As investor needs and preferences change, brokerages must adapt. Brokerages’ mobile apps have grown more sophisticated as more clients have demonstrated that they like to do business on the go. And as investors have demanded lower costs, brokerages have trimmed commissions and fees across the board.

But brokerages also need a keen ear for clients’ particular needs. Some clients want to be left alone to do their own thing, while others want their hand held. Some want to pay as little as possible to invest, and others are willing to pony up enough in assets to gain access to their own personal planner

Our 2019 online broker ranking recognizes that no brokerage can hit the bull’s-eye for every type of client, and that the firm with the broadest appeal may not meet your specific needs. But ultimately, we favored firms that could do the most for most investors.

Check out our rankings. We also note special perks each broker offers.

Brokers’ overall score depends on the weight we assigned to seven categories. The weighting: commissions and fees, 10%, investment choices, 20%, mobile app, 25%, tools and research, 12.5% each, and advisory services and user experience 10%.

• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95
• Commissions and fees: 6th
• Investment choices: 2nd
• Mobile app: 3rd
• Tools: 7th
• Research: 4th
• Advisory services: 3rd
• User experience: 2nd

*E*Trade charges $4.95 per trade after the first 30 trades per quarter.

• Overall score: 82.3 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: variable, per share
• Commissions and fees: 2nd
• Investment choices: 4th
• Mobile app: 1st
• Tools: 6th
• Research: 7th
• Advisory services: 4th
• User experience: 7th
• Best for: Margin traders. Investors with $100,000 in an account looking to trade with borrowed money will pay 3.89% on margin loans. The nine other firms in our survey levy between 7.7% and 9.5%.
• Perks: Interactive Brokers customers can chat with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant, to access their accounts. If you maintain a balance of at least $10,000 at Interactive Brokers, you can get up to $200 for referring a friend if that friend accrues more than $666.67 in trading commissions. And Interactive Brokers discounts commissions deeply if you trade a lot.

Interactive Brokers is also a top choice for mutual fund investors, with more than 4,000 mutual funds offered.

• Overall score: 82.2 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95
• Commissions and fees: 8th
• Investment choices: 1st
• Mobile app: 2nd
• Tools: 5th
• Research: 6th
• Advisory services: 2nd
• User experience: 4th
• Best for: Investors who hold cash. Fido offers the highest interest rates among brokers in our survey on “sweep” accounts (the accounts that hold clients’ uninvested cash). The default account, Fidelity Government Money Market (symbol SPAXX), yields 1.82%. Investors can also use Fidelity Treasury Money Market (FZFXX), yielding 1.81%, as their sweep account or a cash account called FCASH, which pays 1.07% in interest.
• Perks: Fidelity brokerage customers have access to four mutual funds with no minimum investment and 0% expense ratios, as well as 23 additional funds that have no investment minimum. A rewards card with no annual fee is also available. All purchases with the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card comes earn 2% cash back, which can be divided and deposited into up to five Fidelity accounts, whether they’re your accounts or not. Also, ATM fees are waived nationwide for Fidelity debit cardholders.

Also, mutual fund investors, with more than 3,900 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.

• Overall score: 79.8 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95
• Commissions and fees: 9th
• Investment choices: 5th
• Mobile app: 5th
• Tools: 3rd
• Research: 1st
• Advisory services: 1st
• User experience: 3rd
• Best for: Mutual fund investors. Schwab offers more than 3,900 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.
• Perks: In addition to waiving ATM fees nationwide, Schwab lets its cardholders make purchases abroad without the usual 3% foreign transaction fee. Schwab is running a referral promotion as well – though the $100 cash reward goes to the friend you refer, not to you.

• Overall score: 75.0 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95
• Commissions and fees: 3rd
• Investment choices: 9th
• Mobile app: 4th
• Tools: 2nd
• Research: 2nd
• Advisory services: 6th
• User experience: 1st
• Best for: Beginning investors. The “story” features on this easy-to-use platform walk investors through investment analysis and decision-making. The “Stock Story” mode leads the investor to questions, for instance, about a company or its shares. The answers are full of digestible analysis and actionable advice.
• Perks: Merrill Edge is owned by Bank of America, so its perks tend to be tied to the bank’s products. For example, Merrill Edge customers who sign up for Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program receive a 25%, 50% or 75% boost on the cash-back reward from eligible Bank of America credit cards, depending on the combined assets in your accounts (the 25% level requires $10,000).

Also, active traders. Preferred Rewards customers with a combined $100,000 balance at Bank of America and Merrill Edge earn 100 free trades per month at Merrill Edge.

• Overall score: 73.3 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95
• Commissions and fees: 10th
• Investment choices: 6th
• Mobile app: 7th (tie with WellsTrade)
• Tools: 1st
• Research: 3rd
• Advisory services: 5th
• User experience: 5th
• Best for: Mutual fund investors. TD Ameritrade offers more than 4,000 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.
• Perks: In addition to using Alexa to check on their account, TD Ameritrade customers can ask questions or even execute a trade through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger or through the iPhone Messages app as well. If TD’s computer-generated responses don’t satisfy you, you’ll be automatically connected with a live representative. And since July, TD Ameritrade customers can access broker information in their car through Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Echo Auto.

• Overall score: 57.5 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95*
• Commissions and fees: 4th
• Investment choices: 7th
• Mobile app: 9th
• Tools: 8th
• Research: 8th
• Advisory services: 7th
• User experience: 9th
• Perks: Ally, which got its start as an online bank, lets accountholders use over 43,000 Allpoint ATMs for free. Investors who sign up and fund an Ally Invest account with at least $10,000 qualify for up to 90 days of commission-free trades and a cash bonus of up to $3,500.

• Stock/ETF commissions: $0.00Commissions and fees: 1stInvestment choices: 3rd
• Mobile app: 10th
• Tools: 10th
• Research: 9th
• Advisory services: NA
• User experience: 6th
• Perks: Firstrade will reimburse up to $200 in transfer fees and $25 in wire fees when you transfer money from another firm’s account. You’ll also get a $50 bonus if you refer a friend who opens an account and funds it with $2,000. And, of course, totally free trades are a big deal.

• Overall score: 48.5 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $5 per trade, or per share*
• Commissions and fees: 5th
• Investment choices: 8th
• Mobile app: 6th
• Tools: 4th
• Research: 10th
• Advisory services: NA
• User experience: 10th
• Best for: Active traders. TradeStation offers tons of tools geared toward active traders and commissions as low as fractions of a cent per share.
• Perks: Open an account at TradeStation before August 31, and the firm will give you commission-free trading until the end of the year, provided you make six or more trades per month.

* TradeStation offers a $5 per-trade plan or a per share plan for frequent traders; pricing starts at one cent per share.

• Overall score: 47.0 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $5.95
• Commissions and fees: 7th
• Investment choices: 10th
• Mobile app: 7th (tie with TD Ameritrade)
• Tools: 9th
• Research: 5th
• Advisory services: NA*
• User experience: 8th

*WellsTrade declined to compete in this category.

Not every broker provides all of the amenities that the firms in our rankings offer. To qualify, a firm had to allow clients to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds; deliver at least a modicum of investment advice; and offer an array of investment tools and research resources.

The firms below don’t cover all of those bases, but each serves a niche.

You won’t find everything at Robinhood, for instance, but you will find a handsome, easy-to-use platform that offers stock, ETF and option trading commission-free. Investors can trade stocks and ETFs for free at TradeZero America as well, provided they trade for at least $1 per share.

Investors just starting out may favor investing apps such as Stash or Acorns. Stash users fill out a short questionnaire to determine their goals, investing preferences and risk profile, then Stash recommends ETFs and individual stocks (allowing investors to purchase fractional shares) that will help investors achieve their goals. Both apps can round up purchases on a linked spending account and automatically invest the “spare change” in an investing account. At Acorns, you’ll be placed into one of five diversified ETF portfolios based on your time horizon and tolerance for risk.

At the other end of the spectrum, investors with proverbial PhDs in trading might prefer a platform built for active traders. Lightspeed Trading clients have to trade a ton to qualify for the lowest commissions, but they can get access to the type of automated, algorithmic trading favored by hedge fund managers. Frequent traders of stock options and futures may opt for Tastyworks, which offers bargain prices to buy and sell them.

It’s hard to go wrong choosing an online brokerage these days. Just about all of the firms in our recent broker ranking allow investors to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds online, and all provide ample research and tools to help users make educated financial decisions. With so many brokers offering similar services (and at reasonable prices), your choice may depend on one or two features. Read on to see all the perks our top 10 choices offer.

Dividend-paying firms typically disburse cash every three months. If you invest for income, you may have a diverse portfolio of stocks, but if many of them pay out on the same schedule, you may find yourself going through long spells with little cash flowing in. Four brokers – E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, Merrill Edge and TD Ameritrade – have income estimator tools that can help you keep on top of future payments. Each tool uses recent payout data to project the value and timing of your portfolio’s dividend payments over the next 12 months. TD’s tool shows dividends from stocks, mutual funds and ETFs only, while E*Trade, Interactive Brokers and Merrill Edge factor in income from bonds and as well.

Fidelity brokerage customers have access to four mutual funds with no minimum investment and 0% expense ratios: Fidelity Zero Total Market Index (FZROX), which tracks the U.S. stock market, Fidelity Zero Large Cap Index (FNILX), which tracks large-company U.S. stocks, Fidelity Zero Extended Market Index (FZIPX) which tracks small- and midsize company stocks, and Fidelity Zero International Index (FZILX), which tracks foreign stocks. To avoid paying licensing fees to index makers such as Standard & Poor’s, Fidelity’s funds track indexes assembled in-house. That means the funds may outrun or lag ETFs that track traditional indexes. Still, it’s easy to see the benefits of free funds with no investment minimum, especially when the savings are compounded over a lifetime of investing. Including the four funds above, Fidelity offers 27 funds that have no investment minimum.

No other brokerage can touch Firstrade when it comes to commissions. The firm offers free online trading for stocks, ETFs, options and mutual funds. Fidelity ($4.95), Schwab ($4.95) and TD Ameritrade ($6.95) all charge a fixed rate for trading, but some other firms charge lower commissions for frequent traders or those with high balances. E*Trade’s $6.95 commission drops to $4.95 for clients who make 30 or more trades per quarter, and Ally Invest’s fee drops a dollar, to $3.95, if you trade 30 times per quarter or have a daily balance of $100,000 or more. WellsTrade shaves $3 off its standard $5.95 charge if you link a Portfolio by Wells checking account. Merrill Edge customers with a minimum of $20,000 in combined assets at Merrill Edge, Merrill Lynch and parent company Bank of America qualify for at least 10 free stock and ETF trades per month if they sign up for the bank’s Preferred Reward program. A note for ultra-active traders: customers at Interactive Brokers and TradeStation can trade for as little as a fraction of a penny per share depending on how frequently they trade.

Investors increasingly want to do brokerage business on the go. In response, all of the brokers in our survey offer mobile apps that you can use to do just about anything you could do on your desktop, such as trading stocks, accessing research, paying bills and transferring funds.

But tech-savvy investors will be pleased to know that some brokers’ platforms extend beyond websites and mobile apps. Investors can interact with their Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Schwab and TD accounts by chatting with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. Schwab users, for instance, can ask their Alexa for market information, stock quotes and updates on personalized watch lists.

TD Ameritrade customers can ask questions or even execute a trade through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger or through the iPhone Messages app as well. If TD’s computer-generated responses don’t satisfy you, you’ll be automatically connected with a live representative. And since July, TD Ameritrade customers can access broker information in their car through Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Echo Auto.

Nearly every brokerage tries to entice investors to open new accounts or add substantial sums to existing accounts by offering free trades or cash bonuses. Promotions come and go among the firms; here are some recent offers.

Firstrade will reimburse up to $200 in transfer fees and $25 in wire fees when you transfer money from another firm’s account. You’ll also get a $50 bonus if you refer a friend who opens an account and funds it with $2,000.

If you maintain a balance of at least $10,000 at Interactive Brokers, you can get up to $200 for referring a friend if that friend accrues more than $666.67 in trading commissions. Schwab is running a referral promotion as well – though the $100 cash reward goes to the friend you refer, not to you. Fidelity customers who deposit at least $50,000 in new or eligible existing accounts receive 300 to 500 commission-free trades over the next two years.

Merrill Edge will give you a $600 bonus when you open and fund a new investment account or IRA. TD will give you up to $600 when you open a new account as well, depending on how much you deposit, along with 60 days of free stock, ETF and option trading.

Depending on how much you deposit, new account holders at E*Trade can earn from $200 up to $2,500 in cash and 500 commission-free stock and option trades. Customers who sign up at Ally can earn from $50 to $3,500 to go along with 90 days of commission-free trades. Open an account at TradeStation before August 31, and the firm will give you commission-free trading until the end of the year, provided you make six or more trades per month.

Whether you set up a cash-management account or just take out a debit card linked to the cash balances in your brokerage account, several brokerages will reimburse your fees when you withdraw cash at any ATM. Fidelity and TD Ameritrade will reimburse ATM fees nationwide. Schwab does that too, as well as waiving the 3% foreign transaction fee most debit issuers charge to make purchases abroad. E*Trade and Ally offer more-traditional banking services, such as checking and savings accounts. Ally accountholders can use over 43,000 Allpoint ATMs for free, and the bank will reimburse up to $10 in ATM fees each statement cycle. E*Trade’s Max Rate Checking Account comes with unlimited ATM reimbursements on charges that other financial institutions levy (though you may be subject to charges from the owner/operator of the ATM). Merrill Edge investors who have $50,000 in assets (combined at Merrill Edge, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America) and who have joined the Preferred Rewards program can get 12 ATM-fee reimbursements per year at non-Bank of America ATMs in the U.S. (Bank of America ATMs are free).

If you follow technology news, you've likely noticed a steady rise in large-scale data breaches and cyber incidents.

These attacks are becoming more significant for both personal data exposure and financial loss.

The growing use of AI and modern technologies has made it easier for criminals to create and automate malware, impersonate employees and exploit weaknesses in systems quicker than before.

Investors need to be alert. Even if you practice great cyber hygiene at home — updating devices, using secure passwords, limiting online exposure — your personal data might still be at risk because it's held by banks, insurers, medical providers and investment platforms.

Explore several key areas to pay attention to and steps you can take to help protect yourself, your friends, and your family.

Maintain good data hygiene

Protecting personal data starts with everyday habits. Review privacy settings on smartphones, computers and apps to limit third-party access.

Social media platforms — including Facebook and LinkedIn — offer privacy controls, but they typically default to sharing more information than necessary; 68% of social media users have changed their privacy settings to be more restrictive.

Adjusting these settings is crucial if your profile includes contact details, birthdays, employment or family. While sharing those details may seem harmless, scammers can use them to impersonate individuals.

The Federal Trade Commission reported that financial fraud reached $12.5 billion in 2024, a 25% increase on the prior year, with imposter schemes accounting for many.

Criminals have been targeting older Americans more aggressively, as they're less likely to recognize fraudulent communication. This makes proactive protection even more critical; maintaining strong privacy can make you less visible and a more challenging target.

Remove your data from the web and close old accounts

Every new account you create online stores your data in a system. While you might stop using the platform, your emails, phone numbers, addresses and other identifiers can remain active.

Even if the company storing this data has strong security practices, its third-party processors may not — which is where breaches often occur.

While some of this is beyond your control, you can hire a company to remove your data from the internet. Providers such as Incogni, DeleteMe or Optery handle this process for you. I used Incogni, and it eliminated hours of manual submissions.

Despite growing concerns about data privacy, only 6% of American adults have ever used a data-removal service, which means most people still have personal information circulating online without realizing it.

These sites don't guarantee full protection, but they do help minimize your personal information's footprint online. Websites should respond to valid requests to delete your data from their systems, which is where such services come in.

You might also want to close accounts you no longer use. The fewer inactive profiles linked to your identity, the fewer places hackers can gather data points. This is increasingly critical, as AI data-scraping systems can now rapidly compile and analyze personal details, making it even more important to limit what is publicly accessible.

Choose institutions carefully

Although evaluating data governance policies might be difficult in practice, choosing institutions with strong security protocols can make a difference.

Companies are governed by different data privacy laws depending on where they are, and those in Europe — or doing business there — are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), one of the strictest frameworks. GDPR requires clear policies for how customer information is collected, stored, used and disposed of, creating higher expectations for data handling.

Some large Fortune 500 companies voluntarily adopt GDPR-level standards and might state that in their compliance policies.

Most institutions publish their customer use and data privacy policies online, outlining what they maintain, such as names, addresses, account numbers and history, and how that information is used. Reviewing these disclosures can be daunting, but for investors, these policies can serve as a differentiator and an informed decision point.

In the financial industry, the updated Regulation S-P is creating more consistent expectations around safeguarding client data. These rules will apply to covered institutions such as broker-dealers, investment companies and SEC-registered investment advisers.

While firm-level compliance efforts might be substantial, striving for higher standards can help ultimately benefit investors. A notable feature of Regulation S-P requires service providers to notify covered institutions within 72 hours of discovering unauthorized access to customer information.

