Best Discount Stock Brokers and Online Stock Brokers
Which stock broker does StockBrokers.com recommend for you? Every investor has different trading styles and investment preferences that can be used to help rate top online brokers to find a great match. Several of the currently best stock brokers include:
OptionsHouse - OptionsHouse was ranked the Best Broker for Discounted Trading 2011 and offers $2.95 flat fee trades alongside two flexible rates for options trading.
Current Offer: Receive 100 free trades by opening a new account today.
Current Offer: Get up to $150 in transfer fees back when you switch to TradeKing.
Current Offer: Trade free for 60 days + get up to $500 cash with any new account.
TD Ameritrade - Offers one of the largest varieties of trade tools through Thinkorswim and the Trade Architect platform. Best of class investment research is also provided for all clients. All online equity trades are $9.99 regardless of account balance or trade size.Current Offer: Trade free for 60 days + get up to $600 cash.
Online Brokers Comparison Chart
Compare online brokers with the stock brokers comparison chart! Included are easy to read star ratings, pricing and fees information, and even a features overview section to see what every broker has to offer.
There are specific things you will want to consider when you choose a stock brokerage. The cost of trade commissions, ease of site use, flexibility of the trade platform, access to investment research, and quality trade execution are just a few. Customer service, mobile trading, banking, international trading, and support for other trade types (options, futures, forex, bonds) are others.
It is also important not to limit yourself to only one top stock broker. Since most brokers focus on different segments of trading, mixing and matching may be useful. For example, some discount brokers focus on low cost trade commissions while other brokers may focus on trade tools and their platform. For day traders, having multiple accounts set up just to take advantage of extra tools and to simply have a backup is key.
At one time most of the brokerages that offered IRA accounts charged an annual fee of $50 or more to deal with the regulatory hassles of holding your IRA assets. Today, mostly all brokers offer IRA accounts with no setup fees and no annual maintenance fees.
For international investors seeking to trade the U. S. Stock Markets, most major online stock brokers like Etrade Financial and MB Trading welcome foreign accounts.
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** – thinkorswim was rated #1 overall online broker, “best for frequent traders,” and “best for options traders” in the 2009 Barron’s ranking of online brokers (3/16/2009), and the 2010 Barron’s ranking of online brokers (3/15/2010). Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company © 2010.
thinkorswim, Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc. and Reink Media Group LLC are separate, unaffiliated companies and are not responsible for each other’s services and products.