The SIPC insures $500,000 per account including up to $250,000 in cash against theft or the firm going belly-up. It’s important to remember, however, that insurance does not protect any investor against losses due to market fluctuations. Along with years of experience in media distribution at a global newsroom, Jeff has a versatile knowledge base encompassing the best online investors technology and financial markets.

Best mobile trading app for beginners – E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dan worked with many leading industry experts on creating educational webinars and archiving them on their YouTube channel. Some investors look to their investments as a source of income while others use it as a means to grow or preserve their wealth. Take your financial goals into consideration when selecting a broker and make sure it can accommodate your objectives. The Fidelity Investments Learning Center offers four-week virtual courses for beginners to improve their trading skills.

Best Brokers for Beginners of 2025

Interactive Brokers reported especially robust fund screeners, with a market-leading 275 factors for ETFs, as well as 133 factors for mutual funds. But it doesn’t offer some more basic tools, such as a calculator for required minimum distributions from a retirement account, or a budgeting planner. We gave points to brokerages that offer plenty of opportunities to buy fractions of stocks or ETFs, because that helps small investors dip their toes in the market.

How to Open a Brokerage Account

Many want to avoid taking on the extra risk of putting their money into one or a few individual stocks. Fidelity makes it easy for new investors to identify the ETFs and mutual funds that provide easy diversification and minimal risk. Fidelity Investments is an all-around great choice for beginners, scoring well in every category of our review. We found that Fidelity is very competitive in the area of commissions and fees, and it provides a wealth of educational resources and dependable customer service. You might be charged a trade commission when you trade a stock, ETF or other security.

To help investors understand their all-in (and sometimes hidden) costs, we awarded points to firms that have low service fees and are transparent about their prices. Of the four brokerages offering a hybrid service that allows investors some access to human advisers, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium came out on top. It requires a minimum investment of $25,000, but it gives clients access to certified financial planners.

Fidelity’s platform is a standout for its user-friendliness, customer service and educational features. Additionally, its fractional share investing options and stock screeners allow beginners to get started with limited funds and information. Fidelity also offers fractional share trading, which allows users to trade and invest in more than 7,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) using very small sums of money.

The brokerage holds your investments and deposited cash for you and provides activity reports and account statements. As brokerage accounts continue to launch new features and compete more on price and technology, this list will change. The incumbents will need to innovate and better serve investors and traders or be crushed by newcomers to the market, hungry to become the best brokerage available.

Best online brokers for 2025

Before investing, make sure you understand how the fund’s factor investing strategy may differ from that of a more traditional index product. Depending on market conditions, funds may underperform compared with products that seek to track a more traditional index. The return of an index exchange-traded fund (ETF) is usually different from that of the index it tracks, because of fees, expenses, and tracking error. An ETF may trade at a premium or discount to its net asset value (NAV).

Investing the same amount at regular intervals, known as dollar-cost averaging, could help reduce the impact of prices going up and down—and help you benefit from the potential of compounding returns. For stocks and ETFs at Fidelity, for example, you specify the account you want to trade in, and then the number of shares or dollar amount you want to purchase. Next you’ll choose between a market order, when you want to immediately buy the investment at the current price, and a limit order, when you want to buy the investment only if it reaches a specific price. For mutual funds, you indicate the dollar amount you want to invest the next time they’re available to buy (they trade only once per day when the market is open). The automated or “robo” advice options use computer algorithms to analyze your risk tolerance and time horizon, then recommend and manage portfolios that are typically made up of exchange-traded funds. Because more brokers compete in the field of automated investing advice, we gave it more weight in the Advice category scores.

Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets. Jessica Inskip is Director of Investor Research at StockBrokers.com, bringing 15 years of experience in brokerage and trading strategy. A former FINRA-licensed rep, she held Series 7, 63, 66, and 4 licenses.

Best for advanced tools and global markets – Interactive Brokers

• Depending on your experience level, you may opt for individual stocks, mutual funds, ETFs or a managed portfolio.
• SoFi Invest is a great platform for US investors who are looking for an intuitive online trading experience, an open active or automated investing account.
• To save your sanity during the market’s inevitable ups and downs, set a realistic schedule to review investment performance.
• Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first.
• In evaluating the best online brokerage accounts available today, we rate investing products on various criteria.
• Robinhood’s mobile app delivers on this promise as one the cleanest, easiest-to-use mobile investing platforms in our tests.

Fidelity’s lowest-cost robo option, Fidelity Go, came in a close second. Plus, you don’t pay any additional fund management fees because Fidelity assembles portfolios from its zero-fee Fidelity Flex index mutual funds. The advantages include access to stock exchanges to buy almost endless options of investments. This is where you can purchase stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, options, and almost the entire inventory of the open markets.

To help you choose the right online broker, we’ve analyzed more than 20 of the most popular online brokers to help you with your selection. Investing involves risk, including risk of total loss.Crypto as an asset class is highly volatile, can become illiquid at any time, and is for investors with a high risk tolerance. Crypto may also be more susceptible to market manipulation than securities. Crypto is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. If you’re investing through a brokerage account, you’ll want to track your investment activity for tax purposes. You won’t pay taxes on certain tax-advantaged accounts like a traditional IRA until you make withdrawals.

What is a trading platform and how does it work?

• Regular webcasts hosted by industry professionals provide market commentary and information on how to manage your portfolio.
• And it dinged Firstrade and WellsTrade, which reap commissions, often referred to as “markups,” on trades of corporate bonds.
• Jessica focuses on investor education and brokerage industry research, appears regularly on CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg, and hosts the Market MakeHer podcast.
• As one of the largest brokerages on our list, Fidelity lets you trade stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, options, bonds, fractional shares, cryptocurrency and more.
• On the other hand, you might have an easier time staying focused on the long game, making you less likely to panic-sell and more willing to ride out a bumpy market.
• He is a long-time active investor and engages in research on emerging markets like cryptocurrency.

Nonretirement accounts are other investment accounts that let you invest and trade in the short and long term. There are some notable differences between retirement and nonretirement accounts. Though the best online brokers charge low fees, you’ll likely be responsible for covering certain costs as you invest. Are you a day trader or do you have a more set-it-and-forget investing style?

Do Brokerage Accounts Charge Trading Fees?

It allows users to select between a number of preset layouts, including a basic layout for first-time users. One of SogoTrade’s unique features is its “Get Paid to Trade” campaign. This perk rewards users a dollar for every 1,000 shares traded via limit orders during regular market hours. To help you navigate your options, we asked financial advisors for their insights.

Brokers, also referred to as brokerages or stockbrokers, are middlemen who help people access the stock market. They buy and sell securities in financial markets on behalf of their clients. For the vast majority of people today, brokers are almost exclusively online services accessed via the internet, which is why they’re called online brokers. Fidelity is near the top of our list of the best online brokers because of its vast investment offerings, minimal fees, and breadth of expert insights and educational resources. Whether you’re a first-time investor or a seasoned pro looking for a new trading platform, many worthwhile options exist.

Some people get nervous whenever the markets fluctuate, as markets tend to do. Locking in your losses when prices are down means you’re faced with deciding when to invest again, and timing the market is impossible even for the most experienced investors. On the other hand, you might have an easier time staying focused on the long game, making you less likely to panic-sell and more willing to ride out a bumpy market. Before you start investing, assess your financial situation and ensure you can cover your everyday expenses.