Best Online Brokers for Stocks in 2024

If you are about to start your journey as an investor in stocks, choosing the right online broker is one of the most challenging decisions you will make. As the retail investing world continues to grow, it can be hard to settle on which broker is the best for you, as there are so many types of assets you can buy and so many new brokers on the scene.

According to many experts, the stock market is one of the best places to put your money to work, with the market being able to prove it can provide a consistent return on investment over time. Technology has brought in a new age of easy investing, and it has never been simpler to figure out how to purchase and invest in stocks online. Your broker’s trading platform is the tool that puts you in contact with the markets as you buy and sell securities like stocks, making the trading platform one of the most important items to consider when deciding on a broker.

How do you find the best broker for your needs? If you want to trade in stocks, it all depends on your investment approach and the features you require the most. If you want to know a little more about the best stock brokers online, we can help you. Our team of experts has created a list of the best trading platforms and what you should seek as you go about achieving your investing goals. 

An online stockbroker is a financial firm that allows you to buy and sell stocks on global indices via a brokerage account through an online trading platform. Online brokers can develop their own online platforms or they can buy a third-party trading platform. An online brokerage account is a place you maintain and manage your portfolio of cash and securities. For the remainder of the article, when we mention an online stockbroker, we are referring to the firm, as opposed to an individual at the company. Individuals assigned to your account are now called account managers, when they used to be known as stockbrokers.

Stock trading is a long-established practice that is legal in all major markets. One notable exception for Sharia traders is that they are not allowed to purchase the shares of companies that engage in haram activities, such as alcohol production or gambling.

As far as regulation goes, all brokers must be regulated by a major oversight body. Some common regulators include the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. In Cyprus, brokers are regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Australia has the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), while US brokers are under the control of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Many brokers have multiple global offices and keeping all these memberships compliant and current is a testament to any broker’s ongoing commitment to maintaining investor fund safety. Many online stockbrokers go the extra mile in terms of investor fund protection and take out additional insurance so that investors can be compensated in case the broker goes insolvent.

Regulators perform many functions. However, the most important ones relate to making sure that brokers in their jurisdiction are registered and abide by a set of operating rules and norms. Some regulators also have disciplinary powers over regulated entities and persons associated with them. These regulators often require periodic reporting of information by companies with publicly traded securities. The oversight provided by regulators means it is always the best advice to choose a broker that is regulated by a top-tier regulator.

The catch-all term “stockbroker” has over time been replaced by online firms acting in two categories: “discount brokers” and “full-service brokers.” These names more accurately capture what they do.

Discount Brokers

The online stockbrokers you will deal with from your home office are known as discount brokers. They do not perform the traditional function of giving you advice on stock picks. That was the function of a person who was your stockbroker from a bygone era. Rather, discount brokers give you the chance to buy and sell stocks through their trading platform from the comfort of your home. Discount brokers focus on providing a stripped-down service, meaning they can charge you very small amounts. It is not uncommon for online stock brokers to charge $0 to place a stock trade. Another thing that makes discount brokers attractive is that they can allow you to start trading with small initial investments.

Full-Service Brokers

Some online brokerage firms are known as “full-service brokers.” These companies closely resemble traditional stockbrokers in that they are staffed by a human account manager who can help you make a trade, find mutual funds in which to invest, or even offer you other financial services, like retirement plans. One of the main drawbacks of this type of broker is that they are expensive. Some full-service brokers can charge upwards of $50 just to make a stock trade. Usually, their fees are tied to the size of the trade, meaning it is common for you to have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars when finalizing a big trade. Full-service brokers also have high account minimums. Some top-end full-service brokers only deal with high-net-worth individuals who have assets of over $1 million.

However, these two types of brokers no longer operate within these extremes. As brokerage firms try to capture more market share, there is a move toward discount brokers creating higher-end products and full-service brokers opening up more affordable options, too. 

Active Vs. Day Trading

Active traders are investors who carry out ten or more trades per month. Active traders rely on the timing of the market, taking advantage of news events to make a profit. Day trading is conducted by investors who make a lot of small trades daily with the aim of making small amounts of profit many times over.

Day trading was first popularized by human stockbrokers who operated from the trading floors of the world’s best-known indices. Before technological advancements allowed a wave of retail investors to join the trading movement while operating from home, stockbrokers would compete fiercely to buy and sell assets on behalf of their clients in a brick-and-mortar commodities or stock exchange building. Most of these trades were opened and closed within the same daily trading session, hence the name “day trading.”

Therefore, day trading, even though it is now performed digitally, is a style of trading where traders buy and sell assets within the same trading day. Why is this noteworthy? Well, since some types of trading take place over days, months, and even years, it is worth making the distinction that some types of trade happen within a day.

