Bank's name stands for Toronto Dominion. Does anyone know if it means the same in Ameritrade and Waterhouse?
I think Toronto Dominion is origin but it is now just TD. So yes and no. Yes, its origin is Toronto Dominion but no, it is just TD. It is similar to KFC and HSBC.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by investorpeter »

saltycaper wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:05 am I opened my first brokerage account with DLJ Direct. I chose them over over TD Waterhouse (where the "TD" came from in "TD Ameritrade"), but I don't remember why. I want to say stock trades were $19.99. Wasn't there a premium for limit orders?

Thanks for making me look for my first trade confirmations. I think I shredded them years ago. :x
$19.99 sounds about right to me. DLJ Direct was my second account ever after Datek. I think it was the cachet of the DLJ connection at the time that allowed them to charge more. DLJ was supposed to be my premium account that I would carry with me for life. Datek was supposed to be temporary until I could afford to pay regular priced commissions. As it turns out, it was the opposite for me.

I don’t remember whether they charged a premium for limit orders. But I wouldn’t be surprised. Back in the late 90s during the internet bubble, you could sit at the computer all day entering and cancelling your limit orders as the prices kept going up and up. They may have wanted to discourage that load on their servers.

I do rememebr the DLJ direct advertised that they would allow customers access to some IPOs underwritten by DLJ. I don’t recall ever taking advantage of that offer however.
Last edited by investorpeter on Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by investorpeter »

htdrag11 wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:10 am
investorpeter wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:21 pm
My most interesting account in terms of name changes, was my Roth IRA that I initially opened with a new online broker called DLJ Direct (the online branch of defunct investment bank Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette), which then became CSFB Direct (Credit Suisse First Boston Direct), then Harris Direct, then E-trade. As I recall, all of these changes occurred within a relatively short period of time, at which point I lost confidence and transferred to a more stable bank.
I used to work for DLJ Direct for about 10 months, so it was actually fun with a quasi-startup, trying to compete with E*Trade. Obviously my stock options were worthless.

I closed my TD account last year, consolidating into Vanguard but DW is still with TD, mostly managed by advisors for 1% fee. It is what it is.
Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly, but I thought DLJ eventually merged with E*trade. It is too bad your options did not transfer to E*trade.

All I remember is there was a period when every six months I would get an account statement in the mail with a different name of a brokerage on top. There may have been some other name changes between DLJ and E*trade as well.
Last edited by investorpeter on Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

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student wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:18 am
samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:12 am I know the "TD" in TD Bank's name stands for Toronto Dominion. Does anyone know if it means the same in Ameritrade and Waterhouse?
I think Toronto Dominion is origin but it is now just TD. So yes and no. Yes, its origin is Toronto Dominion but no, it is just TD. It is similar to KFC and HSBC.
Glad to hear. It wouldn't be good if assets held at a TD institution were seized by the Crown.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by stlutz »

I was at Jack White who then get acquired by TD Waterhouse. I think Jack White was $20 per stock trade (or maybe $25)? I think TD was $12 at the time of acquisition.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by livesoft »

investorpeter wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:21 pmI wonder if others have similar stories of their meandering accounts over the years. Or do Bogleheads just open up an account with Vanguard or Fidelity right out of high school and never look back?
I've had accounts at Vanguard since the early 1980s, so more than 35 years. Had an account at Fidelity in the late 1980s, still have an account there. Account at TDAm (nee TDWaternouse) for 24 years. A relationship with WellsFargo for 24 years, too. TIAA for more than 30 years. I guess I've only closed one brokerage account in my life.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by cfs »

Jack White first, then Jenny Montgomery Scott, then Vanguard. Also had accounts with Stein Roe, Janus, TIAA CREF. But that was then and this is now. Good luck and thanks for reading / cfs
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by nisiprius »

I'm not nostalgic, but I do remember Schwab's $29.95 commission for online trades once seeming dirt cheap, miraculously cheap, unbelievably cheap.

