Suretrade Explained

SURETRADE
Fate:	Acquired by Bank of America
Location:	Lincoln, Rhode Island
Founder:	Donato A. Montanaro
Num Employees:	1,000
Industry:	Finance and Insurance
Products:	Financial services
Revenue:	$100M

SURETRADE was a stockbroker firm with an electronic trading platform created in 1997. It was headquartered in Lincoln, Rhode Island. It was acquired by FleetBoston Financial's Quick & Reilly in 2001, at which time the firm had over 350,000 customers and nearly $2 billion in assets.

History

The company was founded in 1997 as a division of Quick & Reilly by Donato A. Montanaro.^[1]

Quick & Reilly was acquired by FleetBoston Financial in 1998.

In early 1999, FleetBoston considered an initial public offering for the unit but plans were scrapped in October 1999 after the dot-com bubble started to crash.^{[2] [3]}

In an October 1999 Fortune (magazine) article, Montanaro claimed that Suretrade was rated the #1 broker for aggressive traders and #2 for beginning investors.^[4]

In 2000, the company launched advertising that promoted market timing.^[5]

Suretrade was folded into Quick & Reilly in 2001 as investors wanted more advisory services after the crash of the dot-com bubble.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Online Broker TradeKing Launches with Low, Flat-Rate Commissions . https://web.archive.org/web/20051229173134/http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb326453.htm . dead . December 29, 2005 . . December 27, 2005.
2. News: John . Hechinger . Fleet Boston Scraps Plans for IPO Of Suretrade as Net Stocks Slide . . October 13, 1999 . subscription.
3. News: John . Hechinger . Rebecca . Buckman . Fleet Considers Spinoff, IPO For Suretrade Internet Unit . . March 12, 1999 . subscription.
4. News: Joseph . Nocera . Power to the People INVESTING HAS BECOME PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN MIDDLE-CLASS AMERICA . . October 11, 1999.
5. News: SURETRADE BREAKS TV, PRINT ADS . . . October 31, 2000.
6. News: Maria . Trombly . Brokerage Joins Movement Away From Net Pure-Plays . . February 12, 2001.