With day trading, the idea is to make use of price fluctuations or gaps in the market to make many small profits that accumulate due to the sheer number of orders the trader makes. This form of trading, sometimes also called “intraday trading,” requires a powerful online broker that can facilitate rapid execution with very few service failures. However, there is a downside to day trading, given the proliferation of investors who have entered the market with the intention of using this sometimes controversial trading style to soak up liquidity and compromise the execution speed of slower investment styles. Some brokerage firms have limited or even banned day trading.

The primary difference between CFD trading and regular share trading is that CFD traders do not buy the underlying asset but instead speculate on its future performance. Share traders, on the other hand, buy the stocks outright. CFD trading allows you to trade on margin using leverage provided by your broker. This simply means that you only need to put up a small fraction of the value of the trade to be able to speculate on the performance of the stocks. Many traders know that leverage trading is attractive because you can make good profits, but you can just as easily lose a lot of money. Share traders, by comparison, must put up the full value of the shares in which they are investing. An important item to note is that you can trade CFDs and normal shares simultaneously in your account.
CFD treading is appropriate to day trading, while share trading is appropriate to buying and holding.

Stock Fees      

Non-Trading Fees

Broker resources

Available Stock Assets

Commissions and Fees

Mutual Funds

ETF Investing

Options Investing

Account Minimums

Trading Platform

Research

Products

User Experience

Transparency

Customer Service

Insider Trading

Theft of Client Funds

Omitting Key Facts

Pyramid and Ponzi Schemes

Pump-and-Dump Schemes

Unauthorized Trading

If you are a newbie, it might be daunting to join the dynamic world of trading stocks. It can certainly be dangerous to enter headlong into stock trading without learning the fundamentals. Fortunately, a good online stock broker can provide educational material and tools that will make your journey easier. Normally, this is how your journey will go:

Opening a brokerage account is fast and convenient. Users simply access the broker’s Website and click “Open account.” After reading and accepting all the terms and conditions, traders can move on to choose their account type, show their trading experience and provide the standard documentation required to get approval.

Many brokers offer a demo account. Clients can use these demo accounts to practice their strategies. The demo account normally comes with virtual funds, which should be enough for traders to get acclimated to the broker’s trading ecosystem. From there, you can fund your trading account and get started.

Put simply, Arincen is a social networking platform that brings together traders and experts to exchange expertise and ideas. Together, we evaluate the best stockbroking companies in the world while offering a compressive suite of services and tools, all in one place, either via a computer or a mobile app. The platform is so rich, one can create his own private portfolio of traders and experts he likes and, at the same time, follow their recommendations and investment sentiments.           

Further, thanks to Arincen, users can keep an eye on market-price developments, as well as the latest news. Users can also benefit from the network’s educational courses on offer, to say nothing of exciting Webinars – all done in a modern and fast-paced work environment. Get all that you need in one place, not less, not more. In short. Arincen: We Meet to Simplify the Trading World.

The team at Arincen collected more than 120 pieces of data covering in excess of 100 licensed FOREX companies. Data collection was done in three ways:

1. Companies’ Websites.

2. Other Websites that have ranked FOREX companies.

3. A survey questionnaire (referred to here as Survey “1”) we had sent to the companies invited to participate in the exercise.

We have identified 12 criteria for our assessment, each containing several aspects and carrying its own relative weight. These include licensing, deposits and withdrawals, number of assets etc.  

Afterward we validated the data by:

1. Registering with FOREX companies as a secret shopper and/or as Arincen.

2. Survey number “2,” in which we asked these companies’ customers for important feedback and past experience. 

The next step saw us evaluate and rank each company, relying on the hard work of 15 Arincen employees. We were very careful in ensuring the most accurate assessment possible, including taking into account different languages, as well as the various mobile-app operating systems, e.g., Apple, Samsung etc.

To add credibility to our research project, we sent a final and third survey (referred to here as Survey “3”) to enable participating FOREX companies evaluate our own research and whether it accurately reflects the realities on the ground. We were fortunate enough to receive a mark of 9.9 out of 10! We have kept to a minimum the margin of error, which stood at a measly 1%. To learn more on how we came up with the evaluation, please click here.

With ever-improving technology, trading stocks online is becoming a much more pleasant activity. Many of the top online brokers are long-established, well-regulated brokers who are always trying to improve their products and the trading experience of their clients. With intuitive and immersive platforms, admirable amounts of insightful market analysis and trading signals, clients will find a home with any of the online brokers we have recommended.

However, as we have shown, not all brokers act with the best intentions. Therefore, it falls to traders to conduct their own research before entrusting their capital with a broker. In this article, we showed you the most important factors you need to consider before selecting a broker. Be sure to conduct thorough due diligence along these lines before you decide which online stock broker to use.