Thanks to the Internet, there has been a massive wave of discount online brokerage firms and new investment opportunities.
Investors are no longer required to walk into a brokerage firm, or even use a stock broker, to make investment trades or open up investing accounts.
Each online brokerage site is different, so which one is the best?
Because each person has different preferences and different preferences on how much to invest whether that be the best way to invest 100 dollars or the best way to invest 1000 dollars, each person is going to have a different “best brokerage” for them.
Best Online Brokerage Firms
When deciding which online brokerage firm to choose, you need to consider what will work best for you. In some cases, a slightly higher fee is worth it, if the brokerage meets your needs and helps you reach your goals.
The top 12 online Brokerage Accounts:
All of the online firms listed above have accounts that are easy to set up, offer cheap investing opportunities, and many have awesome customer service that makes you feel as if you’re meeting with somebody in real life.
We also highlight online discount brokers that encourage investor education by offering deep knowledge bases, webinars, or even online courses for their investors.
Ally Invest – Best All-Around Online Brokerage
Trade King was recently purchased by Ally Bank and has been completely re-branded as Ally Invest.
- Account Set Up Fees $0
- Trade Commission $4.95
- Mutual Fund Commission $9.95
- Annual Fee $0*
- Account Minimum $0
- Promotion up to $150
They have kept the platform exactly the same as an online discount brokerage firm with some of the least expensive trade fees available. $4.95 for stock and ETF trades is crazy talk. Plus no-load mutual funds are reasonable at $9.95 per trade. If you want to get funky with your investing you can trade options with TradeKing for just $0.65 per contract (plus the $4.95 base). Ally Invest also offers Forex services for the truly adventurous.
Ally has a number of free tools, including market and company snapshots, research, quotes, screeners, and more. Check out our TradeKing Review to learn the full details on Ally (we will be updating shortly with the new brand).
Give Ally Invest a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Betterment – Best Brokerage for Beginners
If the alphabet soup of investing — Roth IRA (learn more about Roth IRA rules here), Traditional IRA, SEP IRA, 401k, Roth 401k, and so on — baffles you, Betterment is a great place to start.
Betterment's philosophy is this: investing is so complicated that many people get analysis paralysis. Instead of making any decision, they freeze and make no decision. By studying over a Betterment Investing review, which is designed to help you understand that investing can be incredibly simple.
How simple?
You have very few choices to make:
- how much money to invest (there is a minimum requirement of $100 per month or a lump sum deposit of $10,000)
- how often you want to invest it (one time or automatically invest on a schedule)
- what asset allocation you want between stock and bond investments
That’s it. Betterment takes care of the rest. No having to look through a bunch of mutual fund tables to decide which funds to go with. The firm automatically invests in a basket of ETFs in two categories: stocks and bonds. You answer simple questions that help Betterment determine your risk profile. If you go with the most risk (100% stock allocation), all of your money goes into the stock ETF basket. If you want to split it down the middle, 50% goes to the stock basket and 50% to the Treasury bond basket. Other allocations are available, based on your risk profile. You can also tweak your allocation to reflect your preferences.
As another bonus, as your account balance grows, your fee decreases. Many traditional accounts charge 1% or more in annual fees. With Betterment, you start by paying 0.35% annually, and that reduces to 0.25% and then to 0.15% as you reach different milestones. There are no hidden fees associated with a Betterment account.
It’s dead simple, which is why it is a great place for beginners to start. Building the habit of investing regularly is critically important and Betterment helps you do this without overwhelming you with complicated investment decisions.
Open a free account with Betterment Today
OptionsHouse – Best Investment Tools
Do you like to see exactly how your money is working and how it has changed over time? Do you like to see minute changes on easy-to-read graphs? OptionsHouse is the online brokerage for you!
OptionsHouse has a whole toolbox of amazing kits that you can utilize to make the most of your online trading. They offer automatic alerts which can pre=populate orders and then send notifications once they happen. Another interesting tool is strategySEEK, which can scan market data based on criteria set by the investors.
