Ameritrade Holding Corp - One Of The First Discount Brokerage Firms

ONE OF THE FIRST DISCOUNT BROKERAGE FIRMS

Ameritrade Holding Corp. has a long history as a discount brokerage firm that goes back to May 1975, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deregulated the brokerage industry and made negotiated commissions available to individual investors. Around this time J. Joe Ricketts and his partners became associated with the company, then known as First Omaha Securities, which had been established in 1971 as a local investment-banking firm in Omaha, Nebraska. First Omaha Securities became one of the first firms to offer negotiated commissions, later known as discount brokerage, in 1975.

First Omaha Securities later became First National Brokerage Services Inc., and then Accutrade Inc. In 1987 TransTerra Co. was established as the holding company for AmeriTrade Clearing (later known as Advanced Clearing), a clearing broker established by the company in 1983, and the company's discount brokerages. During the 1980s and 1990s Accutrade developed its customer-oriented business strategy by offering multiple means of access to trading. In 1988 the company was the first to offer trading by touch-tone phone. In 1995 customers were able to trade over a portable communications device. In 1996 the company launched Accutrade for Windows, the first online investing system that allowed individuals to engage in program and basket trading.

In 1994 the company launched Ceres Securities Inc., a deep discount brokerage. In 1995 it acquired K. Aufhauser & Co. Inc., which had the first Internet trading site launched in August 1994. In 1995 it also acquired All American Brokers Inc., and in 1996 launched eBroker, an Internet-only broker, as a division of All American Brokers. In November 1996 the parent company TransTerra was renamed Ameritrade Holding Corp.