Ameritrade Review

Online Brokerage Comparison 2012

In our online brokerage firms comparison for 2012 we rated stock brokerage companies on the following parameters:

  • Education - availability of educational resources, webinars, online classes
  • Good for Beginners - support for new investors, ease of use of trading tools, online community, no surcharges on broker-assisted trades
  • Trading Tools - richness of features, customizability of the trading tools
  • Ranges of Offerings - how many various investment products are available
  • Research Amenities - availability of independent research amenities
  • Customer Service - how responsive, cordial and knowledgeable is customer service
  • Pricing - commissions, surcharges and fees
  • Stars - overall rating

OptionsHouse (OptionsHouse review), not surprisingly, got top position in our online brokerage comparison. Very low commissions, free virtual trading and streaming quotes, make it the best brokerage firm in 2012.

Scottrade (Scottrade review) is at the second place: fantastic customer service, no fees, 500+ local branches and free real-time streaming are offered at this huge and well-known brokerage house.

At the third place there is TradeKing (TradeKing review), with its award-winning customer service, best online community, great support for beginners and very good pricing.

Broker Education Good for
Beginners		 Trading
Tools		 Ranges of
Offerings		 Research
Amenities		 Customer Service
 Pricing Stars
OptionsHouse 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 5
Scottrade 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 5
TradeKing 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 5
OptionsXpress 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 5
MB Trading 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 4
TD Ameritrade  5 5 5 5 4 4 2 4
Zecco 4 5 3 4 4 4 5 4
TradeMonster 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4
ChoiceTrade 4 4 4 3 3 4 5 4
 Lightspeed Trading 3 3 4 4 4 3 5 4
Tradestation 4 3 5 4 4 5 3 4
Etrade Securities 3 4 4 4 4 3 2 3
Firstrade 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 3
Interactive Brokers 1 1 5 5 4 1 4 3
Fidelity Investments 4 4 3 5 5 4 3 3
 Charles Schwab 3 4 3 4 3 5 3 3
 eOption 3 3 3 3 2 3 5 3
Cobra Trading 3 3 3 3 1 3 4 3
 SogoTrade 2 3 1 1 2 1 5 3
Just2Trade 1 1 3 2 4 1 5 3
Speedtrader 1 1 4 3 2 3 3 3
 Merrill Edge 2 2 2 3 4 1 3 3
Trading Block 2 3 3 2 1 3 4 2

To learn more about any broker in this discount broker comparison, click on their name and you will be taken to the company's investment account review page. There you'll be able to find all commissions, link to all fees charged, read pros and cons, trading tools review as well as see all promotional offers a brokerage house currently has for opening new account.

If you don't see a particular firm in this online brokerage companies comparison, then click here to see the list of online investing houses, their pricing and read editor and user reviews.


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