The top five online trading websites in my experience are TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, Fidelity, Scottrade and Firsttrade because they have opened the doors to the individual investor revolution with an inexpensive way to buy and sell stocks. The cost for trading stocks is typically about 7 to 15 dollars. Online trading is easy using any of these five sites from what I have experience first-hand and what I’ve heard from friends and relatives.
If you are a do-it-yourself person when it comes to personal finance and money management, the following five sites are great. When you need some guidance, you can always call their customer service representatives at these top five discount brokerage firms:
No. 1: TD Ameritrade: I use Ameritrade most often for trading stocks in my Roth IRA as well as my husband’s Roth IRA. Click on the green TD icon, and you can log on. The TD Ameritrade site is easy to use. The home page reflects your account balances including what’s available for trading. For a Roth IRA account, the TD Ameritrade home page reflects your maximum allowable contribution and how much you have already contributed for the year so you never have to worry about investing beyond the limit. You can easily check on a stock quote or do your online trading by typing in a buy or sell, entering the quantity of shares you wish to buy or sell and the stock symbol. A market order is the fastest way to execute, but a limit order allows you to set the price and you wait for the stock to sell at that price. You can check your account positions and see the percent gains in percentage and dollar amounts.
No. 2: E-Trade: E-Trade is another great online trading site for people who like to handle their own personal finance investing. They have a dedicated customer service team 24/7 which is extremely important when it comes to money management. Plus, with E-Trade you can trade anywhere at anytime with their E-Trade Mobile Pro. They offer free independent analyst research, access to their Investor Resource Center and online advisors for help with money management. E-Trade helps you manage your investments with quotes and charting, stop and conditional orders that protect gains and limit losses and research tools.
No. 3: Fidelity Investments: I use Fidelity Investments for my 401K. Fidelity lists my different investments, gives me the latest balance and the one-day dollar amount change from the prior trading day. They show you your portfolio investments with quick action options to exchange or research mutual funds or individual stocks. Fidelity also shows you your portfolio analysis with how much is invested in domestic stock, foreign stock, bonds, short term and other.
No. 4: Scottrade: Scottrade has a market information research center for easy money management. Commissions are some of the lowest with Scottrade. Scottrade also allows for mobile trading, and gives you real-time streaming quotes which are essential for online trading when you want to buy stocks low or sell stocks high! According to their website, Scottrade has no inactivity fees or account maintenance fees. At this time, they only require $500 to open an account or $2,000 for a margin account. You can open a standard account, specialty account such as trust, partnership, investment club or corporate account as well as an individual retirement account including traditional and Roth IRA account with Scottrade.
No. 5: Firsttrade Securities: Firsttrade has the motto, “Born to Invest.” They offer at this time a generous refer a friend incentive program. They offer a 3-second execution guarantee, according to their website, which is one of the fastest order routing systems in the online trading world. To help assist individual investors with their money management and personal finance needs, Firsttrade provides market headline news, quotes, investment guides, as well as live chat. Personally, I’m a stock market news junkie so I love the charts and news updated constantly on the Firsttrade website.
It’s easy to take charge of your personal finance. Whether you do your research using these five online trading websites or visit Yahoo Finance to view finance news and charts, individual money management is a breeze. Trade stocks with confidence!
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Sources:
TD Ameritrade
E Trade
Scottrade
Fidelity
Firsttrade
Reference:
- www.associatedcontent.com/article/5463618/should_i_open_a_roth_ira_absolutely.html?ca
- www.associatedcontent.com/article/5468448/truth_about_drips_guide_to_getting.html?cat
- www.associatedcontent.com/article/5468692/day_trading_101_for_busy_moms.html?cat=3
