With all the brokers out there, it can be a very time consuming job to find one that best suits your needs. There are many important factors to consider. Firstly is the cost for each trade. This can vary massively between brokers. I have seen brokers charge .95 for a stock trade and I have seen other brokerages charge 0 per trade. Most are somewhere in between.

 

Amongst the cheapest brokers are Zecco and Tradeking. To find out more about zecco, check out this review of zecco. To find out more about tradeking checkout this review of tradeking.

 

Another important factor that may be worth considering is the charge a broker makes for broker-assisted trades. This is where you phone the brokerage and place the trade on the phone. Some stock brokers have no extra fee for this, whilst some charge many times more for trading in this way.

 

How much money do you have to trade? Do you have enough to satisfy your brokers minimum account size. This is another issue worth considering. Some brokers have no minimum account size whilst others have steep minimums that need to be met to open an account.

 

Now this one I hate the most. Hidden costs. Many stock brokerage frims have fees that are not always obvious. A common charge stock brokerage firms make are inactivity fees. This often a fee charged every 6 month period when you have not made a trade on your account. Fees like these are not neccesary, it’s just plain greed. I would never use a broker who engages in such practices.

 

Do you trade on margin a lot? If so, the margin rates could be very important to you. They can vary massively between different brokers so it probably pay handsomely to shop around.

 

There are many brokers to choose from. Looking at several online discount stock brokers is always a good idea before making your final choice.

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