Merrill Edge Online Brokerage

Merrill Edge is part of Bank of America since 2009. It provides online brokerage for investor. As part of Merrill Lynch service, Merrill Edge is a full service broker that offers stocks, ETFs, and option trading. Any investor and trader can open a Merrill Edge account.

If you are Bank of America customer, you may even qualify for free monthly trades. For current banking customers, you might want to consider Merrill Edge as your main broker.

Broker Profile

• Products: Stocks, ETFs, fixed income & bonds, mutual funds, CDs, IPOs, options, annuities
• Stock Orders: $6.95 per trade
• ETF Orders: $6.95 per trade
• Broker Assisted: $29.95 per trade
• Mutual Funds: $0.00 for NTF funds. Non-NTF: $19.95/trade or $29.95/trade
• Options: $6.95/trade+$0.75/contract
• Exercised:  $6.95 per trade
• Minimum to Open: $0
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Full Account Transfer Fee: $49.95
• Some Other Fees: Wire Transfer Fee: 24.95
• Maximum Margin Rate: Check current website for details.

Commissions & Fees

You can buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and options. Regular stock trades are a flat $6.95 per trade. There are no additional charges for stocks less than $1 per share.

Fidelity Online Brokerage Review

Fidelity Investments is well known among investors and traders. Fidelity is considered as a full service broker. It has more than 15 million brokerage accounts & $1.5 trillion of client assets as of July 1, 2015. Fidelity provides variety of product & service offerings. It offers investment guidance and retirement services.

Fidelity Brokerage Profile

• Products: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, insurance, commercial paper, CDs, IPOs, precious metals, managed portfolios
• Stock Orders: $7.95 per trade
• ETF Orders: $7.95 per trade
• Limit Orders: $7.95 per trade
• Phone FAST Orders: $12.95 per trade
• Broker Assisted: $32.95 per trade
• ishares ETFs Orders: $0.00 for iShares & Fidelity ETFs
• Mutual Funds: $0.00 for Fidelity & NTF funds. Non-NTF: $49.95.
• Options: $7.95/trade+$0.75/contract
• Minimum to Open: $2500
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Some Other Fees: Tender Fee: $38.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate.

Commissions & Fees

Fidelity uses a simple, flat-fee trading commission structure. Stock trades are $7.95 per trade, and option trades run at $7.95, plus $.75 per contract. These types of commissions are similar to those found at TD Ameritrade, ETRADE, Charles Schwab, and

Top 10 Stock Brokers for 2015 & 2016

Find top 10 stock brokers for 2015 & 2016. Best online brokerages are TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and Merrill Edge.

Popular Online Brokerage

Finding the right online broker is not an easy job for traders or investors. You need to find a company you can rely. The brokerages need to provide access to every asset class you intend to trade, and they can’t charge high commissions or fees. Some may provide special features like research reports, analytic software, banking, credit card, and a mobile app.

To help you find the best broker for your needs, MEPB Financial reviewed every online trading firm. We had used variables for this list. We have created the overall rankings for these top stock brokers.

Top 10 stock brokers for 2015 & 2016 are:

1. TD Ameritrade
2. Fidelity
3. Merrill Edge
4. OptionsHouse
5. Charles Schwab
6. Scottrade
7. TradeKing
8. Interactive Brokers

Top 3 Banks or Brokers for Stock and Fund

Find top 3 banks or brokers for stock and fund investment. Check the pros and cons of the banking services for fund investment and stock trading. It is essential to find the right bank or broker for your investing account.

Best Banks for Financial Investing

It is difficult to find the right bank or brokers to use for your investing account. There are lot of selections from new online broker and well established bank. Investors can also choose a cheap online broker for their investment account such as retirement account or regular brokerage account. The most respected and well established banks or brokers are continuing to offer the best deal.

