I want to start investing in stocks online. What sites should I check out??

Question

I know about etrade and other major sites. I would like something that has a low minimum account balance.

Answer 1

There are a lot of good brokerages depending on what you like and how you trade.

Barron's has a great article on brokerages that they publish each year. (Latest one was in March 6, 2006). Kiplinger does one too.

Here’s the link to the Barron’s article.
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1550280182488.html

Here’s the link to the Kiplinger’s July 2006 article which isn’t bad either.
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2006/07/brokers.html


For basic stuff, E*Trade, Ameritrade, and Scottrade are sufficient. For more complex trades, I'd recommend Optionsxpress, ThinkorSwim, or interactivebrokers.

Based on what you put in your question, I'd recommend one of the first three, but all are very good. Cheapest probably is scottrade (of the larger online firms). Yes there are cheaper like interactivebrokers, but you'll have to get used to their software based platform (which is doable). They're only about $1/contract on options!

Brokerages like Fidelity are horrible for anyone with any decent experience.

So, decide what's important to you as a trader and compare the brokers! You can use the article, or go to each website as they all seem to have comparison charts! A few of them have very low minimum balances!

And if there are particular other things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, flexibility on allowing you to do certain types of trades, stop and stop limit orders, contingent orders, great graphing, what if scenarios, training, etc), I'll be glad to help discuss this with you too!

If you have any questions, let me know.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Have traded with several of the online brokers. TDAmeritrade seems to work best for me. However, looking into new player started last year. Go to sogoinvest.com. $3 trades. No minimum account balances. Also website has tab "compare us" which compares them to most of the online guys. Check it out.

Once you get an account where ever, choosing a stock to invest in will become the next problem. Two sources, there are 1000's, I have found to help me in that process is finance.yahoo.com and morningstar.com. Good luck.

Answer 3

I would definitely check out the Motley Fool site. They have good advice about the entire financial picture including stock trading. They also have excellent independent stock tips. The site is very readable and easy for someone new to the game to understand.

Check it out - www.fool.com

Answer 4

I use Scottrade. No minimum balance, no minimum number of trades, and each trade (no matter the shares) is only $7.

that pretty much beats everyone, unless you are a big time trader executing numerous trades everyday.

Answer 5

Dear friend,
Their are lots of sites by which you can trade in stocks, before that you have to state that which country do you belongs to, all that depends on the country name. I can give you the data of indian trading sites. If you are residing in INDIA then only my words are o.. else i am not sure about it. Well for Indians residing in INDIA they have the folowing sites in which they can trade.They are,
1). www.sharekhan.com
2). www.icicidirect.com
3). www.kotaksecurities.com
4). www.indiabulls.com
Even then you have to see which of them is in your city nearby then only you can trade. Go and contact them on their office address or just mail them on their sites they will contact you.After becoming a member you will get a ID and password by which you can log on to the respective sites and then you are open to the trading market.
BEST OF LUCK.

Answer 6

Fidelity is the best premium discount broker for my money. It is good especially for a beginner since it has a lot of research options (S&P, Morningstar, etc.). However, unless you have over $50,000 in the account, the cost of each trade can be expensive. Therefore, it is best for people who don't trade much (as in long-term value investors) and not that good for those who trade a lot (daytraders, etc).

Answer 7

TradeKing.
SogoInvest.

Answer 8

google it