Best Online Brokers in 2021

The Best Online Brokers

Finding a broker with the proper tools and knowledge can be baffling, but there are helpful starting points. After researching dozens of online brokerages, U.S. News has identified the top brokers that can meet the needs of everyday investors. We reviewed their costs, investment offerings and services to help you pick a home for your investments. Our researchers compared dozens of data points to identify the lowest-cost brokers with the broadest investment and financial service offerings and aggregated expert reviews along with those of our own reviews team to assess which firms offer excellent service and tools for their customers. For more information on how we choose the Best Brokers, see our methodology.

Our Top 10 Brokers

Fidelity

As one of the largest brokers in the U.S., Fidelity is designed to serve the vast majority of retail investors, and it does it well. The company boasts a strong reputation for its mutual funds but is also well-known for its brokerage services, providing no commissions on stock, exchange-traded fund and options trades.

Merrill Edge

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch effort is a solid addition to the discount brokerage market. Customers are generally happy with the platform, mobile app and MarketPro trading offer. The research and available assets are robust enough to serve the majority of beginning to advanced investors, although professional traders might look elsewhere. Merrill Lynch’s integration with Bank of America opens the door to a wealth of products and services.

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade, which is merging its platform with that of Charles Schwab, offers commission-free stock and exchange-traded funds in addition to no account management fees or minimums. It created a highly regarded trading platform called Thinkorswim, which is well loved by new investors and experienced traders alike. The research and educational tools are exceptional, and the TD Ameritrade Network adds top-level investment content on a regular basis.

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is a discount broker with service, education, trading tools and research that puts it in the top tier of investment firms. With the ongoing integration of TD Ameritrade, including that firm’s highly recognized Thinkorswim platform, Schwab has established itself as a broker to beat.

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers, a great choice for sophisticated traders, participates in more than 135 global markets. The firm’s broker-dealer agency business, IBKR, offers online trade execution and clearing services to institutional and professional investors and executes more than 2 million trades per day.

E-Trade

E-Trade was the first completely online trading platform and continues to innovate. The firm remains competitive with access to a range of investment assets, zero-commission trades on stocks and exchange-traded funds, and the Power E-Trade platform. Its educational resources, research, videos and webinars are among the highlights of the E-Trade website, while the Android mobile apps leave room for improvement.

Ally Invest

Ally Invest offers stocks, exchange-traded funds and bonds, plus foreign exchange, six levels of options trading and low-commission mutual funds. The fees are competitive, and Ally Live provides web-based research, analysis and trading on a streaming platform. Access to Ally Bank high-yield cash investments and lending is an advantage.

Wells Trade

WellsTrade is a sound investment platform appropriate for buy-and-hold investors seeking basic investment assets. The integration with Wells Fargo is ideal for those who want all their financial and investment transactions under one roof. The highly ranked integrated Wells Fargo app and proprietary research will benefit beginning to seasoned investors, though professionals and active traders should look elsewhere.

SoFi Invest

SoFi Invest is a versatile platform where members can buy and sell stocks, including fractional shares and initial public offerings, and trade cryptocurrency. SoFi distinguishes itself with access to financial advisors. In addition to commission-free investing, there are no account minimums or maintenance fees.

TradeStation

TradeStation serves active individual and institutional traders with a unique trading analysis platform that offers speedy access to all major U.S. exchanges. Active traders and those learning to trade might benefit from the expansive features offered by the TradeStation platform. The company is widely regarded as one of the top platforms for technical traders.

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What Is an Online Broker?

An online broker deals with customers via the internet. Investors and traders buy and sell online rather than going to a physical office.

Personal brokers, who used to be the person you placed your trade requests through, have largely been replaced by online trading accounts where no personal interaction is required, says Jim Wyckoff, the proprietor of Jim Wyckoff on the Markets, an analytical, educational and trading advisory service. "Traders just type in their orders and hit the buy or sell button and their order is in place – with a 'fill' price showing up on their screen shortly thereafter."

It's a pretty efficient system compared to the old system, and one that gives investors more control. An investor should always be in control of the trading account and trading decisions, even if they are inexperienced, Wyckoff says.

What Are the Different Types of Brokerage Accounts to Choose From?

Before you can choose the best online broker for you, you need to know what type of account or accounts you want to open with the broker. This may help guide your decision of where to open your account.

There are several different types of brokerage accounts to choose from depending on your investment goals. The first distinction to understand is the difference between a retirement account and a non-retirement account.

Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts such as an individual retirement account, or IRA, and a solo 401(k) come with tax advantages to help you save for retirement. There are traditional retirement accounts, which let you contribute pre-tax dollars by taking a tax deduction today for any money you put into the account. The money then grows tax-deferred – meaning you don't have to pay taxes on any proceeds from buying and selling you do within the account – until you withdraw. Any money you take out of a traditional retirement account is taxed at your ordinary income rate at the time you withdraw. And if you take money out before turning 59.5, you'll owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Roth retirement accounts are the reverse of traditional accounts. With a Roth, you contribute after-tax dollars. So you don't get to take a tax deduction today for the money you contribute. The upside to this is that you won't need to pay taxes when you withdraw the money. Since, like traditional accounts, your investments in a Roth aren't taxed as long as they're in the account, this means your investment earnings will come to you tax-free. The only caveat is your Roth must be at least five years old before you withdraw; pulling money out sooner will cost you in taxes and a potential 10% penalty.

Non-Retirement Accounts

These are your standard brokerage accounts. They can be individual accounts, meaning there is only one owner, or joint accounts with more than one owner. You could even make your trust the owner of your non-retirement account.

You may hear non-retirement accounts referred to as taxable brokerage accounts because they don't provide the tax-deferred growth of retirement accounts. Any trading you do within a non-retirement account is subject to taxes. Since there are no tax benefits, non-retirement accounts have fewer restrictions than retirement accounts. You can put however much you want into the account and can take money out whenever you choose. You can also invest in any products offered by the broker, including derivatives, and may be eligible for a margin account.

Cash Account vs. Margin Account

You can think of the difference between cash accounts and margin accounts as the difference between paying in cash and using a credit card. In a cash account, you must pay in full for any investments you buy, like paying in cash. With a margin account, the brokerage firm lends you money to buy investments, called trading on margin. This is much like the way your credit card company extends you a line of credit. When you trade on margin, the investments you buy act as collateral for the loan.

Trading on margin significantly increases the risk involved in your investment. If the investments you buy on margin lose value, the brokerage firm can sell any of the investments – even the ones that didn't lose value – to cover the shortfall, or it may require you to deposit cash or other investments.

Brokerage firms set their own requirements for opening a margin account. At a bare minimum, you must deposit at least $2,000 to meet the Federal Reserve's margin account requirement. The Fed also limits investors to borrowing 50% of the initial purchase price. Only non-retirement accounts can be margin accounts. All retirement accounts must be cash accounts.

What Does Margin Have to Do With Choosing a Broker?

A margin account is a brokerage account in which the broker lends you money to purchase an equity or investment product. Brokers may charge interest on margin accounts between 1% and 10%. The broker and the size of the account will determine the costs. Expert tip: Don't let margin calls wipe out your earnings.

How to Choose the Right Online Broker for You?

There are several important criteria to consider when choosing an online broker, including:

What Are the Costs and Fees Associated With a Broker?

If an investor is ready to start trading, one key question to ask is: What will it cost me? When comparing online broker fees, investors should do due diligence on fees and commissions before placing a trade.

Fees have dropped over the past few years due to the price competition among online brokers. Many brokers have eliminated trading fees on the heels of Robinhood's no-commission trading platform. Even though the competition has driven fees down or eliminated them, there are still costs to consider.

While fees have dropped to zero among many well-known brokerages, that only applies to the broker's commission on trades. Investors should ask which instruments don't have a trading fee. For instance, some brokerages only apply the no-fee break to stocks and ETFs. There may still be fees for trading other investments, like mutual funds. Fees vary widely by brokerages and the type of mutual fund, but they can cost between $20 and $40 to trade. While many brokerages allow you to trade options commission-free, you may still need to pay a fee of 65 cents per contract on option trades.

There can be other fees like account transfer fees and inactivity fees. If you are focused on profit, as most traders and investors are, it's important to know how much will come out of your earnings. It's also important to find out if the broker has trading minimums.

Another cost to consider is account minimum deposit requirements. A minimum deposit is the amount that you must pay when setting up a brokerage account. The minimums range from zero to several thousand dollars depending on the instruments you're trading. Many brokerages have eliminated minimum deposit requirements on basic products as a result of the competition brought about by the no-trading-fee movement. Higher minimums may apply to premium services. Some brokers will lower that minimum if you agree to set up automatic deposits to regularly fund the account. If you don't meet the minimum requirement, you may be charged fees or have your account closed. That why it's important to find out all the details from your prospective broker before you hire one.

Because brokerage customers have different needs, please consider our other "Best for" brokers lists: