Cheapest Online Broker for Cheap stock trading 2013
While selecting your online brokerage firm, cheap stock trades matter the most. Who wouldn’t want to reduce the expenses involved in trading? The brokerage fee is paid each time you trade stocks online, irrespective of your position on the trades. This is a recurring charge. Hence it is advisable to choose a cheapest online stock trading, firm that charges lesser commissions for trading stocks, ETFs & options.
As a first time trader you must go through the fine-prints of commissions and other fees. Some brokerage firms may charge less on share value but they oblige you a minimum balance or minimum number of trades. Usually it is advisable to have multiple accounts. Chief editor of CompareBroker.com suggests opening an account with a cheap stock trading broker, and another one with a quality broker such as TD Ameritrade. Find more details about TD at Editorial Review and Ratings of TD Ameritrade.
Below, you can find our list of Cheapest stock broker or Cheapest Stock trading sites. Take a look and read their reviews. You can also use our comparison tool to narrow down to the best broker.
What is a Cheap Broker?
According to the 2012 survey by Smart Money 2012, the average broker commissions were just under $8. In our list, the cheap broker has commissions lower than the average, without compromising on the trading platform and the customer service. Cheap Stock trades & Options broker is a certainly the best option for novice traders. Opening an account with cheapest stock trading sites is beneficial because it dramatically reduces the cost. While comparing cheap online trading brokers, traders must give a preference to those who come to the top, based on criteria mentioned before.
Advice while choosing a Cheapest Online Broker
We must caution the traders that low cost may not always be that beneficial. You should always look for other pitfalls to make sure you get a really good deal and are able to focus on trading business versus dealing with an unreliable-but-cheap-broker. You must look at the quality of the trading platform, market research, and customer service in our reviews.
- Best Customer Service: "SmartMoney's Annual Broker Survey
- Broker Assisted Trade at no additional cost
- #1 online discount broker by SmartMoney Magazine
- Free real-time quotes
- Stocks Trading Fee: $4.95
- Options Trading Base Fee: $4.95
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.65
- Minimum Balance: $0.00 More Info...
- Free virtual trading
- Refer to a friend and win $150 or 30 free trades
- Cheapest Stock Trading Commission
- No up charge for Broker-Assisted Trading
- Ranked 6 overall By Barron's 2013
- Orders are accepted by phone
- Stocks Trading Fee: $3.95
- Options Trading Base Fee: $8.50
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.15
- Minimum Balance: $1000 More Info...
- #1 in customer service by SmartMoney (2010-2012)
- No minimum deposit required to open an account
- Free stock trading IRA – including Traditional, Roth and Rollover IRAs
- Superior trade execution with industry leading trading platform
- Great online Interactive Trading Community
- Stocks Trading Fee: $4.95
- Options Trading Base Fee: $4.95
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.65
- Minimum Balance: $0.00 More Info...
- 126 retail outlets across US
- Excellent in-house and 3rd party research
- Powerful, easy-to-use trading tools
- #1 Broker for Novices and Long Term Investing - Barron's 2013
- Stocks Trading Fee: $9.99
- Options Trading Base Fee: $9.99
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.75
- Minimum Balance: $2500.00 More Info...
- Free Independent research from leading sources
- A saving account from etrade bank possible
- Access to foreign markets
- 31 retail locations in the US
- ACAT available
- Stocks Trading Fee: $9.99
- Options Trading Base Fee: $9.99
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.75
- Minimum Balance: $500.00 More Info...
- #1 Discount Brokers - Barron's 2013 Survey
- Low stock commissions for orders with 1,000 shares or less
- Professional trading platform
- Access to many international markets
- Stocks Trading Fee: $0.00
- Options Trading Base Fee: $0.00
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.70
- Minimum Balance: $10000.00 More Info...
- Trading Technology Rated #1 by Barrons.
- No additional commission on stocks under $2, large-size orders and extended hours trading
- Best trading platform in the industry
- Free virtual trading
- Exclusive access to CNBC Plus directly within thinkDesktop
- Stocks Trading Fee: $9.99
- Options Trading Base Fee: $9.99
- Per Contract Options Fee: $0.75
- Minimum Balance: $2000.00 More Info...
- Excellent Borrows Available For Shorting
- FREE Paper Trading Account Available
- Supports International Traders for trading US markets
- 6-1 intra-day & 2-1 overnight leverage
- Stocks Trading Fee: $4.95
- Options Trading Base Fee: $4.95
- Per Contract Options Fee: $1
- Minimum Balance: $500 More Info...
Cheapest Online Broker : Who's the winner?
Our research team spent several hundreds of hours researching various brokerage firms. The aim was to find the top cheap online trading brokers for our readers. Our team gave Brokerage commissions special attention, as most novice as well as advanced traders always looks to reduce it. Options trading is also quite reasonable at these brokers as their base options charge as well per contract charge is low. Traders looking to switch brokers or start a new trading account would also find a cheapest stock broker on the list.
After extensive research we have found OptionsHouse to be among the cheapest online broker. It is also the cheapest options broker. Its options pricing is the most attractive to the traders. They have multiple options pricing available for traders, suited for all levels of traders. 5 for 5$ pricing is perfect for traders who trade in small lots. The other pricing scheme ($8.5 + $0.15 per contract) is targeted for traders who trade big lots hence prefer low per contract fee.
Another broker with cheap stock trades is Tradeking group with comprises of Tradking and Zecco. With $4.95 as commissions, excellent trading platform, and good customer support it is surely the top choice for many traders. It also has one of the cheapest online trading platform. To read complete analysis, please visit Editorial Review of Tradeking.
IB is another cheap stock trades broker, but it has a serious downside. There is a minimum opening deposit requirement of $10,000 which is very high. This prevents many newbie and middle-tier brokers from opening a trading account. To read more, please visit Editorial Review and Ratings of Interactive Brokers.
Examples below show the trading cost comparison for the brokers in Cheapest Online Broker category:
Stock Trading Cost:
Assuming 15 trades per month (with 1000 shares per lot):
OptionsHouse: $118.5
Zecco: $148.5
Tradeking: $148.5
Interactive Brokers : $150
Options Trading Cost:
Assuming 15 trades per month with 10 contracts per trade:
OptionsHouse: $300
Zecco: $343.50
Tradeking: $343.50
Assuming 30 trades per month with 100 contracts per trade:
OptionsHouse: $705
Zecco: $2098.50
Tradeking: $2098.50