This is expected to push firms to strengthen incident responses and system monitoring so breaches are communicated quickly. This can give investors more time to respond, change access to credentials and help prevent further exposure.

The digital landscape is evolving

Cybersecurity risks will continue to evolve rapidly, especially as criminals automate attacks using AI tools and data scraping. Recently, Anthropic disclosed that criminals attempted to use Claude AI to orchestrate a large-scale automated cyberattack, signaling where the threat environment is headed.

Investors don't need to become cybersecurity experts, but awareness matters. Your financial adviser can help you interpret risks, monitor updates and understand when personal information might be vulnerable.

Protecting your financial life today is no longer just about managing investments — it now includes protecting personal data.

Maintaining good data hygiene, reducing exposure, and working with institutions that take data privacy seriously are increasingly part of responsible financial planning.

Related Content

• Retirement in the Age of Cyber Scams: How to Protect Your Next Chapter
• Seven Things to Do Right Away If You're a Victim of a Data Breach
• Is Identity Theft Protection Worth It?
• Ease of Technology Can Actually Complicate Your Financial Life
• I'm a Wealth Adviser: If You're a DIY Investor, Don't Make These Five Mistakes

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

You’re probably used to getting (and ignoring) lots of information from your brokerage, mutual fund, or investment adviser. But here’s one notification you should pay attention to: a request to designate a trusted contact.

What’s a trusted contact? It’s a person 18 or older who can tell your financial institution where you are — and how you are — if you can’t be reached or there’s something suspect about your financial requests or instructions.

Suppose, for example, your financial institution notices unusually large withdrawals from your retirement account, or that someone in Brussels has charged the down payment on a BMW to your debit card. Normally, your bank or brokerage will simply call you and ask what on earth you’re doing (in so many words).

But what if your financial rep can’t reach you because you’re out of town, or you’re sick, or you’re simply letting your mail pile up? In that case, your trusted contact can tell the bank where you might be, or if there could be some other reason you’ve been out of touch, such as travel or a natural disaster.

Or what if your actions are suddenly out of character? For financial advisers, there’s a clear reason why clients should have a trusted contact.

“Suppose you had a conservative client — he’s paid off his house, doesn’t use credit cards — and one day he calls and says, ‘I need $100,000 and I need it now,’” says Mary Ballin, partner and wealth adviser for Perigon Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California. “It’s a sensitive situation,” she says. “You want to make sure he’s okay.”

Vanguard, the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, mutual fund giant, has a team dedicated to calling attention to accounts whose owners may be having cognitive difficulties or are potentially being taken advantage of, says John Ginelli, head of investor protection at Vanguard.

The company uses a mix of surveillance methods, ranging from computer algorithms to referrals from telephone representatives, to flag unusual activity. Only members of the team may reach out to a trusted contact, he says.

Even though you’re not legally required to appoint a trusted contact, you probably should. Here’s what a trusted contact might do:

Confirm contact information

Contacts need to be able to verify the client’s home and cell phone numbers, and possibly the client’s e-mail address. If the client has changed his or her residence or phone number, a trusted contact should know that, too.

Know who can speak for the client

Contacts should be able to inform the financial institution of any legal guardian, executor, trustee or holder of a power of attorney on the client’s account. These individuals can also be helpful in tracking someone down.

Speak to whether there is a health or other crisis

Is the customer in the hospital perhaps, or showing signs of dementia? For example, if a customer inquires repeatedly about a transaction and seems confused, the company may call a trusted contact to see whether they have noticed any difference in behavior.

Trusted contacts should also be able to say whether they think someone is being manipulated or abused.

If you’re the trusted contact, you might have to consider proactively getting in touch with the financial institution and the client to discuss a concern.

For example, victims of fraud may refuse to believe that they’re being conned, says Ginelli. “A trusted contact might help that client to see the light.”

What trusted contacts can’t do is access a client’s accounts or make transactions. And if you’re asked to be a trusted contact, don’t worry about sharing your information with the financial institution — it may not use information about a trusted contact for marketing purposes, so agreeing to be one won’t result in sales pitches for investment products.

Choose your trusted contact carefully

Typically, your trusted contact won’t be your financial planner or broker. Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner with Glassman Wealth Services, agrees.

“I’ve never been asked to be a trusted contact, nor would I accept that role. It seems like a conflict. It should be someone who interacts with the client beyond a financial planning relationship.”

Clearly, your trusted contact needs to be relatively easy to reach. For married couples, the obvious candidate is a spouse, Ballin says.

Older couples might also consider an adult child, or the executor of their will, Ginelli says. You may establish more than one trusted contact.

And don’t forget to ask your contact first.

“Before adding their information to your accounts, it’s a good idea to discuss this with your chosen trusted contact so they’re aware of the responsibility should your financial institution need to reach out,” says Leanna Devinney, vice president, branch leader at Fidelity Investments.

If you have already named a trusted contact, review that designation periodically. People drift apart — or die. In either case, they won’t make a good trusted contact.

The trusted contact form is optional, even though the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority endorsed the policy in 2018. If you’ve never seen one, you’re not alone. “I haven’t received one yet,” says Patrick Chu, editor at the Wall Street Journal.

What percentage of investors have a trusted contact? “Like every firm out there, I can say that we don’t have enough,” Vanguard’s Ginelli says. “The more the better. The law requires us to solicit people to have trusted contacts and have a method for doing so, but it doesn’t require clients to have one.”

If you’re interested in naming a trusted contact, call someone at your broker, financial adviser, or mutual fund company. They should be able to provide you with the proper forms. You may also be able to find a trusted contact form on your financial representative’s website.

Ginelli says that some clients have reached out to Vanguard after getting a diagnosis of cognitive disability, for example. The trusted contact form is probably the easiest financial form you’ll ever fill out, he says. “We just need a name, a phone number, a street address, or an e-mail address.”

Other ways to protect your financial account

If you’re worried about becoming the victim of fraud or making unwise actions on your own because of cognitive disability, be sure to designate someone with power of attorney in case you’re disabled or otherwise unable to take care of your own affairs, even temporarily.

Setting up joint financial accounts with a spouse or an adult child can ensure that someone is watching your money — although a joint account will let the co-owner make withdrawals, too. Authorizing someone (often called an agent) can give them permission to make transactions in your account, but the authorization can also be drawn up to allow only account monitoring or inquiries.

Finally, make sure you’re doing what you can on your own to protect your accounts. Use strong passwords, multifactor identification and secure Wi-Fi.

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Related content

• How to Guard Your Finances in Case Cognitive Decline Sets In
• Choosing a Trustee? These Six Tips Can Help You Pick Wisely
• Five Reasons Not to Give Your Child Power of Attorney

Ever since Charles Schwab launched the first real discount brokerage in 1974, the trend has been toward lower and lower trading commissions and fees, culminating in 2019 when virtually every major retail broker switched to zero-commission trading. 

Earlier this year, that appeared to be going in reverse after Fidelity Investments announced plans to introduce a $100 "surcharge" on certain ETF trades. It wasn't, strictly speaking, a trading commission, but for all intents and purposes, it might have been considered one. 

Investors likely wouldn't have noticed a difference, as the charge was going to being levied on only nine ETF issuers, none of which are in the top 50 by market share. These are smaller, more obscure ETFs that you probably weren't likely to buy anyway. The ETF issuers affected were Adaptive, AXS Investments, Cambiar, Day Hagan, Rayliant, Regents Park, Running Oak, Simplify Asset Management and Sterling Capital.

However, Fidelity has since reached agreements with these issuers and dozens of other providers of exchange-traded funds. The firm is also in constructive dialogue with many others. As a result, no service fees will be incurred at this time.

As a Fidelity spokesperson told Kiplinger, "Fidelity remains committed to providing clients choice through an open architecture investment platform. The arrangements we have with asset managers help us uphold the platform and the exceptional value it provides for all products, including customer service, research tools, technology capabilities, and security measures to drive a positive experience for investors."

Fidelity adds that the "decision to harmonize some of our fee policies comes as our level of support and service for ETFs across the industry is growing rapidly. We continue to work closely with asset managers, as we've always done, to engage in constructive dialogue and reach outcomes that reflect a more consistent approach across mutual funds and ETFs. Fidelity provides transparency to investors for commissions, margin rates, and fees at Fidelity.com."

Still there are implications here for investors, and the incident reveals a lot about the "pay to play" incentive structure of the brokerage industry. 

Let's dig deeper.

 Why would Fidelity consider a surcharge?  

Mutual funds have always paid for the privilege of being available on brokerage platforms. Whether by sales loads or 12b-1 fees, mutual funds have traditionally incentivized brokerage firms to carry their offering and individual stock brokers and advisers to sell them. 

A sales load is a commission that comes off the top of an investment. For example, if a mutual fund charges a 5% load, you're really only investing 95 cents on the dollar, with the other 5% going into the broker's pocket. Loaded mutual funds have really fallen out of favor. Recent research from the Investment Company Institute found that 92% of mutual fund sales by dollars invested went into no-load funds. 

Another industry trick is the 12b-1 fee. This is, in effect, a trailer the broker gets for every year the client continues to hold the fund. In theory, this incentivizes the broker to hold on to the fund instead of churning the account in pursuit of new commissions. But it's still money flowing out of the pocket of the investor and into the pocket of the broker. 

ETFs have long been touted as cheaper alternatives to traditional mutual funds, and for the most part this is true. There are no loads for ETFs, as they trade like stocks and thus enjoy free or nearly free trading commissions at most brokerage houses. And because ETFs are often index funds and have very limited trading expenses, they can' charge very low internal expenses. The expense ratio on the popular iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) is just 0.03%, for example, meaning that for every $1,000 you invest, you lose just 30 cents in fees per year. 

And here's where pay to play comes into effect. 

Despite the fact that ETFs trade on stock exchanges just like stocks, some brokers have "maintenance arrangements in place" in which the ETF managers share a portion of their management fees with the broker for the privilege of having the ETFs available at the broker. In the case of Fidelity, the company is asking for 15% of the fees collected by the managers. For the ETF managers that didn't take the deal, any service fee would be limited to 5% of a buy, up to $100.

 What does this mean for investors? 

It seems that no matter how many fiduciary rules the regulators put in place, there are always going to be incentives for brokers and managers to act against the interests of their investors. Management fees on mutual funds and ETFs have really come down over the past few decades to the point that a large ETF like IVV can charge just 0.03% and still turn a profit for the manager. 

But if fees are the start of a new trend in the industry, then it's likely that the overall cost to clients could rise. If the ETF managers have to pay the broker a cut, they will have less revenue to cover their costs and pay their staff. As a practical matter, that likely means they'll need to charge higher fees.

Another unintended consequence is that fees could strengthen the large, existing players in the industry and penalize smaller upstarts. This would potentially reduce the available options to the investor and reduce competition.

In the bigger picture, the takeaway may be that the great, multi-decade trend toward lower and lower fees to investors could hit the end of the line at some point in the near future. This doesn't mean we'll be going back to the pre-1974 days of ridiculously expensive fixed commissions, of course. But at the margin, it does mean a little less money in investors' pockets. 

Editor's Note: This article initially stated that based on a hypothetical $100 service fee, "you could buy a single share of an ETF for $50 and then pay a 200% commission on that purchase in the form of the $100 surcharge" and that ETFs of issuers who did not reach an agreement with Fidelity would be "subject to a $100 surcharge." This is not accurate. Any service fee would be limited to 5% of a buy, up to $100. This article has also been updated to reflect that Fidelity has reached agreements with these issuers and dozens of other ETF providers.

Related Content

• The Best ETFs to Buy Now
• The Rule of 72 Is an Easy Way to Assess Your Investments. Are You Using It?
• The Best Online Brokers and Trading Platforms

And just like that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday came and went. However, several deals from various retailers are sticking around a bit longer. So, if you missed your chance to score top deals over the past several days, or you simply forgot to purchase a gift for someone on your list — you’re in luck. You still have a chance to shop for holiday gifts without having to pay full price.

Ongoing discounts are offered on a variety of products, including appliances, electronics, clothing and home goods.

While shopping, keep in mind that just because an item is on sale, doesn't necessarily mean you should buy it. Many Black Friday retailers trick shoppers, so make sure you follow these holiday shopping strategies to keep yourself in check.

Here’s a list of holiday deals still available from several big-name retailers.

Costco deals

• Whirlpool 19.2 cu. ft. Counter Depth 4 Door Refrigerator with Easy Shelves: Save $1,050, pay $1,299.99
• Round Brilliant 12.00 ctw Diamond Platinum Bracelet: Save $300, pay $19,999.99
• All-Clad d3 12-Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set: Save $150, pay $549.99
• Sealy Posturepedic 12" Hybrid Mattress/ King size: Save $110, pay $419.99
• Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth Speaker: Save $30, pay $99.99
• Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Connected Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, 2-pack: Save $100, pay $179.99

Target deals

• Apple AirPods 2 with Noise Cancellation: Save $60, pay only $189.99
• Costway Accent Chair Upholstered Linen Armchair Sofa Chair w/Waist Pillow: Save $216, pay $143.99
• Ninja 4qt Air Fryer: Save $10, pay $79.99
• Keurig K-Mini Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker: Save $30, pay $59.99
• iRobot Roomba Combo i5+: Save $100, pay $449.99
• Ninja Professional Blender: Save $20, pay $79.99

Amazon deals

• Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones: Save 50%, pay $99
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 10.4" 64GB Android Tablet: Save 30%, pay $239.99
• Bulova Men's Marine Star Gold Chronograph Stainless Steel Watch: Save 20%, pay $396
• Fitbit Inspire 3 Health & Fitness Tracker: Save 20%, pay $79.95
• Bose QuietComfort Bluetooth Headphones: Save 43%, pay $199

Walmart deals

• Lacoo 2 Pack Patio Zero Gravity Chair Outdoor Lounge Chair: Save $90, pay $89.99
• Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless Vacuum: Save $220, pay $299.99
• Nicebay Hair Straightener: Save $50.10, pay $39.89
• Hart 20V 3-Tool Combo Kit, Drill, 6-1/2" Circular Saw and LED Light: Save $100, pay $59

Related Content

• 20 Secrets to Shopping at Costco
• Get Disney Plus AND Hulu for Just $2.99/Month For a Year
• Paramount Plus Deal Just $1.99 A Month
• Are You Planning to Splurge? Most Holiday Shoppers Are

And just like that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday came and went. However, several deals from various retailers are sticking around a bit longer. So, if you missed your chance to score top deals over the past several days, or you simply forgot to purchase a gift for someone on your list — you’re in luck. You still have a chance to shop for holiday gifts without having to pay full price.

Ongoing discounts are offered on a variety of products, including appliances, electronics, clothing and home goods.

While shopping, keep in mind that just because an item is on sale, doesn't necessarily mean you should buy it. Many Black Friday retailers trick shoppers, so make sure you follow these holiday shopping strategies to keep yourself in check.

Here’s a list of holiday deals still available from several big-name retailers.

Costco deals

• Whirlpool 19.2 cu. ft. Counter Depth 4 Door Refrigerator with Easy Shelves: Save $1,050, pay $1,299.99
• Round Brilliant 12.00 ctw Diamond Platinum Bracelet: Save $300, pay $19,999.99
• All-Clad d3 12-Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set: Save $150, pay $549.99
• Sealy Posturepedic 12" Hybrid Mattress/ King size: Save $110, pay $419.99
• Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth Speaker: Save $30, pay $99.99
• Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Connected Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, 2-pack: Save $100, pay $179.99

Target deals

• Apple AirPods 2 with Noise Cancellation: Save $60, pay only $189.99
• Costway Accent Chair Upholstered Linen Armchair Sofa Chair w/Waist Pillow: Save $216, pay $143.99
• Ninja 4qt Air Fryer: Save $10, pay $79.99
• Keurig K-Mini Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker: Save $30, pay $59.99
• iRobot Roomba Combo i5+: Save $100, pay $449.99
• Ninja Professional Blender: Save $20, pay $79.99

Amazon deals

• Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones: Save 50%, pay $99
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 10.4" 64GB Android Tablet: Save 30%, pay $239.99
• Bulova Men's Marine Star Gold Chronograph Stainless Steel Watch: Save 20%, pay $396
• Fitbit Inspire 3 Health & Fitness Tracker: Save 20%, pay $79.95
• Bose QuietComfort Bluetooth Headphones: Save 43%, pay $199

Walmart deals

• Lacoo 2 Pack Patio Zero Gravity Chair Outdoor Lounge Chair: Save $90, pay $89.99
• Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless Vacuum: Save $220, pay $299.99
• Nicebay Hair Straightener: Save $50.10, pay $39.89
• Hart 20V 3-Tool Combo Kit, Drill, 6-1/2" Circular Saw and LED Light: Save $100, pay $59

Related Content

• 20 Secrets to Shopping at Costco
• Get Disney Plus AND Hulu for Just $2.99/Month For a Year
• Paramount Plus Deal Just $1.99 A Month
• Are You Planning to Splurge? Most Holiday Shoppers Are

Robo-advisers, those automated investment services offered by banks, brokerages and other financial firms, promise low-cost, computer-driven investment management geared to your goals.

