Do you recently enter the stock market? As every investor is unique and every brokerage has its own features, there is no single ideal location to buy stocks. Here are our top recommendations for novice-friendly brokers.
Interactive Brokers
Due to its robust Trader Workstation platform, simple access to a wide range of international markets, and extremely low trading commissions, Interactive Brokers took the top rank. Professional traders at hedge funds & other investment businesses like Interactive Brokers because of these advantages and more. Keep in mind that non-professional traders can use Interactive Brokers’ IBKR Lite platform for $0 stock commissions.
Interactive Brokers consistently charge costs that were far lower. Compared to other top trading platforms for pros, IBKR Pro’s tiered pricing model provides greater prices for direct access trading. Furthermore, noteworthy are the platforms’ lowest margin rates and reduced charges for trading futures.
Tiered trading commissions: $0.0005 to $0.0035 per share
Account minimum: $0
TD Ameritrade
For its smartphone app and user-friendly options, TD Ameritrade is a popular online broker. Since TD Ameritrade provides the most comprehensive teaching materials of any stock trading platform, the latter may also apply to new traders picking up the ropes. The majority of market orders are filled at a lower cost than the nationally announced quote according to TD Ameritrade’s so-called enhanced order routing technology. Direct routing for equity orders isn’t yet possible, and this broker is paid based on order volume.
Tiered trading commissions is $0
Account minimum: $0
Merrill Edge
Top honors go to Merrill Edge and Bank of America, which make a compelling case to be the best financial services partner. This broker performs practically everything well, with the exception of trigger-happy day trading, and some of its tools are game-changers. Stock Story, Portfolio Story, and Idea Builder are just a few of Merrill Edge’s exclusive research tools that are not available anywhere else.
Like many other discount brokers, Merrill Edge offers its clients an unlimited number of free stock and ETF trades. Top-tier brokers typically charge $0.65 per contract for options trades. Trades with a broker’s help cost a reasonable $19.95.
The minimum deposit: $0.
Stock trades: $0
Fidelity
A value-oriented online broker, Fidelity provides $0 trades, superior trading tools, and an intuitive mobile interface. Fidelity offers a full range of investment solutions, including stock trading and retirement planning, as well as all the advantages an investor would anticipate from a full-service brokerage. Customers routinely receive more value from Fidelity’s $0 stock & ETF trades, and it avoids various fees that many other brokers slap on their clients.
The website of Fidelity offers all the tools a regular investor requires to maintain a portfolio. Like other top-tier brokers, Fidelity offers in-depth market analysis, but it also excels at selecting relevant news and opinion pieces from outside sources.
The minimum deposit is $0.
Stock trades: $0
