What is Zecco Zap Trade?

Ever get tired of flipping between 3 or 4 different browser windows to keep track of your desired portfolio, real-time-quotes, and then to actually make the trade through your discount broker? We’ve all been there. That’s why I was pretty excited when Zecco launched a nifty little Firefox plugin last week that allows you to instantly get a real time quote and trade when the plugin (called Zap Trade) detects a ticker symbol within your browser.

Zap Trade is a free Firefox plug-in that lets investors place stock trades and get real-time quotes while visiting popular investment and research websites. Here’s how it works:

1. Click the [Z] on select sites when scrolling over a stock ticker (anything that Zap Trade detects is a ticker is highlight in purple).
2. ZapTrade opens up in a pop-up window & you can get a real-time stock quote.
3. Complete the trade, if you so choose, without leaving the site you are on.

How I am Planning on Using Zap Trade

I really like this tool because I rarely use my stock broker to research the stocks/funds that I want to buy or potentially sell off. I typically use Google Finance for most of that. What I plan on doing is creating a portfolio of stocks that I am interested in buying within Google Finance (which also offers real-time quotes) – so that all of my potential trades can be traded from in one browser. From there I can scroll over the ticker, open Zap Trade, and make a trade if the stock/fund is at a price that I want to buy or sell at.

Requires a Zecco Account

Note that to use Zap Trade, you will need a Zecco trading account. I use Zecco for my personal account because I get 10 free stock trades every month (must have an account balance of $25,000 or more, otherwise trades are $4.50/each) and they have zero annual or inactivity fees – making my cost to use them as a discount broker absolutely nothing. I have done a thorough Zecco review in the past. I’ve been very happy with them as a discount broker.

Check out the video on the Zap Trade site to see the plugin in action.