Barrons Forex Megler Ranking

Interactive Brokers Vurdert 1 Online Broker av Barrons for det fjerde året i en rad 12. mars 2015 10:00 Eastern Daylight Time GREENWICH, Conn .-- (BUSINESS WIRE) - Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: IBKR) ble tildelt topp ære i Barrons 20. årlige rangering av Best Online Brokers, rangert nummer ett for fjerde år på rad. I 2015-rapporten, sammenlignet Barrons 18 nettbaserte meglere, evaluerte deltakere fra utsikter til den rike, aktive aktøren på tvers av åtte tjenestekategorier, inkludert Trading Technology, Usability, Mobile, Range of Offerings, Research Fasiliteter, Portefølje Analyse, Amp Rapporter, Kundeservice, Utdannelse amp Sikkerhet og kostnader. IB rangert fremfor alt konkurransen i fjerde år i rad. Ifølge Barrons. Vi tror at Interactive Brokers er en passende megleropplevelse for mellomliggende til avanserte investorer og handelsmenn som ønsker å bli engasjert i markedene. Interactive Brokers ble også vurdert Low Cost Broker av Barrons for 11. år på rad. Lav kostnad er en viktig del av handel, og Interactives prisforbedringsstatistikk er imponerende, notater Barrons. IB har de laveste marginavgiftene blant meglere som inngår i denne årsundersøkelsen. I tillegg til å ta nummer ett sted totalt i år, fikk IB toppkarakterer i en rekke underkategorier, blant annet Best for Options Traders, Best for Frequent Traders og Best for International Traders av Barrons. Thomas Peterffy, leder, grunnlegger og administrerende direktør i Interactive Brokers Group, er fornøyd med resultatene i årets gjennomgang. Vi fortsetter å fokusere på å bygge robust handelsteknologi, sa Peterffy. IB er forpliktet til å gi kundene overlegen utførelseskvalitet, bredde av produkttilbud og tilgang til globale markeder til lavest mulig pris. For mer informasjon om IBs prisvinnende handelsplattform, vennligst besøk interaktive meglere. Om Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.: Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. sammen med datterselskapene, er en automatisert global elektronisk megler som spesialiserer seg på catering til finansielle fagfolk ved å tilby toppmoderne handelsteknologi, overlegne eksekveringsfunksjoner, verdensomspennende elektronisk tilgang og sofistikerte risikostyringsverktøy til svært lave kostnader. Meklerhandel plattformen benytter samme innovative teknologi som Companys markedsvirksomhet, som utfører og behandler handel i verdipapirer, futures og valutainstrumenter på mer enn 100 elektroniske børser og handelssteder rundt om i verden. Som markedsfører tilbyr vi likviditet på disse markedsplassene, og som megler gir vi profesjonelle handelsmenn og investorer elektronisk tilgang til aksjer, opsjoner, futures, forex, obligasjoner og fond fra en enkelt IB Universal Account SM. Ved hjelp av proprietær programvare i et globalt kommunikasjonsnett, integrerer Interactive Brokers Group kontinuerlig sin programvare med et økende antall utvekslinger og handelssteder i en automatisk fungerende, datastyrt plattform som krever minimal menneskelig inngrep. Media: Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Caitlin Duffy, 203-913-1369 De 3 beste amerikanske Forex Brokers Siden økt regulering av CFTC og NFA forårsaket flere høyprofilerte amerikanske forex meglere for å gå ut av markedet, blir it8217s mye enklere å identifisere beste. I tillegg har høyere kapitalkrav gjort det vanskelig for noen meglere å konkurrere. Regulatoriske forskjeller mellom USA og resten av verden inkluderer lavere innflytelsesgrenser, 50: 1 sammenlignet med 400: 1, og redusert tilgang til andre over-the-counter produkter som CFD-kontrakter. De beste amerikanske forexmeglerne er godt kapitalisert, forstår det endrede regelverket, og tilbyr amerikanske kunder tilgang til flere handelsprodukter. Thinkorswim er en del av TD Ameritrade, mega online meglerhus. Amerikanske kunder kan være sikre på at det er godt kapitalisert og godt regulert. Dette skyldes at TD Ameritrade oppfyller