BEST TRADING PLATFORM – Top 10 Online Brokers For Trading Stocks Best Online Trading Platforms If you want to be a successful trader, you should use the best trading platform. Finding the best online trading platform is critical as it will help you gain an edge over others. How do you choose? There are many factors to consider, and we’re going to reveal how we came about choosing our online broker.
Let’s be honest, most traders lose money. It’s not always easy to select a site from hundreds of platforms. Lucky for you I have been testing platforms for over a year and have selected a few that I believe are best.
Fidelity Investments: Best Overall
4.8
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0 plus $0.65/contract for options trade
Why We Chose It
Fidelity is on a multi-year run as our best overall broker due to its client focused approach. Other brokers are closing the gap, but Fidelity remains our overall pick for investors. In addition to refusing payment for order flow, Fidelity continues to keep costs low, provides exceptional tools to help investors manage and analyze their portfolio, and are always improving the platforms and app to make things easier for the individual investor. One example of this is Fidelity’s cash sweep of uninvested funds into a money market funds to give clients another source of modest returns in their portfolios. Fidelity also has excellent order execution and shares the revenue from the stock loan program back to clients.1 These features, and Fidelity’s commitment to lowering costs for customers while improving returns, are the key reasons it continues to be our selection for best overall broker.
Pros
- 97.9% of Fidelity orders are executed at a price better than the national best bid or offer
- Robust research and asset scanners
- Cash is automatically swept into a money market fund
- Rich educational offerings
Cons
- Some traders and sophisticated investors may need Fidelity’s web platform in combination with Active Trader Pro to access all the tools and research they require
- Non-U.S. citizens or residents cannot open an account.
- Fidelity has a wide offering of securities, but no commodities or options on futures.
TD Ameritrade: Best Mobile App
4.5
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: Free stock, ETF, and per-leg options trading commissions. $0.65 per options contract.
Why We Chose It
TD Ameritrade has two apps which together form the best overall mobile app offering. The thinkorswim mobile app is designed to make trading easy for traders to manage existing positions and open new ones. The workflow on the app is intuitive and powerful enough that it is possible to trade solely from the app, potentially bringing about a generation of app-only traders who may never touch the more robust, downloadable platforms. The standard TD Ameritrade app for regular investors, you may find the app superior to the full website as it streamlines the entire experience to the necessities while nesting all the other functions in the app for those who are so inclined.
Pros
- Mobile trading on TD Ameritrade mobile is more streamlined than the website
- Trading from charts on mobile is simple in both apps
- Dual apps allow traders and investors to select the one that best fits their needs
Cons
- Some tools found only on one platform
- Wide menu of account types can make choosing the right one challenging
- No fractional shares
Fidelity: Best Broker for Low Costs
4.8
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0 plus $0.65/contract for options trade
Why We Chose It
Over the last year, we have re-evaluated what it means to be our best low-cost online broker. There are online brokers that cost next to nothing to trade on. That was all it took to walk away with this category in the past despite a broker having a limited range of assets, or a lack of useful tools, or a weak trading platform—and potentially all three as long as the price was cheap enough. We’ve adjusted our scoring to look for low-cost in comparison to the value delivered. This approach to the data ended up with Fidelity (our best overall broker) on top, but the winning factors over close competitors were the cash management options on idle cash and the excellent portfolio analysis tools that consolidate outside accounts. If you aren’t going to be trading a large amount of options and you don’t require futures or cryptocurrency, then Fidelity offers you the most bang for your buck.
Pros
- Low costs overall and a lack of many common fees
- Strong account management options, including a sweep program into money market funds
- Transparent pricing disclosure
- Excellent execution quality
Cons
- No future, commodities, or cryptocurrency
- Only available to U.S. residents
- A high fee ($32.95) for live broker assistance
Interactive Brokers: Best for International Trading
4.6
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: Maximum $0.005 per share for Pro platform or 1% of trade value, $0 for IBKR Lite
Interactive Brokers is in no danger of being unseated as our pick for best online broker for international trading. Interactive Brokers dominates the scoring in this category simply by virtue of its access to 135 exchanges in 33 countries all accessible through a single account. On top of this, Interactive Broker gives you the ability to trade 23 currencies in 115 different pairs in addition to the broker’s robust order selection and trading tools.2 This breadth and depth combines to enable traders to set up positions across markets and asset classes in a way that no other broker can currently match.
Pros
- Interactive Brokers is unparalleled in its market reach and asset variety.