Although $1,000 is not enough to get started at Charles Schwab (it’s a heavy-weight competitor in robos, but its Intelligent Portfolio service requires $5,000 to open an account), it’s plenty for SoFi.

The fintech company’s digital advice service, called SoFi Invest, has a $1 minimum and no annual management fee. What’s more, SoFi’s digital service wins top marks as the best robo-adviser for first-time investors from the Robo Report, a quarterly publication from Condor Capital, a Martinsville, N.J.-based advisory firm, that measures the performance, among other things, of robo-adviser services.

SoFi’s program is similar to other robo services. You answer a quick online survey that touches (lightly) on your goal, financial situation and risk tolerance. Then an algorithm spits out a recommended diversified portfolio for you that holds a smattering of exchange-traded funds that are appropriate to your investment timeline.

SoFi competitor Wealthfront has a $500 entry minimum and charges 0.25% in annual management fees. Wealthfront’s robo portfolios have performed better than peers in recent years, according to the Robo Report, thanks in part to a 10% allocation to energy stocks, the best-performing sector in the U.S. stock market over the past two years.

At Fidelity, the price of entry and costs are low in the beginning for its Fidelity Go digital advisory service — there’s no minimum to open an account and no advisory fees for accounts with balances under $25,000.

That’s in part why the Robo Report names Fidelity Go as the best robo-adviser overall. Once balances exceed certain levels, annual fees apply; for balances above $25,000, it's a 0.35% advisory fee. But Robo Report also like Fidelity Go for its additional features, including live operational support and licensed advisers, as well as retirement planning features.

Related articles

• Should You Hire or Fire Your Robo-Adviser?
• Robo-Advisers: Weighing the Worth of Automated Advice
• How to Pick the Best Robo-Adviser For You

Brokerage start-ups such as Robinhood, M1 Finance and SoFi are tiny compared with the trillions of dollars in brokerage assets at the likes of Schwab and Fidelity. But they've already made a big dent in the way things work: These small online brokers pioneered commission-free stock trading and fractional-share purchases, and now those services are standard fare at the bigger firms.

And that's one of the reasons we keep an eye on smaller brokerage firms – because they're shaking up the industry. If not for Robinhood, for instance, we might still be paying commissions on stock and ETF trades.

For investors who just want a handy phone app or online platform where they can trade stocks, exchange-traded funds, options or cryptocurrencies on the cheap, these brokers will do the trick. We refer to these firms as "smaller" shops for the sake of this article, but in terms of customer counts, that's not always the case anymore (we're looking at you, Robinhood).

These smaller firms don't qualify for our annual review of the best online brokers because they don't offer mutual fund or bond trading. But they may be worth a look by investors who want to be on the bleeding edge of innovative offerings at rock-bottom fees. We evaluated four firms: Moomoo, Robinhood, Tastytrade and Webull. (M1 and SoFi did not respond to our invitations.) Here is how the four stack up.

Best small online brokers for investment choices

None of these brokers offers mutual funds, corporate bonds or municipal bonds. Only Tastytrade allows you to buy and sell Treasury securities.

Robinhood and Tastytrade offered the broadest selection of investment choices, with the biggest inventories of fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, for example. They're the only two that trade cryptocurrencies – Robinhood offers 11; Tastytrade, four.

Moomoo pays the highest rate on its "sweep" account: 5.1%. Webull pays 5%.

Best small online broker for mobile apps and desktop tools

Most of the brokers here started with a mobile-first mindset, so there is little difference between their mobile and desktop functionality.

Moomoo and Webull's robust apps include stock and ETF screeners, chart-drawing tools and cost-basis calculators. Tastytrade has highly sortable lists rather than screening tools.

Best small online broker for advisory services 

Webull's Smart Advisor is the only advisory service offered in this group. Its computer algorithms will create a portfolio of ETFs for an annual fee of 0.2% of your portfolio. You can choose among six options tailored to your risk appetite and goals.

Best small online broker for customer service 

None of these brokers have brick-and-mortar locations, and all have limited customer service. Moomoo has humans answering chat requests. Robinhood says a staffer will call or email you back upon request. Tastytrade offers a chatbot that it says will eventually connect you to a human if you ask.

Best small online broker for fees

Robinhood, which launched the no-commission price war, charges no fees for options trading. It's experimenting with another pricing innovation: For $75 a year, investors can enroll in "Robinhood Gold," which entitles them to perks including 3% matching contributions to a Robinhood IRA and 5% interest on a sweep account.

Moomoo stands out for its $0 fees to trade options on stocks and $5 for 10 index option contracts.

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Related content

• Great Tools for DIY Stock Investors
• What Are the Best Options Trading Platforms?
• How to Start Investing In the Stock Market

Is your broker helping you be a better investor? That was the key question we sought to answer as we rolled out our annual online broker survey.

After all, fees don't matter much anymore. They're low everywhere. So, what's left? Service.

Does your broker provide the tools you need to help you keep track of your financial life and goals? In big and little ways, is it guiding you toward smarter investment decisions? Did you learn anything new about investing from your broker over the past year? Can you get investment advice if you want it?

Can you graduate from an automated adviser to a dedicated financial adviser as you get older to get help with estate planning or Social Security? All told, we engineer our broker rankings to reward the firms that offer the most to the broadest group of investors.

How we chose the best online brokers and trading platforms

To start, we limit the field to brokers that offer stock, mutual fund, exchange-traded fund and individual bond trading. That's one reason you don't see the likes of Robinhood or SoFi here – you can't buy individual bonds on their platforms.

We surveyed nine firms in all: Ally Invest, Charles Schwab, E*Trade from Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Firstrade, Interactive Brokers, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, Merrill Edge, and WellsTrade. T. Rowe Price, Vanguard and Citi Self Invest declined to participate.

The biggest, best-known firms score better overall, you'll notice. But each firm shines in one category or another, and no firm aced every one.

Best online broker overall

Drum roll, please. Fidelity landed on top this year by offering a solid mix of investment products, as well as tools and calculators for retirement planning and college savings, among other things.

The firm's fees are far from the lowest, especially if you want to buy shares in a mutual fund for which you must pay a transaction fee. But it was a competitive finisher in primary categories – investment choices, tools and education, and mobile app. And it won major points for its full range of advisory services, which pushed it to the top spot.

Interactive Brokers finished second for the second year in a row. The firm ranked first or second in the most important categories – investment choices, mobile app, and tools and education – and that helped lock in its position in the rankings.

We evaluated its "Lite" pricing plan and its website-based platform, Client Portal. But many of the firm's customers are active traders – defined by the firm as investors who make more than 120 trades per year – and they usually opt for the firm's "Pro" pricing plan and download its desktop trading platform, not considered here.

What's more, Interactive is known for its access to international markets – more than 160 developed and emerging markets – and 71% of its account holders live outside of the U.S. They're mostly interested in trading in the U.S. as well as their local markets, the firm says.

Bear in mind that our survey results combine objective and subjective criteria. We rely on the information that each firm provides, vetting the data as best we can. The scoring boils down to the weighting we assign to each data point and to each category.

Although we base our weightings on what we hear from investors and the industry about what brokerage customers currently value, not everyone will agree with what we chose to play up – or down.

Below, we walk you through the highlights and lowlights of how the brokers performed in each of our categories, listed in order of significance to the final score.

Online brokers with the best investment choices

More is more in this category: The broader the range of investment offerings, from corporate bonds to mutual funds, ETFs and even cryptocurrencies, the better the broker ranked in this category, which makes up 20% of the final score.

Fidelity and Interactive Brokers came out on top. In addition to a robust roster of the usual securities available, both firms also offer better yields than peers on cash that's sitting idle in brokerage accounts (the so-called sweep account).

You can also buy a fraction of nearly every publicly traded U.S. stock or ETF. So instead of shelling out more than $1,000 for a single share of Netflix (NFLX) stock, for instance, you can buy a $1 slice (roughly 0.001% of one share). And you can set up a recurring purchase of shares in ETFs and stocks.

Plus, though it didn't count for much in this category score, Fidelity and Interactive Brokers were the only firms in the survey to offer cryptocurrency trading of select digital coins – the actual currency, not crypto futures or ETFs that track cryptocurrency prices. (Schwab says it expects to offer direct access to crypto in 2026.)

For the record, fractional-share trading is available at other firms, too, but to varying degrees. At Firstrade, customers can buy slices of nearly every publicly traded stock and more than 1,200 ETFs.

Schwab customers can only buy slices of S&P 500 stocks; at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed, fractional purchases are limited to S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 stocks and all ETFs; and E*Trade investors can buy fractions of 221 ETFs for a $25 minimum investment.

Of course, not every investor wants or even needs access to every investable security. Mutual fund investors will find abundant choices at Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Interactive Brokers, for instance. And buyers of individual corporate bonds will find the greatest number of choices at E*Trade. Municipal bond investors should go to Interactive Brokers or E*Trade.

Want to invest in foreign stocks? You're out of luck at most of the firms we surveyed; only Schwab, Fidelity and Interactive offer access to foreign markets.

Ally Invest, E*Trade and Merrill Edge suffered because they don't offer fractional-share trading of stocks. WellsTrade does, it's worth noting. But Wells and Merrill also slipped, in part, because each of their platforms offers a below-average number of mutual funds and corporate and municipal bonds, relative to other survey respondents.

Online brokers with the best tools and education

How helpful is your broker at keeping you on track with your investment plan and the rest of your financial life?

In this category, which accounts for 20% of the final score, we asked each firm whether they offered certain tools or calculators that assist in a variety of financial goals: How much should I save for college tuition? How am I doing so far on retirement savings? Can I get help building a bond ladder, figuring out how much to withdraw each year from my IRA, and reviewing the asset allocation of my entire investment portfolio?

Calculators, portfolio analyzers, screens for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds, and the like can help investors put their money to work. We scrutinized the array of educational videos, webinars, podcasts and live events, too.

Schwab and Interactive Brokers triumphed in this category. Of the nearly 40 tools and functions we queried each firm about, Schwab offers 33, including savings, tax and retirement calculators and other useful tools, such as a bond-laddering tool and a trade ticket that can be filled out and saved for later. (E*Trade offers a saved trade ticket function, too.) Interactive Brokers finished with 30.

Many are embedded in the firm's retirement-planning tool (such as budgeting and debt management) and portfolio analyst tool (such as getting an aggregate view of asset allocation and risk in your portfolio).

Both firms also got a lift from good scores on the education front. We asked the firms about educational articles and videos available on their websites, as well as how many podcasts and videos were posted in 2024. Schwab and Interactive both scored well, which helped them win the top spots in this category.

But it's worth noting that Fidelity and E*Trade were nearly as strong on education, too. E*Trade, in particular, offers a daily podcast of five minutes or less from Morgan Stanley that covers commentary on the market and other investing topics. Recent podcast headlines: "Trump's AI Action Plan"; "Will the Entertainment Business Stay Human?"; and "Asia's $46 Trillion Question."

The laggards in the tools category were Ally Invest, Firstrade and WellsTrade. They trailed the pack in the overall number of tools offered – Ally with just 11; Firstrade with 16; and Wells with 17.

Ally Invest, for instance, doesn't offer a mutual fund screener, a spending-tracker tool or a "How am I doing?" retirement-savings calculator. WellsTrade offers more than Ally in the way of tools, but you can't export statements to Excel, for instance, and it doesn't include some tools, such as one that would help investors as they start to withdraw cash for retirement.

But Wells and Ally also missed on the education side. Unlike the other firms surveyed, for instance, WellsTrade doesn't provide any educational articles on investing and trading strategies, podcasts, or educational videos.

Ally Invest fared a bit better than Wells because it does provide educational articles, but it lacks the podcasts, videos and other events that the bigger players offer their customers.

Online brokers with the best mobile app

Most brokerage customers log in to their accounts in the mobile app more often than they do on a computer, according to some of the firms we surveyed this year.

They may be just checking their portfolio balance in the middle of the day. Even so, as apps improve, we expect that investors will want to perform more and more investing tasks on their phones over time. So in this category, which makes up 20% of the final score, we explored the breadth of functionality of each firm's mobile app.

The ability to trade stocks, ETFs and mutual funds is a given; every firm's mobile app allows you to do that. And access to stock research reports in the app is pretty much de rigueur.

But can you buy stakes in bonds and crypto in the app? Does it offer stock and ETF screening, for instance, as well as a shortlist of prescreened investments to consider? Can you select specific shares you own in a stock by tax lot before you sell? Can you access a similar variety of savings, retirement, budgeting and portfolio analysis tools that are available on the broker's website? Can you deposit checks electronically into your brokerage account?

Interactive Brokers answered yes to more of our nearly 60 queries than any other firm. It won this category by a clear margin, thanks to a robust array of retirement calculators, tools for tracking spending and college savings, and a bond screener on its app.

E*Trade's offering was similarly robust; it was the only other firm to offer a bond screener on its mobile app, for one thing. It came in second, followed by J.P. Morgan Self-Directed in third place and Fidelity in fourth.

Some of the firms' apps are strong in other ways. All but three of the firms allow you to measure your portfolio's performance against a benchmark, for instance (Ally Invest, Firstrade and WellsTrade are the holdouts).

We'd be content with just three benchmarks – one for U.S. stocks, another for U.S. bonds, say, and a foreign stock market bogey. But at Interactive, you can choose among 340 in the mobile app; Merrill Edge, 35; and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed, 12. Compare that with the five indexes available in Schwab's app and three in Fidelity's and E*Trade's mobile apps.

Meanwhile, for investors in search of investing ideas, only J.P. Morgan and E*Trade offer curated lists for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds on the app.

Fidelity, for instance, has select lists available in its app for mutual funds and ETFs, but not stocks. J.P. Morgan shines again for screeners. It's the only firm, along with Interactive Brokers, to offer screeners for stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and bonds in its mobile app.

Online brokers with the best advisory services

Many investors these days want help with their investments. Brokerage firms tend to offer tiers of service. These range from an all-digital, or automated, service (call it a robo service) to a blend of digital and a little human advice – what we call a hybrid offering – to a more full-service type of account that in some cases offers customized portfolios and a dedicated investment adviser.

We scrutinized the full gamut of offerings at each firm by dividing the overall advisory category into three parts – digital, hybrid and full service. The overall category accounts for 12.5% of the final score; digital service makes up just over half of the category score, and hybrid and full services account for the rest of the category score.

The range of advice varies at each firm. Firstrade doesn't offer any investment advice at all. And most firms offer only two of the three tiers of advice. J.P. Morgan Self-Directed, for instance, doesn't have a robo, but it offers a hybrid service as well as full-service-type plans through J.P. Morgan Wealth Management.

Merrill Edge has a robo (Merrill Guided Investing) and a hybrid (Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor). But it doesn't offer full-service advice – though that is available at a different Merrill business.

Similarly, Wells Fargo's WellsTrade has Intuitive Investor, its all-digital advisory, but no full-service advice. That's available through a different Wells business, so it wasn't included in the survey.

The only two firms to offer all three tiers of advisory services – again, digital, hybrid and full service – ran away with the medal in this category: Fidelity and Schwab. Indeed, Fidelity seems to have an advisory service to suit every kind of investor and account size. The breadth of offerings helped Fidelity come out ahead in this category. But in truth, both Fidelity and Schwab stood out in each tier, winning the top spots across the board.

Bear in mind that our scoring system weighed the nuts and bolts of the services at each firm – investment minimums, variety of portfolios, fees, expense ratios of fund holdings and access to estate-planning experts, among other things – not the portfolio returns.

Let's start with digital and hybrid services. Fidelity offers two kinds of automated advice: Fidelity Go and Fidelity Managed FidFolios. But Fidelity Go steals the show. For as little as $10, customers can get access to 16 different kinds of portfolios filled with funds that charge 0% expense ratios. What's more, accounts with less than $25,000 pay no advisory fee.

Managed FidFolios is a more sophisticated introductory offering – a team of experts manage an all-stock portfolio for you – and requires $5,000 to start. Choose among three actively managed strategies (which charge 0.70% each in annual advisory fees) and five direct indexing portfolios (0.40%), a strategy that involves owning the individual securities that make up a benchmark, instead of owning a mutual fund or ETF, which allows for active tax-loss harvesting (selling losers to offset gains elsewhere).

Fidelity's hybrid service is part of its Fidelity Go offering and kicks in when balances top $25,000. The fee jumps to 0.35% of assets per year, but that gets you unlimited one-on-one "financial coaching to help achieve retirement or other investing goals," according to the firm. Many of those coaches are certified financial planners.

By contrast, in its favor, Schwab's robo, Intelligent Portfolios, charges no annual advisory fee, and investors can choose among 81 diversified portfolios filled with cheap ETFs. Schwab's next step up in service, like Fidelity's, requires a $25,000 minimum. Intelligent Portfolios Premium, as it's called, requires a one-time $300 planning fee on top of a $30 monthly advisory charge. You get the same 81 diversified ETF portfolios as in the robo-advisory service, but the big plus is you have access to a team of financial planners.

