Investment Options: Online Investment Accounts and Online Discount Brokers

Best Online Stock Brokers

• Etrade - If you are a savvy trader and you want more no load and no transaction fee mutual funds, and would prefer that your broker would give you retirement accounts, global trading, investment clubs, educational accounts, small business plans and a banking division, Etrade gives you all that. They may not be the lowest-priced nor the most customer service-attuned in the market, but they do have the widest financial product range.
• OptionsHouse - This is not for the faint of heart, nor the stocks newbie. It is for savvy investors who are looking for the lowest rates, however. If you need hand-holding and to learn your ropes to get a feel of the investment industry, look elsewhere. But if you're an experienced trader, by all means, try OptionsHouse. They have the lowest rates around.
• OptionsXpress - OptionsXpress' best feature is probably its clean interface and ease of use. What I like about OptionsXpress is not only the clean look, but also the ability to trade different investment platforms. OptionsXpress offers you the ability to trade everything from options to bonds all from one account. And while the price is mid-range, for these factors, it's well worth it.
• Scottrade - Scottrade is not for the penny-pinching or the budget conscious. The rates for some of their investment platforms are a little pricier than the rest of the online stock brokers, however, there is a reason for this: they take hand-holding their investors seriously. You can get top-notch mentoring from their investor community and even network with other investors. They also offer phone and broker-assisted transactions. Their mutual funds' prices are top-notch for those watching their budgets: No Load and No Transaction Fee mutual funds give you completely free transactions. The only caveat is that those mutual funds that are not included in the NTF program have a fee of $17 for each trade. This applies to buying, selling or exchanging mutual funds. Nonetheless, because of this balance of customer service and rates, I rank Scottrade among the best still.
• TradeKing - Tradeking is possibly the darling among the online stock brokerage firms. With rates that are the lowest around, top notch customer service, and even a robust online community to help you in your quest to become investment-savvy, TradeKing could help you from Day 1 up to the day when you're already trading like a pro. The rates, the platform and the customer service are great. What more could you ask for?
• Zecco - Zecco is not for the newbie nor the budget conscious. There's no minimum opening balance. However, if you make at least 25 trades per month, or if you can get to maintain a balance of at least $25,000, you get 10 free trades every month. The rates per trade when you've consumed your free trades for that month are at $4.50 per trade. Not bad, but OptionsHouse does charge lower, at $2.95 per trade. The biggest feature of this account is undeniable, however: FREE TRADES.