NEW YORK, June 13, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- In what may be considered some of the biggest news to hit Wall Street this year, ElephantX Online Securities, LLC announced today that it has formed a strategic marketing alliance with Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) that will enable customers coming through select Compaq Websites to "trade for peanuts" when they open an ElephantX Online brokerage account.
ElephantX Online securities, a new e-broker backed by Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC), EMC2 (Nasdaq:EMC), Prospect Street Ventures and Mitsubishi Capital Corporation (NYSE:MTF), started offering online investors truly commission-free online stock trading this week. That's zero commission on all market and limit orders for both Nasdaq- and NYSE-listed securities executed by customers online.
What's the catch? David Sher, CEO and co-founder of ElephantX said, "There is no catch! We decided it was time to look at the brokerage industry as a simple transaction-processing business, similar to check processing. We systematically went about minimizing or eliminating each of the variable costs related to online stock trading."
According to Sher, such costs include trade routing and execution, clearing and settlement, customer service and customer acquisition: "Our partnership with Bear Stearns enables us to provide complete record-keeping and financing to our online customers at the lowest cost. We have spent the last two years developing technologies for routing and executing trades much more cost-effectively, while empowering our brokerage representatives with the centralized account information they need to provide superior customer service. Finally, we have formed strategic marketing alliances with companies such as Compaq that let us reach a large audience very quickly, without spending millions on advertising."
"We have been working with ElephantX for a number of months now, and are very excited about their offering," said Kevin Kyle, general manager, Internet services at Compaq. "Our goal is to continuously provide value to our customers through enhancing their Internet experience, and we believe that Presario owners will see the value of commission-free online trading offered by ElephantX."
In addition to commission-free online stock trading, ElephantX says it will provide customers with a whole host of account tools and services through one low, monthly "smart fee" and even free, depending on account value.
"For less than the price of a single market order at even the biggest discount e-brokers, customers will have access to a real-time quote streamer, interactive training courses, an intelligent news and research engine, and live customer service representatives. Later additions include automated tax-lot accounting that will enable customers to generate a Schedule D," said David Schulman, branch operations manager for ElephantX Online Securities. "We believe that online investors are tired of constantly being surprised by miscellaneous fees and charges for each service, every time they receive an account statement."
The smart fee starts at $9.95 per account per month, and declines to zero for investors with larger account balances.
ElephantX Online Securities, LLC, a licensed broker/dealer and member of the NASD and SIPC, is a subsidiary of elephantX dot com, Inc., a technology company that also provides fast, flexible and cost-effective, transaction-processing solutions to financial institutions through elephant express, LLC. (www.elephantxpress.com) Revolutionizing large institutional brokerage operations. www.compaq.net/mypresario www.elephantxonline.com
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CONTACT: ElephantX.com, New York
David Sher, CEO
(212) 972-3692
dsher@elephantx.com