At most firms, you must fork over more money to get a dedicated human adviser. That minimum varies from $100,000 at Ally Invest and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed to $500,000 at E*Trade, Fidelity and Schwab. (Firstrade, Interactive, Merrill and Wells don't offer these services.)

At the full-service level, Schwab offered most of the features we were looking for: A dedicated adviser, one-on-one access to specialists for bond and options trading as well as an estate-planning expert, and low advisory fees. For an account with a $750,000 balance, Schwab charges just 0.80% a year.

E*Trade and J.P. Morgan each had competitive offerings at the full-service level. J.P. Morgan has a lower minimum going for it – typically $100,000 for a dedicated adviser – plus access to experts on estate planning and bond and options trading, and a customized portfolio. And investors can choose among advisers at Chase bank branches and at different divisions of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. Some charge annual advisory fees as low as 0.50% for a $750,000 balance; others cost more (as much as 1.45% a year).

E*Trade's full-service offering from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management stacked up nicely, too, with multiple experts at the ready to help you. Its 2% annual advisory fee for an account with a $750,000 balance was high, however. E*Trade says Morgan Stanley financial adviser rates vary, so it chose the highest rate by default. Of course, in exchange, you get access to Morgan Stanley's full breadth of products and services.

Online brokers with the best research

What some investors consider useful research may be gobbledygook to others. Some may put greater emphasis on technical analysis, for example – the practice of identifying trends or patterns in price charts to spot investing risks and opportunities.

Others may favor fundamental analysis, examining a company's financial statements and industry trends, say, to evaluate it as a potential investment. And then there are those who might find that news alerts and stories can be useful for pinpointing investing prospects, too.

To that end, in this category (12.5% of the final score), we asked the brokers to list the research sources they offer their customers for specific single stocks – Apple (AAPL), Goldman Sachs (GS), Honeywell International (HON), Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA) and WD-40 (WDFC) – as well as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX).

We also asked about how many stock and bond market outlook reports were available to do-it-yourself brokerage customers, as well as any ongoing market commentary or analysis. We gave extra credit to firms that provide access to in-depth fundamental research (because that's the kind of research we favor).

That last question helped boost the scores of some firms, including E*Trade, Merrill Edge, Schwab and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed.

Merrill Edge offers access to proprietary analysis of single stocks from BofA Global Research, but only to customers who meet a $100,000 balance threshold. BofA market outlook and commentary reports, however, are available to all customers. We knocked the firm (only by a bit) for this balance requirement, but it was enough to push the firm from a first-place tie with E*Trade to a second-place finish.

Schwab finished a nose behind for third. Schwab offers brokerage customers solid bond and stock market outlooks and commentary from its asset management division, but we discounted Schwab's proprietary stock reports a little because the stock ratings are based on quantitative, not qualitative, measures.

Interactive Brokers blows away the competition with the stratospheric number of research resources it offers its retail customers: 57 reports on Apple and 38 for Goldman Sachs, for example, and a whopping 1,452 for reports on the outlook for the bond market.

By contrast, among all of the firms we surveyed, the median number of reports was three each for the single companies and two for bond market outlooks. But Interactive missed getting extra credit for in-depth fundamental stock analysis, and that's why it finished behind E*Trade, Merrill and Schwab.

Online brokers with the best customer service and security

In our digitized world, customer service takes many shapes. There's chat and email. You can pick up the phone. In some cases, you can even talk face-to-face with a human being at a local branch. No matter the method, one thing's for sure: When you have an investing-related question that you can't answer on your own, you want a prompt answer. Period.

That's why this category, which amounts to 10% of the final score, included questions such as the average telephone hold time for a customer service representative and average email and chat response time.

We also asked about the percentage of time that a customer was able to get an answer to their question at the first point of contact with a live representative, among other questions.

Charles Schwab won for customer service thanks to its 400 branches, a phone line with 24/7 live service, a 33-second average hold time on the phone (below the average 65-second hold time for the firms we surveyed), and a less-than-12-hour response time for email queries (below the average 33-hour response period). Thousands of clients walk into Schwab's retail branches a day, the firm says, and over the first half of 2025, it fielded more than 14 million calls.

Merrill Edge came in second. On top of a 24/7 live representative customer-service line, the firm says that it has a 90% success rate in answering customers' questions at the first point of live contact. It was the best response rate of the group, just ahead of Ally Invest (89%).

To be fair, we should note that some firms didn't disclose this figure, including Fidelity, Firstrade and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed was hot on Merrill's heels, boosted in large part by a robust training program for its representatives. Depending on the representative's role, the firm says, some training programs last for two-plus years. A below-average phone-line hold time of less than 30 seconds and a roughly 12-hour average response time to email queries helped, too.

Firstrade, Ally Invest and WellsTrade faltered in this category for different reasons. Each of the firms reported shorter training periods for representatives than the other brokers, for a start. Ally and Wells also reported above-average wait times for representatives on the phone.

Security accounts for one-tenth of this category's score, but it's a growing concern as scammers and hackers get better at what they do. We gave extra credit to firms that make two-factor authentication mandatory, namely Ally Invest, E*Trade, In-teractive Brokers and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed. The extra step can be annoying, but it is becoming increasingly necessary.

To be clear, the other firms in the survey offer two-factor authentication as well; you just have to opt in and set it up.

Online brokers with the best commissions and fees

A little over a decade ago, this category accounted for 25% of the final score. This year, commissions and fees make up just 5%. Everyday investing transactions – buying and selling stocks, shares in ETFs or mutual funds, and bonds – are free, or nearly so. And the tasks that do incur a levy – wiring money, say, or having a representative place a bond or options trade for you over the phone – are likely to be infrequent.

And yet, there are some hidden trading costs. Embedded in the price of an individual bond you buy, for instance, may be a transaction cost, such as a markup (the difference between the price a broker-dealer paid to buy a bond and sell it to an investor) or a selling concession (a fee paid to the seller or distributor of the bond you're buying).

Similarly, the brokerage firm may receive a small payment to route trades to certain securities dealers, which can cost you in the form of slightly less favorable prices. These levies are small, but they can add up, and what you don't outlay in fees you can put to work toward your investing goals. So we asked the firms about these hidden transaction costs, among other charges, as well as what they charge for margin interest rates and options contracts.

As expected, the contest was tight. J.P. Morgan Self-Directed skated past the others, largely because it charges middle-of-the-road fees – rarely the highest or lowest on any query. FirstTrade, on the other hand, though it ranks seventh in the pack on fees, boasts the lowest charge for broker-assisted stock and ETF trades ($19.95) and options contracts ($0).

WellsTrade brought up the rear in this category. Its margin rates are above average and bond purchases include a markup, among other things.

Best online brokers for your specific needs

Best for index fund lovers. Fidelity and E*Trade both have suites of zero-fee index funds, but only individual investors with brokerage accounts at those firms can buy them.

Fidelity has four zero-fee index funds – a total market index fund, an in­ternational stock fund, a small-company stock fund and a large-company stock fund.

E*Trade has five no-fee index funds available exclusively to self-directed E*Trade investors. If you start working with a Morgan Stanley adviser, you can take them with you (E*Trade has been a Morgan Stanley-owned company since 2020). The five funds include strategies that track the performance of international markets, U.S. bonds, municipal bonds, large-company shares and the total stock market.

Best for individual bond buyers. Of all the firms in our survey, Interactive Brokers offers the greatest number of municipal bonds. But buyers of corporate debt should consider E*Trade. What's more, both firms charge no markup on corporate or muni bond transactions. At E*Trade, Treasuries trade for no fee.

Best robo advisory. Fidelity prevails with its digital offering, Fidelity Go, which charges no annual advisory fee for balances under $25,000 and includes 16 different portfolios (from conservative to aggressive allocations). The kicker: The portfolios hold only no-fee mutual funds, so you're not shelling out anything in annual expense ratios.

Fidelity gets another nod, too, because its most aggressive Fidelity Go portfolios hold 100% of assets in stocks (other firms have a 94% to 96% allocation to stocks).

But Schwab Intelligent Portfolios merits an honorable mention. There's no annual fee, though it takes $5,000 to open an account. And the 81 available portfolios hold low-fee exchange-traded funds that charge annual expense ratios between 0.04% and 0.16%.

Best all-in-one bank and broker. Several firms offer benefits to customers who bank and broker with them. But Merrill Edge and its parent, Bank of America, through its Preferred Rewards program, offer the best benefits.

We like, for instance, that the bonuses start when you have a three-month combined average daily balance of just $20,000 – at the bank and in any Merrill investment account. The pluses include a bump in cash rewards on Bank of America credit cards, priority on customer service phone lines, and interest rate discounts on auto loans and home equity lines of credit.

As your balance grows, the perks improve and expand. When your average daily balance hits $100,000 or more, on top of bigger interest rate breaks on loans and bonuses on credit card rewards, you can get a discount on robo-advisory fees at Merrill Edge, a boost in the interest rate on a Bank of America Advantage Savings account and a waiver on ATM fees at non-BofA banks in the U.S. and anywhere else in the world.

Best for options traders. Active options investors should favor Firstrade, which doesn't charge a contract fee like the others. Most of the other firms we surveyed charge a 0.65-cent fee per contract. Ally Invest is one exception; it charges a 0.50-cent contract fee.

Best for cash hoarders. Fidelity gets kudos for paying the highest yield on idle cash sitting in brokerage accounts. In late May, the firm's so-called sweep accounts – the account that your broker automatically "sweeps" any cash into – paid a 3.94% yield. Some of the other firms, by contrast, offered a 0.01% yield. Interactive Brokers stood out, too, with a 2.83% yield on its sweep account.

Best for investors just getting started. None of the firms we surveyed require a minimum to open an account, but we favor Fidelity for investors with small balances for a couple of reasons.

For starters, for as little as $1, you can buy slices of more than 7,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds. No other firm except Interactive Brokers can match that. The other plus: The firm's digital advisory service, Fidelity Go, has the lowest minimum – just $10 – to get started. In addition, there's no annual advisory fee if your balance is below $25,000, and the funds in the portfolios don't charge annual expenses.

Best for mutual fund investors. Interactive Brokers and Schwab offer the biggest roster of mutual funds for no load and no transaction fee. But we want to give Ally Invest, E*Trade, Firstrade and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed a shout-out, too.

All the funds on each of these platforms – albeit a shorter list of funds than Schwab or Interactive offer – trade for no fee.

Best for margin traders. If you're big into trading on margin – a strategy that allows an investor to borrow money from a brokerage firm to purchase securities – Interactive Brokers' Lite tier charges just 6.83% for a margin balance of less than $100,000, a little over half the going rate at the other firms for the same balance.

Best for investors with foreign addresses. Americans living abroad sometimes have problems opening brokerage accounts at U.S. financial firms. But at Interactive Brokers, citizens and residents of nearly every country can open accounts.

And the firm offers overnight trading of stocks and ETFs from 8 pm to 3:50 am Eastern Standard Time, Sunday through Friday, which makes it more convenient for overseas customers in faraway time zones to buy and sell shares.

Best for ETF investors. Stick with Fidelity, Interactive Brokers and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed, which allow you to buy and sell fractional shares of thousands of ETFs. (Firstrade and E*Trade allow you to buy slices of ETF shares, too, but fewer funds are available.)

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Related content

• Mutual Funds Are About to Get the ETF Treatment. Here's What It Means for Investors
• The Best Options Trading Platforms
• 7 Mistakes to Avoid When You First Start Investing

Stock trades are free these days at most online brokers. But where and how your trade is filled can impact your purchase price. And “it all happens in a flash,” says Jeff Chiappetta, vice president of trade and education at Schwab. It takes just 0.08 seconds, on average, at Schwab, from the time you submit your trade to validation of execution. Here’s a step-by-step look at what happens when you place a market-order stock trade.

Step 1: You click “buy”

After you submit a trade but before it is routed to the next step, your brokerage firm will review your trade for certain factors. The size of the company and the size of your trade can influence where and how the order is filled and the price you pay. Fractional orders or oversized orders (say, more than 10,000 shares), for instance, may be filled in multiple transactions. Some firms may scrutinize a trade for whether it could impact the stock’s trading price. An exceptionally large order “could drive the price of a stock up or down,” says Chiappetta, “and we don’t want that.” Some firms also check to see that you have the cash or margin in your account to cover the trade; others may give you leeway to fund the account over the next two business days.

Step 2: Routing

Your broker has a duty to deliver the best possible execution price to you for your trade, which means it must meet or beat the best price available in the market. To do so, it can choose to send your order to one of four venues:

■ Market makers, including firms such as Citadel and Virtu Financial, “act like car dealers” for buyers and sellers, says James Angel, a professor at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. These firms will pay a fraction of a penny for every share that your broker sends their way in a practice called payment for order flow. Although some brokers don’t accept payment for order flow, it’s not necessarily a bad thing: In exchange for the order flow, the market maker also promises to beat the best quoted price you see flashing on your quote page. Say the current market price for XYZ stock is $50. The market maker may fill your order at $49.98 a share. That’s price improvement.

Brokerages must disclose how much they receive in payment for order flow every year. Firms like to tout their price improvement. Fidelity “passed back $650 million in price improvement” in 2019, says Gregg Murphy, senior vice president of Fidelity’s retail brokerage division. This year, the figure may double. Schwab’s Chiappetta says the firm passes back $8 of price improvement for every $1 it receives for payment for order flow. “Net-net, our clients are saving money,” he says.

■ An exchange, such as Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange, can fill the order, too. But the exchanges charge your broker roughly 30 cents for every 100 shares traded, says Angel. “Doesn’t sound like a lot, but every penny adds up,” he adds.

■ Some brokers (but not all) may fill the trade from their own inventory. The broker makes money on the “spread”—the difference between the purchase price and the sale price.

■ Alternative trading systems are a last option. Most trades don’t end up here, says Chiappetta, but these systems match buyers with sellers. In some cases, there’s little transparency. “That’s why they’re called dark pools,” says Chiappetta.

Step 3: Confirmation

You’ll get a notification that the order was filled, at what price and what time. If the order was small (fractional, for example) or oversized (for more than 10,000 shares, say), you might see multiple executions, says Murphy.

Every year, following the publication of our brokerage rankings, we receive an in-boxful of e-mails asking the same question: Where’s Robinhood? This year, as in previous iterations of the Kiplinger ranking, we left Robinhood off the list because the mobile-first brokerage doesn’t offer trading of bonds or mutual funds—key investment vehicles for many of our readers.

That doesn’t mean that we haven’t understood the appeal. Robinhood offered free trades on stocks and exchange-traded funds when other brokerages were charging $10 a pop. And you can’t argue with the magnetism of their offering. Even as every other brokerage has shifted to commission-free trading, Robinhood’s attractive app and easy-to-use platform has continued to attract fans. Robinhood said it had 13 million accounts in May, putting it behind only Fidelity and Schwab among firms that participated in our survey.

But Robinhood’s stylish and intuitive platform can make trading feel like a game for customers, and that has led to controversy for the firm. The New York Times recently reported that in the first three months of 2020, Robinhood users traded nine times as many shares as E*Trade customers and 40 times as many as Schwab customers, with an even greater disparity of high-risk options trades. That kind of volume has created problems for the brokerage and its customers. Amid March’s most volatile trading days, Robinhood suffered a number of high-profile outages—up to 17 hours, in one case—drawing the ire of customers.

More troubling was the news in June of the death of a 20-year-old user of the site, who reportedly committed suicide after accruing what he thought was a negative $730,000 account balance trading options on the platform. He acknowledged his inexperience in this kind of trading in a note. Following the tragedy, a group of six members of Congress wrote a letter to Robinhood’s cofounders, questioning the firm’s functionalities and approval processes for options trading, among other things. As of this writing, the legislators say they haven’t received an answer from Robinhood. Robinhood execs say they are rolling out changes to their options-trading process and will work with legislators to address their questions and concerns.

If you're an investor looking for a deal, it's hard to go wrong with an online brokerage these days. Virtually all of firms in our brokerage rankings offer free trades on stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), along with ample research and tools to help investors make educated financial decisions.

With so many reasonably priced offerings, however, investors might gravitate toward firms that offer a few additional features and freebies to sweeten the pot.

Here, we look at some of the most-overlooked broker promotions and perks.

For investors who can't afford sky-high share prices, Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Interactive Brokers have joined smaller, app-based brokers such as Robinhood and Stash in offering partial shares of stock to investors.

Schwab's feature allows investors to buy "slices" of stocks in the S&P 500 for as little $5 apiece.

Fidelity and Interactive Brokers let customers trade partial shares of virtually any stock for as little as $1.

Dividend-paying firms typically disburse cash every three months. If you invest for income, you might have a diverse portfolio of stocks – but if many of them pay out on the same schedule, you might find yourself going through long spells with little cash flowing in.

Four brokers – E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, Merrill Edge and TD Ameritrade – have income estimator tools that can help you keep on top of future payments. Each tool uses recent payout data to project the value and timing of your portfolio's dividend payments over the next 12 months.

TD's tool shows dividends from stocks, mutual funds and ETFs only. E*Trade, Interactive Brokers and Merrill Edge factor in income from bonds as well.

