Soft Dollars

This is basically the opposite of cold, hard cash.

Brokers need to get paid (how else are they going to keep their Maseratis running?) but they need not always be paid in cash. In many cases, brokers will pay for things like trading stations or research on their own nickels—and then "give" those to their clients.

In return, the client trades with that broker or buys shares through them. Ordinarily, the client would pay a commission, but, in this case, the client gets soft things from that broker like research from the analysts who the brokers employ to opine on the direction of shares of public companies.

Soft dollars are also much better for stuffing mattresses. Warmer, too.