People who fuss over 0.05% expense ratios have no idea. Before the end of negotiated commissions, your typical brokerage transaction cost considerably more than $100. Plus, if you were buying an odd lot, there was a totally hidden fee of $ 1/4 per share. It didn't show up anywhere on the confirmation slip, which just showed $ 1/4 per share less than the market price if you were selling or $ 1/4 per share more if you were buying (perhaps the slip said that the transaction had been fulfilled by one of the special brokerages that handled these trades).
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by CardinalRule »

Really dating myself, but my first online brokerage experience was with something called PCFN, on the long-defunct Prodigy online service. PCFN was run by Pershing, a unit of DLJ. Despite a primitive interface and costly commissions by today's standards,it was pretty cool at the time. :wink:

I gravitated to Brown & Co. and Schwab after that.
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Post by bondsr4me »

I did a lot of trading with Brown & Co....trades were a flat $5.00.

I also used Aufauser....pd $700/yr for unlimited trades.

Used to use National Discount Brokers (still have a little penlight they gave me..still works).

Also used Seibert, Ameritrade, Waterhouse, Schwab..probably some others too.

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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by alpenglow »

I worked for the trading arm of Datek Online. Ah, the good old days. :moneybag
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Post by edge »

I don’t know what this is trying to get at but TD bank, a Canadian institution, owns a large share of TD Ameritrade. Iirc 40%.
samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:38 am
student wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:18 am
samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:12 am I know the "TD" in TD Bank's name stands for Toronto Dominion. Does anyone know if it means the same in Ameritrade and Waterhouse?
I think Toronto Dominion is origin but it is now just TD. So yes and no. Yes, its origin is Toronto Dominion but no, it is just TD. It is similar to KFC and HSBC.
Glad to hear. It wouldn't be good if assets held at a TD institution were seized by the Crown.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by randomizer »

As long as you kept hold of your assets through all these name changes, merges and closures...
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by DrGoogle2017 »

I’m nostalgic about Brown & Co, it was the cheapest comission at the time, $5. I lost track of what happened to it and who acquired it. I did a lot of business there. I might have an account with Waterhouse, but not trading much there.
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Post by mhalley »

I also started with DLJ, but eventually transferred it all to V.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by Fclevz »

DrGoogle2017 wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:13 pm I’m nostalgic about Brown & Co, it was the cheapest comission at the time, $5. I lost track of what happened to it and who acquired it. I did a lot of business there. I might have an account with Waterhouse, but not trading much there.
Brown & Co. was purchased by E*Trade in 2005.
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Post by MnD »

Quick and Reilly.
Call and talk to an incredibly fast-talking broker with a huge NYC accent or to save even more use the phone tone order entry using the phone keypad. Good times! Used them for many years for taxable, IRA and education accounts. Eventually they got bought out (TD Waterhouse?) and I moved everything to Schwab.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by renue74 »

I started investing in 1997....straight out of college.

I used E*Trade and this thread made me remember that. I just logged into my OLD E*Trade account and saw that I still have a very, very old rollover IRA with a whopping $61.40 in it.

I'm going to close it out.

So..there, bogleheads.org made me $61.40 today.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by CardinalRule »

Before the E*Trade deal, I think that Brown & Co. had been acquired by Chemical Bank, which was later purchased by Chase Manhattan. And then Chase merged with JP Morgan.

I liked the $5 commissions, but as I recall setting a limit order would cost you another $5. :wink:
Fclevz wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:39 pm
DrGoogle2017 wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:13 pm I’m nostalgic about Brown & Co, it was the cheapest comission at the time, $5. I lost track of what happened to it and who acquired it. I did a lot of business there. I might have an account with Waterhouse, but not trading much there.
Brown & Co. was purchased by E*Trade in 2005.
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Post by MrJones »

I still have my Datek checkbook! I don't fully remember exactly why my trading account had a checkbook associated with it.
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Post by Engineer250 »

investorpeter wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:21 pm I wonder if others have similar stories of their meandering accounts over the years. Or do Bogleheads just open up an account with Vanguard or Fidelity right out of high school and never look back?
Do people straight out of high school have money to invest? I still don’t have any money in an after tax brokerage and I’m in my 30’s. My first 403b was with Fidelity which I took with me to my first 401k at Schwab which my employer changed the manager to Vanguard. I originally had my first Roth IRA at Schwab because they let you start one for like $50/month. Now it’s at Vanguard. 2018 will be the first year I max it out so it’s prettt small. I wasn’t a Boglehead when I started my Roth IRA but Schwab must have had some good advice on their website because I put all my Roth money in Schwab Total US Stock Market and didn’t look back. I was just discovering BH when I moved over to Vanguard.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by Alskar »

Here's the path I took: Bidwell >> Ameritrade >> TD Ameritrade. All of these were through acquisitions.