Fidelity brokerage customers have access to four mutual funds with no minimum investment and 0% expense ratios:

• Fidelity Zero Total Market Index (FZROX), which tracks the U.S. stock market
• Fidelity Zero Large Cap Index (FNILX), which tracks large-company U.S. stocks
• Fidelity Zero Extended Market Index (FZIPX), which tracks small- and midsize company stocks
• Fidelity Zero International Index (FZILX), which tracks foreign stocks

To avoid paying licensing fees to index makers such as Standard & Poor's, Fidelity's funds track indexes assembled in-house. That means the funds might outrun or lag ETFs that track traditional indexes. Still, it's easy to see the benefits of free funds with no investment minimum, especially when the savings are compounded over a lifetime of investing.

Including the four funds above, Fidelity offers 28 funds that have no investment minimum.

Nearly every brokerage tries to entice investors to open new accounts or add substantial sums to existing accounts by offering free trades or cash bonuses. Broker promotions come and go among the firms; here are some recent offers:

• Firstrade will reimburse up to $200 in transfer fees when you transfer money from another firm's account. You'll also get a free share of stock (chosen by an algorithm) if you refer a friend who opens an account – your friend gets a share as well.
• Interactive Brokers will give you a bonus of up to $200 if you refer a friend that opens an account and maintains a balance of at least $10,000 for one year.
• Schwab is running a referral promotion, too. However, the reward – between $100 and $500 – goes to the friend you refer, not to you.
• Merrill Edge will give you a bonus of up to $600 when you open a new self-directed investing account.
• TD Ameritrade will give you between $350 and $2,500 when you open a new account with a balance of at least $250,000.
• Depending on how much you deposit, new account holders at E*Trade can earn from $25 up to $2,500.
• Customers who sign up at Ally can earn from $50 to $3,500.
• New accountholders at TradeStation can get a cash bonus between $50 and $5,000.

Opening a credit account linked to your brokerage can help you earn cash back to beef up your investments. Here's a look at some current broker promotions tied to credit card rewards:

The Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card comes with no annual fee, and all purchases earn 2% cash back, which can be divided and deposited into up to five Fidelity accounts whether they're your accounts or not.

All purchases on the TD Ameritrade Client Rewards Visa come with 1.5% cash back. Deposit your rewards into your TD Ameritrade brokerage account and you'll receive a 10% bonus on the cash-back.

The Schwab Investor Card from American Express offers a $100 credit if you spend $1,000 in the first three months. After that, you'll get 1.5% cash back automatically deposited into your Schwab account.

Merrill Edge customers who sign up for Bank of America's Preferred Rewards program receive a 25%, 50% or 75% boost on the cash-back reward from eligible Bank of America credit cards, depending on the combined assets in your accounts (the 25% level requires $20,000). Say you hold a Bank of America credit card, which offers 3% on a particular purchase. A $100 purchase would earn $3.75, $4.50 or $5.25, rather than $3. Similarly, a purchase that earns the buyer 100 points would actually earn 125, 150 or 175 points.

Whether you set up a cash-management account or just take out a debit card linked to the cash balances in your brokerage account, several brokers will reimburse your fees when you withdraw cash at any ATM.

Fidelity and TD Ameritrade will reimburse ATM fees nationwide. Schwab does that too, plus waives the 3% foreign transaction fee most debit issuers charge to make purchases abroad.

E*Trade and Ally offer more traditional banking services, such as checking and savings accounts. Ally accountholders can use more than 43,000 Allpoint ATMs for free, and the bank will reimburse up to $10 in ATM fees each statement cycle. E*Trade's Max Rate Checking Account comes with unlimited ATM reimbursements on charges that other financial institutions levy (though you may be subject to charges from the owner/operator of the ATM).

Merrill Edge investors who have $50,000 in assets (combined at Merrill Edge, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America) and who have joined the Preferred Rewards program can get 12 ATM-fee reimbursements per year at non-Bank of America ATMs in the U.S. (Bank of America ATMs are free).

Investors increasingly want to do brokerage business on the go. In response, all of the brokers in our survey offer mobile apps that you can use to do just about anything you could do on your desktop, such as trading stocks, accessing research, paying bills and transferring funds.

But tech-savvy investors will be pleased to know that some brokers' platforms extend beyond websites and mobile apps.

Investors can interact with their Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Schwab and TD Ameritrade accounts by chatting with Alexa, Amazon's digital assistant. Schwab users, for instance, can ask Alexa for market information, stock quotes and updates on personalized watch lists.

TD Ameritrade customers can ask questions or even execute a trade through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger or through the iPhone Messages app as well. If TD's computer-generated responses don't satisfy you, you'll be automatically connected with a live representative. TD Ameritrade customers can access broker information in their car through Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Echo Auto.

Interactive Brokers and TradeStation customers might be able to earn a little extra cash by authorizing that firm to lend stocks you hold to traders interested in paying you interest to borrow your shares and sell them short.

Each brokerage will pay cash they earn from lending your shares directly into your account. You'll earn more money on long positions in thinly traded stocks than you will holding widely available names. Each firm will give you half of whatever income they earn on your stocks.

You'll need $25,000 or one year of trading experience to get into the program at TradeStation. At Interactive Brokers, you'll need approval for a margin account or $50,000 to enroll.

As investor needs and preferences change, brokerages must adapt. Brokerages’ mobile apps have grown more sophisticated as more clients have demonstrated that they like to do business on the go. And as investors have demanded lower costs, brokerages have trimmed commissions and fees across the board.

But brokerages also need a keen ear for clients’ particular needs. Some clients want to be left alone to do their own thing, while others want their hand held. Some want to pay as little as possible to invest, and others are willing to pony up enough in assets to gain access to their own personal planner

Our 2019 online broker ranking recognizes that no brokerage can hit the bull’s-eye for every type of client, and that the firm with the broadest appeal may not meet your specific needs. But ultimately, we favored firms that could do the most for most investors.

Check out our rankings. We also note special perks each broker offers.

Brokers’ overall score depends on the weight we assigned to seven categories. The weighting: commissions and fees, 10%, investment choices, 20%, mobile app, 25%, tools and research, 12.5% each, and advisory services and user experience 10%.

• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95*
• Commissions and fees: 6th
• Investment choices: 2nd
• Mobile app: 3rd
• Tools: 7th
• Research: 4th
• Advisory services: 3rd
• User experience: 2nd

*E*Trade charges $4.95 per trade after the first 30 trades per quarter.

• Overall score: 82.3 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: variable, per share
• Commissions and fees: 2nd
• Investment choices: 4th
• Mobile app: 1st
• Tools: 6th
• Research: 7th
• Advisory services: 4th
• User experience: 7th
• Best for: Margin traders. Investors with $100,000 in an account looking to trade with borrowed money will pay 3.89% on margin loans. The nine other firms in our survey levy between 7.7% and 9.5%.
• Perks: Interactive Brokers customers can chat with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant, to access their accounts. If you maintain a balance of at least $10,000 at Interactive Brokers, you can get up to $200 for referring a friend if that friend accrues more than $666.67 in trading commissions. And Interactive Brokers discounts commissions deeply if you trade a lot.

Interactive Brokers is also a top choice for mutual fund investors, with more than 4,000 mutual funds offered.

• Overall score: 82.2 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95
• Commissions and fees: 8th
• Investment choices: 1st
• Mobile app: 2nd
• Tools: 5th
• Research: 6th
• Advisory services: 2nd
• User experience: 4th
• Best for: Investors who hold cash. Fido offers the highest interest rates among brokers in our survey on “sweep” accounts (the accounts that hold clients’ uninvested cash). The default account, Fidelity Government Money Market (symbol SPAXX), yields 1.82%. Investors can also use Fidelity Treasury Money Market (FZFXX), yielding 1.81%, as their sweep account or a cash account called FCASH, which pays 1.07% in interest.
• Perks: Fidelity brokerage customers have access to four mutual funds with no minimum investment and 0% expense ratios, as well as 23 additional funds that have no investment minimum. A rewards card with no annual fee is also available. All purchases with the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card comes earn 2% cash back, which can be divided and deposited into up to five Fidelity accounts, whether they’re your accounts or not. Also, ATM fees are waived nationwide for Fidelity debit cardholders.

Also, mutual fund investors, with more than 3,900 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.

• Overall score: 79.8 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95
• Commissions and fees: 9th
• Investment choices: 5th
• Mobile app: 5th
• Tools: 3rd
• Research: 1st
• Advisory services: 1st
• User experience: 3rd
• Best for: Mutual fund investors. Schwab offers more than 3,900 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.
• Perks: In addition to waiving ATM fees nationwide, Schwab lets its cardholders make purchases abroad without the usual 3% foreign transaction fee. Schwab is running a referral promotion as well – though the $100 cash reward goes to the friend you refer, not to you.

• Overall score: 75.0 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95
• Commissions and fees: 3rd
• Investment choices: 9th
• Mobile app: 4th
• Tools: 2nd
• Research: 2nd
• Advisory services: 6th
• User experience: 1st
• Best for: Beginning investors. The “story” features on this easy-to-use platform walk investors through investment analysis and decision-making. The “Stock Story” mode leads the investor to questions, for instance, about a company or its shares. The answers are full of digestible analysis and actionable advice.
• Perks: Merrill Edge is owned by Bank of America, so its perks tend to be tied to the bank’s products. For example, Merrill Edge customers who sign up for Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program receive a 25%, 50% or 75% boost on the cash-back reward from eligible Bank of America credit cards, depending on the combined assets in your accounts (the 25% level requires $10,000).

Also, active traders. Preferred Rewards customers with a combined $100,000 balance at Bank of America and Merrill Edge earn 100 free trades per month at Merrill Edge.

• Overall score: 73.3 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $6.95
• Commissions and fees: 10th
• Investment choices: 6th
• Mobile app: 7th (tie with WellsTrade)
• Tools: 1st
• Research: 3rd
• Advisory services: 5th
• User experience: 5th
• Best for: Mutual fund investors. TD Ameritrade offers more than 4,000 mutual funds you can buy with no sales fee or fee to trade.
• Perks: In addition to using Alexa to check on their account, TD Ameritrade customers can ask questions or even execute a trade through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger or through the iPhone Messages app as well. If TD’s computer-generated responses don’t satisfy you, you’ll be automatically connected with a live representative. And since July, TD Ameritrade customers can access broker information in their car through Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Echo Auto.

• Overall score: 57.5 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $4.95*
• Commissions and fees: 4th
• Investment choices: 7th
• Mobile app: 9th
• Tools: 8th
• Research: 8th
• Advisory services: 7th
• User experience: 9th
• Perks: Ally, which got its start as an online bank, lets accountholders use over 43,000 Allpoint ATMs for free. Investors who sign up and fund an Ally Invest account with at least $10,000 qualify for up to 90 days of commission-free trades and a cash bonus of up to $3,500.

• Stock/ETF commissions: $0.00Commissions and fees: 1stInvestment choices: 3rd
• Mobile app: 10th
• Tools: 10th
• Research: 9th
• Advisory services: NA
• User experience: 6th
• Perks: Firstrade will reimburse up to $200 in transfer fees and $25 in wire fees when you transfer money from another firm’s account. You’ll also get a $50 bonus if you refer a friend who opens an account and funds it with $2,000. And, of course, totally free trades are a big deal.

• Overall score: 48.5 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $5 per trade, or per share*
• Commissions and fees: 5th
• Investment choices: 8th
• Mobile app: 6th
• Tools: 4th
• Research: 10th
• Advisory services: NA
• User experience: 10th
• Best for: Active traders. TradeStation offers tons of tools geared toward active traders and commissions as low as fractions of a cent per share.
• Perks: Open an account at TradeStation before August 31, and the firm will give you commission-free trading until the end of the year, provided you make six or more trades per month.

* TradeStation offers a $5 per-trade plan or a per share plan for frequent traders; pricing starts at one cent per share.

• Overall score: 47.0 (out of 100)
• Stock/ETF commissions: $5.95
• Commissions and fees: 7th
• Investment choices: 10th
• Mobile app: 7th (tie with TD Ameritrade)
• Tools: 9th
• Research: 5th
• Advisory services: NA*
• User experience: 8th

*WellsTrade declined to compete in this category.

Not every broker provides all of the amenities that the firms in our rankings offer. To qualify, a firm had to allow clients to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds; deliver at least a modicum of investment advice; and offer an array of investment tools and research resources.

The firms below don’t cover all of those bases, but each serves a niche.

You won’t find everything at Robinhood, for instance, but you will find a handsome, easy-to-use platform that offers stock, ETF and option trading commission-free. Investors can trade stocks and ETFs for free at TradeZero America as well, provided they trade for at least $1 per share.

Investors just starting out may favor investing apps such as Stash or Acorns. Stash users fill out a short questionnaire to determine their goals, investing preferences and risk profile, then Stash recommends ETFs and individual stocks (allowing investors to purchase fractional shares) that will help investors achieve their goals. Both apps can round up purchases on a linked spending account and automatically invest the “spare change” in an investing account. At Acorns, you’ll be placed into one of five diversified ETF portfolios based on your time horizon and tolerance for risk.

At the other end of the spectrum, investors with proverbial PhDs in trading might prefer a platform built for active traders. Lightspeed Trading clients have to trade a ton to qualify for the lowest commissions, but they can get access to the type of automated, algorithmic trading favored by hedge fund managers. Frequent traders of stock options and futures may opt for Tastyworks, which offers bargain prices to buy and sell them.

It’s hard to go wrong choosing an online brokerage these days. Just about all of the firms in our recent broker ranking allow investors to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds online, and all provide ample research and tools to help users make educated financial decisions. With so many brokers offering similar services (and at reasonable prices), your choice may depend on one or two features. Read on to see all the perks our top 10 choices offer.

Dividend-paying firms typically disburse cash every three months. If you invest for income, you may have a diverse portfolio of stocks, but if many of them pay out on the same schedule, you may find yourself going through long spells with little cash flowing in. Four brokers – E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, Merrill Edge and TD Ameritrade – have income estimator tools that can help you keep on top of future payments. Each tool uses recent payout data to project the value and timing of your portfolio’s dividend payments over the next 12 months. TD’s tool shows dividends from stocks, mutual funds and ETFs only, while E*Trade, Interactive Brokers and Merrill Edge factor in income from bonds and as well.

Fidelity brokerage customers have access to four mutual funds with no minimum investment and 0% expense ratios: Fidelity Zero Total Market Index (FZROX), which tracks the U.S. stock market, Fidelity Zero Large Cap Index (FNILX), which tracks large-company U.S. stocks, Fidelity Zero Extended Market Index (FZIPX) which tracks small- and midsize company stocks, and Fidelity Zero International Index (FZILX), which tracks foreign stocks. To avoid paying licensing fees to index makers such as Standard & Poor’s, Fidelity’s funds track indexes assembled in-house. That means the funds may outrun or lag ETFs that track traditional indexes. Still, it’s easy to see the benefits of free funds with no investment minimum, especially when the savings are compounded over a lifetime of investing. Including the four funds above, Fidelity offers 27 funds that have no investment minimum.

No other brokerage can touch Firstrade when it comes to commissions. The firm offers free online trading for stocks, ETFs, options and mutual funds. Fidelity ($4.95), Schwab ($4.95) and TD Ameritrade ($6.95) all charge a fixed rate for trading, but some other firms charge lower commissions for frequent traders or those with high balances. E*Trade’s $6.95 commission drops to $4.95 for clients who make 30 or more trades per quarter, and Ally Invest’s fee drops a dollar, to $3.95, if you trade 30 times per quarter or have a daily balance of $100,000 or more. WellsTrade shaves $3 off its standard $5.95 charge if you link a Portfolio by Wells checking account. Merrill Edge customers with a minimum of $20,000 in combined assets at Merrill Edge, Merrill Lynch and parent company Bank of America qualify for at least 10 free stock and ETF trades per month if they sign up for the bank’s Preferred Reward program. A note for ultra-active traders: customers at Interactive Brokers and TradeStation can trade for as little as a fraction of a penny per share depending on how frequently they trade.

Investors increasingly want to do brokerage business on the go. In response, all of the brokers in our survey offer mobile apps that you can use to do just about anything you could do on your desktop, such as trading stocks, accessing research, paying bills and transferring funds.

But tech-savvy investors will be pleased to know that some brokers’ platforms extend beyond websites and mobile apps. Investors can interact with their Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Schwab and TD accounts by chatting with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. Schwab users, for instance, can ask their Alexa for market information, stock quotes and updates on personalized watch lists.

TD Ameritrade customers can ask questions or even execute a trade through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger or through the iPhone Messages app as well. If TD’s computer-generated responses don’t satisfy you, you’ll be automatically connected with a live representative. And since July, TD Ameritrade customers can access broker information in their car through Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Echo Auto.

Nearly every brokerage tries to entice investors to open new accounts or add substantial sums to existing accounts by offering free trades or cash bonuses. Promotions come and go among the firms; here are some recent offers.

Firstrade will reimburse up to $200 in transfer fees and $25 in wire fees when you transfer money from another firm’s account. You’ll also get a $50 bonus if you refer a friend who opens an account and funds it with $2,000.