About 20 years ago, retail investors are having a hard time to invest in stocks or investment funds (mutual fund, ETF, CEF). Currently, you can find tons of online stock brokers or bank with low commission fees and lot of benefits or services. Banks or brokers may offer great customer services, high speed platform, new tools of software, and low fees. My top 3 banks for investing are:

• Merrill Edge
• Fidelity Investments
• Charles Schwab

Top 5 Brokerage Firms for Mutual Funds Investment

There are many options to invest in mutual funds nowadays. Investors can choose either a discount broker or mutual fund companies to invest. There are pros and cons with each option. Some of the top brokerages for mutual fund investing are: Vanguard, Fidelity, Scottrade, etc.

Best Mutual Fund Brokerages

Intro

Whether you are investing in your regular brokerage account or retirement account, you may find mutual funds as your investment selection. To invest in these investment funds, regular investors can open a brokerage account or a mutual fund account directly from mutual fund companies.

For brokerage account, you can choose either open an account with a discount broker or a full brokerage. I’ll focus on discount brokers; hence they are accessible to most small investors. Several discount brokerages (such as Zecco Trading, Scottrade, E*trade) offer some great selections of mutual funds with low cost to purchase. You may also find a discount broker that offers no-transaction fee mutual funds.

Another alternative is by opening an account directly with the mutual fund company itself. Some of the well-known mutual funds companies are Fidelity, Vanguard, and T. Rowe Price, etc. Vanguard and Fidelity are the best ranked mutual funds companies in the U.S. These mutual funds companies also offer great selection of their fund family at low cost and no transaction fee. It also provides other crucial fund information such as performance, rating, expense fee, fund research, newsletter, etc.

Lightspeed Offers New Commission fee for WebTrader 2012

lightspeed

Lightspeed is one of the discount brokerage which has been rated among the top brokerage by various financial magazine such as Barron, Smart Money, and more. It offers Lightspeed Trader, Lightspeed Gateway, Lightspeed Web Trader, and Lightspeed Forex.

New Commission Fee on 1/15/2012

There will be new commission schedule for Lightspeed WebTrader user on 1/15/2012.

• Lightspeed will eliminate the per-share rate plan. Any customer on per-share rate will be switched to the new per-trade plan.
• Lightspeed will reduce the current per-trade plan from $4.50 per trade to $3.00 per trade.

The new commission will be:

• For equities, $3.00 per trade with 50,000 share maximum order size
• For options, $0.60 per contract ($3.00 minimum commission)

Questrade Online Canadian Brokerage Review

As one of the fastest growing Canadian online broker, Questrade offers variety of products to Canadian customers such as Stocks, Options, Forex, Mutual Fund, RSP, TFSA, etc. Traders or investors can trade stocks for $0.01 per share with $4.95 min and $9.95 max. This pricing is among the lowest commission rate among Canadian Online Brokerages. Several reasons to trade using Questrade are:

Questrade Logo

• It offers one of the lowest commissions for Canadian traders
• You can open an account online quickly by completing the Questradexpress
• It is part of Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and Canadian Investor Protection Fund
• There is no fee for RSPs & TFSAs
• It provides Mutual Fund Maximizer for lower mutual fund trades
• It offers real gold bullion trading
• It provides free trading educations, research tools, and knowledge

Other cons of Questrade:

• Only available to Canadian resident
• No future trades
• Issues with customer service
• More suitable for trader than investor

LowTrades Brokerage Review

LowTrades is another online internet stock broker with low commission fee, $4.95 per trade. Investor can trade ETFs (exchange traded fund), stocks, mutual funds, and options. Several reasons to choose LowTrades are:

• LowTrades’ commission rates are among the lowest among its brokerage competitors.
• It provides quality executions for your trading experience.
• It offers variety of trading tools including Level 2 quote, logical orders, streaming quote, etc
• It offers account protection since it is a member of SIPC and FINRA. It also provides additional protection through its clearing firm, Legent Clearing under Lloyd’s of London for securities and cash in addition of SIPC coverage. Also, it provides 100% encryption technology for your account information, trading, etc.

LowTrades Logo

Cons of LowTrades:

• It charges semiannual inactivity fee
• Doesn’t have any software platform or mobile platform
• Doesn’t offer future or forex tradings
• Mutual fund trades can only be done through broker

Details about LowTrades review and products on Best Brokerages Review 2011 page.

