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Top 10 brokerage firms: compare and review best discount online investment companies.
Market goes up, market goes down - it's not easy to make money investing in or trading stocks.
Even when one manages to get a profit, it is often significantly reduced by the trading costs
(commissions, fees, margin interest and subscription to market data).
For this reason, it is important to find online brokerage firm that offers the lowest fees but is still very
reliable and provides excellent customer service. We compared the best discount stock brokerage companies
on overall customer value. We hope that the ratings of investment brokerage houses below will be instrumental in your selection
of the right company for you.
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- $7 per stock trade
- Options: $7 plus $1.25 per contract
- Mutual Funds: 2,800+ free. $17 for all other mutual funds
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, CDs, munis, Canadian stocks, ETFs
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No-fee IRAs
- Highest customer satisfaction according to JD Power and Associates
- 400+ local branches
- Great support for beginner investors
- Margin rates are among lowest of national online brokers
- Online community
- No ACAT fee
- Only $500 minimum to open account
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No-fee IRAs
- Highest customer satisfaction according to JD Power and Associates
- 400+ local branches
- Great support for beginner investors
- Margin rates are among lowest of national online brokers
- Online community
- No ACAT fee
- Only $500 minimum to open account
Scottrade is one of the veterans of the discount stock trading and it is a solid, well-established firm with
flat rate trading commissions. Scottrade keeps customers happy by avoiding unnecessary fees for things like IRAs, maintenance or account
inactivity. Scottrade is a leader in customer service and investor satisfaction according to JD Power and
Associates.
We believe that Scottrade is an excellent choice for beginner investors, those who invest in mutual funds, and
long-term, "buy and hold" investors (mainly because of no account inactivity charges).
No IRA fees make the firm a very attractive option for an IRA account.
Because Scottrade is a stable, seasoned stock brokerage firm with a very good reputation, it is also
a natural choice for people nervous about trusting their money to newer companies but not wanting to pay
$10+ for trades and multiple fees.
Scottrade
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- $4.95 per stock trade (for stocks over $1)
- Options: $4.95 plus $0.65 per contract
- Mutual Funds: $14.95
- Bonds: $4.95/bond ($14.95 minimum)
- Treasuries: $24.95 per transaction
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs): $24.95 per transaction
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
- One of the best in trading commissions
- No minimums or hidden fees
- Award-winning trading tools
- Best customer service
- Low margin rates
- Great community to watch and interact
- Fee-free IRAs
- Extra $0.01 per share on the entire order of stocks priced less than $1
TradeKing is one of our favorite brokerages - we ranked it #2 among top brokerage firms. It also has a lot of other
awards: the highest 5-star rating in Customer Service and Trading Tools in the June 2009
Barrons Magazine Broker Survey; the highest five star rating in Customer Service in the 2008 Barrons Magazine
Brokerage Survey; overall #1 Discount Broker in the 2007 and in the 2006 according to Barrons.
TradeKing has no minimum requirements or hidden fees. Beginners could place broker-assisted trades for the
same low price of $4.95 and could learn to trade and get investing ideas in the website's friendly community.
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- Lowest stock commissions in the industry
- Efficient trading tools
- No account minimums. Minimum initial funding size is $1,000 for a cash account and $2,000 for a margin account
- No fee IRA account
- No volume requirements and inactivity fees
- Free check-writing privileges
- No surcharges for large orders, penny stocks and extended hours trading
- Steep learning curve for people new to investing
We gave OptionsHouse the third position in "Best Discount Stock Broker" rankings.
The firm offers rock bottom $2.95 flat rate commission for stocks and two great plas for options trading.
OptionsHouse has no account balance minimums, no minimum number of trades and no volume requirements
to get these low trade commissions.
Barron's magazine gave OptionsHouse 4.5 stars (out of 5) in 2009 online stock broker survey
and named them #1 in "Trade Experience".
Get 100 commission-free trades:
Optionhouse.com
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- 10 free stock trades/month with $25K min. account balance OR if you make 25 trades/month
- $4.50 per stock trade (if not meeting above requirements)
- Options: $4.50 plus $0.50 per contract
- Mutual Funds: $10
- Bonds: $4.50 per bond, with $22.50 minimum per transaction
- Treasury: $24.50 per transaction
- Investments: stocks, mutual funds, options, Forex, Bonds, Treasury bonds, ETFs
- Free/very low commissions
- No account minimum or inactivity fees
- Virtual trading environment
- Forex trading
- Free dividend reinvestment
- Great investing community
- Minimum to open account: $0
- No surcharges for large orders, penny stocks and extended hours trading
Zecco.com brokerage offers... 10 free trades a month! If you got at least $25,000 or make at least 25
trades a month. Only $4.50 trade commission if account balance is below $25,000 or make less than 25 trades
a month.
Zecco.com is one of the few discount online brokerages that offers Forex trading. It also provides virtual trading
environment for testing and improving trading skills and strategies. No account minimum, no inactivity fees and
free dividend reinvestment are great too.
Zecco.com is the CHEAPEST discount stock broker firm if you have $25,000 account balance and make 25 or less
stock trades in a month. You could open account with no money down and no commitment in minutes and see if
Zecco works for you.
Zecco.com
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- Direct Access trading: $0.005 per share, $1 minimum per trade
- $5 per stock trade, unlimited shares
- Options commission: $5 per trade plus $0.55 per contract
- Mutual funds: $25 per trade
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs
- Very low commissions and fees
- No account minimum or inactivity fees
- No extra charges for large-sized orders, stocks below $1 or extended hours trading
- Direct access trading with very low commissions
- Very good customer service
- Paper/virtual trading
- Investor community
- Great trading tools
- High mutual fund commissions
ChoiceTrade brokerage was awarded 4-star rating (highest rating is 4.5 stars) by Barron's magazine for 5 years in a row.
In 2009 it got top scores in Trade Experience, Trading Technology, Usability and Research Amenities. ChoiceTrade
has some of the cheapest commissions in the industry.
ChoiceTrade offers Direct Access trading with $0.005 per share and lower and $1 minimum per trade. This means that
all orders of up to 200 shares will cost you just $1! Orders up to 500 shares will cost $2.50 or less.
If you plan to invest primarily in mutual funds then ChoiceTrade is not a firm for you - its $25 mutual fund
commission is too high.
You could open account with
ChoiceTrade
 with no money down in just
a few minutes and try their virtual trading and other services to see how you like it.
ChoiceTrade
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