Best mutual fund brokers

Best Brokers For Mutual Funds in 2024



Firstrade offers mutual fund investors several major benefits. First is the broker’s handy fund screener. It returns 11,000 products that are available for purchase by new investors. Of these, 10,000+ come with no load.


Best Mutual Fund Brokers


The screener is able to search for funds based on a variety of criteria, including return history, expense ratio, asset class, fund family, minimum investment, dividend yield, manager tenure, and more. Results can be sorted by any of the variables that were used in the search. Buy and sell links are also displayed in a screener’s results.

Clicking on the fund’s name will take you to the fund’s profile page. Here, there is a lot of detailed information about the security. There are fund rankings from Lipper. Most brokers either don’t provide rankings or provide data from Morningstar. So Firstrade is unique here.


Best Online Broker For Mutual Fund


Also available is detailed information on a fund’s holdings, including stocks and sectors. Price performance is shown for each of the top ten holdings. Also shown is the total number of holdings. Fund highlights show load status, dividend ex-date, total assets, and minimum IRA investment. The fund’s turnover rate is shown too.

Firstrade is offering hard-to-beat pricing on mutual fund trades. Every fund at Firstrade is free to buy or sell.

Compared to other brokers, Firstrade beats most of them in the mutual fund arena. Its offering of 11,000+ funds is larger than Merrill Edge (3,600) or Wells Fargo (5,400). Its mutual fund commission is the lowest in the industry.

In 2024 Firstrade is rated one of the best online brokers for mutual funds investors, beginners as well as for long-term and buy-and-hold investors.

Read full Firstrade review.

Promotion link:  Get 2% IRA match and up to $250 in transfer fee rebate.

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Charles Schwab is one of the largest, best-known, and most established brokerage houses in the United States. It offers a simple, flat rate commission plan with no surcharges. No-load mutual fund transactions are priced at $49.99 to buy but $0 to sell. Charles Schwab does not charge hidden fees, as well as IRA setup, maintenance, and account inactivity fees.

Charles Schwab provides a good selection of mutual funds — over 7,000. Of these, 4,200+ have no transaction fee, also known as NTF funds, and a further 3,714 also carry no load. This selection is one of the largest among on-line discount brokers.


Best brokerage for mutual funds


Like almost all brokers, Charles Schwab charges a short term redemption fee of $49.99 for any NTF mutual fund when it is sold in less than 180 days after purchase. Some of the funds on its NTF list also charge their own fees for quick trades.

Charles Schwab’s mutual fund screener is easy to use and offers several important criteria that can be used to narrow down a fund search. These variables include Morningstar category, socially responsible status, SEC 30-day yield, R-squared, Sharpe ratio, and more.


Best brokerage for mutual funds


There are many fund families available to Charles Schwab clients. The broker’s screener returns funds from Allianz, Voya, American Beacon, BlackRock, American Century, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and many others. Sorting through all of these products is fairly simple. A screener’s results can be sorted by all of the input variables mentioned earlier. Convenient buy and sell buttons are also displayed in the results.

Charles Schwab provides very extensive educational information on mutual funds. Clicking on a fund’s name in a screener’s results produces the fund’s profile page. Here, users will find a wide variety of information, including the fund’s prospectus, most recent NAV, current distribution yield, expense ratio, Morningstar ratings, top ten holdings, and a pdf summary of the fund. A chart of the fund’s performance is available as well. A comparison can be made to the S&P 500, the category average, and an appropriate index.


Best brokerage for mutual funds


A fund’s profile page also shows the fund’s category, net assets, and important information on asset allocation. The fund’s loads and fees, if any, are shown in detail. Icons also clearly show if a fund has a load or transaction fee.

There is an educational section on the broker’s website. Information on mutual funds is available here. Resources include individual videos and playlists.

Charles Schwab is an excellent choice for investors looking to invest only with one of the largest and most recognizable brokerage houses in the world. Top rated trading, investment research, and IRA planning tools as well as huge offering of mutual funds make Charles Schwab one of the best brokerages for mutual funds investors.

Read full Charles Schwab review.

Promotion link:  $0 commissions + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.

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Brokers Mutual Funds Pricing Comparison


Broker
Review
Broker
Rating
Mutual Funds
Commissions
Account Maintenance,
Inactivity Fees
IRA Setup
and Annual Fees
Firstrade
Firstrade rating

$0 $0 $0
Tradestation
Tradestation rating

$14.95 $0 $35
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers rating

$14.95 $0-$2401 $30
Merrill Edge
Merrill Edge rating

$19.95 $0 $0
Etrade
Etrade rating

$19.99 $0 $0
Vanguard
Vanguard rating

$20 $201 $201
Sogotrade
Sogotrade rating

$25 $0 $30
WellsTrade
Wellstrade rating

$35 $601 $30
Muriel Siebert
Muriel Siebert rating

$35 $551 $301
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab rating

$49.95 ($0 to sell) $0 $0
Fidelity
Fidelity Investments rating

$49.95 ($0 to sell) $0 $0
RobinHood
Robinhood Trading rating

Not offered $0 $0
SpeedTrader
Speedtrader rating

Not offered $1201 $60

1 - fees are charged if certain conditions are not met; visit broker reviews for the full list of fees.


About the Author
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.