Advantages and Disadvantages of MB Trading

MB Trading

MB Trading is one of premier online discount brokerage with flat rate stock commission of $4.95 per trade. MBT provides various type of trading platforms such as mobile, web-based, desktop software and direct access trading platform to investors and traders. Details about the pricing and products details can be found on Best Brokerages page.

Advantages of MB Trading

• MBT provides flat-rate pricing for stock orders with $4.95 per trade
• It offers multiple trading platforms: mobile, web based, desktop software 
• MBT provides new tools for its client regularly
• Provides MBT World for trading education, tutorial, customer interaction, market research
• There is no inactivity fee
• Extended hours trading (pre market and after market hours) is available for extra fee

Disadvantages of MB Trading

• It charges $10 per month fee if 10 options contracts are not traded.
• There is a special charge for trading with over the 10,000 shares AND orders executed using the Reserve, Discretionary, or Pegged
• There is a $30 annual fee for IRAs
• There is a $0.01 per share fee to exercise options contracts

Pros and Cons of TradeKing Online Brokerage

TradeKing is among the top online discount brokerage with its flat rate commission of $4.95 per trade. TradeKing provides two platforms such as a standard web based trading platform as well as a mobile trading platform. In 2010, TradeKing is also rated number 1 in customer service category by SmartMoney.

TradeKing Logo

Pros of TradeKing

• Has one of the best customer services via chat, email or phone.
• Has great online community network 
• Tons of excellent educational resources
• Provide mobile trading support
• Offers DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) for free
• There is no annual IRA maintenance fee
• There is no minimum to open an account
• It has low margin rates compare to other online brokerages
• Free Maxit Tax Manager for Tax purposes

Cons of TradeKing

• Need to improve its trading platform 
• Little support on mobile trading
• It doesn’t offer Forex and Futures Tradings
• Extra fees for cash management service
• No support for international applicant/ investors

Note: For details about TradeKing, I have updated the best brokerage 2011 page.

Marsco Online Stock Broker Account Review

Marsco provides brokerage account for investors who want to trade in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and options. You can find this online stock broker account review in this article.

Marsco is one of the oldest online discount stock brokerage which offers several financial or cash management services. Marsco’s brokerage account is designed for investors who want the flexibility to invest.

Product & Services

Investors or traders can trade stock online for $3.95 per trade with no shares limit and option for $3.95 per trade plus $1.25 per contract. It also offers a complete web based trading platform.

• Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds
• Market Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Limit Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Broker Assisted: $25.00 / trade
• Mutual Funds: $15.00 for no-load funds.
• Options: $3.95 /trade + $1.25/contract
• Minimum to Open: $2500
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Online Statement: Free
• Mailed Statement: $2 / statement
• IRA Maintenance Fee: $30 / year
• Some Other Fees: Tender Fee: $25.00. DTC Out: $20.00/security. ACAT Out: $50.00. 
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

SogoTrade Online Stock Broker Account Review

SogoTrade is an online discount brokerage services that offers low cost options and stocks trades for investors or traders. To trade stock as well as ETF, it only cost $3.00 per trade with unlimited shares. To trade option, it will cost $5.00 per trade plus $0.65 per contract with unlimited shares.

• Products: Stocks, Options
• Market Orders: $3.00 per trade
• Limit Orders: $3.00 per trade
• Broker-Assisted Orders:$27.00 per trade
• Options: $5.00 + $0.65/contract
• Mutual Funds: Not Available
• Minimum to Open: $500
• Account Maintenance Fee:$0.00
• Account inactivity fee: $0.00
• Abandoned Account fee: $10 / month
• Account Closing Fee: $0.00
• Some Other Fees: Wire Fees: $25.00 per transfer.
• Outgoing ACAT: $75.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

More on Hubpages: My SogoTrade Online Stock Broker Account Review

Interactive Brokers Online Brokerage Account Review IB

Interactive Brokers Review is one of the best online brokerages. It offers low commission rates for customers. There are two main trading platforms. More review can be found in this post.