forskrifter, ikke bare fra FINRA, men også NFA, SIPIC og SEC. Thinkorswim-plattformen gjør det mulig å handle forex, aksjer, futures og alternativer alt fra en konto, slik at amerikanske kunder kan handle innenlandske aksjer eller rentefutures sammen med deres forex-handel. Evnen til å stresse teste dine posisjoner eller se en realtidssplott av din pl, er to eksempler på kraftige handelsverktøy som gjør thinkerswim til en av de beste amerikanske forexmeglerne. Disse verktøyene er tilgjengelig via hvilken som helst type datamaskin og nesten hvilken som helst mobil enhet. Forex er et annet godt valg for amerikanske forex meglere, men av litt forskjellige årsaker. Forex, en godt kapitalisert del av GAIN Capital Group i New Jersey, gir ikke robust tilgang til andre investeringsmarkeder, men det er et banebrytende elektronisk kommunikasjonsnettverk (ECN). Dette er viktig fordi mange forex meglere kan handle for sine egne kontoer ved å handle på kjøp og salgssiden. Noen ganger kan megleren handle mot klienten. Amerikanske kunder er vanligvis vant til å håndtere regulerte børser som New York Stock Exchange, og har en tendens til å favorisere gjennomsiktigheten som ECN har over andre utførelsesmetoder. Manhattan Beach (MB) Trading er en amerikansk valutaforhandler med hovedkontor i California. Fordi it8217s innenlands, forstår MB Trading det forandrede regelverket i USA og har tilpasset seg godt til dem. MB Trading er godt kapitalisert og har vunnet flere priser fra Barron8217s og andre magasiner for sine plattformer. I likhet med thinkerswim, gir MB amerikanske kunder muligheten til å handle forex, futures, aksjer og alternativer fra en konto på deres kraftige Lightwave-plattform. Ønsker å være den første som vet alt Bli med på vårt nyhetsbrev. Plus, umiddelbar tilgang til vår eksklusive guide: Gjør det riktige valget: En 10-minutters guide for ikke å sende opp neste kjøp. Vi finner det beste av alt. Hvordan starter vi med verden. Vi begrenser vår liste med ekspert innsikt og kutter alt som ikke oppfyller våre standarder. Vi testet finalistene. Da vi nevne vår øverste picks. MarketWatch på Twitter lth4gtBarrons på Facebooklth4gtltdiv stylequotborder: ingen padding: 2px 3pxquot classquotfb-likequot data-hrefquotfacebookbarronsonlinequot data sendquotfalsequot data layoutquotbuttoncountquot data widthquot250quot data-show-facesquotfalsequot data-actionquotrecommendquotgtltdivgt lth4gtBarrons på Twitterlth4gtlta hrefquottwitterbarronsonlinequot classquottwitter - follow-buttonquot data-show-countquottruequotgtFølg barronsonlineltagt Produkt X på Facebook Produkt X på Twitter Barrons 2015 Beste Online Mekler Rangering Nasdaq Composite sprakk 5000 mandag for første gang siden mars 2000, stikkende påminnelser om sokkdukker, Internett-follier og 20 - Enhver dag handelsmenn prøver å bli rik på foreldrene sine kjellere. Heldigvis har disse minner for det meste falmet de siste 15 årene. Ubestemt var frykt for Y2K-datamaskinens feil som skulle tømme meglerkontoer og gripe fly ut av himmelen. Det kom aldri til å passere, men spørsmålet om datasikkerhet har ikke gått borte. Databrudd oppnådde en rekordhøyhet på 783 i USA i løpet av 2014, ifølge Identity Theft Research Center, som sporer tallene. I den høyest profilerte saken fikk hackere tilgang til personlig informasjon om 76 millioner husholdninger fra JPMorgan Chase-datamaskiner. Det var andre forsøk på å stjele data om kunder av ETrade Financial ETFC -0.5132591958939264 ETRADE Financial Corp. US Nasdaq USD 34,89 -0,18 -0,5132591958939264 Dato (1489010400446-0600) Volum (Forsinket 15m). 2181508 ETTER HOURS USD 34,89 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 16029 PE Ratio 17.669401397751443 Market Cap 9632957692.96936 Utbytte Utbytte NA Rev. pr. Ansatt 565833 Flere tilbud og nyheter raquo ETFC i din verdi Din endring Kort posisjon (ticker: ETFC), Citigroups Citibank C 1.0082644628099173 Citigroup Inc. US NYSE USD 61.11 0.61 1.0082644628099173 Dato ( 1489010424982-0600) Volum (forsinket 15m). 