Differences between Ameritrade, Scottrade, E-Trade, etc.

[AdamL]

Hi,

Does anyone have a particular recomendation as to what the best brokerage service might be for someone with about $10k and less than 10 trades a month?

(I'm also curious, for future reference, how that changes if you have more than 10 trades a month.)

I was checking out e-trade and said to myself "Wow, they sure have a lot of qualifiying statements!" Makes for a less than clear understanding of their commission structure and services offered.


PS -- I'm Canadian, so I'm ineligible for some brokers. I tried www.freetrade.com for example, and found they only verify US residents.