Interactive Brokers (IB)

Interactive Brokers (IB) is popular among active traders, experience and professional investors and hedge fund. It was established and began executing trades for public in 1994. It offered its own clearing trading in 1998. Interactive Brokers Group is traded publicly on the NASDAQ under IBKR ticker. It has a market capitalization of $710 million. The current headquarter is located in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Chairman and CEO is Thomas Peterffy.

As one of the best brokerages, IB offers stock trading, option trades, ETF, mutual funds, future, Forex, CFDs, and bonds. It offers global products. You can trades in over 100 market centers in 19 countries using single IB Universal Account. There are 2 types of trading platforms: Trader Workstation (TWS), and WebTrader. Trader Workstation is one of the best desktop applications for trading. It also offers advance tools such as BookTrader, OptionTrader, BasketTrader, ScaleTrader Algo, Accumulate/Distribute algo, FXTrader, and SpreadTrader. There are 50 order types and algos supported.

The WebTrader is a web based trading platform. It is a scaled-down version of TWS with simplified interface. It offers in fourteen languages. As an online discount brokerage, it provides 11 supported order types.

Opening an account with IB can take a little longer than typical online broker. You need to fill your application online, and then you need to verify two deposits IB makes into your bank account. Then, Interactive Brokers will send you a code through a regular mail to start trading. You also need to deposit $10,000 initial funding to open an account. Most traders choose bundled commission to get the lowest cost for trading.

Products and Services

• Products: Stocks, bonds, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, options, foreign investments, currency
• Market Orders: $0.005 per shares ($1.00 minimum)
• Limit Orders: $0.005 per shares ($1.00 minimum)
• Broker-Assisted Orders: $0.01 per shares ($100.00 min)
• Mutual Funds: $14.95/ trade
• Options: $0.70/contract
• Minimum to Open: $10,000 for US-based accounts; varied for foreign accounts
• Account Maintenance Fee: $10.00 - $20.00
• IRA maintenance Fee: $7.50 per quarter
• Some Other Fees: Wire Transfer outgoing: $10.00 per transfer.
• ACH Transfer Fee: $1.00 per transfer.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Pros:

• Low commissions for stocks and option trading
• Low margin rates
• Offers several trading platform

Cons:

• High minimum requirement to open an account ($10,000)
• There is a commission fee of $10/month if you don’t trades more than $30 commission fee per month
• It can get quite expense for trades over 1,500 shares
• There is a quarterly IRA fee

OptionsHouse Online Discount Brokerage Review

OptionsHouse is an online brokerage services that offers low cost options and stocks trades to its large client base of investors or traders. As one of the known discount broker, they also provide low cost stock trades and other financial services (checking & Debit card) for their customers.

To trade stock, it only cost $3.95 per trade. It also doesn't have any minimum account balance. Only need $1,000 to open cash account and $2,000 for margin.

The following is the standard pricing or commission fee of Optionshouse brokerage account:

• Products: Stocks, Options, mutual funds, treasury & corporate bonds
• Market Orders: 3.95 per trade
• Limit Orders: 3.95 per trade
• Broker-Assisted Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Mutual Funds: $9.95 per trade for no load fund; additional fees for load funds
• Options: $8.50 + $0.15/contract or $1.00 per contract
• Minimum to Open: $1,000 (Cash) & $2,000 (Margin)
• Account Maintenance Fee: $0.00
• Account inactivity fee: $0.00
• IRA Closing Fee: $15.00
• Some Other Fees: Wire Fees: $15.00 per transfer.
• Outgoing ACAT: $50.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate
• Extras: Check writing available. Debit cards are available at a fee for certain accounts.

Advantages using OptionsHouse:

• The commission is one of the lowest with $2.95/trade flat fee for stocks trading or ETF trading
• Also offers two structure of flexible commission plans for options trading
• There is variety of useful tools for options traders.

OptionsHouse used to have $2.95 per trade for trading stocks or ETFs.