While you can learn more in our OptionsHouse Review, the main advantages of OptionsHouse are:
- Low flat rate trading fees
- No account minimum
- 60 days of communion-free trading with promotion
- Excellent mobile app platform
Open an account with OptionsHouse today
TD Ameritrade – Best for ETFs and Easy to Use
If you’re looking for a solid industry leader that makes investing easy for new investors, TD Ameritrade is a great option. The company has been serving new online investors for years.
Unlike Betterment and Capital One ShareBuilder, TD Ameritrade isn’t designed solely for new investors. You get a set of robust tools whether you are new to investing or have been investing for decades. Like Scottrade, it’s an opportunity to access something approaching full-service without the full-service price.
As a leader in the industry, TD Ameritrade offers a vast array of investments that are suitable for new and experienced investors alike:
- 100+ Commission-free ETFs
- 13,000+ mutual funds
- Fixed income products like bonds and CDs
- Trade stocks, options, forex and futures
- Multitude of account options: Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, Simple IRA, 401k rollovers, normal taxable investment accounts
One of our favorite things about TD Ameritrade is how they offer exclusive webinars and investing classes to help new investors get up to speed.
Trades cost just $9.99 to start, and if you choose some of the fee-free funds, you can avoid transaction fees (although you will still have to pay the expense ratios associated with funds). Want to learn more about TD Ameritrade? Check out our TD Ameritrade Review for more information!
Trades cost just $9.99 and if you open an account today you can trade free for 60 days plus get up to $600.
Motif Investing – Investing with Experts
Motif Investing has one of the most unique platforms of all the online brokerage firms on the list. They offer a unique advantage that makes it very easy to diversify your portfolio in a matter of minutes, if you feel that this may be the route for you, learn more by reading a Motif Investing review.
Motifs are essential a whole group of stocks that are centered around one idea. When you select a motif to invest in, you get 30 stocks that revolve around one idea. The best part about this is, you don’t need to know every detail about every single business inside of the motif; you only need to know what you want to invest in. For example, let’s say you want to invest into Medical Applications or Industrial Solutions, but you don’t know any of the businesses inside of these industries, with motifs, that’s okay. You can invest into 30 organizations by investing into one motif.
While Motif Investing allows you to pick from the more than 150 expertly designed motifs, you can also build your own, or you can even invest into a motif another investor has created.
One of the best things about trading with Motif Investing, you can trade a whole motif of stocks for $9.95, which translates to $0.33 per stock. You aren’t going to beat that kind of price.
Open an account with Motif today
E*TRADE – Great Tools and Good for Beginners
Unlike Betterment and Capital One Investing, E*TRADE isn’t designed solely for new investors. You have access to robust tools including research, screeners, and more.
As a leader in the industry, E*TRADE offers one of the largest inventories of potential investments available:
- Every ETF sold
- 8,000+ mutual funds
- 30,000+ bonds
- Trade stocks, options, and forex
- Multitude of account options: Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401k rollovers, normal taxable investment accounts
Some other firms have limited mobile or tablet options. I’m sure you’ve seen E*TRADE’s commercials, but the trading tools for mobile devices ranging from iPhone to Android to Blackberry and iPad is quite robust.
Trades cost are competitve with the rest of the industry and start at $6.95, and you can get a discount ($4.95 per trade) for frequent trading. However, frequent trading can be one way to lose money, and it’s not recommended for beginner investors. Learn more in our E*TRADE review about how this may be the right brokerage for your needs.
Trade Free for 60 Days & Get Up to $600of commission-free trades. Join E*TRADE Today!
USAA – Best for Military Personnel and their Families
While not everyone will qualify to open a USAA account, anyone that is actively serving in a military branch, retired from the military, or has a family member that has served in the military will be approved to open a USAA account. USAA has been offering insurance and financial products for military personnel and families for over 80 years.
USAA doesn’t charge any annual fees or have any account minimums for their IRA, and you also have plenty of investments options; mutual funds, CDs, annuities, etc. While their trading fees might be a little higher than other online brokerage fees, they still have competitive rates, especially once you house more investments in the account.