30354766 AFTER TIMER USD 61,36 0,25 0,40909834724267713 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 367743 PE Ratio 12.934428311391441 Market Cap 167627893554.687 Utbytte Utbytte 1,0472917689412535 Rev. per Ansatt 383699 Flere tilbud og nyheter raquo C i verdien din Endre kort posisjon (C) og TD Ameritrade AMTD -0.40609137055837563 TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. US Nasdaq USD 39,24 -0,16 -0.40609137055837563 Dato (1489010400260-0600) Volum (Forsinket 15m). 2711163 ETTER HOURS USD 39.24 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 27276 PE Ratio 24.67924528301887 Market Cap 20796265405.0048 Utbytte Utbytte 1,834862385321101 Rev. pr. Ansatt 560566 Flere tilbud og nyheter raquo AMTD i din verdi Din Change Short posisjon (AMTD), blant andre banker og meglere. Ilustrasjon: Scott Pollack for Barrons I vår forberedelse til 20 års jubileum for Barron's Annual Broker Survey, var vi fortsatt litt overrasket over å se hvor høy bekymring om både deres kontoer og deres meglere data hadde steget på investor bekymring listen i det siste året. Selv om finansinstitusjoner generelt er et lite mål for datakakkere generelt, sa noen av respondentene at de hele tiden var bekymret over at data som personnummer kunne bli pilfered utenfor det finansielle systemet og deretter pleide å stjele pengene sine fra en bank eller megling. (Se relatert historie: Best Online Brokers: Fidelity Wins i Barrons 2016 Survey, 19 mars 2016.) Barrons toppmeglere i 2015 prøver å svare på disse truslene. Mange bruker plass på deres nettsider til sikkerhetsproblemer. Charles Schwab SCHW 0,4800768122899664 Charles Schwab Corp. US NYSE USD 41,86 0,2008687122899664 Dato (1489010520656-0600) Volum (Forsinket 15m). 6688110 ETTER TIMER USD 40,01 -1,85 -4,419493549928332 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 27818 PE Ratio 32.2 Market Cap 55614808092.1983 Utbytte Utbytte 0,7644529383659818 Rev. per Ansatt 470864 Flere tilbud og nyheter raquo SCHW i verdien Din Change Short Position (SCHW) har lansert en sikkerhetsgaranti for kunder som loves å dekke 100 av eventuelle tap i en Schwab konto som oppstår på grunn av uautorisert aktivitet. Firstrade Securities CEO John Liu sier at han prøver å veve sikkerhetsbevissthet i sin bedriftskultur: Vi trener alle våre ansatte for å være sikkerhetsbevisste, og at angrepene kan komme fra hvor som helst når som helst. Liu bemerker at de høyest profilerte databruddene nesten alltid er et resultat av mangel på sikkerhetsfokusert disiplin i bedriftskulturen. Blandt initiativene som meglere og Securities and Exchange Commission presser, er bruk av to-trinns verifisering, noe halvparten av meglerne i dette års gjennomgangstilbudet (for alle tilgjengelige krypterings - og autorisasjonsfunksjoner, for eksempel sikre HTTP-steder og utvidet validering, se våre How the Brokers Stack Up-tabeller). Ved tofaktorautentisering mottar en kunde et tilfeldig nummer som er tilgjengelig for bare ett minutt eller to, som han eller hun må skrive inn, sammen med bruker-ID og passord, for å logge inn. RSA Security, selskapet som lager de fleste av de to - Faktorautentiseringsenheter i bruk, innførte i fjor Securid Software Tokens som arbeider med et stadig mer populært handelssted, mobile enheter. Meglere etablerer nye systemer som overvåker kundenes kontoer for uvanlig atferd, eller for innlogging fra mistenkte geografiske områder. EOptions COO, Shawn Herrin, forteller om en kunde som logget på sin konto fra et bibliotek i Budapest mens han reiser. Hans bruker-ID og passord ble hentet av en dårlig fyr ved hjelp av en pakkesniffer som kan oppdage ukrypterte meldinger på tvers av et nettverk. Virksomhetsovervåkingsprogramvaren var i stand til å gripe inn og avbryte en transaksjon før den avgjort, men hendelsen ba eOption å ansette et eksternt firma for å drive en stresstest på hele operasjonen. De rapporterte tilbake til oss om våre sårbarheter, og vi løste dem, sier Herrin. Nøkkelen til å