I recently closed my TD Ameritrade account and consolidated my holdings at Fidelity.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by jon-nyc »

alpenglow wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 2:30 pm I worked for the trading arm of Datek Online. Ah, the good old days. :moneybag
I worked for Waterhouse securities. As a consultant. I was there when TD was sniffing around and when they bought them.
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Post by investorpeter »

Thanks for sharing everyone! It has been a great trip down memory lane.

I would just point out that there seems to be an interesting pattern of starting out at discount brokers before later consolidating at Fidelity / Vanguard / Schwab / Merrill Edge. It must be something about a "do-it-yourself" attitude early in life that leads to becoming a Boglehead.
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Post by motorcyclesarecool »

Datek (I think!) had an incredible commercial touting its IT infrastructure portraying their competition as dusty old men in green eyeshades sitting inside a fancy computer. Did I imagine that, or did it happen? No joy on YouTube so far...
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Post by whodidntante »

Bogle pronounced Fidelity dead, so I'll miss them after they're gone. At least they give me free Turbotax.
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motorcyclesarecool wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:10 pm Datek (I think!) had an incredible commercial touting its IT infrastructure portraying their competition as dusty old men in green eyeshades sitting inside a fancy computer. Did I imagine that, or did it happen? No joy on YouTube so far...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7WUAjlsQA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsmAYuavN-w

https://adland.tv/commercials/datek-salmon-2001-030-usa
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Post by bearcub »

Was in Seibert for some years before Vanguard. Sadly Muriel Seibert passed on awhile back. Met her along with her little dog. Really nice lady.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by motorcyclesarecool »

Looks like I misremembered the green eye shade. That’s the one though. What was your search term?
Understand that choosing an HDHP is very much a "red pill" approach. Most would rather pay higher premiums for a $20 copay per visit. They will think you weird for choosing an HSA.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by nominalBob »

Spear Securities on Compuserve. (and maybe also direct through Telenet.) Folded into E*Trade.
Quick & Reilly on Compuserve.
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Post by CABob »

Nothing too nostalgic with me. If my memory is correct I went from Lombard to Discover Brokerage then closed the account.
I opened a Scottrade account and transferred some securities from Smith Barney into it and now it looks like I am with TDA although no change for me yet.
There is a similar and perhaps longer history in the full service brokers. I have a friend with one for many years and I used to joke that I would like the contract to provide him with business cards and stationery.
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Post by MP123 »

nominalBob wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:24 am Spear Securities on Compuserve. (and maybe also direct through Telenet.) Folded into E*Trade.
Quick & Reilly on Compuserve.
Yeah, I remember E*TRADE on CompuServe when it was a teletype window (no GUI).

Enter "1" to list your portfolio, enter "2" to buy a stock, and so on...

And all at 300 baud! Those were the days.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by Valuethinker »

edge wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 2:35 pm I don’t know what this is trying to get at but TD bank, a Canadian institution, owns a large share of TD Ameritrade. Iirc 40%.
samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:38 am
student wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:18 am
samsoes wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:12 am I know the "TD" in TD Bank's name stands for Toronto Dominion. Does anyone know if it means the same in Ameritrade and Waterhouse?
I think Toronto Dominion is origin but it is now just TD. So yes and no. Yes, its origin is Toronto Dominion but no, it is just TD. It is similar to KFC and HSBC.
Glad to hear. It wouldn't be good if assets held at a TD institution were seized by the Crown.
http://fortune.com/2016/10/24/td-amerit ... scottrade/

suggests 42% (as you noted).

I think it was a joke. "Seized by the Crown" of course means by the Canadian government (whose head of state is Elizabeth of Saxe-Coborg-Gotha (Windsor) and whose representative is a governor general "appointed" (really selected on the advice of the Prime Minister) by the Queen). So it would be the Canadian government.

The US business will be segregated, and if the assets were seized, that would not include the client assets.

It's really Ameritrade, with a large shareholder that is a Canadian bank.