Advantages to a USAA account:
- Easy and quick to set up
- Ability to hold several accounts and insurance policies in one place
- Easy to read and understand website with clear navigation
- Huge variety of investment opportunities and options
Open an account with USAA today
Firstrade – Easy Interface
Aside from the low trading costs, one of the best things about Firstrade is how easy the website and interface is to use. Some of the other Internet brokerage firm’s websites are cluttered and difficult to navigate. The Firstrade website is simple and clean.
The online dashboard of Firstrade is extremely easy two read, it’s separate into two accounts. One column will display your account information, while the other column helps you track the market.
While they don’t offer the same fancy tools that some of the other sites have, they make investing easy. Even for people that are confused by the charts and graphs. If you are a person that only wants the bare-bones essentials, with low fees, Firstrade is the website for you.
Want to learn more about Firestrade? Check out our Firstrade Review for your reference!
Scottrade – Best Customer Service
Scottrade offers a multitude of investment choices for investors. Betterment and Trade King have a place in the world — they are great at helping you get started and building up investments automatically — but discount brokerages like Scottrade give you more options once you know a little bit more about what you're doing.
Scottrade also offers some of the least expensive trades available, starting just $7 per trade for stocks and ETFs. They have a no-fee IRA, providing you access to 3,100+ no-transaction fee mutual funds, and 14,500+ other (load and no-load) mutual funds. As expected you can trade stocks, ETFs, and options as well.
You can open an account with as little as $500. Scottrade will also pay up to $100 of your account transfer fees if you’re coming from another broker, but you have to transfer $10,000 or more to qualify for that. Another bonus is that it’s possible to set up an interest-bearing checking account through Scottrade.
While a little more expensive than some of the other options, Scottrade is one of our best picks for investors who want to be able to invest in individual stocks and enjoy an online discount experience that is close to what you’d see with a full-service broker.
Want to learn more about Scottrade? Check out our Scottrade Review!
Open an account with Scottrade today.
Capital One Investing
One of the most difficult parts of investing is getting out of your own way and setting up a habit of investing regularly. We all get inspiration to invest occasionally (usually when we get an emotional high from seeing the stock charts going up), but that isn’t an investing strategy that will pay off in the long run. You are much better off setting up an automatic savings plan that allows your brokerage firm to automatically take money from your bank account and put it into designated investments on a set schedule.
That concept is the main methodology behind Capital One Investing.
How does Capital One ShareBuilder help you do this?
- Simply pick your automatic investment schedule
- Pick the individual stocks or ETFs you want to invest in (ETFs recommended for diversification reasons)
- Ignore until you're a millionaire
The cost per trade for Capital One Investing starts at $6.95 per trade. However, if you use the automatic investing plan (which is still branded as ShareBuilder, even though Capital One changed the name of the investing division a few years ago), your cost starts at $3.95 per trade.
There are also options trading opportunities with Capital One Investing, but the strength of this account is in its automatic investment plan that gives you more control than what you receive with Betterment.
Acorns – Invest with Pocket Change
One of the newest players in the online trading game is Acorns. With Acorns, you can set up an investing account that allows you to round up your transaction amounts and invest your pocket change. There is no account minimum, and you can start with as little as $5.
Your investment goes into a diversified portfolio with a monthly fee of $1 per month for accounts of less than $5,000. Once your account balance grows to $5,000, you pay a flat annual fee of 0.25%. If you feel like you don’t have enough money to get started, this can be a great solution. Once you have built up your account, you can move your account to another brokerage that might have lower fees or provide different options.
Lending Club – Easy Investing Alternative
If you are a beginning investor looking for an easy investing alternative to stocks, and want a great short term investment, Lending Club can be a good choice. With lending club, you don’t invest by purchasing stocks. Instead, you help your peers finance various items. You’re investing in debt and hoping to see a return.
With as little as $25 you can start investing in notes that can provide you with potentially higher returns than stocks. However, you do run the risk that a borrower will default. Be aware of this before you start. It’s easy to get started, and Lending Club also offers managed note portfolios for relatively small fees if you have a high enough account balance. But getting started is free to you, and there are no transaction fees; borrowers pay fees for their loans, reducing your costs.
The Rise of Online Trading
Online discount brokers existed back when I made my first stock trade, but they were few and far between. Today, though, beginning investors have many more options than I had. There are several online discount brokers to choose from, many of them offering great deals and opportunities for beginners looking to start investing.
