Who is the best on line broker out there? I know there are 4 or 5 big ones. I can't tell them apart?

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 though the 2007 article “just” came out). Kiplinger does one too.

Here’s the link to the 2006 Barron’s article.
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1550280182488.html

Here’s the link to the new Barron’s 2007 – Best online Brokers 3/5/07
http://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB117288684364425609-wsYkdd74F9ukYSQgQJifDpHYwsY_20070402.html?mod=mktw

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!

And if there are particular things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, cheapest trade, 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!

P.S. I just found a link to a review of reviews as well! Here it is:
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/internet/online-brokers/reviews.html

Answer 2

My favorite is CyberTrader, which is owned by Charles Schwab. They are really geared for the professional trader, they have great software platform with all the bells and whistles needed. The cost structure is low as well. The website is www.cybertrader.com If you would like some more information feel free to email me at [e-mail] and visit our website www.rematatrading.com

Answer 3

The two biggest factors for most investors should be the commissions charged for buying or selling stocks (you want them to be as low as possible) and whether or not the company will charge you fees for say, simply keeping an account open (account maintenace fees).

I recently opened an account with tradeking which has $4.95 commissions and doesn't seem to have extraneous charges. Scottrade is also cheap and I believe won't charge you. You can probably also find more info if your snooping about.

Answer 4

regardless of all the rankings from the different people, check out a couple of them & make sure they meet YOUR needs. If you have $5k to invest & one has $10 trades & options, but they require $50k minimum & 100 trades per month, they wont work for you.

Do you need personalized advice? Do you trade often? Do you need margin, options, IRA, mutual funds...? Ask yourself what you need, then find which one caters to you.