More details on My Review of OptionsHouse Online Discount Brokerage Account

TD Ameritrade Online Brokerage Account Review

TD Ameritrade is another online financial brokerage service provider with an abundant online stock trading platform for its investors as well as traders. It offers an opportunity to trade stock, option and mutual funds. The commission fees for trading stock is $9.99 per trade. Recently, TD Ameritrade offers 100+ Free commission ETFs with 30 days holding period.

The following is the standard commission for trading using TD Ameritrade platform:

• Products: Stocks, bonds, CDs, UITs, mutual funds, options, forex
• Market Orders: $9.99/trade
• Limit Orders: $9.99/trade
• IVR Phone Orders: $34.99/trade
• Broker Assisted Orders: $44.99/trade
• ETF Market/Limit Orders: $9.99/trade
• Commission Free ETFs: $0.00/trade with requirement
• Mutual Funds: $49.99 for no-load funds. NTF mutual funds: $0.00
• Options: $9.99/trade+$0.75/contract
• Futures: $3.50/contract
• Minimum to Open: $0, $2000 for margin account.
• Electronic funding minimum: $500
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Some Other Fees: Paper Statement: $2.00, DTC Out:$25.00/security, ACAT Out:$75.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Free ETF trading


Recently, it offers 100+ free commission ETFs. The current ETFs offering include:

• 31 Equity ETFs:
• 3 REIT Sector ETFs
• 32 Bond ETFs
• 31 International ETFs
• 4 Commodity ETFs

Several Pros  of TD Ameritrade

• Feature and research rich offering for all client types including research by Morningstar, S&P, and Market Edge, etc
• Customer service is very friendly and knowledgeable
• Offer thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade trade platform.
• Also offer Pre market and Post Market trading for no additional fees

More details: My Review of TD Ameritrade Online Brokerage Account and Free ETF

Charles Schwab Online Brokerage Account Review

Charles Schwab is one of online brokerage site which offers financial service as well as a trading platform to buy online stock for its investors. Schwab also has over 300 local offices. They are able to offer a full range of banking, brokerage, and investment advisory services to their large client base. Other financial services include retirement planning, mutual fund trading, equity trading or stock trading, and financial planning. They are one of the largest financial brokers in the world with > 7.5 million accounts with customer assets in excess of $1.4 trillion. It also 11 Free commission ETFs for trade recently.

Schwab aka Chuck Details

As one of largest brokerage in the world, Charles Schwab was founded in 1971 as First Commander Corporation. The current headquarter is located at San Francisco, CA USA. Charles Schwab Corporation is a brokerage and banking company listed in NYSE with ticker: SCHW.

It currently uses its own clearing service to hold the client asset. Charles Schwab Clearing Services (CSCS), member of FINRA & SIPC, holds and clears all client trade. All Charles Schwab accounts are insured under SIPC up to $500,000 ($100,000 cash) and supplemental Lloyd’s of London coverage up to $150 million ($1 million cash).

Products: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, CDs, insurance, annuities, foreign investments
Market Orders: $8.95 / trade
Limit Orders: $8.95 / trade

Auto Phone Orders: $13.95 / trade

Broker-Assisted Orders: $33.95 / trade

Schwab’s ETF Market/Limit Orders: $0.00

Mutual Funds: $49.95 & $0.00 for NTF funds.
Options: $8.95/trade+$0.75/contract
Minimum to Open: $1000 for US-based accounts, $25000 or $10000 for foreign accounts

Inactivity Fee: $0.00
Some Other Fees: Wire Transfer Outgoing: $25.00 per transfer. ACAT Out: $50.00.
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Commission & Pricing

For stock or ETF order, the standard commission is $8.95 per trade with no limit of shares amount. As noted, for broker-assisted trades, the commission is $33.95 per order. When trading during pre and post market hours, there is no additional fees such as ECN fees.  Charles Schwab applies a simplified flat-fee based commissions structure. There is no catches or fine print notes for trading using Schwab. There are no limits on total trade size or price. If you are trading more than 10,000 shares or $500,000, you may be eligible for special handling and pricing.. 