With all of the tools available today, it’s possible for you to screen stocks and funds, and trade for a fraction of the cost a full-service broker will charge. Not only that, but you can set up an automatic investment plan that regularly moves money from your checking account into an investment account, and buys what you want each month. This is known as dollar cost averaging, and it’s one of the best ways to start investing when you don’t have a lot of money.
Low-cost investments like exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allow you to get the benefit of a large swath of the market without the need for stock picking. If you regularly invest, you can save money on transaction costs and fees, and even invest with as little as $50 per month, depending on the brokerage and type of account you have. Online trading makes it easier than ever to create an appropriately diversified, with a little less risk, and without the need for a large amount of capital.
With an automatic investment plan using index mutual funds or ETFs, you can save on commissions, reduce your overall fees, and build your portfolio for the long term with the help of dollar cost averaging while you learn the ins and outs of investing.
Start Online Investing Today
With any of the above online discount brokers, you can start online investing almost immediately. All it takes is a little money and the will to make a change.
However, you do need to be careful as you start investing. I often discourage young investors to start off by buying individual stocks. Remember my Lucent stock? I never made a dime off of it and ended up selling at a loss.
As you begin your investing journey, start with a mutual fund or an ETF that tracks a larger index – think the S&P 500. Some of the online brokers, like Betterment, will help you automatically reinvest your dividends, providing you with an additional way to build your portfolio at a faster rate. An index mutual fund or index ETF that pays dividends provides you with a little extra to reinvest on a regular basis, and can super-charge your efforts.
Starting with funds and ETFs builds your foundation before you start taking unnecessary risk trading individual stocks. Trading individual stocks adds to your risk. Indexing provides some protection because it represents instant diversification. Even if the market drops this year, the reality is that the market as a whole hasn’t ever lost in any given 25-year period. If you’re investing for the long-term you are likely to come out ahead of you index because you don’t have to worry about one bad pick destroying your portfolio.
Beginning investing online is more about starting a good habit while you learn more about investing. You can start with as little as $5 and start growing your portfolio. As you build your investment account through dollar cost averaging and automatic investing plans, you can create a solid foundation for financial freedom. As you learn more, you can begin branching out.
But none of it will matter if you don’t start investing today.
Beginners Investing with an Online Brokerage
I wish I had known more about the best online brokerage accounts when I made my first stock trade.
I was an intern at the investment firm that eventually hired me. It was right around when the tech bubble burst, and tech stocks were trading at extreme discounts.
I didn’t have a lot of money, actually I had really almost no money, yet I felt compelled that I needed to buy one of these tech stocks. The stock that I had in my sight was Lucent.
Lucent was a telecommunication company that once was trading in the $60 to $80 range but had significantly dropped well below $10.
If I recall correctly, I bought it within the $6 to $8 range. I remember thinking that I landed a good buy. Ha!I opened my account, deposited my money, and made my first trade. Reflecting back, I was such a beginner, it wasn’t funny.
If I had known any better,
- I wouldn’t have bought Lucent, and
- I definitely wouldn't have bought it through a full-service brokerage firm.
I paid $42 for a commission just to buy the stock. If I had sold it, I would have had to pay an additional $42.
My other issue is that I was a beginner involved in stock picking. Putting your investable assets into one thing that could completely implode is a good way to lose money. While you do have to deal with stock market drops when you invest in mutual funds and ETFs, you have a better chance of recovery when the whole market rises later. With individual stocks, you run the risk of being left behind.
Had I know better, I would have gone with an online brokerage and paid next to nothing to make the exact same trade. Better yet, I as a beginner, I would have looked into index mutual funds and saved the individual stock picking until I had more knowledge and experience.
That is why the list above really has a focus on the best online brokers for beginners. I hope it helps you get started with your investing future.
That’s a pretty good list. Couple comments. First, beginners should do a lot of research before they bother with trading online. Most of the conventional information about trading is worthless…trading is much more difficult than what it appears. Secondly, I like Schwab among the discounters as well. But, for the really experienced trader, TradeStation is worth a mention due to its strategy testing platform. With all that said, you’ve got a great blog!
