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One of the best ways to boost your personal finances is to make smart investments and to manage those investments wisely. This used to mean hiring a good broker, but in todays world there are many options for stock trading services online that enable you to manage an investment portfolio yourself.

Whether youre just beginning to manage your own investments or youre a seasoned expert, its important to choose an online stock trading service that will provide you with all the data and analytical tools you need to make well-informed financial decisions. The best online services will also be easy to use and offer plenty of resources to help you understand the trading process.

Our sister site, TopTenREVIEWS, has done extensive research on online stock trading services. The site also has a stock trading configurator to help you determine which trading option is best for you. Here are the top three recommendations for online stock trading services:

This service wins the top seat for its advanced trading tools, easily understood fee schedule, and low margin rate. OptionsXpress excels at providing lots of stock data and educational information for traders at a reasonable price.

Investments Offered: OptionsXpress has many options when it comes to investments, including stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and bonds. This service also offers IRAs to retirement and education savings plans.

Trading Tools: This service provides a wide range of tools and educational resources to facilitate your trading and investment. From calculators and charts to streaming news and analyst research reports, this site has you covered in terms of information.

Cost. To compare the cost of this service with others like it, visit TopTenREVIEWS best online stock trading services comparisons and reviews here .

OptionsHouse takes second place for its commitment to educating traders, reasonable fees and commissions, good customer support, and user-friendly trading platform.

Investments Offered: This service offers both stock and options trading, as well as bonds. It also provides access to a range of mutual and retirement funds.

Trading Tools: OptionsHouse offers a wide array of tools and resources, including probability and profit calculators, Call Spread and Covered Call Investigators, and applications for live-streaming news.

Cost. To compare the cost of this service with others like it, visit TopTenREVIEWS best online stock trading services comparisons and reviews here .

TradeKing garners a good review for its exceptional customer service, amazingly low prices, and commitment to client education.

Investments Offered: This service offers stocks, options, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. It also offers fixed income investments like bonds and CDs, though these orders must be made via telephone. TradeKing provides access to IRA accounts for retirement and education savings.

Trading Tools: TradeKing offers all the basic tools for investment, including calculators, graphs, charts, and streaming news. It also provides a plethora of educational materials for your perusal, including web tutorials and podcasts.

Cost. To compare the cost of this service with others like it, visit TopTenREVIEWS best online stock trading services comparisons and reviews here .