opprettholde personvernet til dine økonomiske og personlige data er din egen oppførsel. Scottrade er en av flere firmaer som gir mer sikkerhetsinformasjon til kunder. Den grunnleggende ideen, sier Erik Merkau, senior vice president for meglerstrategi og produkter, er å utdanne investorer om å være gjenværende årvåken og sjekke sine kontoutskrifter regelmessig, samt dra nytte av tilgjengelige ressurser, for eksempel muligheten til å motta en gratis kredittrapport årlig fra kreditt byråer som kan varsle dem til problemer. En annen mulighet er å begrense tilgangen til meglerkontoen din til bare én enhet om gangen, et alternativ som Capital One ShareBuilder og Interactive Brokers nå tilbyr. Det er en måte å forhindre at utenforstående stjeler dine personlige data. ShareBuilder og Interactive Brokers er også blant meglerne som vil gi deg et skrivebeskyttet passord, en ide støttet av en Barron-leser vi kontaktet. Disse er nyttige når du bruker nettsteder som SigFig eller apps som Mint, som evaluerer porteføljeinvesteringer og transaksjoner, og prøver å gi deg økonomisk råd og rapporter. Lesebeskyttet passord, som tillater at en app eller en rådgiver ser på kontoen din, men ikke gjør noen endringer, er fortsatt ganske sjeldne for meglingkontoer. Men hvis du tror at det kan være nyttig, spør megleren om å legge til denne tjenesten, slukkede hjul får smurt. I et missiv som ble utstedt for en måned siden, fremstod SEC noen vanlige sans anbefalinger: Bruk et sterkt passord, opprett forskjellige passord for de ulike kontoene dine, unngå offentlige datamaskiner, og vær forsiktig med trådløse tilkoblinger, inkludert et trådløst hjemmenettverk. Noen av de nyeste trendene i nettbasert megling legger enda mer stress på verdipapirsystemer for personlig og megling. Som nevnt i fjor (når alle skjermer fører til Bull, 17. mars 2014), har mobilapplikasjoner spredt slik at du kan koble til nesten hvilken som helst megler via din iPhone, eller en Android - eller Windows-drevet smarttelefon, samt de tilhørende tabletter . I forrige uke rapporterte Apple (AAPL) at det nye mobilbetalingssystemet, Apple Pay, hadde blitt rammet av en rekke bedrageriske transaksjoner ved bruk av kredittkortdata stjålet fra store detaljhandelskjeder som Home Depot HD. 0.6163539241199836 Home Depot Inc. US NYSE USD 146,92 0,9 0,6163539241199836 Dato (1489010432038-0600) Volum (Forsinket 15m). 3498855 ETTER HOURS USD 146,92 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 115529 PE Ratio 23.77346278317152 Market Cap 177875875993.12 Utbytte Utbytte 2.4230873945004086 Rev. pr. Ansatt 245701 Flere tilbud og nyheter raquo HD i verdien din Endre kort posisjon (HD) og mål TGT -0.2176278563656148 Target Corp. US NYSE USD 55.02 -0.12 -0.2176278563656148 Dato ( 1489010633269-0600) Volum (Forsinket 15m). 9060563 ETTER HOURS USD 55.06 0.0399999999999992 0.07270083605961468 Volum (Forsinket 15m). 355285 PE Ratio 11.65677966101695 Market Cap 30666441823.6353 Utbytte Utbytte 4.362050163576881 Rev. per Ansatt 203798 Flere tilbud detaljer og nyheter raquo TGT i verdien din Endre kort posisjon (TGT). Meglere forventer at mobilen fortsetter å vokse, både når det gjelder handelsaktivitet og plattformskapasiteter. Økt adopsjon av forbrukere av kraftigere mobile enheter, både telefoner og tabletter, betyr at forbrukerne vil ha mer forbedrede funksjoner og kraftige handelsverktøy som nylig er tilgjengelig på skrivebordet, sier Steve Claussen, investeringsinvesteringsstrategi hos OptionsHouse. Charles Schwabs Kelli Keough, senior visepresident for handelstjenester, sier: Vi forventer å se flere bedrifter som tilbyr handelsmenn med visuell, syntetisert informasjon og en enkel, brukervennlig arbeidsflyt med en sammenhengende opplevelse om de bruker en mobilapp, nedlastbar programvare eller et webprogram. Vi så flere gode eksempler på lydhør webdesign i år. Hensikten er å tilpasse visningen din til størrelsen på den nåværende enheten, enten du har tre skjermer flammende bort på skrivebordet ditt