A stereotypical stock broker is a Wall Street trader wearing a costume and tie that spends their days shouting orders to buy or sell securities. This is a picture from the past; these years more traders are switching to work online from platforms that let them buy and sell stocks by a couple of mouse clicks. The broker’s task is to act as a medium between buyers and sellers in trades with financial assets. For their services, brokers charge a commission fee per trade, agreed on in advance. The main reason why people address stock brokers to invest in stocks traded in the exchange is the fact that stock brokers have legal methods of making your operations with shares easier and faster. They can do all the job for you — from trade execution to distributing dividends or even deposit processing when you withdraw your money.
For example, if you’re signed-up with eToro, you just need to go to your eToro login, place a buy or sell position and wait until you incur a profit or a loss from this position.
The main things to look at when choosing a stock broker
Starting deposit
Nowadays, most brokers do not require a certain sum as a minimal starting deposit, which is comfortable for beginners and those on budget. However, for certain types of accounts, you will need to deposit a minimum of 500 to 10,000 USD.
Commission fee
First and foremost, make sure you are aware of all the commission fees charged by your broker. Some companies might charge no fees for carrying out trades but this does not mean that you will have everything for free.
Access to analytical instruments
Access to instruments for stock analysis is an important criterion for assessment of the quality of provided services. In many cases, the efficacy of your trading depends exactly on the abundance of tech analysis instruments and indicators.
Technical support
A Client Support service that works 24 hours a day is a vital criterion for choosing your perfect broker. If you neglect this, you might face annoying surprises exactly when you need help.
Rating of online stock brokers
1. eToro
eToro is an Israel company that specializes in financial services, including Copy Trading. The company has its offices registered in Australia, Great Britain, Israel, Cyprus, and the USA. eToro gives access to a wide range of securities traded in a variety of exchanges all over the world. Upon registering an account, clients can buy and sell CFDs for various types of assets, including shares, commodities, foods, trusts, Forex and crypto markets. The platform boasts up-to-date tech analysis instruments for analyzing the current market situation, as well as the Economic Calendar with a chart of important news. Clients can open a free demo account and test the broker’s trading conditions on it alongside trading strategies.
Advantages and drawbacks of eToro:
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- Various payment systems for money depositing and withdrawal.
- An up-to-date product — a handy innovative platform for Copy Trading with a built-in social network.
- Wide access to trading commodities.
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- No real-time client support via chat or phone.
- High commission fees for money withdrawal.
2. RoboMarkets
RoboMarkets is a European stock broker regulated by CySEC, license No 191/13. The company received it in 2013, a year after it was founded. The company is developing successfully, and today provides professional services to institutional and individual clients from Europe. RoboMarkets is a multi-asset broker giving access to 8 types of assets and over 12,000 trading instruments. Clients are provided with professional trading platforms and terminals, as well as recent trading technologies. A multilanguage Client Support service works 24 h 7 days a week to solve the clients’ problems as fast as possible.
Advantages and drawbacks of RoboMarkets
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- A European license confirming the reliability of the broker.
- A wide range of available trading instruments.
- Commission fees on ECN and Prime accounts are among the lowest in the market.
- Clients’ money is kept on segregated bank accounts, which guarantees its safety.
- A vast variety of platforms: MetaTrader 5/4, proprietary R WebTrader and R Trader, the CopyFX investment platform.
- The company boasts a lot of prestigious branch rewards and titles.
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- The broker only serves residents of European countries.
3. Fidelity
Fidelity is a famous international company that has been around since 1946. Its headquarters are in Boston (Massachusetts, USA). The holding offers a wide range of financial services, trading assets, and several types of accounts.
Fidelity trading accounts provide for selling and buying indices, futures, shares in mutual funds, shares, and other securities. The platform has such built-in options that help investors assess risks objectively and test their strategies before they start trading.
Advantages and drawbacks of Fidelity
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- Orders get executed as fast as possible.
- A vast choice of analytical instruments.
- A wide access to trading securities.
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- Complicated navigation in a search for the required asset.
- A fairly high commission fee for broker services.
- All trading instruments are not accessible from one platform at once.
Bottom line
Finding a reliable online stock broker might seem to be a hard task, especially in our age of technology. You need to account for a whole complex of factors that include the fee size, technical solutions, the size of the starting deposit, etc. It would be wise to choose among officially licensed companies, even if conditions of other brokers seem tempting.
