Free ETF Trades by Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade

The exchange traded fund or ETF sector is growing much faster than mutual funds. Recent data has shown that investors have pouring money into this investment fund. More providers and brokerages have provided free ETFs trading option. There are currently 4 brokerages which offer Free ETF trades such as Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard.

Intro

Most of these ETFs are Passively managed ETFs or index ETFs. This index ETFs track various indexes such as Nasdaq, S&P 500, Russell, and MSCI.

• Fixed income / Bond: short term bond fund, intermediate term bond fund, diversified bond fund, government bond fund, Investment Grade Corporate Bond, High Yield Corporate bond (Non Investment Grade corporate bond), Treasury Inflation Protected (TIP) Bond, emerging markets bond fund, etc.
• Equity / Stock: S&P fund, NASDAQ index fund, large cap fund, Russel 2000 index fund, REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), Emerging Markets stock fund, International Foreign Large Cap, Foreign Small Cap.
• Commodity: gold, silver, palladium, copper, sugar, cotton more
• Country Specific or Regional countries Specific ETF such as Brazil, China, Malaysia, Singapore

Vanguard

Known for its low cost mutual funds, Vanguard began offering their ETFs for free this May 2010. There are currently 62 free ETFs for trading. Most these ETFs can be traded in Vanguard Brokerage Services (VBS) account which is separate from main Vanguard account.

Fidelity

Fidelity offered 30 commission free iShares ETFs. Fidelity also offers variety of  financial products like mutual funds, cash management, full brokerage service, annuities and many more. The top 6 well known iShares ETFs are: iShares S&P 500 ETF (ticker: IVV), iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM), iShares Barclays Aggregate bond ETF (AGG), and  iShares Barclays TIPS ETF (TIP).

Charles Schwab

Schwab currently offers 15 commission free Schwab ETFs. These Schwab ETFs include domestic equity ETFs, International Equity ETFs, and Bond ETFs. Schwab also offers $8.95 per trade for trading stock or other ETFs. To open an account, you need $1,000.

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade has offered one of the largest commission free ETFs. It has provide various ETFs from many different providers. There are currently more than 100 ETFs available for investors to choose. These exchange traded funds include 31 Equity ETFs, 3 REIT Sector ETFs, 32 Bond ETFs, 31 International ETFs, and 4 Commodity ETFs.

TD Ameritrade also offers a full brokerage service. It currently offers $9.99 per trade for trading stock or other ETFs.

Note: ETF = Exchange Traded Fund