Best Online Brokers For Trading Stocks May 2018

Whether you’re new to stock trading or looking to see what else is out there, there are currently a great deal of stock brokers to choose from. Which stock broker is the best?

There are many newer, lesser known brokers making a splash with good pricing and sign-up promotions. In other industries, considering the smaller players can save money and lead to a good experience. For stock investing and trading, however, we can’t recommend you take this approach.

When deciding which broker is best for you, our experience has shown that cost really shouldn’t be the top priority. Investing is an industry where you want size and experience on your side. Established brokers and investment firms have a solid foundation, have amassed a sizable client base, and have the financial backing to provide the best tools and service.

If you’re buying and holding on to a few stocks a year, saving $5 per transaction should be the least of your concerns. And if you’re  looking to day or swing trade, the platform (desktop or mobile software) and trading tools (scanners, education, research) are going to be the most important.

We do understand everyone has different needs and will review the best discount brokers as well – ones that don’t sacrifice much in features and experience.

Another important criteria for those new to investing is what markets are supported by which broker. Markets include Equities (i.e. commonly known stocks like Apple, Google, Facebook…), Futures (e.g. Gold, Oil, Sugar…), Forex (i.e. currency pairs like USD/JPY and EUR/USD), and Options (i.e. Option contracts on common Equities). The ones that are commonly not supported are Futures or Forex, or both. You can trade Equities like your favorite blue chip stocks with all the major brokerages, so that won’t be an issue if you just want to get your hands on some shares of Apple (APPL), Microsoft (MSFT), etc.

While there is no one best stock broker for everyone, there are a handful we strongly recommend you choosing from.

Let’s go through all the talking points below and find out which brokerage is best for your needs.

*See a list of all brokerage bonuses and promotions here

Best Online Stock Brokerages Summary

Best Overall Online Brokerage Picks

Here are the most versatile brokers that have a proven track record for fulfilling the needs of most investors.

Trade Commission $6.95	Trade Commission $3.95-$4.95
Account Minimum $0	Account Minimum $0
Sign-Up Bonus $600 in bonus cash	Sign-Up Bonus $3500 cash & free trades
Review	Review
Learn More	Learn More

TD Ameritrade and Ally Invest are both top choices that will fit the needs of most investors. These two brokerages have a track record of strong customer support and have no balance or trade minimums. Both have excellent trading platforms, with the ThinkorSwim platform from TD Ameritrade agetting our vote as the best for most traders. Ally’s platform is web-based, and they also have apps for mobile access.

Unlike some popular platforms from other brokers, ThinkorSwim can be used for free once you have an active TD Ameritrade account. While the trade commissions are a bit higher than with the lowest cost brokerages, many traders happily pay that extra little bit in order to have free access to the Trade Architect (Web platform) and ThinkorSwim (more featured desktop software) platforms. You’ll also be able to trade markets other than Stocks (e.g. Forex, Futures, Options, Mutual Funds, ETFs) with TD Ameritrade. *TD Ameritrade has updated their commissions pricing for online stock trades to a lower $6.95, further cementing their place as one of the best stock brokers.

Ally completed their acquisition of Tradeking in 2016, making it even more competitive, and has a trading platform sufficient for most. You can trade Forex, Futures, Stocks, Options, Mutual Funds, ETFs and Bonds with Ally Invest, so you’re all covered here.

Best Online Brokers For Beginners

What makes these top choices good for beginner investors?

• A large library of educational resources to get you up and running
• Affordable commissions
• Great customer support available 24/7
• Large number of commission-free ETFs
• Physical branches are available for in-person support

Trade Commission $6.95	Trade Commission $4.95
Account Minimum $0	Account Minimum $1,000
Sign-Up Bonus $600 in bonus cash	Sign-Up Bonus 500 Free Trades
Review	Review
Learn More	Learn More

Just as TD Ameritrade’s customer service is praise by clients, so is Charles Schwab’s. Both of these brokers also have an enhanced database full of step-by-step educational material that uses professionally delivered audio and video. Think of it like sitting through seminars right from the comfort of home.

In regards to in-branch service, Charles Schwab is a step ahead with 300+ locations across the country and TD Ameritrade has over 100. With the late 2016 announcement that TD Ameritrade is set to acquire Scottrade, there will be some forthcoming changes here. Scottrade has over 500 branches across the U.S.

