About the work

A closer look.

Broker fees, brokerage fees, trading fees, trade fees, stock fees, stock trading fees, and commission: what one trade actually costs you, decoded from the filings. Plain answers to "how much does a trade cost" and "why did my broker charge me", and a straight "cost of a trade" and "trade cost" breakdown. Send me one trade you actually place (ticker, share count, order type, and your broker) and I return a short written decode of the full cost path, built from the documents that create the cost: your broker's Rule 606 report, the exchange and FINRA fee schedules, Section 31, and clearing. Not the headline commission. The full path. Every figure carries its source, the schedule version and the date I checked it. Where the answer is a range, or breaks for a specific case, I say so instead of flattening it. If I cannot reach a figure from primary sources, I name it unconfirmed and tell you before you rely on it. Want to compare broker fees before you switch? Give me two brokers and I price the same trade at both from their own 606 disclosures and the payment for order flow (order flow) figures they report. Robinhood fees, Fidelity, Schwab, any of them, on one unit of comparison. Deliverable: a written brief (under 800 words, cited), delivered on the order. One revision included.