TD Bank has been very active in expanding in USA as a retail bank. Bank of Montreal owns Harris Bank in Chicago (and some other properties I think). The TD retail bank in Canada is actually TD Canada Trust.

http://modernistarchitecture.blogspot.c ... ronto.html

The TD Bank Centre (3rd photo down) is one of the Mies Van der Rohe's best late period designs. It's a classic.
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Post by Miriam2 »

Valuethinker wrote: "Seized by the Crown" of course means by the Canadian government (whose head of state is Elizabeth of Saxe-Coborg-Gotha (Windsor) and whose representative is a governor general "appointed" (really selected on the advice of the Prime Minister) by the Queen). So it would be the Canadian government. . . . The TD Bank Centre (3rd photo down) is one of the Mies Van der Rohe's best late period designs. It's a classic.
That's what I love about Valuethinker - we learn history along with investing education :D
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Post by Valuethinker »

Miriam2 wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:55 pm
Valuethinker wrote: "Seized by the Crown" of course means by the Canadian government (whose head of state is Elizabeth of Saxe-Coborg-Gotha (Windsor) and whose representative is a governor general "appointed" (really selected on the advice of the Prime Minister) by the Queen). So it would be the Canadian government. . . . The TD Bank Centre (3rd photo down) is one of the Mies Van der Rohe's best late period designs. It's a classic.
That's what I love about Valuethinker - we learn history along with investing education :D
Thank you ;-)

The US legal threads here play a similar role for me. I know the broad outlines of US history, like when Robert E Lee sided w the USA against his native Virginia, and Richmond fell in the spring of 1862 ;-) but I don't have a strong sense of how your legal system works.

The reference to Elizabeth's German ancestry is slightly teasing. When World War One kicked off it became uncomfortable to be at war w the Kaiser, Queen Victoria's nephew. Thus the Royal Family hastily rebranded itself as "Windsor", the name of their favourite castle at the time.

So since the 1700s our head of state is of foreign ancestry.

The fiction that the Canadian government acts on behalf of the Queen, when in fact it is totally sovereign, might be slightly confusing to an American. A Crown Corporation is one controlled by the Canadian government (they don't actually use that term in Britain).
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by michaeljc70 »

I don't have any nostalgia as I used discount brokers my whole life and they were nothing special except cheap. But by today's standard, they weren't even that cheap. I remember having a National Discount Brokers account and Brown account. They got bought and rolled into something else.
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Re: Nostalgic about old online brokerages that no longer exist

Post by cheapskate »

DrGoogle2017 wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:13 pm I’m nostalgic about Brown & Co, it was the cheapest comission at the time, $5. I lost track of what happened to it and who acquired it. I did a lot of business there. I might have an account with Waterhouse, but not trading much there.
Brown & Co was a good firm, with good customer service.

The first online trading I ever did was at an outfit called Pacific Brokerage Services (PBS) in LA (pre-Web, ca 1995). They had a Curses based App that you had to access over telnet. I am pretty sure they passed passwords over in plaintext. Still at $19.95 (I think) flat per trade, it was cheap commissions that drove some of us there. They got acquired by Dreyfus, and I think Dreyfus vanished.
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Post by 808 »

investorpeter wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:21 pm Back then, it was called Datek Securities, before Datek merged with Ameritrade in 2002, and then became TD Ameritrade in 2006.
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 10:20:26 -0500
Subject: Datek Online Account Activated

Thank you for choosing Datek Online.

We received your completed application forms and have successfully activated your Datek individual account.

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My first "discount" brokerage to "trade" not invest. I remember a lot of friends were doing Schwab at the time. Still have my TDA account active. Oh, the memories.

Some interesting tidbits from reviewing the headers of that email:
X-Mailer: <WinNT's Blat ver 1.5> - No idea what Blat was.

Received: from smv06.globecomm.net ([206.253.130.42])
by relay.gte.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id KAA20988
for <redacted>; Wed, 9 Dec 1998 10:14:28 -0500 (EST)
Received: from mx4.datek.com ([207.159.94.27])
by smv06.globecomm.net (8.9.1a/8.9.0) with ESMTP id KAA25934
for <redacted>; Wed, 9 Dec 1998 10:14:24 -0500 (EST)
Received: from mx4bota ([10.200.2.1] (may be forged))
by mx4.datek.com (2.5 Build 2639 (Berkeley 8.8.6)/8.8.4) with SMTP
id KAA09914 for <redacted>; Wed, 09 Dec 1998 10:14:23 -0500
- Can't say I remember Globecomm but I guess that was their ISP.
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