If you maintain a balance of at least $10,000 at Interactive Brokers, you can get up to $200 for referring a friend if that friend accrues more than $666.67 in trading commissions. Schwab is running a referral promotion as well – though the $100 cash reward goes to the friend you refer, not to you. Fidelity customers who deposit at least $50,000 in new or eligible existing accounts receive 300 to 500 commission-free trades over the next two years.

Merrill Edge will give you a $600 bonus when you open and fund a new investment account or IRA. TD will give you up to $600 when you open a new account as well, depending on how much you deposit, along with 60 days of free stock, ETF and option trading.

Depending on how much you deposit, new account holders at E*Trade can earn from $200 up to $2,500 in cash and 500 commission-free stock and option trades. Customers who sign up at Ally can earn from $50 to $3,500 to go along with 90 days of commission-free trades. Open an account at TradeStation before August 31, and the firm will give you commission-free trading until the end of the year, provided you make six or more trades per month.

Whether you set up a cash-management account or just take out a debit card linked to the cash balances in your brokerage account, several brokerages will reimburse your fees when you withdraw cash at any ATM. Fidelity and TD Ameritrade will reimburse ATM fees nationwide. Schwab does that too, as well as waiving the 3% foreign transaction fee most debit issuers charge to make purchases abroad. E*Trade and Ally offer more-traditional banking services, such as checking and savings accounts. Ally accountholders can use over 43,000 Allpoint ATMs for free, and the bank will reimburse up to $10 in ATM fees each statement cycle. E*Trade’s Max Rate Checking Account comes with unlimited ATM reimbursements on charges that other financial institutions levy (though you may be subject to charges from the owner/operator of the ATM). Merrill Edge investors who have $50,000 in assets (combined at Merrill Edge, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America) and who have joined the Preferred Rewards program can get 12 ATM-fee reimbursements per year at non-Bank of America ATMs in the U.S. (Bank of America ATMs are free).

When Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes in 1973, securing his place in racing history as a Triple Crown champion, he beat the competition by a whopping 31 lengths, or about 248 feet. The results of this year’s online broker survey aren’t as clear-cut. In a photo finish, TD Ameritrade beat Charles Schwab by less than a nose, with Fidelity and then E*Trade fast on their heels.

As the world of online brokers continues to evolve, it has become increasingly difficult for firms to stand apart from one another. Their fees and commissions are generally low, their online tools are plentiful, they provide generous access to low-cost investments, and the firms’ websites and mobile apps are crammed with research reports, charts and videos. Overall, the contest for best online broker is a neck-and-neck horse race.

But zoom in, and you’ll find that each firm has something different to offer—a niche that lets it shine in one way or another. This year, we surveyed eight firms: Ally Invest, Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Fidelity, Firstrade, Merrill Edge, TD Ameritrade and WellsTrade. With commissions about $7 or less at most firms this year, that category carries less weight. Because the firms we surveyed told us that investors increasingly interact with them on smartphones or tablets, we assigned more importance to mobile apps. The biggest, best-known firms, you’ll notice, score better overall in our survey. But almost all of the firms let you trade stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and individual bonds online, as well as offer some online advisory services.

There are a couple of exceptions: Firstrade’s online robo adviser may launch later this year. And although WellsTrade offers individual bond investing, which we factored into its ranking, trades must be made over the phone. Finally, we approached T. Rowe Price and Vanguard, but both firms declined to participate in our survey this year. Read on to find out which brokers did best­—and why—in each category.

Commissions & fees

Plenty of brokerages offer reasonable fees and commissions, thanks to the decades-long brokerage price wars. The latest salvo from Fidelity eliminated all account fees, including fees to wire money domestically, among others. The final scores in this category, which are based mostly on fees to trade stocks, mutual funds, bonds and options, fall within a narrow range. Five firms earn three stars out of five, but E*Trade, Firstrade and Merrill Edge top the others by super-slim margins. In the end, the best low-cost firm for you may depend on what you invest in, how actively you trade, and in some cases, how much money you have in your account.

Consider stock and ETF commissions, for example. Firstrade leads the way among firms that charge a fixed rate, at $2.95 per trade, followed by Fidelity and Schwab ($4.95) and TD Ameritrade ($6.95). The rest of the firms employ variable pricing that depends on how often you trade or on the size of your average monthly balance. E*Trade’s standard $6.95 commission drops to $4.95 for clients who make 30 or more trades per quarter. Ally Invest shaves a dollar off its fee, to $3.95, for investors with a daily balance of $100,000 or more or who trade at least 30 times per quarter.

At WellsTrade, which is affiliated with Wells Fargo, and Merrill Edge, which is the brokerage arm of Bank of America, you can get a break on stock and ETF commissions if you have money in a checking or savings account at the associated bank. For instance, WellsTrade customers who link their brokerage account with a Portfolio by Wells Fargo checking account can get their stock commissions knocked down to $2.95 from the typical $5.95 charge. At Merrill Edge, the deal is even better: The firm’s standard $6.95 commission falls to $0 for up to 30 stock and ETF trades per month for investors who have $50,000 in combined assets at Merrill and parent company Bank of America and who join the bank’s Preferred Rewards program. Nearly half of all Merrill Edge customers have snagged that bonus, and as a result, “about 80% of trades on our platform are commission-free,” says Merrill Edge’s David Poole.

Fees to trade bonds have become more transparent in recent years. Most of the firms in our survey charge $1 per security to buy and sell corporate and municipal bonds. So if you, say, buy 10 General Electric bonds, you’ll pay a $10 commission at those firms, with a maximum fee of $250. The exceptions are WellsTrade, which charges a flat $50 for bond trades, and Firstrade, which trades bonds on a “net yield” basis. That means the price of the bond includes a mark-up that represents the dealer’s profit. This pricing model is generally more expensive and is certainly less transparent.

Investment choices

Every broker in our survey gives investors access to thousands of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. To top the list in this category, firms had to offer not only a wide variety of investments but also deep rosters of ETFs that trade commission-free and no-load or load-waived mutual funds that trade with no transaction fees.

When it comes to the breadth of investment options, Firstrade reigns supreme. That doesn’t mean it offers more of everything compared with other firms in the survey, however. Firstrade’s lineup of no-transaction-fee mutual funds falls several hundred funds short of Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity, all of which surpass 4,000. But Firstrade wins on the ETF front. It offers 703 ETFs commission-free. The number of ETFs offered with no sales charge at Fidelity, E*Trade, Schwab and TD Ameritrade ranges from 265 to 313. (It’s worth noting that Vanguard now charges nothing to buy and sell 1,800 ETFs on its platform.) Firstrade also offers access to more corporate and municipal bonds than any broker in our survey, with E*Trade close behind.

Fidelity is the best choice for investors who want access to initial public offerings. Over the past two calendar years, Fidelity has made 397 IPOs available to customers, compared with 64 for E*Trade and 48 for TD Ameritrade. In each case, gaining access to shares comes with eligibility requirements. TD Ameritrade customers, for instance, must have $250,000 in assets in their account, place 30 trades per quarter, or be a customer of the firm’s private client services.

Mobile apps

Investors increasingly want to manage their brokerage business on the go. In response, brokers have rolled out mobile apps for smartphones and tablets that allow clients to make trades, read analyst reports on stocks, pay bills, transfer money to outside accounts, and even check on how they are doing with regard to their retirement savings with the touch of a button (or in some cases, after a facial recognition scan).

Fidelity’s mobile app wins the highest marks for checking all the essential boxes. You can buy or sell stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and bonds on Fidelity’s app. No other firm in our survey can say the same. But Fidelity also excels in this category because its app offers virtually all of the other conveniences that brokerage clients now expect, such as mobile bill pay and check deposit, as well as the ability to set up watch lists and view educational videos.

Schwab, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade score well in this category, too. Active traders may appreciate the stock charts available on the mobile apps of E*Trade and TD Ameritrade. The charts can be customized with dozens of indicators used in technical analysis—for example, those based on price momentum. The apps of both E*Trade and TD also allow investors to scan product barcodes and instantly receive stock information on their smartphone about the product’s manufacturer (assuming the company has a publicly traded stock). But TD Ameritrade, unlike Schwab and E*Trade, doesn’t allow mobile users to pay bills from brokerage accounts.

Finally, Merrill Edge’s app is worth a mention. Its intuitive interface, particularly when it comes to stock research, makes it one of the most engaging apps on our list. The app lost a few points, however, because it doesn’t offer bond trading or let you transfer money electronically between other banks. (Transfers between Bank of America and Merrill Edge, however, are instantaneous.)

On the whole, most of the apps we checked out allow investors to easily trade, deposit money and transfer funds. Ally Invest and Firstrade, the laggards in the mobile app category, fell behind because their apps don’t offer mutual fund or bond trading, mobile check deposits, or bill pay. Firstrade’s mobile users can’t make electronic fund transfers in the app, either.

User experience

To evaluate our only truly subjective category, three Kiplinger investing staffers test-drove the brokers’ websites and mobile apps in search of the most in­tuitive and user-friendly platforms for all types of investors. Wells­Trade was unable to provide us with a test account. But among the others, two firms stand out: Merrill Edge and TD Ameritrade.

Merrill’s platform transforms the sometimes-daunting work of analyzing your portfolio and researching stocks into an engaging experience. In “Portfolio Story” mode, the site poses eight questions that investors should ask about their portfolio, from “How is my portfolio performing?” to “What could I potentially earn?” It even examines how your investments rank on certain environmental, social and corporate governance measures. “We wanted Portfolio Story to feel like sitting down with an expert, with users learning what questions they should ask about their portfolio,” says Merrill Edge’s Steve Lucas.

As you work through each step, you’re presented with colorful graphics and digestible data that you can act on. If the tool tells you that a particular stock makes up an outsize portion of your portfolio, for instance, you can sell some shares with just a few clicks. Merrill’s platform uses the same approach for stock research with “Stock Story,” a similarly engaging tool that investors can use to work through four essential questions of stock analysis.

TD Ameritrade scores points for meeting clients where they spend their time—texting on their smartphones or browsing Twitter or Facebook on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Anyone can contact TD through direct messages on Twitter, on Facebook Messenger, through the iPhone Messages app or by talking to their Amazon Alexa–equipped device. “We want the brokerage experience to be part of the existing tapestry of your life,” says TD’s Sunayna Tuteja. For example, you might use Facebook’s messaging feature to ask a broad investing question, get a stock quote, or even buy or sell shares—all without leaving the Facebook app. TD uses artificial intelligence to generate automated responses to your query; if that doesn’t satisfy you, TD will automatically connect you with a live representative.

Most of the firms score well for their easy-to-navigate platforms. Both E*Trade and Fidelity lose points for their sprawling and sometimes lumbering websites. We found inconsistencies, for example, in the way the trade window pops up on different pages on Fidelity’s site and the way graphics show up (or don’t) on E*Trade’s site.

Ally Invest’s platform is almost too basic, with what seems like acres of white space that makes the site feel sparse. And although Firstrade’s website is zippy when it comes to loading pages, its retirement-and-planning section isn’t as robust as others. And the site offers limited research on stocks, funds and bonds.

Tools

Are you on track to retire when you want? Are you getting the steady payments you need from your income portfolio? Ideally, brokerages should make it easy to find promising investments, but they should also provide you with the tools to help with life’s other financial issues.

TD Ameritrade distinguishes itself with its commitment to investor education. The website’s education center is a treasure trove of short explanatory videos on everything from the basics of money market accounts to the ins and outs of cryptocurrency. Longer and more detailed online courses are also available, with titles such as “Trading Options” and “Fundamental Analysis.” The firm held nearly 6,000 webinars on online-trading education in 2017 alone. TD is one of two brokers, along with Fidelity, to offer some form of virtual trading. Fidelity allows users to see how a hypothetical trade might affect their portfolio’s asset allocation, among other things. TD’s version is available on its downloadable trading software and lets investors practice trading with virtual money on the platform before diving in with the real thing.

Other standouts at TD include a tool that breaks down the fees you pay in your 401(k) account and another that charts your portfolio’s expected dividends for the next 12 months. Merrill Edge and E*Trade offer tools that track future dividend payouts, too.

Kudos go to Merrill Edge and Schwab in this category for an abundance of offerings. Calculators abound in Merrill’s toolbox. Retirement planners, for example, can get help figuring out annuity payouts, 401(k) contributions, Roth IRA conversions and estimated required minimum distributions in retirement. Schwab stands out for its robust collection of investing screens for stocks, options, ETFs and mutual funds. Users can search for investments based on their own criteria, select from the firm’s list of predefined strategies, or pick stocks from rosters from CFRA and S&P Capital IQ, including CFRA’s recommended “Five-Star” stocks and those screened for exceptional earnings growth.

Research

These days, investors don’t have to look very hard to find basic information about stocks and mutual funds online. Brokers that score well in this category go the extra mile to keep their clients informed, offering investment information that goes beyond summaries and snapshots.

With the exception of Firstrade, every broker on our list provides some form of bond market commentary or analysis. But research on individual stocks, mutual funds and ETFs varies from broker to broker. Fidelity earns high marks for the range of research available on its site. The firm boasts more independent sources of investment research than any other broker in our survey, and indeed, its stock pages are packed with reports from the likes of Thomson Reuters and Zacks Investment Research. But much of Fidelity’s research is quantitatively focused and lacks in-depth analysis of individual stocks, mutual funds or ETFs. Fidelity lost points for that, but the sheer number of sources it offers, combined with the mix of broad stock and bond market commentary, lifted it to the top in this category.

TD Ameritrade and Merrill Edge end up in a virtual tie with Fidelity for research, with Schwab posting strong results, too. Each provides individual stock reports from investment research firm CFRA. TD Ameritrade and Merrill also offer breakdowns of individual funds and ETFs by Morningstar analysts. All three include input from analysts at major financial institutions. Merrill Edge provides reports from Bank of America Merrill Lynch; TD Ameritrade and Schwab (as well as E*Trade and WellsTrade) feature individual stock reports from analysts at investment bank Credit Suisse. Fidelity, Firstrade and Ally Invest lack research from a big bank.

Advisory services

All of the brokers in our survey except Firstrade offer clients some level of financial guidance, from computer-generated robo advice to access to ded­icated financial planners. Depending on the size of your account, you can get help with calibrating your investment mix, creating a retirement plan or even doing some estate planning.

Schwab’s advisory service stands out for the breadth, quality and price of its offerings. Schwab’s robo adviser, Intelligent Portfolios, does not charge an asset-management fee, which sets it apart from others. You need $5,000 to open an account at Intelligent Portfolios, which is on the high end of minimums (but not the highest). Clients can start investing with just $10 at Fidelity’s “Fidelity Go” digital adviser, for instance. But once funded, Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios use low-cost ETFs to tailor dozens of portfolios. One caveat: Schwab’s most aggressive Intelligent Portfolio holds 7% in cash. Such a large cash position could hamper returns. But according to The Robo Report, which tracks the performance of digital advisory portfolios, Schwab’s portfolios don’t disappoint. Over the past two years, a moderate-risk portfolio at Schwab that held 62% of assets in stocks, 23% in bonds, 10% in cash and 5% in other assets returned 13.6% annualized through June 30. That beat the nearly 10% return of a hypothetical portfolio of broad-market indexes held in similar proportions over the same period.

TD Ameritrade and Fidelity also post high scores thanks to their digital advisory services. Each keeps investor expenses to a minimum: TD charges 0.30% of assets, and Fidelity charges 0.35%. At Fidelity, that includes the expenses of the portfolios’ underlying investments. Among firms dinged in our survey for high-cost robos: Merrill Edge, which charges a management fee of 0.45% of assets, and WellsTrade, which levies a 0.50% fee (although that is lowered to 0.40% for clients who link a Portfolio by Wells Fargo checking account). But the biggest knock on WellsTrade’s digital offering, Intuitive Investor, is its $10,000 minimum to open an account.

Schwab and TD Ameritrade both offer a hybrid service that combines algorithm-based advice with help from a human adviser for clients with more than $25,000 in assets. Fees on such an account will run you 0.28% of assets at Schwab, and they range from 1.25% to 0.75% at TD Ameritrade. Investors looking for professionally managed accounts will find the most-robust services at Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and WellsTrade. Each offers access to specialists in trading, options and estate planning.

Finally, a word about Ally Invest. Its digital advisory service, Advisors Managed Portfolios, charges a 0.30% management fee and requires just $2,500 to get started. But the firm suffers in this category ranking because it doesn’t offer as hearty an array of planning advice (estate planning specialists, for example) as other firms.

Find the right broker for you

All types of investors can find standouts in a niche they care about.

Best for exchange-traded fund investors. Firstrade slays the competition in our survey with its roster of 703 commission-free exchange-traded funds. It includes 15 of the Kiplinger ETF 20, our favorite ETFs, including iShares Core S&P 500 (symbol IVV), Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG) and Pimco Active Bond (BOND). Vanguard, which opted not to participate in our survey, charges nothing to buy or sell 1,800 ETFs on its platform.

