Gone are the days when investing was only for professionals or the wealthy.
Investing is more accessible now than ever, and more necessary than ever. These days, experts agree simply saving money — whether for retirement, college, or simply a big expense on the horizon — is often not enough. To really grow your wealth and secure your financial future, you need to invest it.
Pro Tip
We recommend building a diversified portfolio with low-cost ETFs and index funds for long-term investing. If you want to trade individual stocks, we recommend that you keep active trading and stock picking to a small portion of your overall investing strategy, and make sure you always do your research and understand what you’re buying.
With the rise of online stock brokers, anyone can start investing, often with no fees and no minimum deposit. Mobile apps and online trading platforms allow you to buy stocks with the tap of a finger, while many brokerages are offering free tools and educational resources to help new investors learn how to invest and make informed decisions.
We’ve rounded up our favorite online stock brokers for beginners, as well as expert advice on everything you need to know about picking a brokerage and getting started.
Best Online Stock Brokers for Beginners for October 2021
Fidelity
A reputable name in the investing space, Fidelity offers several different investment account options, from retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s, to brokerage accounts, to wealth management services. Fidelity’s basic brokerage account offers all of the most common investment options, like stocks, bonds, and ETFs, and charges no fees and no commissions on most trades. Fidelity offers fractional shares, lowering the barriers to entry for new investors who don’t have a lot of cash to invest upfront. With fractional shares, you can buy part of a share of a stock, for the exact dollar value you want, if the full share costs more than you want to invest.
Fidelity’s many tools and learning resources make it easy for new investors to do their own research and get informed. Its mobile app is great for investors who want to manage their money on the go.
Fidelity also offers a robo-advisor option as well as private wealth management services for those who want their investments managed for them. These services may charge an advisory fee, either in the form of a flat monthly fee or a percentage of the portfolio balance annually. Fidelity Go, Fidelity’s robo-advisor, charges no fee on account balances of $9,999 or less.
| Fidelity | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • Options • Bonds & CDs • ETFs • Mutual funds • Sector funds |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commissions for online U.S. stock, ETF, and option trades (terms and conditions apply) • $0.65 per contract on options • $1 per bond or CD in secondary trading and free for US Treasuries traded online • $0 account service fee • $0 – 0.35%/yr advisory fee for Fidelity Go |
| Account minimum | • $0 for self-directed trading account • $0 for Fidelity Go |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | Yes |
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab offers all the popular investing products with $0 commissions. Charles Schwab recently acquired TD Ameritrade, but the two companies are operating as independent brokerages until 2023. In addition to brokerage accounts, Charles Schwab also offers Schwab Intelligent Portfolios®, a fee- and commission-free automatic investing service. While a basic brokerage account with Charles Schwab has no account minimum requirements, you’ll need a minimum of $5,000 to open a Schwab Intelligent Portfolio account.
Like Fidelity, Charles Schwab offers fractional shares, which lets you buy stock in any company in the S&P $500 for as little as $5, even if the amount you invest isn’t enough to buy a full share.
Charles Schwab offers a satisfaction guarantee, and will refund your fee or commission if you’re not satisfied for any reason. Charles Schwab will also cover 100% of any losses in your accounts due to unauthorized activity as part of its security guarantee.
| Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • Options • Bonds • Mutual funds • ETFs • Futures • Margin loans • Money market funds |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commissions on online U.S. stock, options, and ETF trades • $0.65 per contract on options |
| Account minimum | • $0 for brokerage account • $5,000 for Schwab Intelligent Portfolios |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | Yes |
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade was recently acquired by Charles Schwab, though both companies will continue to operate as independent brokers until 2023. TD Ameritrade offers commission-free online investing options and a multitude of online resources and tools for investors.
One of its featured tools is thinkorswim, a comprehensive digital platform that lets investors access third-party research, educational resources, and planning tools. One feature of note of the thinkorswim platform is the paperMoney stock market simulator that lets you practice trading without risking real cash. While these features may be a bit complicated — and even unnecessary — for new investors and are better suited to trading than long-term investing, they’re still valuable if you want to educate yourself or if your investing goals change in the future.
