NerdWallet offers financial tools and advice to help people understand their options and make the best possible decisions. The guidance we offer and info we provide are deeply researched, objective and independent.

Barron’s Best Online Broker Ranking - Barron's

We spent over hours reviewing the top online brokers before selecting the best for our readers. There is no single best online broker for stock trading.

Are you just starting out and looking for a friendly place to learn the ropes? Really into trading options and futures? Seeking access to sophisticated investing research? A cost-conscious frequent trader? To find a suitable online broker, read on for highlights and links to our in-depth reviews on each. These brokers have no inactivity fees or account minimum.

They offer advanced trading platforms, a breadth of research and access to a wide range of investments. OptionsHouse and TD Ameritrade offer strong customer support, advanced trading platforms with no balance or trade minimums, and an impressive amount of research.

Determining which of these two top-tier discount brokers will best meet your needs comes down to a few key differences in their offerings.

The broker also offers a large selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds and commission-free ETFs. OptionsHouse offers no no-transaction-fee funds and just five commission-free ETFs. These brokers offer tons of educational offerings for beginners, affordable commissions, round-the-clock customer service as well as physical branches to get in-person guidance and a large number of commission-free ETFs.

TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab are our top picks for such investors. A main draw is that both brokers offer full-service treatment for investors who live near one of their physical branches. Online service is also robust. Both brokers offer a ton of educational resources, beginner-friendly web-based and mobile trading platforms and tools to help new investors build a diversified portfolio. For our complete roundup of the best brokers for those just starting out, see the best online stock brokers for beginners.

First-timers may also wish to review best online futures broker reviews guide on how to buy stocks.

Rate Limited

These firms offer a broad selection of investing products — stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, futures and options trading — along with power trading platforms that advanced investors will appreciate. To pick the best fit for your style, compare best way to make money in ac city folk costs for the investments you plan to trade most frequently: E-Trade and OptionsXpress earn the all-star status in terms of their broad range of offerings, but investors looking for the best service, price, tools and trade execution should check out our coverage of the best brokers for options tradingbest brokers for trading futures and commodities and best brokers for forex trading.

Research is key to stock trading and Merrill Edge and Fidelity both provide investors with ample tools, data and research to dig deep into stock analysis. That said, price is what you pay, value is what you get.

On that point, neither of our top picks for cost-conscious investors skimp on the quality of trading platforms nor on the selection of investments offered.

Lots of brokers require no minimum investment to open an IRAbut the price to open find investment investools investor learn market stock storage regular brokerage account is often higher. Here are more NerdWallet resources to answer other common questions about online brokerage accounts.

Graphics tips on binary options trading I have enough money to get started investing?

Note that many of the brokers above have no account minimums. One easy way build a diversified portfolio for little money is to invest in exchange-traded funds. ETFs are essentially bite-sized mutual funds that trade like stocks: Like a mutual fund, ETFs forex cargo canada a basket of similar assets e.

But instead of having to qualify for a mutual fund investment minimum, investors can buy and sell individual shares of ETFs just like individual stocks. Is the money in brokerage accounts insured?

Are there different kinds of accounts? What paperwork do I need to open a stock trading account? How do I determine if a broker is right for me before I open an account? Some key criteria to consider are how much money you have, what type of assets you intend to buy, how frequently you plan to transact and how much service you need.

NerdWallet strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. All financial products, shopping products and services are presented without warranty.

Pre-qualified offers are not binding. So how do we make money? We receive compensation from our partners when someone applies or gets approved for a financial product through our site.

Error Page

But, the results of our tools like our credit card comparison tool and editorial reviews are based on quantitative and qualitative assessments of product features — nothing else.

At times, we may receive incentives such as an increase in the flat fee depending on how many users click on links to the broker-dealer and complete a qualifying action. Log in Sign up. Best Online Brokers for Stock Trading We want to hear from you and encourage a lively discussion among our users. Please help us keep our site clean and safe by following our posting guidelinesand avoid disclosing personal or sensitive information such as bank account or phone numbers.

Any comments posted under NerdWallet's official account are not reviewed or endorsed by representatives of financial institutions affiliated with the reviewed products, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Credit Cards Banking Investing Mortgages University Partners. Insurance Loans Shopping Utilities Taxes. About Company Press Careers Leadership. Terms of Use Privacy Policy. Low commissions; superior tools, particularly for options.

Top research; two powerful trade platforms; educational content. Among largest selections of commission-free ETFs. Large selection; reasonable commissions and fees. Large selection; discounts for high-volume traders. Breadth of research from other providers and own offering. Impressive platform and research depth; low commissions.

Discounts for frequent traders; among best platforms.