I have to agree with you. Additionally, I'm happy to pay my broker 25 basis points for every trade I make. In exchange I get 24h phone support, trade over the phone, analyst research, morning notes, end of year trading tax records, etc. Paying for a service, if it's an excellent service, is not a bad thing. This internet trend of "everything free" wants to shift the attention from the fact the back-office, customer service and other support functions are lacking or inexistent.

Well said. Add "in a regulated industry" too.

how does interactivebrokers compare to this in terms of cost? are there any hidden costs retail investors should be aware of?

The fees, listed on the website, are mostly transparent but complex.

You must pay at least $10 in commissions each month or they charge you the difference. Depending on how much you trade this might be a deal breaker. There is also a minimum initial deposit.

Virtualbrokers is another option with more choice of fee structure. I don't think they have a minimum monthly fee but they charge you for data.

IB is very competitive. IB encourages volume so I believe our FIX gateway has a minimum of $100 in commissions. IB's pricing structure is very transparent in terms of pricing. You can also get rebates passed back to you.

Yes, same thing was said about Google back in the day. Why have another search engine, when there are so many other ones