7 Best Brokerage Accounts For Stock Trading In 2025
Interactive Brokers currently offers the lowest margin rates, ranging from 5.33% to 6.33%, making it a cost-effective choice for margin traders. Robinhood charges a flat 8% margin rate, while Charles Schwab and Fidelity have higher variable rates, ranging from 8.575% to 13.075% and 8.5% to 12.075%, respectively. If you are trading stocks on margin, Interactive Brokers have some of the lowest margin loan financing rates in the industry from USD 4.83% to USD 5.83%. The brokers below also scored highly under Bankrate’s methodology and excel in a number of features that may appeal to certain investors. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
What trading platform offers the most fractional US stocks?
Many LSE-partnered brokers also provide research, market insights, and trading platforms to help investors navigate the markets. While the user experience is not as sleek as Public for example, Merrill Edge Self-Directed does offer a good experience for Bank of America customers who want a more integrated banking and investing experience. This brokerage loses a point in ease-of-use with 4/5 for ease due to its lack of fractional share trading. Many brokers provide advanced trading tools, including Interactive Brokers, Cobra Trading and TradeZero. These platforms cater to active traders with features like order routing and in-depth market data.
While IBKR Lite is an excellent choice for stock trading, it earns just a 4/5 due to its at-times complicated platform intended more for experienced traders rather than new investors. Users of all levels can access AI-powered research and level 2 market data. Moomoo offers a well-rounded package with features that go beyond basic stock trading, making it ideal for active investors. Webull offers commission-free trading for stocks, options and ETFs, making it an excellent choice for cost-conscious investors who don’t want to reduce their profit margins. It also offers paper trading so you can build your strategy before risking funds and fractional shares so you can hold a small portion in major, high-priced stocks. For those looking to expand their portfolios, Public offers access to over 300 select over-the-counter (OTC) stocks, primarily focusing on large-cap international companies.
You may start trading Plus500 right away, leverage your experience, expand your portfolio and start making money right away. If you want to buy US stocks you need a US stock broker to buy them on your behalf. This is by far the most efficient way of getting exposure to a companies share price.
Finder compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don’t provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service. Trading fees have become very competitive, with many brokers offering commission-free stock and ETF trades.
To engage in margin trading, an investor must open a margin account with a brokerage firm. The Federal Reserve’s Regulation T mandates that investors can borrow up to 50% of the purchase price of securities, meaning they must initially fund at least 50% with their own capital. For example, to buy $10,000 worth of stock, an investor could use $5,000 of personal funds and borrow the remaining $5,000 on margin. We’ve examined the best brokers based on characteristics that matter to individual investors, including trading fees, account minimums, free research and many other features. We’ve evaluated each broker on their pros and cons, and here’s how they stack up on the most important aspects.
Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article best stock brokers or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens.
Why Public Is A Top Choice
If you’re a buy-and-hold ETF investor, you’ll probably need something different than if you’re an active trader. While new investors might find choosing a broker to be daunting, you aren’t likely to go wrong with any of the names mentioned above. Once you’ve found a broker, you can begin plotting your way to a more secure financial future. The first thing you need to know before choosing a brokerage account is what your needs will be as an investor or trader.
Look for educational resources for your skill level, plus advanced videos, tutorials or community chats for further learning opportunities. Consider whether there is a desktop version and how well the app works. Most brokerages offer a free trial or free paper trading so you can compare brokerages firsthand.
- Some brokerage accounts charge trading fees but many brokers now offer commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs specifically while still charging fees for options or other types of investments.
- For example, the new user deposit bonus could give you seven fractional shares of the «magnificent seven» with a $100 deposit.
- Webull offers commission-free trading for stocks, options and ETFs, making it an excellent choice for cost-conscious investors who don’t want to reduce their profit margins.
- After having placed over 2,000 trades in his late teens and early 20s, he became one of the first in digital media to review online brokerages.
- Other factors you may want to consider when choosing the best stock broker include fees and commissions, account minimums and promotional offers.
- Visit my full review of Interactive Brokers to learn more about its entire offering.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR Lite)
Bankrate follows a stricteditorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. In addition to trading in U.S. markets, you can also invest in the Hong Kong and China-A-shares markets. Plus, Moomoo’s paper trading feature allows you to practice your strategies with virtual funds, right from the same place. Also like Fidelity, Schwab has embraced the times and continued to improve its technology offerings and the user experience of its web and mobile platforms.
The top online brokerage accounts for trading stocks in April 2025
- If you’re starting to invest or looking for a new brokerage account, checking out Bankrate’s list of the best online brokers is a great place to begin.
- Many brokers allow fractional shares and commission-free trades, so you can invest $5 to $10 and gradually build your portfolio over time.
- The best ones offer low commissions, strong trading platforms, plenty of research and education as well as helpful customer support – all the features to help you succeed as an investor.
- It’s essential to compare a broker’s fees for your investment strategy.
- For that, you can check customer reviews and ratings on sites like the Better Business Bureau and TrustPilot.
- I spent hundreds of hours testing online trading platforms and mobile apps, placing trades, exploring tools, and gathering thousands of data points; here are my picks for the best stock brokers of 2025.
Fidelity was launched in 1946 and has long been one of the largest and most-trusted brokerages in the world. There are over 50 million investors with accounts at Fidelity and over $14 trillion invested on the platform. “New” brokers have better technology, simpler offerings, lower costs, and are overall more user-friendly for new investors. Educational resources can help you develop new trading strategies and connect with a similar investor community.
Research and Analysis Tools
A brokerage account is an account provided by a brokerage firm that allows you to buy and sell stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds using an online trading platform. Think of it as your direct link to the markets, giving you access to a variety of investment products and the tools you need to build and manage your portfolio. TradeZero offers ultralow commissions and advanced trading tools, making it ideal for active traders.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
The platform also offers flexibility with stocks, ETFs, crypto and CFDs. While popular for crypto, eToro offers multiple asset classes, including stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrencies and CFDs (subject to regulation). Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a long-standing favorite of experienced traders. The comprehensive trading platform gives you access to a massive range of securities worldwide, including access to 150 global markets. It is renowned for its extensive market access and professional trading tools, making it ideal for active and global traders. Robinhood is known for providing easy access to the markets for all investors.
Related content: Basics of investing
Additionally, with its recent purchase of TD Ameritrade, Schwab added thinkorswim — a powerful trading platform that is especially useful for analyzing options trades — to its feature set. If you’re new to investing, Public likely has everything you need in an extremely clean and easy-to-use platform — both web and mobile app. Use the broker comparison tool to compare over 150 different account features and fees. Yes, you can transfer an existing brokerage account to a new broker, maintaining your holdings and not having to sell them.
This is a good example of how they are at the forefront of stock trading technology. However, it can be a bit of a pain trying to get through to someone on the phone if you are not a large customer with a personal stock broker. Selecting a broker requires you to think about your needs, because the deciding factor is not always about price.
No Comments