Best Overall Online Brokers for 2019

Fidelity Investments tops our list of the best online brokers

BY THERESA W. CAREY

Updated May 13, 2019

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We are proud to present our top five overall online brokers for 2019:

 Fidelity Investments

 Interactive Brokers

 Charles Schwab

 TradeStation

 TD Ameritrade

We have user-tested and reviewed more than 70 online brokers, examining every critical feature,
considering their product offerings, fee structures, trading technology, research, education, and
customer service. Today there are investing and trading platforms covering every type of asset
class, appealing to every kind of investor. The choices are overwhelming and finding the right
broker for you can be challenging. We’re here to help.

Fidelity Investments

4.4

 Account Minimum: $0

 Fees: $4.95 per stock/ETF, $4.95 plus $0.65/contract per options trade
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 Fidelity takes the top spot on our 2019 broker roundup with a winning combination of services,
tools, and value. Last year, Fidelity focused on improving its infrastructure and reliability so it
could avoid the crashes that plagued online brokers in 2018. Another improvement was making
their Active Trader Pro platform available to all customers rather than requiring a certain number
of trades to use. Fidelity improved the order entry interface to avoid the most common errors
made by customers.

Fidelity also received awards for Best for Beginners, Best Stock Trading Apps, Best for ETFs,
Best for Penny Stocks, Best for Roth IRAs, Best for IRAs, Best for International Trading, and
Best Web Trading Platforms.

Pros

 Excellent trade executions, generating price improvement for stock and options trades

 ETF research center includes tools to show you which stocks compose the fund

 All customers have access to Active Trade Pro

 Fees are on the low side and are easy to understand

Cons

 Accessing all of Fidelity's tools may require you to use multiple platforms

 Finding a particular tool can be difficult on Fidelity’s extensive menu system

 If you are not a U.S. citizen or resident, you cannot open an account

Interactive Brokers

4.3

 Account Minimum: $0

 Fees: $0.005 per share

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Interactive Brokers ranks second overall in our 2019 review due to its wealth of tools for
sophisticated investors. The firm makes a point of connecting to any electronic exchange
 globally, so you can trade equities, options, and futures around the world and around the clock,
on your desktop or mobile device. Though Interactive Brokers has been adding features to attract
more assets and help newer investors, including its own robo-advisory, we recommend that
newcomers to trading start somewhere else and grow into their extensive capabilities.

Interactive Brokers also received awards for Best for International Trading, Best for Low Costs,
Best for Options Trading, Best for Penny Stocks, and Best for Day Trading.

Pros

 Pricing is on the low end, especially margin rates

 The platform and services are geared for extremely active traders

 Clients can trade on 120 markets in 31 countries, using 23 currencies

 Excellent portfolio analysis features

Cons

 Mosaic, Interactive Brokers' downloadable platform, can be difficult to use for a new
investor

 Does not support education accounts (529s) or 401(k)s

 Very small or inactive accounts may be subject to maintenance fees or data charges

Charles Schwab

4.2

 Account Minimum: $0

 Fees: $4.95 per stock and ETF trade, $0 for Schwab ETFs and $4.95 plus $0.65 per
contract for options
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Charles Schwab, which ranks as the third-best broker overall this year, is a full-service
investment firm that offers services and technology to everyone from self-directed active traders
to people who want the guidance of a financial advisor. It has a wide variety of platforms as well
 as full banking capabilities. Over the last few years, its web-based platforms have been
transformed to make them simpler to use while also providing low-cost advice.

Charles Schwab also received awards for Best Web Trading Platforms, Best for International
Trading, Best for Options Trading, Best for Penny Stocks, Best for Beginners, Best for Roth
IRAs, Best for IRAs, Best for ETFs, and Best Stock Trading Apps.

Pros

 The Schwab Satisfaction Guarantee allows any client who is unhappy with any fee-based
service to get a refund

 Advanced options tools and trading ideas are built into the StreetSmart Edge platform

 Mobile web platforms and native mobile apps offer the same functionality

Cons

 It can take some effort to find the features you want the most

 Schwab pushes clients towards using their financial advisors, which can make a self-
directed investor or trader lose confidence in their own abilities

 Margin rates are higher than average

TradeStation

4.1

 Account Minimum: $500 ($5,000 for IRA)

 Fees: $5 stocks and ETFs, $0.50/contract and $5/trade options

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TradeStation's focus on high-quality market data, trade executions and their commitment to
superior customer service make them a great choice for the active trader. Their systems are stable
and remain available during market surges. Technical analysis and statistical modeling of trading
strategies is another strength of the TradeStation platform. You can develop your own automatic
trading system using the analysis tools and strategy backtesting. You can also generate income
 through the fully-paid stock lending program and enhance your trading skills with extensive
educational offerings.

TradeStation also received awards for Best for Penny Stocks and Best for Day Trading.

Pros

 Stable platform that has very little downtime

 Excellent charting and technical analysis tools

 Portfolio Maestro helps you optimize your trading strategies

 Education content is top notch

Cons

 There is a steep learning curve to develop your own trading system

 You have to be very sure of your trading style to choose the right commission schedule

 All fixed income transactions must be made with a live broker

 No forex trading and limited international trading

TD Ameritrade

 Account Minimum: $0

 Fees: $6.95 for stock and ETF trades, $6.95 per leg plus $0.75 for options
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TD Ameritrade, one of the largest online brokers, has several platforms to choose from, ranging
from their basic website to thinkorswim, which is designed for very active traders. The firm
spent the last year streamlining its website and transforming its education offering while bringing
over the 3.5 million customers who joined following the acquisition of Scottrade. Given the
number of platforms customers can use for research and trading, the sheer number of tools
available can be overwhelming. There is an ongoing initiative to streamline the content and
platforms, so going forward, it should be easier to find and use the features that you need.

TD Ameritrade also received awards for Best for Day Trading, Best for Options Trading, Best
Web Trading Platforms, Best for Beginners, Best for ETFs, Best for Roth IRAs, Best for IRAs
and Best Stock Trading Apps.

Pros

 Extensive research capabilities and numerous news feeds

 The education offerings are designed to make novice investors more comfortable

 More support channels have been developed using Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Twitter
and others

Cons

 Commission structure makes them an expensive place to trade

 Clients may have to use more than one trading system to find all the tools they want

Methodology
Investopedia’s mission is to provide investors with unbiased, comprehensive reviews and ratings
of online brokers. Our reviews are the result of six months of evaluating all aspects of an online
broker’s platform, including the user experience, the quality of trade executions, the products
available on their platforms, costs and fees, security, the mobile experience and customer service.
We established a rating scale based on our criteria, collecting over 3,000 data points that we
weighed into our star scoring system.

In addition, every broker we surveyed was required to fill out a 320-point survey about all
aspects of their platform that we used in our testing. Many of the online brokers we evaluated
provided us with in-person demonstrations of their platforms at our offices.

Our team of industry experts, led by Theresa W. Carey, conducted our reviews and developed
this best-in-industry methodology for ranking online investing platforms for users at all
levels. Click here to read our full methodology.