List of Stock Brokerage Firms
We used a five-star-based rating system to rate U.S. stock trading companies in the online stock brokers list above. The best brokerage firms would
get the highest, five-star rating. In 2017 not a single firm got five stars, however three brokers were rated at four and half stars. Any brokerage house
with two- or one-star rating should be avoided. Three-star rated firm is perfectly fine, but there are, probably, better options for investors
to consider. All companies with three and half stars and higher are recommended for at least one category of investors.
Every online brokerage firm listed above has its strengths and weaknesses. It might be ideal for one customer and at the same time might not work
for someone else. Before opening a brokerage account, there are a lot of parameters to consider besides commissions, well-known name, and pretty website.
Some of the most important of these parameters are surcharges and fees; friendliness to client's knowledge level (perhaps one is a beginner? or needs
a professional-level trading platform?); availability of investment products a client wants to buy (for example forex, futures, or NTF mutual funds) as well
as availability of online community, virtual trading, and discounts. We suggest to investors to take a time to read brokerage reviews, and see for themselves
if a particular firm is a right fit.
Some online brokers in the list above allow clients to open an account with $0 down: investors should take this opportunity and open few brokerage accounts,
and see which one they like the most. This will also allow investors to take advantage of unique and valuable features some of the companies provide
at no charge. For example,
OptionsHouse offers lots of great trading and screening tools,
and $0 to open account. If a client decides to invest, the firm has hard-to-beat $4.95 commission on stocks and ETFs. With
TD Ameritrade there is $0 minimum to open an account, and a client will get an amazing selection
of independent, third-party investment research, best trading platform on the market, free Level 2 quotes, and generous promotional offer. There are no
inactivity or maintenance fees to worry about - everything is free.
The list of stock brokerage firms names is updated throughout the year. In 2017 TradeMonster and MB Trading were removed from the table above, since they got
acquired and merged into OptionsHouse and Ally Invest respectively. Later in the year Ally Invest itself got acquired by Ally Bank, and Etrade Securities
bought OptionsHouse. If the new parent companies of Ally Invest or OptionsHouse later decide to integrate and re-brand them under their own names as oppose
to keeping them as separate entities, we will update the table accordingly.
All companies mentioned in this article are members of SIPC and FINRA, which means that they have to follow strict government rules and regulations,
and their client accounts are insured (similar to bank accounts FDIC insurance) in case of brokerage company failure for up to $500,000 ($250,000 cash).
If you know a U.S. online stock trading company not listed here that should be included in the table above, please
contact us.
Updated on 4/19/2017.