8 positive user reviews     1 negative user reviews.

• Advanced Trading Platform
• Extensive education section
• $0 required to open an account and no hidden fees
• optionsXpress mobile allows you to trade on the go.
• Free broker assisted trades
• Read about more features

Opening an Account

Opening an account is pretty straightforward, under normal circumstances the process should take just a few minutes. The selection of tools for beginners and advanced traders alike is quite impressive and somewhat sets optionsXpress apart from other competitors. They have certainly given Tradeking – the previously undisputed winner when it came to tools a run for their money. It’s very easy to get obsessed with prices when looking at brokers considering the market is so competitive.

Community

Perhaps the one area where I felt optionsXpress lacked what other brokers offered slightly better was the community site of things. I still feel that no other online broker can quite match what Tradeking offers when it comes to the ability to interact and share ideas with the trading community. This can be quite a personal thing, for some traders I know this is not such a big deal.

Conclusion

While optionsXpress may seem slightly more expensive to begin with,  lot of these costs are recouped in the longer term as there are no annual charges or other sneaky fees. For beginners, the online help and education section is quite frankly excellent and the range of tools is superb as well. Personally I feel that for an investor looking to trade options in 2011, optionsXpress is one of the best out there.

optionsXpress Promotion

optionsXpress are currently offering $100 if you create an account today!

2 positive user reviews     0 negative user reviews.

Key Features

• Stocks and ETFs from $9.99 if you trade between 0-149 a quarter. 150+ is $7.99.
• Options are $9.99 plus $0.75 a contract.
• Mutual funds are $19.99
• Mininum to open an account is $1,000
• Futures contracts are $2.99 per contract, per side plus fees

E*Trade Platform

E*Trade has a very customizable platform that you can tailor to your own needs. The platform is very straightforward and easy to use and there is also a handy mobile/iPhone app for trading on the move.

E*Trade Review Summary

E*Trade is one of the most widely used brokerages with millions trading on it over 40 countries. You get the assurance of a well established broker although fees are slightly higher unless you trade in reasonable volume.

1 positive user reviews     1 negative user reviews.

Optionshouse charges, products and account requirements:

• Stock and ETFs for $2.95
• Mutual Funds for $9.95
• They offer options, stocks, mutual funds, bonds and ETFs
• Account min: $1000 or $2000 for a margin account.

Opening an account

Opening an account is a straightforward process and can be completed fairly quickly. You are required to fax paper forms if you need to transfer an IRA account, scanning these could have made the process easier.

When you complete the account opening process you get $5000 of virtual money to practice with which is a nice feature. Plus it saves you risking your real money while you try things out.

Trading Tools

The trading tools provided by Optionshouse are relatively easy to use, straightforward and there appear to be all of the usual tools you would expect.

Optionshouse Advantages and Disadvantages

• Low price trading at $2.95
• Quality trading tools
• No account minimums after the initial ones
• No free IRA accounts
• Low margin Rates
• May not be the best brokerage for new traders

Summary

Optionshouse don’t just offer options, they offer stocks, ETFs and mutual bonds as well. Then at the same time stock brokers like Tradeking also offer options, and have an excellent range of tools.

It’s best to check the user reviews but if you’re looking for a superb deal then at the moment Optionshouse is hard to beat. Combining promotional codes can net you savings of up to $445 see more here.

4 positive user reviews     1 negative user reviews.

Key Features

• Stocks and ETFs from $7.50
• Trade Stocks, mutual funds, options, ETFs, and bonds
• Options $0.50 per contract, with a minimum of $12.50 for single leg and $7.50 for multi-leg
• Bonds are $15
• Account opening fee $2000

Trading Tools

All of the tools tradeMONSTER offers are web-based. This is much more convenient if you regularly work on multiple machines but some users may be concerned that speed and functionality is lost. I am pleased to say that this is not the case. The platform is fast, secure and tight with a huge array of features comparable to any desktop app.

Barron’s reviewed tradeMONSTER and concluded that they offer a “dazzling array of tools” on a “very easy to use website” . The interface is also customizable so you can decided exactly what you see when you log in. This was an industry first when they launched but has now been replicated by other brokers such as optionsXpress.

Advantages

• Brilliant margin rates
• Zero Fee IRAs
• Free to sell mutual funds
• No annoying hidden, inactivity or account maintenance fees
• Trading simulator
• Top web-based trading platform

Disadvantages

• Somewhat confusing options section for inexperienced traders
• An extra 1.5 cents per share for extended hours trades

tradeMONSTER Promotion Code

Get up to $250* when you transfer your account to tradeMONSTER
 

2 positive user reviews     1 negative user reviews.

Otherwise, ShareBuilder offers many of the standard features you would expect with fee additional fees.

