Given that trades are often in the thousands of shares, they sound like they're about on par to me.
The main difference sounds psychological: "free" trades (with an asterisk) sound like they're designed to encourage people to trade quickly and without much thought. Which can be expensive come tax time, and doesn't encourage the kind of informed feedback that is supposed to keep markets honest.
The main difference sounds psychological: "free" trades (with an asterisk) sound like they're designed to encourage people to trade quickly and without much thought. Which can be expensive come tax time, and doesn't encourage the kind of informed feedback that is supposed to keep markets honest.