Stock Market: Best Online Stock Brokers
Best Online Stock Brokers
Everyone, who decided to use stock market as a vehicle for investing, needs a clear goal in mind, defined time horizon, knowledge how to invest, tools and instruments (stock2own.com, for example)... and an online broker.
There are dozens online brokerage firms in the US. Below we listed top three in stock2own list. All of them are members of Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). However, the tools they provide, instruments they allow to trade, requirements and fees are vary. Which one is the best for you? Sometimes having accounts with multiple brokerage firms is the best solution.
For instance, the smaller the account, the more it is sensitive to the commissions and fees. Commission-free accounts can be paramount for a cautious investor, where multiple transactions are used to enter and/or exit the trade (a common rule is to open "half position" to enter and another half when trend is confirmed). Therefore, it could be useful to have great online tools and also be able to trade free of charge.
TD Ameritrade FREE
TD Ameritrade trading platform is one of the best! It was originally developed by ThinkOrSwim, which was acquired by Ameritrade in 2009. ThinkOrSwim is extremely flexible, allows you to use hundreds technical indicators, supports complex multi-leg orders (spreads, condors, ...), provides real time news, access to earnings reports and much more. The biggest concern – Ameritrade service is relatively expensive.
- Account minimum
- $0
- Fees
$6.95 for stock and ETF trades, $6.95 per leg plus $0.75 for options
Since October 3rd, 2019, AMTD is charging $0 for exchange-listed US stocks, domestic ETFs. Option trades are free, but contract fees now only $0.65, plus no assignment or exercise fees.- Supported instruments
- Stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, options, futures, currencies
- Supported orders
- Simple market and limit orders, conditional, triggered (with stop loss), multi-leg
- Usability
- Somewhat difficult, requires time to learn important features
- Tools
- Extremely flexible and complex, but easy to learn
- Marginal accounts
- Yes
- Back testing
- Yes
- Paper money
- Yes, you can practice in real time or using historical data
- Online community
- No
- Platforms
- Desktop, mobile
- Promotion
- Get $ when you open and fund an account - read disclosures carefully
Robinhood FREE
Extremely fast growing commission-free online brokerage. Robinhood started by offering only mobile app trading platform, but later extended it's functionality to a fully functional web version. Robinhood platform is extremely easy to use and perfect for the beginner trader.
- Account minimum
- $0
- Fees
- $0
- Supported instruments
- Stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrencies
- Supported orders
- Simple market and limit orders, multi-leg
- Usability
- Very easy
- Tools
- Basic charts; charts with technical indicators open in a popup
- Marginal accounts
- Yes
- Back testing
- No
- Paper money
- No
- Online community
- No
- Platforms
- Web, mobile
- Promotion
- There’s a Free Stock Waiting For You!
Sign up now to find out what free stock you'll get. It could be a stock like Apple, Ford, or Sprint.
Webull FREE
Fast growing commission-free online brokerage. Webull currently supports only desktop and mobile app trading platform. They have quite sophisticated charts and analytical tools and yet webull made app very easy to use.
- Account minimum
- $0
- Fees
- $0
- Supported instruments
- Stocks, ETFs
- Supported orders
- Simple market and limit orders
- Usability
- Very easy
- Tools
- Price charts with technical indicators, earnings reports and analyst estimates
- Marginal accounts
- Yes
- Back testing
- No
- Paper money
- Yes
- Online community
- Yes! Webull encorages to participate in its own paper money competition
- Platforms
- Mobile, desktop
- Promotion
- A Free Stock Waiting For You! Sign up and deposit $100 or more to get a free stock.