Barron’s, Forbes, Kiplinger’s and Smart Money have all recognized optionsXpress as one of the world leaders in online stock trading; we also distinguish this first–class broker as the best and award them with our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award. Both the seasoned investor and the young trader will find this service user–friendly, educational and containing the advanced tools needed to create profitable investment strategies. OptionsXpress offers an easy-to-understand fee schedule, a good collection of trading tools and a low margin rate.

optionsXpress offers numerous tools to help you learn the ins and outs of the stock market, whether you’re interested in trading stocks, options, mutual funds or even bonds. With low commissions and no minimum account balance requirement, this online broker offers affordable rates to everyone.

optionsXpress offers a good balance between research/education and pricing. Often you can get low prices, but with little support, or tons of support with high prices. OptionsXpress is perfectly in the middle. In addition, optionsXpress works with most cell phones including iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile phones, so you can buy and sell stock or just check your balance anywhere, anytime.

Fees/Commissions        

There is no minimum investment to open an account with optionsXpress. The commission is $9.95 or $15 on all orders, including broker–assisted orders; this is excellent considering most brokers charge for assistance. optionsXpress charges $1.50 for each options contract.

Though this isn’t the cheapest commission schedule on the market, they do offer reduced fees for active traders. For example if you make more than 35 options trades in one quarter the fee goes down to $12.95 from $14.95.

Investments Offered        

optionsXpress began in 2000 as a service primarily focused on options and a limited selection of equities. However, today the broker offers a wide array of investments including stocks, mutual funds, exchange–traded funds and bonds. It does not offer CDs or some of the less popular investments like mortgage–backed securities and unit investment trusts.

Additionally, the service offers IRAs to secure retirement and education savings plans including Coverdell ESAs and custodial accounts.

Compare to	#2	#3
	Similar, with the exception that optionsXpress also offers educational savings plans.	The same, these two online stock trading services offer the same trading and investment opportunities.

Ease of Use        

This is an easy–to–navigate website divided into sections by tabs. Even the beginner will have no problems finding tools, educational materials and account information. The basic trading tool is easy to use and the trading platform, Xtend, is a downloadable trading program for advanced traders that is powerful, yet relatively simple to use.

optionsXpress offers webinars that will guide you through using the trading platform.

Compare to	#2	#3
	Close, the optionsXpress stock trading platform is slightly easier to use.	Similar, the TradeKing online stock trading platform is only marginally harder to use than optionsXpress.

Trading/Investment Tools        

This online broker provides all the tools and educational resources you need to make wise decisions about your finances. Just some of the tools and informative materials include calculators, charts, streaming news and analyst research reports. You’ll also have instant access to level I and level II quotes.

You can organize your preferred tools and streaming reports on a customizable desktop that will best fit your trading style and needs. You can also add alerts, to alert you of major changes in stocks you are watching, and automated trading. Through automated trading, the broker will automatically buy or sell securities according to your set criteria. You don’t even have to be at your computer.

Once you are ready to trade, you can do so over the phone, through a wireless device or over the internet. If you aren’t sure about a trade or just want to test the water before jumping in, try the virtual trading feature. Through virtual trading, you can buy and sell securities with virtual money. The virtual market follows the real stock market so you can see what you would have made or lost had you invested real money.

It also offers a mobile trading platform. OptionsXpress works with cell phones that can access the internet including the iPhone, Windows Mobileand Android cell phones. This mobile service can help you check your balances and positions and place orders from anywhere your phone can access the internet.

Compare to	#2	#3
	Better, optionsXpress provides a few more advanced tools such as Level II quotes and automated trading.	About the same, except optionsXpress provides a virtual trading tool for risk-free, experimental trading.

Support/Customer Service        

Though optionsXpress only offers two offices nationwide, its online help is superb. You have access to a number of tutorials and tours that will guide you through the site and introduce you to the various tools and features. It also offers 24-hour support for futures trades.

If you have further questions about the site or about investments, contact customer support through live chat, email or the telephone. Customer support is friendly and full of good information.

Compare to	#2	#3
	Nearly the equivalent, however OptionsHouse offers 90 days of free coaching, which is more than any other service offers.	Better, TradeKing does not offer 24/7 support like optionsXpress does.

Summary

optionsXpress is one of the most technologically advanced services, but it’s still user–friendly and offers more than enough training and support, so anyone can learn how to trade online. It has an excellent reputation, competitive pricing and excellent educational resources. Try them.