Best for mutual fund investors. Fidelity, Schwab and TD Ameritrade all offer customers access to more than 4,000 no-fee mutual funds on their no-transaction-fee networks. That means you pay no sales load and no fee to trade. Schwab, as it has in past years, topped the list, with 4,121 no-fee funds. It’s worth noting that Fidelity has debuted the first index funds with a 0% expense ratio.

Best for bond investors. Firstrade wins by a nose, followed by E*Trade. These firms offer their clients access to tens of thousands of corporate and municipal bonds, leading their peers in both categories.

Best robo adviser services. Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios wins. The service is free, and it offers more portfolios than any other firm. There are 43 in all, tailored to your goals, tolerance for risk and stage in life. Intelligent Portfolios has a couple of downsides: It requires $5,000 or more to start, and its most aggressive portfolio currently holds a hefty 7% cash position, a potential drag on returns. But according to The Robo Report, which tracks the performance of digital advisory portfolios, Schwab has achieved good results over time.

Best for active traders with high balances. Customers with deep pockets can pay $0 in commissions at Merrill Edge. If you have an active Bank of America checking account and a three-month average balance of $50,000 at Bank of America, Merrill Edge or Merrill Lynch investment accounts (singly or in combination), you can join a rewards program and qualify for no commissions on up to 30 stock and ETF trades per month. Investors with a $100,000 average balance can get 100 free trades every month.

Best for students of investing. E*Trade and TD Ameritrade have made it a priority to teach and inform customers about investing, each in its own way. “Our goal is to make investing easier for people,” says E*Trade’s Rich Messina. E*Trade caters to beginner investors with “All Star” lists of recommended ETFs, stocks and mutual funds, plus ready-to-go ETF portfolios. TD Ameritrade’s website is chock full of short videos and longer online courses for investors of all experience levels. The firm also does a good job of defining and explaining key investing terms on its site, from “earnings per share” to “annual dividend yield.”

Update: Since our story went to press, Firstrade announced it would offer free online trading for stocks, ETFs, options and mutual funds (down from $2.95 per trade). Also, Ally Invest announced it would offer more than 100 exchange-traded funds commission-free (in other words, there is no sales charge to buy or sell shares) to customers on its online trading platform. (Previously, all ETFs purchased on the Ally Invest platform incurred a $4.95 commission; $3.95 for active traders or customers with high balance.)

With additional reporting by Kyle Woodley

However you invest, it’s a great time to shop for an online broker. Firms have been trimming commissions, expanding their online tools, offering more transaction-free mutual funds and enhancing their mobile apps.

To help you choose the best broker, we surveyed seven major firms that offer online trading of stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and individual bonds, while also providing some retirement-planning tools and advisory services.

We weighted the categories based on what our readers consider vital: commissions, 15%; investment choices, 15%, tools, 15%; research, 20%; ease of use, 15%; mobile, 10%; advisory services, 10%. But remember that the best broker for you will depend on your priorities: Are you a frequent trader? Do you like to rely on your mobile device? Are low fees paramount? We’ve called those factors out, too.

Take a look at our reviews of seven of the biggest brokers to find the right fit.

To be included, firms had to offer online trading of stocks, ETFs, funds and individual bonds. T. Rowe Price declined to participate. We also excluded some brokers that focus primarily on active traders. Scottrade wasn’t included because TD Ameritrade recently purchased the firm (and is in the process of absorbing Scottrade’s clients).

• OVERALL:

• Total commissions:

• Investment choices:

• Tools:

• Research:

• Ease of use:

• Mobile:

• Advisory:

Fidelity made news when it launched a price war early this year by cutting its stock commissions to $4.95 per trade. The result, though, is that you shouldn’t pay more than a few bucks to trade anywhere, and others even offer some free trades.

What put Fidelity at the top of our rankings was not just the lowest overall commissions, but strong scores in all categories.

If you like to use your brokerage more like a bank, Fidelity also shines as the best for managing cash. Customers can easily pay bills and see a complete picture of their financial life on Fidelity’s site, including mortgages and balances in non-Fidelity accounts. Plus, Fidelity’s Visa Rewards card pays 2% back on all purchases, which beats the cash rebates from cards of most other brokers.

Evaluate Merrill Edge for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Active stock traders

We had a tie for first place this year. Merrill Edge did as well as Fidelity this year in overall scoring, and is only listed second thanks to the alphabet.

Merrill’s standout qualities are its research and tools. Investors can see details on more than 1,300 companies covered by Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts. And along with top-notch screeners for funds and stocks, Merrill provides Morningstar’s powerful Portfolio X-Ray, a tool that can dig into your fund holdings and individual stocks and, among other things, analyze areas of overlap and market factors affecting your returns. As a bonus, these tools are easy to find, too.

That helps make Merrill Edge our favorite broker for active stock traders. Also helping: Low commissions. Investors can qualify for 30 free trades per month by having at least $50,000 in combined balances at Merrill and parent Bank of America. Maintain at least a $100,000 balance and you get 100 free trades per month. So don’t get hung up on Merrill’s relatively high base rate of $6.95 per trade; most clients aren’t paying that.

Evaluate Charles Schwab for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Mutual fund and ETF investors

In a tight contest, Charles Schwab came in third, posting the highest score available for the breadth of investment choices.

It’s our pick for those whose primary interest is investing in mutual funds and ETFs. Offering 3,976 funds with no loads, no transaction fees and investment minimums of less than $50,000, Schwab edges the competition. Need some help? Pick from Schwab’s “select list” of 168 no-transaction-fee mutual funds, a roster that includes many solid performers with reasonable expense ratios.

The firm offers the most commission-free exchange-traded funds as well: 231. Many of these ETFs have wafer-thin expense ratios, enabling investors to build a low-cost portfolio without paying a penny in trading commissions. And for clients with at least $25,000, Schwab offers tailored portfolios of ETFs, with an annual advisory fee of 0.28% (capped at $900 per quarter for high-value accounts).

Evaluate E*Trade for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Investors on the go

All brokers we surveyed let customers trade stocks and deposit checks from their mobile devices. But there’s a lot of variance among them in how much more business can be transacted by app.

If you want to do it all from the palm of your hand, E*Trade is for you. Packed with handy features, E*Trade’s app lets you buy or sell stocks, mutual funds and options, as well as run screens, deposit checks and pay bills. Stock research is also available, something most brokers exclude from their apps.

E*Trade also scores high for its substantial roster of no-fee funds (3,887). For ETFs, it emphasizes higher-fee ETFs in niche investment areas, such as Global X S&P 500 Catholic Values (symbol CATH) and WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy (WDTI).

Evaluate TD Ameritrade for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:

TD Ameritrade ranks high for its research offerings and ample lineup of no-transaction-fee (NTF) mutual funds and ETFs, many of which can be purchased without trading commissions. Customers can find plenty of investing ideas, thanks to access to Credit Suisse’s U.S. stock "focus list."

It’s also easy to find (in the physical world): The firm is expanding its branch network from about 100 locations to more than 400, now that it's purchased Scottrade.

Evaluate Vanguard for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Retirees

There’s a lot to love about Vanguard’s fund offerings and low-cost approach to investing, but it’s harder to say good things about its usefulness as an online broker, particulary if you lean to trading stocks. Commissions and fees can get pricey. You also won’t find user-friendly tools to trade like real-time streaming quotes.

But customers can load up on all Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs without having to pay sales charges — a good deal if you invest mainly in the low-cost index funds that are Vanguard’s bread and butter.

If you’d like some guidance with your investments, Vanguard is eager to help. Vanguard customers can get into a managed account with a $50,000 minimum investment. Annual fees are 0.30%, no matter what investing strategy you choose. These accounts hold Vanguard ETFs and the Admiral share class of its mutual funds, which charge some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.

Evaluate Ally for Yourself »

• OVERALL: Total Commissions: Investment choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:

Here’s the story: Ally Financial, which got its start as an online-only bank, bought the Trade King platform in 2016.

The brightest spot in its rankings? Commissions. Ally’s base rate of $4.95 lands it on the leader board for stock trades, and the firm trims that rate to $3.95 for clients who make at least 30 trades a quarter. Ally also charges a relatively low $9.95 to buy or sell mutual funds. Those fees are much less than what the completion charges. But Ally doesn’t offer any no-transaction-fee mutual funds or ETFs—a big drawback that could cost you quite a bit in fees if you buy and sell a lot of funds. “No-fee funds are something we’re starting to look at,” says Rich Hagen, president of Ally Invest.

However you invest, it’s a great time to shop for an online broker. Firms have been trimming commissions, expanding their online tools, offering more transaction-free mutual funds and enhancing their mobile apps. Eager to win your business, brokers are also offering signing bonuses, such as a $1,000 bounty from TD Ameritrade, and up to 500 free trades for two years at Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab.

To help you choose the best broker, we surveyed seven major firms: Ally Invest (which acquired TradeKing last year), E*Trade Financial, Fidelity, Merrill Edge, Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard. Why this lineup? To be included in our survey, brokers had to offer online trading of stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and individual bonds, as well as provide some retirement-planning tools and advisory services. We excluded brokers that primarily focus on active traders—those catering to day traders, for instance. T. Rowe Price declined to participate. Scottrade wasn’t included because TD Ameritrade recently purchased the firm (and is in the process of absorbing Scottrade’s clients).

And the winners are…

In a tight contest, Fidelity and Merrill Edge tie for first place, squeaking past Schwab. All three firms rank high in key categories, such as commissions and fees, tools, and customer service. But we found some important differences. For example, Merrill ranks best for research, but Fidelity and Schwab offer many more mutual funds that can be bought without transaction fees, along with a larger selection of corporate and municipal bonds. Fidelity and Schwab also rack up points for their wide range of advisory and financial-planning services.

Of course, the right broker for you may not be one of our top-ranked firms. If you like to trade stocks, particularly on a mobile device, E*Trade may be your best bet, thanks to excellent screening tools and charts, as well as comprehensive information about individual stocks, all available on its app. TD Ameritrade ranks high for its research offerings and ample lineup of no-transaction-fee (NTF) mutual funds and ETFs, many of which can be purchased without trading commissions. Ally may appeal to young investors who want a low-cost, no-frills broker joined to an online bank with competitive interest rates on certificates of deposit and savings accounts.

Vanguard falls behind the leaders in almost every category, losing points for its bare-bones website, its basic mobile app and its lack of stock research. But these drawbacks don’t make the fund giant a bad choice for investors who buy and hold for the long term. Vanguard brokerage customers don’t pay a penny in commissions to access the firm’s low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, many of which can save you money over the long run compared with funds that have higher ongoing fees.

For a deeper dive, check out the results in each category below. To find the best broker for you, see the box on the facing page, where we name the winners for several types of investors.

Commissions and fees

Fidelity launched a price war early this year when it cut its stock commissions to $4.95 per trade. The move prompted Schwab to match Fidelity’s rate, and it led other brokers, such as E*Trade and TD Ameritrade, to lower commissions, too. The upshot: You shouldn’t pay more than a few bucks to trade stocks or ETFs, and you can get lower prices and even free trades at some brokers. E*Trade, for instance, trims its commission from $6.95 to $4.95 for clients who make at least 30 trades a quarter.

Merrill’s base rate of $6.95 for stock trades looks pricey at first glance. But customers who have at least $50,000 in combined balances at the brokerage firm and Bank of America (Merrill’s parent) qualify for up to 30 free trades a month, and they also receive such perks as a cash-back bonus on credit cards and discounted rates on auto loans. Stash at least $100,000 with Merrill and BofA (combined) and you’ll earn up to 100 free trades per month and higher levels of “preferred rewards.” “Most of our clients aren’t paying for stock trades,” says David Poole, head of Merrill Edge Advisory & Client Services.

At Schwab, customers with a gripe can get a refund on all fees, if they ask. The firm recently expanded its “satisfaction guarantee” to cover all commissions, advisory fees and other charges. “If a client does any business with us and isn’t satisfied, we’ll refund the fees, no questions asked,” says Terri Kallsen, head of Schwab Investor Services.

Ally’s base rate of $4.95 lands it on the leader board for stock trades, and the firm trims that rate to $3.95 for clients who make at least 30 trades a quarter. Ally also charges a relatively low $9.95 to buy or sell mutual funds. Those fees are much less than what Schwab levies for trading funds outside its NTF network ($76 to buy but no charge to sell). Fidelity and TD Ameritrade both charge about $50 to buy mutual funds outside their NTF networks (no charge to sell at Fidelity), while E*Trade, Merrill and Vanguard levy $20 per transaction. But Ally doesn’t offer any NTF mutual funds or ETFs—a big drawback that could cost you quite a bit in fees if you buy and sell a lot of funds. “No-fee funds are something we’re starting to look at,” says Rich Hagen, president of Ally Invest.

Unlike the other brokers, Vanguard’s commission structure doesn’t encourage trading. The firm charges $7 for the first 25 stock trades per calendar year and a steep $20 after that. Transaction-fee funds also cost $20 per trade. But customers can load up on all Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs without having to pay sales charges—a good deal if you invest mainly in low-cost index funds. One small nuisance: Customers must hold at least $10,000 in Vanguard mutual funds or ETFs or sign up for electronic statements to avoid a $20 annual account “service” fee.

Investment choices

Aside from Ally, every broker surveyed here offers thousands of funds without a transaction fee. Schwab tops the list with 3,976 no-transaction-fee funds, all with minimum investments below $50,000 (our cutoff to be included in this category). Schwab also offers 231 commission-free ETFs, the most of any broker in our survey. The lineup includes many low-fee index funds sponsored by Schwab, along with ETFs from such firms as Guggenheim, PowerShares, State Street and Wisdom­Tree. Schwab’s vast number of no-fee mutual funds and ETFs vaulted it to first place in this category.

E*Trade also scores high for its substantial roster of no-fee funds (3,887), as does TD Ameritrade (3,749). Both firms also offer more than 100 commission-free ETFs. But TD’s lineup includes more low-cost funds from sponsors such as iShares and Vanguard; E*Trade emphasizes higher-fee ETFs in niche investment areas, such as Global X S&P 500 Catholic Values (CATH)and WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy (WDTI).

Fidelity ranks competitively, too, with 3,532 NTF mutual funds and 85 commission-free ETFs, including dozens of iShares ETFs with low-to-minuscule expense ratios. Investors at Merrill have fewer choices in NTF funds (2,251). Vanguard also looks weak in this arena, with just 2,531 NTF mutual funds, although that includes all of the firm’s proprietary funds (whose expense ratios undercut those of most of its rivals). The firm also offers its 70 Vanguard ETFs without commissions.

Beyond funds and ETFs, each broker sells individual bonds, including Treasuries, municipal and corporate issues, and high-yield “junk” bonds. TD’s lineup of more than 28,000 corporate IOUs exceeds the others’ offerings. But if you want bonds issued by giants such as AT&T or General Electric, you can find them anywhere.

One note: Bonds don’t trade on an open market, and prices tend to be opaque. Most brokerage firms charge commissions of $1 per bond with a $1,000 face value, passing on the same prices that they get when they acquire the bonds from other dealers (which include the dealer’s markup). Merrill and TD, however, sell bonds on a “net yield” basis, with the broker’s profit built into the prices. Some studies have found that customers tend to pay more for these net-yield bonds than they would with a flat-rate commission.

Research

With commissions at rock bottom these days, a big distinguishing feature among brokers is the breadth and quality of research they furnish. Every firm provides snapshot reports on stocks, including basic data such as revenues and earnings. Most brokers also offer reports on bonds from ratings agencies, such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. But a few firms go further, supplying in-depth market analysis and research on companies, along with all sorts of investing ideas.

Scoring best in this category, largely for its stock research, is Merrill Edge. Customers can see detailed research on more than 1,300 companies covered by Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts, including missives on giants such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart Stores, as well as a slew of smaller companies, real estate investment trusts and master limited partnerships. Merrill also includes more than a dozen lists of recommended stocks, including “Warren Buffett Stocks” and “Earnings Turnarounds.” And the firm produces pieces on big themes, such as a recent report titled “Uberfication: Global Sharing Economy Primer Picks.”

Schwab, E*Trade and TD Ameritrade earn high scores, too, supplying stock research from well-established firms such as Credit Suisse and CFRA. Schwab throws in 1,600 Morningstar stock reports, along with its own ratings, which gives its score in this category a slight bump.

For avid stock traders, though, E*Trade may be best. The firm jams its site with analyst recommendations, charts, data and investing ideas, including dozens of stock screens. Customers at TD Ameritrade and Schwab can find plenty of investing ideas, too, such as Credit Suisse’s U.S. stock “focus list,” available on both sites. If you want in-depth mutual fund research, though, you won’t find it on any broker’s site.

The other three outfits—Ally, Fidelity and Vanguard—don’t score well in this area. At Ally, CFRA provides the only in-depth stock research. Fidelity lists more than a dozen research reports for big companies, such as Apple. But most of them are just technical analysis—evaluating stocks based on trading patterns or other data—and lack detail about corporate business developments and industry trends.

Tools

Online calculators and tools can help you track your portfolio’s performance, screen for funds, plan for retirement and generally keep tabs on your financial life. Some sites get an edge in this category by supplying handier and more comprehensive tools than others.