Stock trading (i.e. buy stock online) can be done through web based platform as well as software platform, StreetSmart Pro. StreetSmart Pro is available to active trading customers.

For option, the customer can use their option platform thru web. The cost of 1 contract will cost $9.70 commission fee ($8.95 ticket fee + $0.75 per contract), while 10 contracts will cost $16.45 commission fee.

For mutual funds, there are about 1,900+ no load no transaction fee mutual funds with no commission fee for buy or sell through OneSource Funds. There are 3,000+ mutual funds for selection with $49.95 per trade of mutual funds.


Also featured in My Review of Charles Schwab Online Brokerage Account and ETF

Top 10 Cheapest Online Discount Brokerage Account and More

With the current stock market, finding a good & cheap online discount brokerage is important. Fees can cut into the trading profit. The following top 10 cheapest discount brokerages are: Lightspeed Trading, Interactive Brokers, Just2trade, OptionsHouse, eOption, SogoTrade, Zecco, TradeKing, MB Trading, and Lowtrades.
I will provide a summary of various online stock brokerages with their commissions and fees. I have been using multiple trading platforms such as Fidelity, Zecco, Vanguard, Lightspeed, and Just2trade. For me, the brokerage needs to satisfy the following requirement:

1. Low commission fees or cheap fees to trade or buy stocks, etfs, and mutual funds
2. Reliable, can be access freely, stable trading platform
3. Offer ACH electronic transfer
4. Responsive and contactable customer service

To get the low commission fee, usually an investor or trader will need to sacrifice some investment tool such as good charting, tax tool, financial services, transfer capability etc. So don't be surprised about the barebone platform for this discount brokerage. You can essentially supplement the lack of features by open another account with full service brokerage such as Fidelity, Schwab, etc or you can just use internet service such as stockcharts & finviz for charting and filter.

Brokerages Logo

Top 10 cheapest online discount stock brokers to trade stock or ETF are:

1. Lightspeed Trading

Lightspeed offers stock, etf, option, forex and future for trading. The cost to buy stock online is the cheapest discount brokerage as far as I know. To trade stock, you only pay for $0.00395 per shares with $0.40 per 100 shares. The minimum is $0.40 per trade. There is no ticket fee to buy option; it only cost $0.50 per option contract. The minimum balance to open is only $1,000 for cash account and $2,000 for margin account using Lightspeed Web Trader. If you are using Lightspeed Trader which is software based platform, the minimum balance requirement is $10,000.

more can be read at: Top 10 Cheapest Online Discount Brokerage Account and More

Fidelity Brokerage Account Review

Fidelity Investments is one of financial service provider that offers to buy stock online with various trading platforms for its investors. In addition to low cost stock and options trading Fidelity also has investment management, retirement planning. Fidelity is the largest mutual fund company in the US. They also offer various accounts specialize in IRAs/Rollovers (Roth IRA, Traditional IRA and 401k), CDs, Bonds, and 529 Plans. Fidelity also offers mobile trading application.

Fidelity main page

For me, the brokerage needs to satisfy the following requirement:

1. Low commission fees to trade stocks, etf, mutual funds (if necessary)
2. Reliable, can be access freely thru web, stable trading platform
3. Offer ACH electronic transfer
4. Responsive and contactable customer service

Fidelity definitely fit into my criteria. Ever since they offer 25 ishares ETF for free, my interest using fidelity is growing even more. I have been using my fidelity account for the past 3 years for Roth IRA, investment brokerage account and interest checking account. I also use their credit card which provides 2% cashback on any daily purchase. This is one of the best credit card cashback from my experience. Also please check my other brokerages review such as just2trade, vanguard, Lightspeed, E*trade, Scottrade and Zecco.