I won $10K and want to “circulate” them in a small investment that hopefully will grow them. I would really appreciate someone’s professional advice, especially because I haven’t invested in anything yet and not sure what and how-to. I have a work in the healthcare industry and have steady income with 403(b) from Principle Financing Group. Planning on buying a new home in 2-3 years from now, and major goal is to grow the mentioned money, so I can have extra confidence in my downpayment. However, I’d love to think about ROTH IRA, mutual funds and etf’s, but really need someone to guide me thru the whole process, at least in the beginning. Thank you so much in advance.
Hi Emil – Since you’re a new investor, you might want to go with Betterment if you’d like to have someone else manage your investments for you – they’ll take care of everything. If you want to get into various investments, you might want to go with a low cost broker like Trade King. Either can help you set up a Roth if that’s what you want to do. But please discuss your options with someone who knows your financial situation better. I’m just a guy on the web who doesn’t know you personally 😉
It is really amazing that people don’t ever even need to leave their houses or go to a broker to start investing. Of course, I know I would still appreciate the professional advice, especially because I haven’t invested in anything yet. I really like that some firms have the option for trading using mobile devices. I do most of my banking on my phone, so this would be ideal for me.
Hi I opened an online trading account several years ago and forgot about it. It was called Mysavings or something like that. You could start my investing in mutual funds for $5. Although I have my log in info I can’t find the company anywhere online? Any ideas?!
Hi Tiffany – You might go back and check bank and credit card records (or did you fund it with payroll deductions???) and see if you have any leads there. Also, check your emails from around the time you started the account. You probably just need the name of the company, and you can go from there.
I use three brokerage accounts: Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, and Capital One/Sharebuilder. Each is excellent in its own way. Fidelity has simple to understand research and no-fee IRAs and a reasonable $7.95 trading fee. Interactive, well they have unbelievably low margin rates (well below the prime rate), a trading fee of . . . get this . . . $1.00 for 200 shares . . . and a simple method of assigning lots to sales prior to settlement (great for minimizing taxes on gains.) Capital One/Sharebuilder has a reasonable $6.95 trading fee and you can choose automatic reinvestment of dividends at no fee. Why have just one broker?
Any opinions on the brokers offering no-fee trades, like Robinhood? I read in their FAQ that they offer free basic trades and hope/intend to make money off their optional margin accounts, and it seems legit. Wondered if there was anything I was missing.
Hi Joe – I can’t confirm anything on those services, but I will say that technology is changing the game. Investment platforms are popping up that allow very low cost or even free trades. Rest assured they’re making money one way or another. One thing to keep an eye on though is that some of them are being funded by investors who are providing the operating capital while the platform builds up its business. Presumably the investors will make back their investment as the platform grows and becomes profitable. We’ll have to wait and see.
We use Schwab and Fidelity at the registered investment advisory firm that I work at. I love both. Before working as a financial planner, I used TradeKing because it is so cheap! The biggest thing to watch out for is the fees. As long as you get the lowest fees, then you’re in good shape at most places.
Thanks for the great info. I tried to sign up for Betterment but they require a US mailing address. What are the best online brokers for beginners who aren’t US citizens and live outside of the U.S?
Thanks!
@ Teddy That’s a great question. Unfortunately, I’m only familiar with US online brokers.
Thanks for this Jeff. One of the challenges I have is looking beyond the face to face, knee to knee, mindset of having our financial planner right there in front of us. Everything in our life is online, virtual, and via text/email. However, I can’t seem to let go of that in-person advisor that we have had since our mid 20s. What do you think? Are we using archaic methods and overpaying when we no longer need to be? I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂
@Chris That’s a tough one! One way I can relate is the CPA I’ve been using for the past 10 years. I know he charges me a bit more for his services, but I also know he knows our situation more so than anyone else. That’s worth the extra cost, IMHO.
I’m not sure the financial arrangement with your advisor, but if you’ve been a client for a considerable time and and are under the AUM model (fee %) then asking for a discount isn’t wrong of you. Plus it never hurts to ask. 🙂
I live in the UK. Obviously we don’t have IRSs and mutual funds in the UK. You mention everything in dollars. Can I still access these online brokers and mutual funds from the UK at the same costs ? Or is there a higher fee for those out of the US?
