To the right are the Kiplinger rankings of the online brokers. We examined the firms on a variety of criteria, and our rankings reflect broad, in-depth analysis.

In addition to our overall rankings, this tool lets you see how the brokerages stack up in each of ten categories, from commissions and fees to research offerings and customer service. Click to the next slide to sort the brokers on the criteria you choose.

Note: Because the size of your account sometimes affects the prices and services offered, we ranked the brokers for two kinds of customers: those with more than $50,000 to invest and those with more than $500,000.

Kiplinger Rankings of the Online Brokers
For a $50,000 Account 1) optionsXpress 2) Muriel Siebert 3) Wells Fargo 4) Firstrade 5) Fidelity 6) Vanguard 7) TradeKing 8) Schwab 9) E*Trade 10) Scottrade 11) TD Ameritrade		For a $500,000 Account 1) optionsXpress 2) Muriel Siebert 3) Wells Fargo 4) Schwab 5) Fidelity 6) Firstrade 7) Vanguard 8) TradeKing 9) E*Trade 9) TD Ameritrade 11) Scottrade

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MEASURING THE ONLINE BROKERS

Being able to buy and sell stocks on the cheap is a major advantage of using a discount broker. For our rankings in this category, we looked at each broker’s commission for a stock trade under $1,000 shares. We also factored in other charges, such as fees for an inactive account and annual IRA fees.

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by lowest commissions and fees only
For a $50,000 Account 1) TradeKing 2) Scottrade 3) Firstrade 4) Wells Fargo 5) TD Ameritrade 6) E*Trade 7) Fidelity 8) Muriel Siebert 8) optionsXpress 10) Schwab 11) Vanguard		For a $500,000 Account 1) Wells Fargo 2) TradeKing 3) TD Ameritrade 4) Firstrade 5) Scottrade 6) Fidelity 7) E*Trade 8) Muriel Siebert 8) optionsXpress 11) Schwab 11) Vanguard

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Lowest Commissions and Fees

Each time you make a stock trade, several hands touch your order. We looked at how well each broker spreads its trades among competing market participants -– an indicator of how well the broker’s computers are shopping your trade around for the best possible price. We penalized firms that route a large percentage of orders to firms they own, either in whole or in part.

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by best trade executions only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Vanguard 2) TD Ameritrade 3) TradeKing 4) Wells Fargo 5) optionsXpress 6) Firstrade 7) Muriel Siebert 8) Scottrade 9) E*Trade 10) Schwab 11) Fidelity		For a $500,000 Account 1) Vanguard 2) TD Ameritrade 3) TradeKing 4) Wells Fargo 5) optionsXpress 6) Firstrade 7) Muriel Siebert 8) Scottrade 9) E*Trade 10) Schwab 11) Fidelity

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Best Trade Executions

Brokers let you borrow money against the value of an account -– for a price. We averaged the rates broker charge on $25,000 and $50,000 loans. (This category received a half weighting in our overall ranking.)

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by lowest margin rate only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Muriel Siebert 2) TradeKing 3) optionsXpress 4) Wells Fargo 5) Vanguard 6) Firstrade 7) E*Trade 8) Schwab 9) Fidelity 10) Scottrade 11) TD Ameritrade		For a $500,000 Account 1) Muriel Siebert 2) TradeKing 3) optionsXpress 4) Wells Fargo 5) Vanguard 6) Firstrade 7) E*Trade 8) Schwab 9) Fidelity 10) Scottrade 11) TD Ameritrade

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Lowest Margin Rates

Money that isn’t otherwise invested in your account should be earning you good interest. Unfortunately, many online brokers pay very low yields on cash or make you negotiate a maze to earn market rates. The broker with the best interest rate appears at the top.

For our ranking, we took the lowest interest rate each broker paid on cash balances (for accounts with a total balance of more than $50,000). We then averaged the interest in retirement accounts and in taxable accounts. (Because we view this category as among the most important, it received a double weighting in our overall ranking.)

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by highest interest paid on cash only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Vanguard 2) Wells Fargo 3) Muriel Siebert 4) TradeKing 5) Fidelity 6) optionsXpress 7) Firstrade 8) Schwab 9) Scottrade 10) E*Trade 11) TD Ameritrade		For a $500,000 Account 1) Vanguard 2) Schwab 2) Wells Fargo 4) Muriel Siebert 5) TradeKing 6) Fidelity 7) optionsXpress 8) Firstrade 9) Scottrade 10) E*Trade 11) TD Ameritrade

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Highest Interest Paid on Cash

The ability to consolidate your fund investments is a good reason to open an online brokerage account. We ranked brokerages on how many no-load funds they offer, how many of those no-loads are available without a transaction fee and, especially, what you pay for funds that do have a fee.

