offer more than lowest fees

How to select online stock market broker

I regularly receive requests to provide a list of the best online stock brokers. Or to recommend the best online trading broker.

A good online broker is one of the important basics for every trader or investor. If you are a day trader or if you are a position trader or long term trader/investor you need to have confidence in your broker company.

It is important to know that there is not only one top stock broker. Every individual trader or investor has more or less different needs for his strategy. But all have one common idea in their mind. To find the online broker with lowest fees. But this is a big mistake.

Lowest fees do not mean that the broker will be one of the best online stock brokers for the investor’s purposes. Fees are not the most important costs of a trader or investor. There are also other very important issues for choosing the best stock broker firm. I have described them below.

I also write about my experience with the best brokers and their software in my regular etf & stock newsletter. I also answer many questions regarding brokers I receive from readers of this newsletter. Subscribe to this free trading newsletter .

Online trading platform provided by broker

Is trading software provided by the broker usable for you? Or not? Is entering of the order easy or not? This is important because you do not want to make a mistake when you are entering an order. Especially if you are a daytrader and need to enter your order quickly.

Does your online broker also provide web based option for access to your online trading brokerage accounts?

Level of security provided

by online trading brokerS

There are several levels of security that can be provided for your online trading brokerage account. This option differentiates best brokers from bad brokers and it is really important.

Support options of best online brokers

Real time data for stock tickers

Inventory of shares for short selling

Can you borrow shares when you want to sell shares short?

List of tradable markets and products

Some brokers offer only a limited list of markets to trade. Like only US exchanges. Or only European markets. It can be fine for your strategy. But if you also trade based on global macro analysis you want to have access to markets around the world. There are a lot of International ETFs or International stocks on US exchanges but sometimes it is important to trade directly on international markets like Hong Kong, Australia. Canada, Sweden, etc. The best online brokers offer them.