Do I really need a online stock broker?

Question

If not, how do I go about getting into buying stocks on my own?

Who are the best online brokers companies to work with...Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, Scott trade, Etrade, ABWatley Direct, Choice Trade, Firstrade, Interactive Brokers, MB Trading, Muriel Siebert, Options Xpress, Preferred Trade, Rush Trade, Share Builder, Terra Nova Trading, Trade King, Trade Station, Wall Street Electronica or Think & Swim???????

Why or why not??

TY for your time,
~Essence

Answer 1

No, you don't need an online broker, but your trading life will be MUCH easier if you have one.

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 - which you mentioned, 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

Online stock brokers charge you too much, and there's no guarantees to them actually helping you/making you money.
If you're willing to do some research and make thoughtful decisions, then you can do it yourself! But as a beginner, just remember-don't put all your eggs into one basket (buy a diverse amount of stocks.)


I've used scottrade.com and it's been great! You only pay $7 per trade (no matter how much you buy) and there's no annual/monthly fee. plus you're not forced to make a certain number of trades per year. I think Charles Schwab is wayyyy to overpriced.

Scottrade has a nice website that's easy to use and helpful.

PS-Scottrade has 500 broker firms throughout the country that help you free of charge. Kudos to you for getting started investing!

Answer 3

An online broker is as close as you will get to buying stocks on my own,without owning a seat on the exchange. Charles Schwab,and Scott trade both have local offices as well as online trading,If you are a beginer I highly recomend placing your trades in the office the first few times then ask them to show you exactly how to do it online. This link may help in the longshot tips department http://charting-the-market.com/

Answer 4

I personally use Scottrade, but there are even cheaper brokers you can use as far as commissions go. It just depends on how much research you are willing to do on your own.

Zecco.com and SogoInvest.com offer the cheapest commissions; however, they are not as well-known as a Scottrade is for instance.

Answer 5

We use scottrade, do our own research cost 7 dollars a trade, they answer questions for us if they can. It works for us. There are plenty of places to research stock items,

Hope that helps

Answer 6

No as long as you are keeping up with your stocks..
I normally see them go up and down and sometimes when I see one going too down I pull out the $ and put in the ones that are doing better....or put it in a new stock...
I play with my stocks... within 6 months I reevaluate whether they need to remain or not...I read up on the news on each individual stock I own...

Answer 7

scott trade because it teaches you how to read financial reports/everything, offers you reuters report on all companies history/up to 10 year stock prices high/lows...balance sheets, rec's...lets you trade pink sheets etc

Answer 8

no