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Stock Broker Reviews 2017
Each year StockBrokers.com completes an extensive review of the best online brokers, awarding up to 5 stars in 10 different categories. This is not a simplistic "who has the cheapest commissions?" type of survey, and your choice of broker should not be that simple, either. Instead, this is a focused 6-month effort involving hundreds of hours testing all the leading platforms, resulting in the most extensive broker reviews available anywhere.
Scoring Stock Brokers
At a high level, brokers are scored and ranked in 10 categories and 3 trader types:
| Categories | Trader Types | |
|---|---|---|
| Commissions & Fees | Options Trading | |
| Offering of Investments | Active Trading | |
| Platform & Tools | New Investors | |
| Research | ||
| Customer Service | ||
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Education | ||
| Ease of Use | ||
| Order Execution | ||
| Banking |
Best Stock Brokers
Beyond the actual star rating for every broker in every category, there is additional commentary that gives analysis and sometimes more subjective criteria that are either hard to specify in a simple star rating or that might depend on what kind of trader you are. Because every investor has a different trading style, experience, and portfolio, what is the "best broker" for one investor may not be the "best broker" for another.
Having said that, here are the Best In Class awards as awarded by StockBrokers.com in 2017:
| Category or Trader Type | Best In Class Winner |
|---|---|
| Commissions & Fees | Interactive Brokers |
| Offering of Investments | TD Ameritrade |
| Platform & Tools | TD Ameritrade |
| Research | Fidelity Investments |
| Customer Service | TD Ameritrade |
| Mobile Trading | TD Ameritrade |
| Education | TD Ameritrade |
| Ease Of Use | Fidelity Investments |
| Order Execution | Fidelity Investments |
| Banking | Merrill Edge |
| Options Trading | OptionsHouse |
| Active Trading | Interactive Brokers |
| New Investors | TD Ameritrade |
For the complete 40,000 word report, please see the StockBrokers.com 2017 Broker Review. Even if you're happy with your current broker, you may want to open an account at a couple of others and see if they would be a better match for your trading style and experience level.
Mike Scanlin is the founder of Born To Sell and has been writing covered calls for a long time.