- Trader Workstation (TWS) is a powerful tool with a high level of customization.
- The direct access to exchanges worldwide allows for 24-hour trading.
Cons
- International trading on IBKR works best through TWS, which can be intimidating for non-traders.
- Interactive Brokers fee-based pricing structure is tiered and can be confusing (although the fees are modest).
eToro – Overall Best Trading Platform in Nigeria 2021 (0% Commission)
We found that eToro wins the award for the best trading platform in Nigeria. First and foremost, the broker is heavily regulated – so your funds are safe at all times. This is inclusive of licenses with the FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus), and ASIC (Australia). Once you have opened an account with eToro (which takes less than 10 minutes), you will have access to lots of asset classes.
This includes dozens of forex trading pairs – with the platform offering a good combination of majors, minors, and exotics. You can also buy shares in more than 2,400 companies from 17 marketplaces. This includes stock exchanges based in the US (NASDAQ and NYSE), the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, and more. eToro also supports ETFs that are backed by Vanguard, iShares, and SPDR.
If you are a day trader – the broker also gives you access to precious metals like gold and silver, energies such as oil and natural gas, and lots of agricultural products. Crucially – irrespective of which asset class you decide to invest in or trade – eToro is a 100% commission-free broker. There are no ongoing platform fees either – which is particularly useful for long-term buy and hold investors. In terms of minimums, you can buy and trade cryptocurrencies from $25 and other assets from $50.
An additional stand-out feature on the eToro platform is its Copy Trading tool. This allows you to copy other traders that use the platform – allowing you to trade in a completely passive nature. There are also Social Trading tools – which allowed you to share investment ideas with other eToro users. In terms of payments, eToro supports debit and credit cards, bank transfers, and several e-wallets (including Paypal). Finally, eToro also offers a mobile trading app – which is available on iOS and Android devices.
Pros:
- Super user-friendly trading platform with 20 million+ clients
- Buy stocks without paying any commission or brokerage charges
- 2,400+ stocks and 250+ ETFs listed on 17 international markets
- Trade cryptocurrencies, commodities, and forex
- Deposit funds with a debit/credit card, e-wallet, or bank account
- Ability to copy the trades of other stock trading pros
- Regulated by the FCA, CySEC, ASIC and registered with FINRA
What we don’t like:
- Not suitable for advanced traders that like to perform technical analysis
Libertex – Best Broker in Nigeria with ZERO Spread CFDs
If you’re an experienced day trader or scaper – then you will know the importance of choosing a broker that offers tight spreads and low commissions. After all, you will likely be entering and exiting lots of positions throughout the day – looking to target modest but regular profits. In this respect, Libertex is the best broker in Nigeria for this purpose.
Crucially, this is because Libertex is one of the only online trading platforms that does not charge any spreads. Additionally, many of the markets offered by this CFD broker are commission-free. Although some financial instruments come with a small commission that is payable per slide – this is rarely above 0.1%.
Libertex covers a broad range of markets – with the platform covering stocks from a variety of exchanges. You can also speculate on the future value of ETFs, indices, commodities, digital currencies, and forex. This top-rated broker offers three trading platforms to choose from. If you’re an experienced pro you might elect to trade via MT4 or MT5. Alternatively, you can trade via the Libertex online platform or mobile app.
If you are relatively new to the world of online trading, Libertex offers a great selection of free educational materials. This is inclusive of guides and trading explainers, economic calendars, and a glossary of key investment terms. All markets on the Libertex platform can be traded with leverage and you can choose from a long or short position. The minimum initial deposit is $100 – but this goes down to $10 once you have funded your account for the first time.
Pros:
- Zero spread CFD trading
- Very competitive commissions
- Good educational resources
- Long established broker
- Trade stocks and indices like the Dow Jones
- Compatible with MT4
- Great choice of markets
Cons:
- Only offers CFDs
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4, also known as MT 4, is one of the most popular and widely used trading Platforms available on the market to date. MetaTrader 4 is a multilingual trading platform where users can benefit from trading signals and expert advisors plus, traders can make the most out of advanced technical analysis, algorithmic trading, flexible trading systems and much more. MetaTrader 4 is also available for iOS and Android capable devices.
Conclusion
A very important quality when choosing a platform is to find one that has sufficient liquidity to make you feel comfortable in trading. A site with poor liquidity will mean that your trades are likely to be more expensive which will eat into your profits.