Merrill earns the highest score, with Fidelity coming in a close second. Along with top-notch screeners for funds and stocks, Merrill provides Morningstar’s powerful Portfolio X-Ray, a tool that can dig into your fund holdings and individual stocks and, among other things, analyze areas of overlap and market factors influencing your returns. Most of these tools are easy to find, too, by using the drop-down menus on Merrill’s home page.

Finding tools on Fidelity’s site takes more poking around. But Fidelity’s portfolio-analysis tools are robust and easy to use, and you can configure them in multiple ways (to track your performance against not just traditional indexes but also blended market benchmarks, for example). Fidelity also provides top-notch budgeting and retirement-planning tools. And you can see a comprehensive picture of all your finances, including accounts held at other firms, your mortgage balance and your home’s market value.

As you might expect, E*Trade excels with tools for stocks, ETFs and options. TD Ameritrade offers a “Premier List” of top-rated mutual funds selected by Morningstar (all available without transaction fees). Schwab makes it easy to find tools, too. We especially like the firm’s preferred-stock screener, which includes credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Capital IQ, as well as key data points, such as dividend yields and upcoming “call” dates, when issuers may redeem the securities.

Vanguard’s tools focus on nuts-and-bolts planning—things such as setting up an investment mix and creating a retirement plan. Customers won’t find targeted stock screens, though, and can only import outside account data if they’re customers of Vanguard’s advisory service. Ally furnishes a few stock screeners but doesn’t offer retirement-planning tools. Ally says it plans to roll out more screeners and tools over the next year.

Ease of use

Finding what you want on a broker’s site can feel like wandering through a maze of charts, data and jargon-filled reports.

Overall, Fidelity’s relatively intuitive site helps you avoid information overload. The firm recently redesigned its ETF research center, added voice recognition at its call centers to identify customers without a passcode, and enhanced its “quick quote bar” to facilitate trading. Fidelity also wins points for its 2% cash-back Visa card—with direct deposit of cash rebates into brokerage accounts—along with services such as FidSafe, a free online vault where customers can store valuable documents. (Merrill is the only other firm that offers a similar safe-like service.)

With access to Bank of America offices, Merrill provides the most branches (4,600) for its clients to meet with a financial adviser. Customers can easily transfer money to Bank of America with one-click convenience, and they can see all of their savings, checking and investment accounts at both the bank’s and the brokerage’s websites. Schwab also blends brokerage and banking services well, pro­viding high-yield checking and other bank services, as well as mortgages through Quicken Loans. One drawback: Schwab’s American Express cash-back card rebates just 1.5% of the amount of your purchases, and fewer merchants accept Amex.

Also competitive in this category is TD Ameritrade. The firm is ex­panding its branch network from about 100 locations to more than 400 (including Scottrade’s shops). New features on TD’s site include a revamped ETF research center and an upgraded “dock” with news from Yahoo Finance. E*Trade’s site, packed with technical tools, news and data, may not be as easy to navigate for novices. Cust­omers can do some banking through E*Trade, but the firm doesn’t provide a cash-back card or services such as a digital vault.

Because they are purely online brokers, Ally and Vanguard aren’t as convenient, losing points for their lack of physical branches. Ally’s cash-back Visa card, which rebates a base rate of 1%, isn’t as competitive as cards from Fidelity or Schwab. Also, Ally’s cash rewards aren’t automatically deposited into a brokerage account, and customers can’t import account data from other firms. Vanguard doesn’t offer a cash-back card or many banking services. Its site lacks real-time streaming quotes and other user-friendly tools to trade stocks and ETFs.

Mobile apps

Brokers’ apps are be­coming handy enough to allow customers to conduct almost all of their business via a mobile device, whether it’s buying stocks, trading options or depositing checks. E*Trade’s app scores best. It includes a full suite of trading features, as well as stock research reports, lists of “all-star” funds and multiple ways to screen for stocks, ETFs and funds.

Merrill’s app includes several calculators and tools for college savings and retirement planning, along with research from CFRA and Morningstar. Cust­omers can’t screen for stocks or funds, though. Fidelity and Schwab both win points for their apps’ user-friendliness: Trading, transferring money and depositing checks all work seamlessly. Fidelity customers can screen for ETFs, too, and Schwab supplies useful stock ratings, along with an “Idea Hub” for trading options.

Apps from Ally and TD fall short in one big area: They lack the ability to trade mutual funds. Vanguard’s app doesn’t let you buy and sell non-Vanguard funds—also a drawback. Customers can deposit checks, but they can’t transfer money on Vanguard’s app, limiting its usefulness.

Investment advice

Brokers are so keen to handle your money that most will set up a financial plan and review your portfolio at no charge. They can also manage your investments, for a fee, or help with things such as estate plans and insurance.

Taking the lead in this category are Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard. Fidelity and Schwab score well for a wide array of planning services and managed accounts, such as a Fidelity portfolio dedicated to indi­vidual municipal bonds and one at Schwab focused on dividend-growth stocks. At Fidelity, fees for separately managed accounts start at 1.20% annually but are reduced by “credits” for some of the costs in the portfolios’ fund holdings. For clients with at least $25,000, Schwab offers tailored portfolios of ETFs, with an annual advisory fee of 0.28% (capped at $900 per quarter for high-value accounts).

Vanguard customers can get into a managed account with a $50,000 minimum investment. Annual fees are 0.30%, no matter what investing strategy you choose. These accounts hold Vanguard ETFs and the Admiral share class of its mutual funds, which charge some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.

E*Trade, Merrill and TD offer managed portfolios, starting at 0.75% annually at TD, 0.85% at Merrill and 0.90% at E*Trade. All three firms provide plenty of choices, though, such as a “supplemental income” portfolio at TD and an aggressive-growth package at E*Trade.

If you don’t have much to invest, you could opt for a “robo” service, which should cost less and may be just as effective as brokers’ higher-fee accounts. These portfolios of ETFs and mutual funds are automatically adjusted to maintain a fixed mix of stocks and bonds. Investment minimums are as low as $2,500 at Ally but typically start at $5,000, with annual management fees of 0.30% at Ally, E*Trade and TD. Fidelity charges a bit more, 0.35% to 0.40%. But its fees include underlying fund expenses. Vanguard doesn’t offer a robo, but its Personal Advisor service is essentially the same thing. Plus, Vanguard will tailor the investment mix to your specific situation, following a consultation with a Vanguard adviser. (For more on automated investing services, see Robo Advisers Get the Human Touch.)

Schwab offers a similar service, charging a management fee of 0.28% for a personalized portfolio of ETFs, constructed with the help of a client’s dedicated financial adviser. Customers can also opt for Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios—baskets of ETFs that the firm selects and rebalances without charging a separate management fee. The downside of these portfolios is that even the most aggressive ones—with hefty amounts of stock—hold 6.9% in cash (and much more in conservative portfolios). Maintaining that much cash can drag down returns in a strong market.

At the opposite end of the cost spectrum is Merrill, which charges a 0.45% management fee for its robo service. Merrill says that the accounts aren’t just based on algorithms, however, and that customers “have access to a human being whenever they need help.”

A Broker for Every Investor

Best for mutual fund investors: Schwab. Offering 3,976 funds with no loads, no transaction fees and investment minimums of less than $50,000, Schwab edges the competition. Need some help? Pick from Schwab’s “select list” of 168 no-transaction-fee mutual funds, a roster that includes many solid performers with reasonable expense ratios.

Best for ETF investors: Schwab. The firm’s 231 commission-free exchange-traded funds put it on top in this category. Many of these ETFs have wafer-thin expense ratios, enabling investors to build a low-cost portfolio without paying a penny in trading commissions.

Best for active stock traders: Merrill Edge. Investors can qualify for 30 free trades per month by having at least $50,000 in combined balances at Merrill and parent Bank of America. Maintain at least a $100,000 balance and you get 100 free trades per month. Runner-up: Ally Invest. The firm trims commissions from $4.95 to $3.95 for investors who make at least 30 trades a quarter, with no investment minimums.

Best for investors on the go: E*Trade. Packed with handy features, E*Trade’s app lets you buy or sell stocks, mutual funds and options, as well as run screens, deposit checks and pay bills. Stock research is also available, something most brokers exclude from their apps.

Best for managing cash: Fidelity. Customers can easily pay bills and see a complete picture of their financial life on Fidelity’s site, including mortgages and balances in non-Fidelity accounts. Fidelity’s Visa Rewards card, which pays back 2% on all purchases, beats the cash rebates from cards of most other brokers.

Best for retirees: Vanguard. Low fees throughout its lineup of mutual funds and ETFs make Vanguard a top choice for retirees (or anyone trying to save a few bucks). The firm charges 0.30% a year to manage accounts, one of the lowest fees in the business.

Investors can pocket a few hundred bucks just by opening an account with an online broker these days. But don’t let a signing bonus sway you.

Low commissions to trade stocks or exchange-traded funds can save you more money in the long run. Whether you’re a stock jockey, a saver or a retiree, finding a firm that suits your needs is far more valuable than even a $600 bonus (Merrill Edge’s current inducement if you open an account with at least $200,000).

What makes for a first-rate broker? It depends on what you value. Low fees may be critical for active traders, but buy-and-hold types may want an array of no-transaction-fee mutual funds. Brokers with unbeatable prices may lack the retirement-planning tools or advisory services you need. We weighted the categories based on what our readers consider vital: commissions and fees, 15%; investment choices, 15%, tools, 15%; research 20%; 15% mobile; advisory, 10%.

Take a look at our reviews of seven of the biggest brokers in the industry to see which is the best fit for you.

To be included, firms had to offer online trading of stocks, ETFs, funds and individual bonds. Capital One, T. Rowe Price and USAA all declined to participate. We also excluded some brokers that focus primarily on active traders and lack a full suite of investment choices and services.

• OVERALL: Total Commissions: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Managing cash

Fidelity offers the best overall mix of investment products, retirement-planning tools and services. Fidelity’s commissions aren’t the lowest, especially if you want a mutual fund for which you must pay a transaction fee. But its prices are close enough in other areas to be competitive with lower-cost brokers. Furthermore, Fidelity wins points for its full range of retirement and advisory services, along with top-notch investing tools and customer service.

If your priority is investing in mutual funds, you’ll do well with Fidelity. It offers more than 3,700 no-transaction-fee, no-load funds, almost all of which have minimum investment levels under $50,000.

Fidelity also shines for helping clients manage their cash. Customers can pay bills and track spending on all of their external accounts. Plus, sign up for a Visa Rewards card and you'll get 2% back on all purchases, cash that goes right into your brokerage or savings account (so you'll invest it, right?).

Evaluate Fidelity for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Active stock traders

If you like to trade stocks, Merrill is your best bet. It’s the runway winner in this category, charging $6.95 per stock trade, the lowest flat rate per transaction. Investors with a bank account at Bank of America, Merrill’s parent company, may qualify for up to 100 free trades per month, depending on their combined balances. Merrill also charges the lowest rate, $19.95, to buy or sell mutual funds outside its no-transaction-fee fund network.

Merrill is also a standout for research on which stocks to buy. Customers can see Bank of America Merrill Lynch stock reports on more than 1,400 companies, along with stock research from Morningstar and S&P Capital IQ. Merrill’s big economic reports and thematic pieces, such as a recent report on stock picks for an aging global population, are also available. And customers get access to Merrill’s lists of recommended stocks.

If you want bond research, though, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Ratings reports on individual companies aren’t accessible on Merrill’s site. By contrast, E*Trade, Schwab, Scottrade and TD Ameritrade furnish company reports from credit-ratings agency Moody’s.

Evaluate Merrill Edge for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: ETF investors

We gave both Merrill Edge and Charles Schwab four stars, but in the underlying scoring, Merrill ranked ahead by a whisker. Where Schwab stands out – both against Merrill and all other contenders – is its wide range of commission–free exchange-traded funds offerings. You can choose from 226, including funds from iShares, PowerShares, State Street and WisdomTree. No other broker has nearly as many commission-free ETFs; E*Trade (118), TD Ameritrade (101) and Fidelity (85) take the next three spots.

Schwab also offers help picking those funds; you need just $25,000 to get into a managed portfolio of mutual funds or ETFs – one of the lowest bars in the business. Schwab also offers robo ETF accounts, free of charge, with only a $5,000 minimum (see slide 9 to learn more about “robo” services).

Evaluate Charles Schwab for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:
  

  BEST FOR: Investors on the go

All brokers we surveyed let customers trade and conduct other business on a mobile device. All except Vanguard let you log in with a fingerprint. And the apps can be handy for banking: Investors can pay bills, transfer funds and more.

E*Trade’s smartphone app scores best in this category. Along with standard trading and account tools, it’s the only one with a screening feature for stocks, funds and ETFs. The app also shows E*Trade’s “all star” roster of funds. And investors can scan a product barcode to pull up stock information (a feature TD provides, too).

Of course, smartphone apps can’t handle everything. None shows a detailed analysis of your portfolio or lets you trade bonds. Stock and fund research remains sparse on phone apps, too, although E*Trade and Merrill make some stock reports available.

Another example of how E*Trade justifies the E in its name decades after its launch: you can track social media sentiment – what bloggers have to say — on individual stocks.

Evaluate E*Trade for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:

TD Ameritrade offers a healthy range of no-fee mutual funds (3,587) and commission-free ETFs (101) to choose from. Helping you pick is TD’s handy fund screener, which lets you see how ETFs, mutual funds and closed-end funds with similar holdings stack up against one another. Another cutting-edge feature (that it shares with Fidelity) – you can use the site to see how a stock is trending on Twitter and similar social-media sites.

Evaluate TD Ameritrade for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Ease of use: Mobile: Advisory:

If being able to visit a bricks-and-mortar location and interacting with a real, live human matters to you, consider Scottrade. With 495 offices, it scores well for availability, second only to Merrill (which gets to piggyback on the 2,000 Bank of America branches its corporate parent has nationwide).

Evaluate Scottrade for Yourself>>

• OVERALL: Costs: Invest. choices: Tools: Research: Web site: Mobile: Advisory services:
  

  BEST FOR: Retirees

  At Kiplinger's, we’re big fans of many of Vanguard’s low-fee funds. But for those who want to invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds outside the Vanguard family, the brokerage site it runs doesn’t measure up.

However, retirees are a group who can do right by Vanguard. Customers with at least $50,000 in assets can tap into the firm’s Personal Advisor Services, which lets you slide into a managed account that charges just 0.3% in annual fees. That low rate, coupled with Vanguard’s ultra-cheap index funds, is a great recipe for pocketing more money in the long run.

Evaluate Vanguard for Yourself>>

E*trade and Fidelity are now rolling out “robo” services, joining Schwab in selling managed ETF accounts that are automatically adjusted to maintain a steady asset mix. Which one is best?

On the surface, Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios look unbeatable for one big reason: The firm doesn’t charge a management fee. Customers pay only the low fees of the underlying ETFs. But Schwab doesn’t let customers stay fully invested in stock and bond funds, requiring at least 6% in cash for aggressive investors—climbing to 29.4% for the most conservative portfolios. Held at Schwab Bank, that cash earns just 0.08% in interest, and it can weaken long-term returns.

E*Trade says cash in its new Adaptive Portfolios won’t top 1%. But all-in annual costs are 0.50% for ETF portfolios and 0.75% for accounts with both ETFs and mutual funds. Conversely, Betterment (one of the first robo advisers) charges a management fee of 0.25% a year for portfolios between $10,000 and $100,000 and 0.15% above that. Betterment holds only low-cost Vanguard and iShares ETFs, while E*Trade includes some pricier mutual funds and ETFs.

Fidelity was slated to launch its robo service, Fidelity Go, in July. The firm says all-in fees will be 0.35% to 0.39%, which would beat E*Trade’s. And Fidelity says Go portfolios will hold 0.5% in cash, much less than Schwab. That could give Fidelity portfolios a performance edge over the long term.

Ultimately, though, your results will depend on whether the robots do a better job of managing your money than a human.

1. Fidelity

2. Charles Schwab

3. Merrill Edge

4. E*Trade

5. TD Ameritrade

6. Scottrade

7. TradeStation

8. TradeKing

9. Firstrade

Kiplinger updates many of its best rankings regularly. Above is our 2014 ranking of best online brokers. Keep in mind that ranking methodologies can change from year to year based on what data was available at the time of publishing, changes to how the data was gathered, switches to new data providers and tweaks to the formulas used to narrow the pool of candidates.

TOOL: Compare Leading Online Brokers

1. E*Trade

2. Fidelity

3. Scottrade

4. TD Ameritrade

5. TradeStation

6. Firstrade

7. Charles Schwab

8. Merrill Edge

9. Just2Trade

10. ShareBuilder

Kiplinger updates many of its best rankings regularly. Above is our 2012 ranking of best online brokers. Keep in mind that ranking methodologies can change from year to year based on what data was available at the time of publishing, changes to how the data was gathered, switches to new data providers and tweaks to the formulas used to narrow the pool of candidates.

TOOL: Compare Leading Online Brokers