Best discount stock brokers and investment companies comparison To achieve your financial goals it is important to find an online brokerage firm top not only offers low fees and pricing but is also very reliable and provides excellent services. In we compared the best discount stock brokerage companies in U. The brokerage firm operates more than branch locations across most states. Many of the offices offer in-person seminars. The broker also provides on-line events. These can cover a wide range of topics, from the U. This platform is for active traders and comes with a host of nice features, including advanced charting, Recognia technical analysis, and a sector trends tool. The brokerage firm offers its customers more than 11,500 funds plus a very good screener that can search through all of them. Users can specify several important criteria, including Morningstar rating, expense ratio, investment minimum, and performance. Over 2,100 funds have no load and no transaction fee. Scottrade also provides pre-defined screens such as real estate, fixed income, and U. Despite this classification, the firm continues to offer good trading technology, including a useful mobile app, along with educational materials on its website that will be useful to many new investors. These resources include information on extended-hours trading, Brexit, long calls, and how to submit an order. It is browser based. Clicking on the LIVE icon after logging in generates a separate window for the platform. It has funds transfer, charting, real-time quotes, option tools, account data, and more. Limited equity research is also available, which includes news stories from Benzinga. The broker has another top called Quotestream, which is available for active traders. It comes with multiple watch lists, streaming ticker symbols, and detailed stock information Besides general securities trading in stocks, options, and mutual funds, the brokerage firm is also one of the few in the industry to also offer forex trading. In fact, the broker has its own forex platform that is free to use. There are also forex specialists at TradeKing who can assist clients who need any help with this product Beyond currency trading, the firm also has a good selection of debt offerings for fixed-income traders. The debt screener is effective at narrowing down a list of thousands of bonds based on criteria such as coupon rate, maturity, bond rating, and call status One great feature that TradeKing has that other stock brokerage firms lack nowadays is a customer forum on the website. There are blogs, groups, and a discussion forum where traders can discuss financial news and investments ideas. In many of these chats, a TradeKing representative can answer any account-related questions. There are places for option traders, beginners, fundamental analysis, and value investors. There is also a trading feed that displays how many TradeKing customers hold a particular security. There are no additional fees or charges Brokers Ameritrade Advantages Investors looking for a discount brokerage firm with good customer service, advanced trading technology, a large selection of funds and accounts, and excellent research and educational tools should take a look at TD Ameritrade. The firm is known for its high quality top. For example, the company has a network of branch locations spanning 34 U. Currently, there are more than locations. The broker also has customer service representatives on the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TD Ameritrade clients can also get checks and a Visa debit card at no cost. ATM fees incurred with the card are reimbursed nationwide TD Ameritrade is one of the better fund brokers. There are over 11,000 mutual funds at the firm. Nearly 2,000 come with no load and no transaction fee. More than exchange-traded funds are also available to trade commission-free. Top of these have low expense ratios, which will appeal to cost-conscious traders. The website has SnapTicket, an easy-to-use trading ticket at the bottom of the browser. There is also Trade Architect, a user friendly platform that operates in its own browser window. And Thinkorswim is an advanced desktop trading system, which is completely free to use. The firm has a total of three mobile apps that can be used on a variety of devices, including fingerprint-enabled phones. Even better, there is an app for Apple Watch for the most tech savvy of traders Investors will benefit from the excellent research and educational tools available on the TD Ameritrade website. There are effective screeners for all securities the broker offers. An educational section offers many learning materials, including articles and videos. Information on forex, futures, and retirement accounts can also be found on the TD Ameritrade website as these products are available with the firm. Beginners especially will benefit from these educational resources TD Ameritrade Review Continue TD Ameritrade Review Current TD Ameritrade Promotion Offer Join TD Ameritrade. There are no additional fees or charges Thinkorswim Advantages Traders who need an advanced desktop program to buy and sell securities should check out Thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade. Especially beneficial is the charting. There are technical studies, far more than Schwab offers on its advanced platform. There are also several drawing tools, including Fibonacci arcs, trendlines, and notes. The graph style is customizable, as is the rest of the platform. Users can select candlesticks, OHLC bars, line, mountain, equivolume, Heikin Ashi, candle trend, monkey bars, and seasonality. Futures and forex can also be charted, a rarity among brokers Beyond charting, Thinkorswim has many other features that will benefit traders. For example, there is a library of on-demand videos from Reuters and CNBC. These cover a wide range of recent business news stories. There are also a large brokers of heat maps. Criteria that can be selected in the search engines include volume, EPS, yield, days to expiration, option type, and return on capital Thinkorswim also has a very useful economic calendar. It displays various financial events for the week, such as dividends, earnings announcements, conference calls, splits, futures liquidations, and ETF dividends. The calendar extends several months into the future. Traders can also sign up for alerts on the platform and read financial news articles from Brokers Jones. Unlike the vast majority of stock brokerage firms, TD Ameritrade also offers forex and futures trading, both of which can be traded on Thinkorswim. Dealing boxes with buy green buttons and red sell buttons make trading these products quick and easy. Despite the low fees, the broker still has good options research and an advanced platform to trade the securities on. Chains and a strategy tester are good tools to help option traders find profit potential. All the great features of the platform are available on the practice system. The app can be used on Android and Apple devices at no cost. Quotes, option chains, account information, and of course order entry are all available on the mobile platform. As with the desktop system, the mobile app is free of charge One of the nice benefits of OptionsHouse is that it offers brokers trading. Most securities brokers do not. Exchange fees are extra, which is the norm in the industry. Despite these low fees, OptionsHouse has good customer service, which includes an on-line chat system. And accounts come with no fees. The stock brokerage firm charges nothing for low balances or inactivity.
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