In this section I give you the opportunity to compare online stock brokers. I've written detailed reviews on the most popular ones.
There is no question there are a number of greedy online stock brokerages out there, who only care about extracting as much money from you as they can in the way of fees. My goal here is to help you avoid these sharks!
Picking the right broker can have a massive effect on your trading results. In some cases, picking a broker with higher fees can be the different between having a positive return and a negative return.
| Broker | Cost Per Trade | Min Account Size | Inactivity Fees | Broker Assisted Trades | Margin Rates | Options Per Contract |
| Zecco | $4.50 or FREE* | None | None | $19.99 | 7.20% | $0.50 |
| TradeKing | $4.95 | None | None | $4.95 | 6.50% | $0.65 |
| ChoiceTrade | $5 | None | None | $5 | 7.50% | $0.55 |
| tradeMONSTER | $7.50 | $1,000 | None | $7.50 | 7.50% | $0.50 |
| OptionsXpress | $9.95 | None | None | $9.95 | 6.25% | $0.75 |
* Zecco have a promotion where you get 10 FREE stock trades of your account balance is over $25,000 or you make more than 25 trades in a month.
As explained above Zecco will give you 10 FREE stock trades if you have an account size over $25,000. They will give you 10 free trades if you make 25 trades in a month, if your account is smaller. This can make the cost per trade considerably less or even free!
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TradeKing has been around since 2005. They are a very reputable online stock broker and have won many awards to prove it including a 4 star rating from barron's from 2007-2010. They have also won awards from SmartMoney for customer service.
They have grown massively over the last few years, perhaps due to their low trading fees and good service.
As a promotion they are currently offering to refund up to $150 in transfer fees that your old broker may charge when you switch to TradeKing. They are the best broker around for trading penny stocks. The cost is a straight up front $5 per trade regardless of the price of the stock. Most other brokers have additional fees for these types of stocks.
Choicetrade have been 4 star rated by Barron's for 5 years running.
They offer every instrument imaginable including currencies, futures, options, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and much more. When it comes to trading stocks, they provide a good service, but there are cheaper alternatives.
If you would like to learn more about each online stock broker, I have reviewed them in detail below:Zecco Review
TradeKing Review
OptionsHouse Review
OptionsXpress Review
ETrade Review
Questrade Review (Canadian Broker)
Which online stock brokers are best for me?
For some traders, using more than one brokerage can be beneficial. For example some brokers charge extra fees for trading penny stocks whilst others do not. This is talked about in the reviews.
Another factor that is important to traders who trade on margin is the margin rates. These rates can vary massively between different online brokers.
For my penny stock trading, I use ETrade, they are my first choice as they have no additional fees for buying low priced stocks. However, for my margin trading.
I am sure you get the idea. Your trading strategy often needs to dictate the online stock brokerage you choose.
As a final note, OptionsXpress and Etrade are the only online stock brokerage firms I have reviewed to date that offers international traders the opportunity to trade US Equities.
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