Good job man!
No mention of Vanguard. Why????
@ Edward Vanguard is another solid choice. I didn’t mention them here since they require $1,000 minimum on their target date funds, $3,000 for most of their other funds and $10K on their Admiral series. I wanted to highlight online brokers that a new investor with only $50/month could get started.
In other words fund my new account. I dont have a bank account. Never had one. So most trade co. Want 500 to 2 thou. To start. Is anyone cheaper than 250.00 to fund account for the 1st time? I believe ameritrade will for 50 bucks but im not sure. I just need to get started some how. Can anyone help guid me in the right direction?
Im new and this 500 cash start up is way over my head. Where can I start trades for 50 deposit like ameritrade?
Is Gorilla trade a good place to begin as a new investor. I have four specific stocks that I want to limit my investing to at this time.
Thanks for listing my options, Jeff. I am short on cash, so no investing for me until I get my income up. But once I do, Betterment seems like the easiet option to get my feet wet. And thanks for the warning. I always recommend you don’t buy anything you don’t understand, and that goes for investing as well. Taking time to do some basic research on a stock can save thousands in the long run.
@Jacob I thought Betterment had a neat concept when they first came out, but the fees were a bit on the high side. Ever since their price reduction, it’s hard not to recognize what they offer. Even if you did it yourself, what you save is pittance in exchange of constantly monitoring your portfolio and making the appropriate changes.
I was with Betterment for 6+ months if i remember it correctly. Even though the market was volatile around that time even with a portfolio of 70% stocks + 30% bonds, i kept losing money. Obviously with a 90+10 mix i lost even more. I’m not a pro trader but still i could sense their portfolio selection is not great for the end investor, maybe good for their own pocket. I had a Wisebanyan account around the same time with similar portfolio distribution and there my losses were quite limited and when the market was up, it did earn me money. After few trial and error, withdrew all my money from Betterment and put in Wisebanyan.
P.S: I’m not affiliated to Wisebanyan in any way other than investing through them. Just wanted to give my experience (though i know mileage would vary across different people) for anyone who might be wondering if Betterment is a good choice.
Jeff,
Great article. I come across quite a few people that cannot necessarily become clients, but need some direction for opening their first Roth IRA or finding a place to park some extra savings and earn some interest (that’s better than a bank!).
Like most of your posts, this a great plain-English summary of some of the better services out there. I’ve bookmarked this for future use.
Thanks.
Thanks, Robert. This is why I started to do more of these posts, too. Many young or beginning investors are intimidated in sitting down with a financial advisor. If they can get their feet wet using an inexpensive online broker, at least they are getting started which is more than half the battle.
I am a novice also. I am signed up with Optionshouse. The display is very complicated. The good news is that they let you play with $100,000.00 paper money to get acquainted with the site, which is what I am doing now before I ever fund the account.
Great summary Jeff. I went with Sharebuilder because I liked the low cost when you set up automatic investments. I have it set up with monthly purchases with dividends reinvested so it is pretty cool to just watch it grow all on its own.
@ Mike Dividend investing is fun especially if you’ve got a few years under your belt to see how dividends can actually grow your account.
I have also heard of OptionsHouse. Have you heard anything or have experience with them? I’m looking to start investing and read on one site that they are very good and have cheap trades. I have since forgotten what site I got that info from so I can’t go back and see what reasons were given other than that.
Great article and thank you for your review! It is true that investing in mutual funds is a way to go because stocks are mostly used by speculators and their prices are highly manipulated. Let professional do the trades by investing in a mutual fund. These guys can make a decent profit every year.
@ Chelle I’m not really that familiar with OptionsHouse. Money Crashers has a pretty good review of them that might help you: http://www.moneycrashers.com/optionshouse-review-discount-broker-options-traders/
I am a novice also. I am signed up with Optionshouse. The display is very complicated. The good news is that they let you play with $100,000.00 paper money to get acquainted with the site, which is what I am doing now before I ever fund the account.