The following is the Fidelity details:

Products: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, insurance, commercial paper, CDs, IPOs, precious metals, managed portfolios Market Orders: $7.95 Limit Orders: $7.95

Phone FAST Orders: $12.95

Broker Assisted: $32.95

ishares ETFs Orders: $0.00 for 25 ishares ETFs Mutual Funds: $0.00 for Fidelity & NTF funds. Non-NTF: $75.00. Options: $7.95/trade+$0.75/contract Minimum to Open: $2500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Some Other Fees: Tender Fee: $38.00.
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate. 

More detail can be read at hubpages: My Fidelity Brokerage Account Review

Scottrade Stock Brokerage Review

If you are investor or trader and buy stock online as well as buy mutual fund online, you probably know about Scottrade. Scottrade is an online brokerage site that offers various products such as stocks, options and mutual funds. They offer their low cost commissions of $7.00 per trade on three different trading platforms: Scottrade, Scottrade Elite, and Scottrade OptionsFirst. 


Also, Scottrade has over 480 branch offices throughout the United States and has had a consistent track record of being recognized as an industry leader by several different magazines and review groups. While not one of the cheapest online trading platform, Scottrade has been known by investor as well as trader due to its platform, research and community. 

Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, CDs, munis, Canadian stocks

Market Orders: $7.00 Limit Orders: $7.00

Broker Assisted: $27, Touchtone IVR Phone system: $17

Mutual Funds: $17.00. Load funds also incur a $17.00 redemption fee. Also has NTF funds. Options: $7.00/trade+$1.25/contract

Minimum to Open: $500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Some Other Fees: Paper Statement: $2.00 per statement. ACAT In/ Out: $60.00.  
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

more details can be read on Hubpages: My Scottrade Brokerage Account Review

E*Trade Online Full Brokerage Review

E*TRADE is an online brokerage site that specialize in stock, option, bond, future and mutual fund. E*trade also provides many additional banking financial services such as High Yield Saving accounts, checking account & mortgage. Etrade also offers a wide selection of trading tools for their customers, as well as low trading commissions. 

E*TRADE also allows its investors or traders to trade stocks on their smart phones such as iPhone and BlackBerry with the use of E*Trade Mobile Pro. They are one of the largest financial brokers in the world with > 4.5 million accounts in about 40 countries with customer assets in excess of $100 billion.

The following is the standard pricing for etrade:

Products: Stocks, options, futures, bonds & mutual fund Market/Limit Orders: $9.99 for stock and/or etf Options: $9.99/trade+$0.75/contract

Futures: $9.99/trade+$2.99/contract Mutual Funds: $0.00 (No Load, NTF) & $19.99 (Transaction-fee Fund)

Broker Assisted: Add $45 (ex: Market order = $54.99)

Minimum to Open: $500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 with exception
Some Other Fees: Paper Statement: $2.00 per statement; ACAT Out: $60.00.
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Opening an account

Opening account is straight forward; you just need to fill the online application through etrade website. You can open individual, joint, and Individual Retirement accounts (IRA). The following accounts are being offered by etrade such as Employee Stock Plans, Business, Corporate/LCC, Trust & Estate, incestment club, rollover IRA, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, beneficiary IRA, etc. They may require you to submit some identification as well. The application only takes about 10-15 minute. Once you are done, you’ll need to wait for their approval. Then, you can setup how you want to fund your account.

What are the advantages using etrade?

1. Offer several premium services such as excellent trader platform Power Etrade Pro 5.0
2. Best mobile trading application Etrade Mobile Pro for blackberry & Apple iphone
3. Etrade website is very user friendly.
4. There are additional banking services such as Online High Yield Saving account (complete savings), and Checking account (Max-Rate Checking & e*trade checking).
5. Offer international market for trading such as Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
6. Also offer after hour trading either it is pre market and post market hour.
7. Offer complex and conditional buy or sell order
8. Have an excellent Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) program

Disadvantages

1. Compare to other brokerage the $9.99 trades is more expensive than discounted competitors such as Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Lightspeed, Just2trade, Vanguard.
2. Some of the premium feature such as Power Etrade Pro is not available to all clients.
3. Account maintenance fees of $25 per quarter for some investor

 Details also can be read on Hubpages: My E*Trade Brokerage Review