If you have questions or need help getting started, TD Ameritrade offers 24/7 phone and email customer service, as well as more than 175 physical branch locations. Although the recent acquisition by Charles Schwab means that TD Ameritrade accounts will eventually be converted to Charles Schwab accounts, this conversion is scheduled to take place between April and September of 2023, according to the Charles Schwab website. This means that if you like the benefits TD Ameritrade offers, you can still open and keep a TD Ameritrade account for some time before the change takes place. Even though the conversion process isn’t finished yet, TD Ameritrade accounts now carry some of the benefits offered by Charles Schwab, including a new Satisfaction Guarantee similar to Charles Schwab’s own.
| TD Ameritrade | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • Options • Bonds & CDs • ETFs • Mutual funds • Futures • Forex |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commissions on online U.S. stock, ETF, and option trades • $0.65 per contract on options • $0 account service fees |
| Account minimum | • $0 required to open an account • Electronic funding minimum is $50 • Margin or options privileges require a minimum balance of $2,000 on the account |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | No |
Ally Invest
Previously featured on our best high-yield savings accounts list, Ally also offers investment accounts in addition to checking and savings accounts. Like its competitors, Ally Invest offers commission-free trading on the most popular investment options. Ally Invest is especially good for existing Ally customers, as you can easily access both your banking accounts and investment accounts from the same platform (web and mobile app) as well as make seamless transfers from one to the other. No account minimums make it easy to get started.
If you want a more hands-off option than self-directed trading, Ally also offers managed portfolios that are curated and managed by Ally. You can choose your investing goals and time horizon, and Ally’s robo-advisor service will create a balanced portfolio tailored to your needs and rebalance it as needed. Unlike some other robo-advisors, Ally does not charge any advisory fees, annual charges, or rebalancing fees for its managed portfolios.
| Ally Invest | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • ETFs • Options • Bonds • Mutual funds • Margin account |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commission on online U.S. listed stocks and ETFs • $0.50 per contract on options • $1 per bond • $4.95 + $0.01 per share for stocks priced less than $2.00 |
| Account minimum | • $0 for self-directed trading account • $100 for managed portfolio |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | No |
E*TRADE
E*TRADE offers a full range of investments with no commissions on the most popular options. E*TRADE has solid options for both new and experienced investors alike. For new investors, commission-free pre-built portfolios make it easy to get started if the thought of picking your investments on your own feels too overwhelming.
Power E*TRADE — the version of the platform geared toward experienced traders — offers a host of tools, data, and research to help facilitate advanced trading. Notably, the E*TRADE mobile apps for both the standard and Power versions of the platform make it easy to manage your portfolio on the go.
| E*TRADE | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • Options • Mutual funds • ETFs • Futures • Bonds & CDs • Prebuilt portfolios |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commissions on online U.S. stocks, options, and ETFs • $0.65 per contract on options • $1.50 per futures contract • $1 per bond |
| Account minimum | • $0 for brokerage accounts • Prebuilt portfolios: $500 (mutual funds) or $2500 (ETFs) |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | No |
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab offers all the popular investing products with $0 commissions. Charles Schwab recently merged with TD Ameritrade, but the two companies are operating as independent brokerages until 2023, so you can still open and keep a Charles Schwab account for some time. In addition to brokerage accounts, Charles Schwab also offers Schwab Intelligent Portfolios®, a fee- and commission-free automatic investing service. While a basic brokerage account with Charles Schwab has no account minimum requirements, you’ll need a minimum of $5,000 to open a Schwab Intelligent Portfolio account.
Like Fidelity, Charles Schwab offers fractional shares, which lets you buy stock in any company in the S&P $500 for as little as $5, even if the amount you invest isn’t enough to buy a full share.
Charles Schwab offers a satisfaction guarantee, and will refund your fee or commission if you’re not satisfied for any reason. Charles Schwab will also cover 100% of any losses in your accounts due to unauthorized activity as part of its security guarantee.
| Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|
| Investment products offered | • Stocks • Options • Bonds • Mutual funds • ETFs • Futures • Margin loans • Money market funds |
| Commissions and fees | • $0 commissions on online U.S. stock, options, and ETF trades • $0.65 per contract on options |
| Account minimum | • $0 for brokerage account • $5,000 for Schwab Intelligent Portfolios |
| Mobile app? | Yes |
| Fractional share purchases? | Yes |
How We Chose These Brokers
To compile our best brokers list, we looked at several factors: investment options available, commissions and fees, accessibility, and ease of use of the platform (online and mobile), and reputation. In addition, all the brokers we chose are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), meaning your investments will be protected for up to $500,000 in the (unlikely) event of the broker going out of business.
How to Pick the Best Brokerage Account
Picking the best brokerage account depends on what your investing goals are and what you need from a broker. But these are some good basic factors to consider:
Fees
Fees are one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a brokerage, as any trading commissions or account fees can quickly eat into your earnings. While you can find many fee-free options nowadays, especially among online brokerages, the presence of fees isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker; just make sure that you fully understand what the fees are, and that you’re getting enough value from the broker to make the fees worth it.
It’s worth noting that brokers may charge different fees for different investment…