Neither TD Ameritrade or Charles Schwab will charge account maintenance or inactivity fees, making them good choices for new investors looking to get their feet wet. Both also provide commission-free ETFs and no-transaction-fee mutual funds, which are popular with beginner investors due to the diversification nature of these products.

Best Brokers For Investment Market Selection

Whether you currently dab into a variety of markets, or plan to gain some experience with each, you need to know that not all brokerages support all the main markets (Stocks, Forex, Futures, Options and Mutual Funds).

Some new traders jump in and open an account with a brokerage recommended by a colleague or one seen in an ad, only to find out that Futures or Forex trading isn’t available to them. Even several well-known brokers don’t support all markets.

Trade Commission $6.95	Trade Commission $6.95
Account Minimum $0	Account Minimum $500
Sign-Up Bonus $600 in bonus cash	Sign-Up Bonus $2,500 bonus cash & free trades
Review	Review
Learn More	Learn More

TD Ameritrade is our overall top pick for a reason, and they are one of the top choices in this category as well. With both TD Ameritrade and E*Trade, you’ll be able to trade all markets – Stocks, Options, Mutual Funds, Forex and Futures.

E*Trade is yet another big, reputable brokerage firm and also has around 30 physical branches across the United States. As with many other top broker choices, E*Trade offers 24/7 customer support along with vast educational resources. They’re consistently continuing their growth, and acquired OptionsHouse in 2016.

Similar to TD Ameritrade, E*Trade offers web, desktop, and mobile platforms for investors and active traders. For active traders, we find TD Ameritrade’s ThinkorSwim to be more of a proven favorite.

Best Online Brokers For Research

Here are two of the best brokers with professional Research tools, which will help to analyze Stocks and markets with data from financial records, economic reports, company assets, market share etc.

Over time, investors find their own method of evaluating SEC filings, trade magazines, online reviews and company news to know more about a company or market. A brokerage that offers streamlined Research to give you a better understanding of your potential investment will save you valuable time.

Trade Commission $4.95	Trade Commission $6.95
Account Minimum $2,500	Account Minimum $0
Sign-Up Bonus 500 Free Trades	Sign-Up Bonus $600 in bonus cash
Review	Review
Learn More	Learn More

Both Fidelity and Merrill Edge provide top-notch Research capabilities for your stock analysis needs. Fidelity is one of the best in the business and has research from more than 20 providers to help narrow down quality recommendations. Merrill Edge, a Bank of America corporation, has Research from it’s own BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research as well as well-known providers like Morningstar, Lipper, S&P Capital IQ and Recognia.

Best Low-Cost/Discount Brokers

We believe the difference in the cost of commissions between all the best brokers isn’t significant enough to be a major criteria in your decision process. Not everyone is in the same boat, and sometimes finding the lowest cost broker is necessary. If you’re entering and exiting many trades with a low number of shares, trade commissions can really put a dampen on your bottom line.

Here are two of the best brokers for lower commission costs that don’t sacrifice in other necessary features.

Trade Commission $3.95-$4.95	Trade Commission $0.005/share
Account Minimum $0	Account Minimum $10,000
Sign-Up Bonus $3500 cash & free trades	Sign-Up Bonus N/A
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Learn More	Learn More

If you’re searching for the lowest commission costs possible, take a look at the Robinhood app, which only focuses on commission-free trading. We feel that if you’ve done your due diligence and don’t have a need for quality platforms, educational resources, research or investment options, then Robinhood may fit your needs. It’s for investors who want to buy and sell stocks only.

Ally Invest (formerly TradeKing) and Interactive Brokers are two good choices if you’re looking for a reputable “discount broker” that retains features important to most. Between the two, Ally Invest will usually be the better option given the $0 account minimum, versus the $10,000 account minimum required by Interactive Brokers.

Interactive Brokers stands out for frequent traders who can meet the monthly trading activity and $10,000 account balance by providing great volume discounts. Another win for Interactive Brokers is their offerings of 50 commission-free ETFs and 1,700 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

The Runner-Ups

Here are some other good brokerage options that provide certain features that can benefit many investors.

Tradestation has had one of the most highly rated trading platforms for the past several years and is one of the few platforms that allows for programming and app creation with their proprietary EasyLanguage development tool. TradeStation no longer supports Forex trading, but you can still trade all the other instruments/markets. Updated pricing is now $5 per Stock/ETF trade and $0.50 per contract/$5 per trade for Options. Review

Stock Brokers Detailed Comparison

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