Below you can find a summary of the key features plus user reviews of ShareBuilder.

Key Features

• Automatic Investments at $4 a go.
• Real time stock and ETF trades from $9.99
• No minimum to open an account
• Options are $30 for an early exercise. Automatic Exercise is $20 with zero trade commissions.
• They offer stocks, options, mutual funds and ETFs

1 positive user reviews     2 negative user reviews.

The amount you will end up paying will depend largely on the amount you trade – varying from just $7.95 to $19.95. Be sure to calculate this exactly as you may find there are other brokers better suited to your needs.

Here a a list of features that Fidelity offers:

• Investment products offered incude bonds, options, mutual funds, commercial paper, ETFs and foreign stocks
• Stock and ETFs from $7.95
• Options also for $7.95
• Mutual funds carry no transaction charge if you trade over 1,400 Fidelity and non fidelity mutual funds. The rest are $75.
• Commercial Paper is $50 a transaction
• Account minimum is $2500

Trading Platform

The fidelity trading platform is pretty decent and they have most of the tools you would expect. They also have a fairly decent iPhone and iPad app that makes trading on the move a bit easier.

Advantages

• Low cost mutual funds
• Wide selection of investment products under one roof
• A good selection of research tools and a decent platform

Disadvantages

• High margin rates
• Annual fees of $25 for a simple IRA and $48 for Fidelity HSA
• High initial deposit
• Very high commission on non fidelity mutual funds – $75

0 positive user reviews     2 negative user reviews.

Tradeking Community

8 positive user reviews     6 negative user reviews.

• 10 Free Trades a month for accounts with 25k in or if you make 25 trades during the month.
• Otherwise price is $4.95 a trade.
• Options are priced at $4.95 plus $0.65 a contract.
• Various types of investments from Stocks, options, Forex, Bonds.
• Treasury $24.50 a transaction.
• Innovative Facebook App

Forex Trading

Zecco offers Forex trading which sets them apart from other brokers such as Tradeking.

Community

Zecco have a good community on their site, although I do think that Tradeking perhaps takes the advantage here.

Trading Platform

I found the platform on the Zecco site to be quite impressive. Perhaps other brokers such as TradeKing  have a slight advantage here again but for anyone not to bothered and just looking to make simple trades the facilities were absolutely fine.

Pros and Cons

• Potential to trade for free.
• Forex trading facility.
• A good community although I prefer Tradeking for this.
• A good trading platform/website with plenty of features.
• No minimum to open an account.
• There also is an annual IRA fee of $30.
• Cool Facebook App

Zecco Review Conclusion

All in all Zecco is a very competitive and unique broker in that they offer the ability to trade for free. Now although this is somewhat only a reality for those of us who either trade very frequently or have a lot of resources to simply deposit in the account, it is still a unique feature.

For the rest of us, $4.50 trades is still very competitive. Compared to the other major broker – TradeKing, who offer trades for $4.95, Zecco wins. They also come out on top for the price of options trades, being significantly cheaper.

Another benefit of Zecco is that they offer the ability to trade forex, something that not all brokers do should you be interested.

I used to believe that Zecco fell down because of their community but with the addition of their clever Facebook app, Zecco could be a good choice.

Zecco Promotional Codes

$150 FREE in reimbursed transfer fees

3 positive user reviews     4 negative user reviews.

Key Questrade Features

• They offer – stocks, options, mutual funds, gold, bonds, term deposits ETFs and GICs
• Stocks and ETFs are $1 per share. $4.95 mininum and a $9.95 max
• Options are $9.95 plus $1 per contract
• Options assignments are $12.95
• Gold trades cost $20
• Mutual funds are $9.95
• International stocks are 1% of trade value (min charge is $125)
• Bonds are $30 a trade

Types of Account

• Sole proprietorship
• Formal Trust
• Partnership
• Corporation
• Family RESP
• Investment Club
• Individal
• Joint
• Tax free savings account
• RRSP
• LIRA
• RID & PRIF
• LIF
• Individual RESP

Questrade Platform

Questrade differ from a lot of other brokerages in that they offer two types of trading platform. I initially quite liked this idea, unfortunately you do have to pay extra for one – the QuestraderPRO and ELITE which require a monthly subscription fee. Below is a screenshot of QuestradePro/Elite:

For those that do not want to pay the subscription fee for whatever reason, you can save on the $19.95 monthly fee and use QuestradeWEB:

The platform is generally what you would expect, and Questrade have put together a video tutorial collection which outlines creating an account and using the service:

Questrade Video Collection

Summary

All in all Questrade are a very solid perforiming broker. A huge benefit being you can execute trades at just $4.95 and the trading platform is as good as any other.

1 positive user reviews     0 negative user reviews.