(Because we view this category as among the most important, it received a double weighting in our overall ranking.)

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by no-load fund offering only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Firstrade 2) optionsXpress 3) Wells Fargo 4) Muriel Siebert 5) Schwab 6) Fidelity 6) Scottrade 8) E*Trade 8) TD Ameritrade 8) TradeKing 11) Vanguard		For a $500,000 Account 1) Firstrade 2) optionsXpress 3) Wells Fargo 4) Muriel Siebert 5) Schwab 6) Fidelity 6) Scottrade 8) E*Trade 8) TD Ameritrade 8) TradeKing 11) Vanguard

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Best No-Load Fund Offering

You should not have to experience long waits when you need to talk with your broker. For each firm, we tested how quickly we could get a broker on the phone, by e-mail and (for brokers who offer it) instant messaging. We also rated how accurately the brokers answered our questions.

(Because we view this category as among the most important, it received a double weighting in our overall ranking.)

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by responsiveness and broker knowledge only
For a $50,000 Account 1) optionsXpress 2) Muriel Siebert 3) TradeKing 4) Firstrade 5) TD Ameritrade 5) Vanguard 7) Wells Fargo 8) Fidelity 9) Schwab 10) Scottrade 11) E*Trade		For a $500,000 Account 1) optionsXpress 2) Muriel Siebert 3) TradeKing 4) Firstrade 5) TD Ameritrade 5) Vanguard 7) Wells Fargo 8) Fidelity 9) Schwab 10) Scottrade 11) E*Trade

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Responsiveness and Broker Knowledge

We took a look at the quantity and quality of the stock research offered by each brokerage.

(Because we view this category as among the most important, it received a double weighting in our overall ranking.)

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Ranking by best research offering only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Fidelity 2) Schwab 3) Muriel Siebert 4) E*Trade 5) Vanguard 6) TD Ameritrade 7) optionsXpress 8) Wells Fargo 9) Scottrade 10) Firstrade 11) TradeKing		For a $500,000 Account 1) Fidelity 2) Schwab 3) Muriel Siebert 4) E*Trade 5) Vanguard 6) TD Ameritrade 7) optionsXpress 8) Wells Fargo 9) Scottrade 10) Firstrade 11) TradeKing

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Best Research

How easy is a brokerage’s Web site to use? For each firm, we tested how many mouse clicks it takes to accomplish different tasks, such as retrieving quotes.

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by best Web site only
For a $50,000 Account 1) E*Trade 1) Fidelity 3) Schwab 4) Scottrade 5) TradeKing 6) optionsXpress 6) Vanguard 6) Wells Fargo 9) Firstrade 9) TD Ameritrade 11) Muriel Siebert		For a $500,000 Account 1) E*Trade 1) Fidelity 3) Schwab 4) Scottrade 5) TradeKing 6) optionsXpress 6) Vanguard 6) Wells Fargo 9) Firstrade 9) TD Ameritrade 11) Muriel Siebert

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Best Web Site

A broker should allow you to make quick work of Schedule D at tax time. Our scores are based on whether the broker provides a fee, annual tax-basis summary to complete your Schedule D.

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by best cost-basis data only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Fidelity 1) Muriel Siebert 1) optionsXpress 1) Schwab 1) Wells Fargo 6) E*Trade 6) Firstrade 6) Scottrade 6) Vanguard 11) TD Ameritrade 11) TradeKing		For a $500,000 Account 1) Fidelity 1) Muriel Siebert 1) optionsXpress 1) Schwab 1) Wells Fargo 6) E*Trade 6) Firstrade 6) Scottrade 6) TD Ameritrade 6) Vanguard 11) TradeKing

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Data for Tax Time

The brokerage with the cleanest record appears at the top of this ranking. To figure out the breakdown, we totaled the fines levied against each broker over the past three years by regulators, the courts and the stock exchanges. To that number we added the money awarded to customers in arbitration proceedings. To avoid penalizing the larger brokers, we divided that sum by the average number of trades at each firm.

Sort the brokerages by:

Commissions and Fees	Responsiveness
Trade Executions	Research Offerings
Margin Rates	Best Web Site
Interest Paid on Cash	Data for Tax Time
No-Load Fund Offering	Conduct

Rankings by best conduct only
For a $50,000 Account 1) Firstrade 2) optionsXpress 3) E*Trade 4) Scottrade 5) Vanguard 6) TradeKing 7) Schwab 8) Muriel Siebert 9) Fidelity 10) TD Ameritrade 11) Wells Fargo		For a $500,000 Account 1) Firstrade 2) optionsXpress 3) E*Trade 4) Scottrade 5) Vanguard 6) TradeKing 7) Schwab 8) Muriel Siebert 9) Fidelity 10) TD Ameritrade 11) Wells Fargo

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Best Conduct