anyone that is starting out and planning to keep trading, or is a journeyman or pro already should be aware of barrons rankings every year
The Best Online Brokers Right Now — for Almost Every Kind of Investor
i get it. it’s the same few every year. interactive brokers, fidelity always 1 and 2 since about 6-7 years now
while all brokers can have technical issues, (some of them not even the brokers fault, but the exchanges at times) it’s best to use one that’s more secure, has the technical know how, least down time, good execution and commissions, best rates, low incidentals, etc
which is why i use IB.
i would consider fidelity but haven’t opened anything there besides forced to use for 401k
ib has pro and lite
i use pro
i pay a few bucks a month for market data.
my commissions are about $1 for stock trades and range from $2 to $10 on options
$10 options come when you are trading more than a handful and lower liquidity contracts
it’s worth it to me
i don’t want ibkr lite or any other “free” trading
sometimes i trade higher volume of stock and the execution i get erases any value of having $0 commission
but for those that are 100 shares of stock or less and 1-2 options contracts than ibkr lite is great. and if you’re fine with RH then good luck. but RH is a joke. they think they know everything and every time it bites them in the ass. they’ll get better. but their goal is to get better using its customer base as the guinea pig, hoping to keep as many as possible as they grow as well
sooner or later people want a transparent experience and it to just work when it has to. i’ve been through brokers in past. IB has been the best.
also my corp actions and other stuff are free
whereas td and some other charge you like $30 if your stock goes through a merger, or 50 if you tender your shares, 25 for elective dividends (like, really?)
ib doesn’t charge for that nonsense. they eat it. and it cost them and all other brokers a bunch to process that stuff because DTCC and all the other global depositories and clearing houses nickel and dime brokers to death.