10 Internet Stock Brokers Compared

Internet stock brokers allow you to place trades much cheaper and much faster than ever before. So, which one is the best? Let’s compare stock brokers to find out.

Of all brokers these are pretty much the top 10, starting with the largest US stock brokers.

1. E trade

Who can forget about Etrade and their talking baby? These commercials always make me laugh, but how good is their service? Should we take this baby seriously? Here are the facts.

The minimum balance to open an account there is only $100, this means it is easier to fund you account here and start investing then in most other places.

The only disadvantage is the commissions. E-trade may be considered to be a discount broker, but their commissions are still pretty high. $12.99 per trade for account balances under $50,000.

If your balance is over $50,000 commissions are lowered to $9.99, but that is still pretty high. You may be able to trade here with $100, but commissions are going to eat that up pretty fast.

2. Charles Swab

Swab is a pretty reasonable brokerage with outstanding service. Their commissions have also been lowered to $8.95 to be more comparative.

You do need $1,000 in order to open up an account with them, but this is waved if you sign up to deposit $100 a month into the account. Special accounts such as international accounts may need you to deposit more money.

3. Fidelity

Fidelity has lowered their price to $7.95 a trade for US customers making it one of the cheapest large US stock brokers. They also offer 24/hour support and tools for traders. The minimum balance is $2,500.

4. TDAmeritrade

I’m sure you have seem TDAmeritrade commercials around saying, “Independence is the spirit that drives America’s most successful investors” they offer a wide variety of tools and support such as heat mapping and pattern finders that can give you a big advantage in the market.

The minimum to open an account there is $2,000 but if you are creating an IRA account it is only $1,000.

Unfortunately their famous trades for just $9.99 aren’t really that cheap. It seems like at one point this was great among the big players, but since Fidelity and Swab lowered their prices this is one of the priciest places to go.

5. Scottrade

Scottrade is another one of the internet stock brokers and offers trades for $7. The minimum to open up an account is only $500, so it may be worth taking a look at.

6. Optionsxpress

Optionsxpress is a lesser known broker because it specializes in option trading. Option trades are $1.5 per contract for anything above 10 contracts. For anything under 10 contracts it cost $14.95, so the more options you buy the better deal you get.

You also receive lower stock commissions if you trade at least 9 times a quarter, $9.95 as opposed to $14.95. The minimum to open up an account here is $2,000.

Low Commission Internet Stock Brokers

Of course we can’t compare stock brokers until we take a look at the low commission stock brokers. These are a lot cheaper than the big names and really offer everything that you need. The more often you trade the better these brokers look.

7. Zecco

Zecco has done a lot to make it the cheapest place to trade stocks in the internet. When we compare stock brokers prices this one beats them all.

The reason? 10 free trades a month, if you do not trade that often this can actually be free. If you go over it is only $4.50 a trade which is still very low. Of course it may not offer as many tools as other services, but if you want to spend the least amount of money trading this is the place.

8. Tradeking

Tradeking offers $4.95 trades with a minimum deposit of $2,000. This internet stock broker has a pretty good customer satisfaction rate. So, when we compare stock brokers this offers low commission and great service, it could be worth taking a look at.

9. Thinkorswim

This is the internet stock broker I use, the minimum deposit is a little higher than the others, around $3,500, but it offers some great tools and a very easy to use platform. All for just $5 per trade.

10. Sharebuilder

Sharebuilder has gotten a reputation for being a cheap place to invest money. There is no minimum balance and their commissions are a little complicated. Basically it looks like this.

• Basic plans are free and offer $4 trades
• Standard plans cost $12 a month and offer 6 free trades a month and $2 after that.
• Premium plans cost $20 a month and offer 20 free trades a month and $1 trades after that.

If you want to trade real time, it cost $9.95 a trade. So, it is basically a discount broker for investors and not so much so for active traders.

Picking Your Broker

You can compare stock brokers by their commissions and services. Some might be better than other in certain areas so take a look at what you plan on doing then pick a broker that fits that category the best.

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