Why Online Stockbrokers?

What if you had access to the same charts and graphs, market news and analyst reports that professional brokers have? No one cares more about your investment portfolio than you do, and now you can be a shrewd, educated trader. A good online stock trading service provides you with everything you need to make smart investments.

Online stockbrokers provide an array of investment options, so you can diversify your portfolio and create accounts that fit you and your financial goals. Invest in and trade stocks, options, mutual funds, exchange–traded funds and various fixed–income securities including bonds and CDs. Deposit your investments in an IRA or set your children up for success with an education savings plan.

Stock trading services provide a variety tools to help you effectively buy and sell securities. A few of these features include alerts, watch lists, third-party analyst reports, option chains, investment calculators and virtual trading. Many also offer education services so you can learn the basics or advance your skills, such as webinars, newsletters, blogs, seminars, forums, glossaries and definitions, and much more. Stock trading can be confusing and intimidating, but good research and educational resources can help you build the knowledge you need to trade with confidence.

In this site, you’ll find articles on investing and comprehensive reviews on online stockbrokers that will help you make an informed decision on which broker is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS, We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™

What to Look for in an Online Stockbroker

An online stockbroker should provide you, the investor, with all the resources you need to make educated financial decisions and buy and sell investments using a variety of strategies. Some of these resources include educational materials, real–time charts, streaming news, various high–quality tools and a user–friendly trading platform. New to this review, we added cell phone features. Many services do not yet have cell phone support, but many are adding these features in reaction to the increasing consumer demand for it.

For the purpose of this review we looked for services that provide good tools for choosing stock coupled with a competitive trade rate. Although many day traders may not need all of the research tools provided by these services we rewarded those that did since this type of information is perfect for trading novices and experienced traders can appreciate having all of the information in one place. We also looked for above average and responsive customer support.

Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate online stock trading.

Fees/Commissions
Fees and commissions can add up quickly and many services also require additional fees for all kinds of things from transfer fees to check request fees. We compared a variety of fees commonly charged by these types of services; however, some online brokers have a tiered commission schedule based on balance or trade volume.

Investments Offered
Most online stock trading services offer the basics such as stock, options, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Many services also offer access to a variety of international markets as well as investment services or packages for retirement and education saving.

Trading/Investment Tools
Online brokers that offer practical tools such as investment calculators, analyst reports, cell phone alerts and useful charts, chains or graphs can help investor make smart buying and selling choices. Since buying/selling stock can be daunting, we feel that good information is vital.

Ease of Use
Investors come from all lifestyles; a superb service accommodates everyone regardless of their knowledge of computers, the Internet or trading online. Accommodations may include a navigational website, in–depth tutorials or one–on–one training.

Support/Customer Service
Trading is complicated and risky, it is extremely important that online stock trading services provide good and immediate customer service by telephone, email, instant and chat and more.

To read the review on optionsXpress, the online stock trading service our reviewers ranked #1, click here.

 
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Access professional level broker resources anywhere, even on your cell phone. Whether you are a trading newbie or an ambitious day trader you can benefit from using an online stock trading service.

Rank #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10
Excellent score   Excellent
Very good score   Very Good
Good score   Good
Fair score   Fair
Poor score   Poor
optionsXpress TradeKing Fidelity E*Trade Financial thinkorswim Firstrade Charles Schwab Scottrade TD Ameritrade MB Trading
optionsXpress TradeKing Fidelity E*Trade Financial thinkorswim Firstrade Charles Schwab Scottrade TD Ameritrade MB Trading
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Lowest Price Buy optionsXpress
$9.95
Buy TradeKing
$4.95
Buy Fidelity
$8.00
Buy E*Trade Financial
$7.99
Buy thinkorswim
$9.95
Buy Firstrade
$6.95
Buy Charles Schwab
$8.95
Buy Scottrade
$7.00
Buy TD Ameritrade
$9.99
Buy MB Trading
$4.95
 
Overall Rating Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent
Ratings
Fees/Commissions Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Excellent Excellent Very Good Excellent Excellent Excellent
Investments Offered Very Good Very Good Very Good Excellent Very Good Very Good Excellent Very Good Excellent Very Good
Ease of Use Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent
Trading/Investment Tools Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Excellent
Support/Customer Service Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent
View Specifications Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
View Screenshots View optionsXpress screenshots View TradeKing screenshots View Fidelity screenshots View E*Trade Financial screenshots View thinkorswim screenshots View Firstrade screenshots View Charles Schwab screenshots View Scottrade screenshots View TD Ameritrade screenshots View MB Trading screenshots
Fees/Commissions
No Account Maintenance Fee Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark  
Tiered Commission Structure Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark    
Broker-Assisted Orders $9.95+ $4.95 $8 $45 $9.95 $26.95 $25 $27 $44.99  
Market Trades $9.95+ $4.95 $8.00+ $7.99 $9.95 $6.95 $8.95 $7 $9.99 $4.95+
Limit Trades $9.95+ $4.95 $8.00+ $7.99 $9.95 $6.95 $8.95 $7 $9.99 $0.95
Option Trades $12.95 $4.95 $8.00+ $7.99 $9.95+ $6.95 $8.95 $7 $9.99 $0.95
Fee/Option Trades   $0.65 $0.75 $0.75 $1.50 $0.75 $0.75 $1.25 $0.75 $0.95
Minimum Account Balance    $2,500 $1,000 $3,500    $500   $1,000
Margin Rates (Base Rate + %) 2%+ 4.5% - 6.5% 3.75% - 8.575% 3.99% - 6.99% 1.95% 4% - 7.75% 6% - 8.5% -0.25% - (-0.75)% 1.25% - (-1.5%) 7.45%
Investments Offered
Stocks Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Options Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Mutual Funds Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Exchange-Traded Funds Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
International Stock Exchange     Check Mark       
Forex      Check Mark      Check Mark
Retirement Accounts Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Education Savings Plans Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Trading/Investment Tools
Calculators Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark  
Alerts Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Virtual Trading Check Mark     Check Mark      
Level I Quotes Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Level II Quotes Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Automated Trading Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Charts and Graphs Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Critera Based Search Tool/ Screeners Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Options Chain/ String Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark     Check Mark Check Mark  
Analyst Research Reports Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Watch Lists Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Mobile Tools
General Cellphone Features    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark  
BlackBerry Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
iPhone    Check Mark   Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark  
Palm Check Mark   Check Mark   Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark  
Nokia    Check Mark   Check Mark    Check Mark   
Windows Mobile Check Mark   Check Mark   Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark  
Android         Check Mark In Development  
Symbian         Check Mark Check Mark  
Resources
Retirement Resources    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark  
Beginning Investor Education Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Tax Information Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark
Webinars Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark
Video   Check Mark Check Mark     Check Mark    
Blogs Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark     
Seminars/ Live Events Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark  
Forum   Check Mark       Check Mark   Check Mark
Help/Support
Free Telephone Support   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Email Support Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Live Chat Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark     Check Mark
24/7 Support     Check Mark    Check Mark   Check Mark  
Support Forum Check Mark Check Mark       Check Mark   
 
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Lowest Price Buy optionsXpress
$9.95
Buy TradeKing
$4.95
Buy Fidelity
$8.00
Buy E*Trade Financial
$7.99
Buy thinkorswim
$9.95
Buy Firstrade
$6.95
Buy Charles Schwab
$8.95
Buy Scottrade
$7.00
Buy TD Ameritrade
$9.99
Buy MB Trading
$4.95
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