eller du har peering på kontoinformasjonen din på smarttelefonen din. TradeKing, som tar en mobil første tilnærming til sitt nettsted redesign, ønsker å skape en lignende opplevelse med sine tjenester, uansett hvilken enhet du bruker. Investorer fortsetter å få mer tillit til Nasdaqs nyeste darlings, sosiale medier selskaper. Det har blitt en integrert del av det daglige livet for mange av våre kunder, ikke bare som et fellesskap for investorer, men også som en måte å dele informasjon med og avsløre nyttige investeringsinnsigter, sier Steve Quirk, senior vice president for TD Ameritrades Trader Group. Meglerens gigant har integrert Twitter i sin plattform, som sporer sosialmedias sentiment og prøver å kapitalisere på sin evne til å dele informasjon via sin thinkerswim-enhet. Vi tror at disse innovasjonene kan hjelpe våre kunder til å bli bedre informerte investorer, og vi vil fortsette å utnytte kraften i sosiale medier når vi utvikler nye funksjoner og verktøy, sier Quirk. For å finne frem til 2015s toppmeglere analyserte vi ikke bare deres sikkerhets-, mobilitets - og sosiale medier, men også dybden på deres investeringsverktøy og deres handelsmuligheter. Vårt primære hensyn til å dømme disse 18 firmaene er hvordan de fungerer for våre lesere, som er høyverdige aktive investorer. Tilpassing, spesielt av rapporter, er et spesielt fokus, og det er evnen til å bevege seg jevnt fra idégenerering til en handelsbillett. Vi synes det er viktig for investorer og handelsmenn å forstå hvilke strategier som fungerer og som trenger litt mer arbeid. Konsolidering fortsetter å hale bort på antall nettbaserte meglere. Siste år nr. 2, tradeMonster, kjører nå vellykket under banneret til OptionsHouse (OptionsHouse Rebuilt, 2. februar). Var glad for å rapportere at en tidligere deltaker, Firstrade, som tok fjoråret av vår anmeldelse, har returnert. Vi bestemte oss for ikke å inkludere noen av de 100 eller så firmaene som benytter Interactive Brokers-plattformen, som er en praksis som kalles hvit merking, noe som medførte at vi måtte si farvel til Place Trade og ikke kunne inkludere nybegynner ZacksTrade. Likevel gjør et dusin og et halvt online meglere et meget konkurransedyktig marked. Den nylige lanseringen av mobilkommunikasjonshandel fra null-kommisjon av Robinhood Markets har utløst mange samtaler, men ingen tilhenger ennå. Det er ikke noe som en gratis lunsj, sier Catherine Clay, CEO for Livevol. Hun legger til, vil du ikke finne et nonprofit meglerforetak. De vil tjene penger på en eller annen måte. Ram Subramaniam, president for Fidelitys detaljhandel meglerhandel, sier at firmaet ser på mer enn provisjonsrenten i sin appell til private investorer. Det ønsker også å tilby kundene prisforbedringer på sine bransjer, slik at de får en bedre avtale når de kjøper eller selger verdipapirer. I en nylig studie av Barrons (The Little Guy Wins, 2. mars), ble Fidelity rangert nr. 1 ved dette tiltaket. Bedriftskunderne lagret 8,40 i prisforbedring i gjennomsnitt for en markedsandel på 1000 aksjer, noe som i hovedsak gjør provisjonene netto negative. En frihandel kan koste ganske mye hvis megleren er avhengig av betaling for bestillingsflyt, i stedet for å prøve å skape prisforbedringsmuligheter. Uansett deres tilnærming, synes meglere å vinne flere bedrifter. Av meglerne som rapporterer kundeaktivitet, økte antall detaljhandelskontoer med 5,1 mellom desember 2013 og desember 2014. På grunn av den generelle markedsveksten og kontoveksten ble eiendelene i disse meglerne økt med 17,8. Totalt antall næringsvirksomheter økte 9,4 på tvers av alle aktivaklasser for vår gruppe meglere, som viser en sunn aktivitet. Mobilhandler, som utgjorde 5,5 av alle varehandler plassert i desember 2013, oversteg 7 i desember 2014, en gevinst på 43,7. Med Nasdaq og andre børser i nærheten eller på rekordhøyde, nyter de mer innovative meglerne på listen vår mer aktivitet. Men la oss se hvilke meglere som gjør den beste jobben for å fortjene all denne virksomheten. Tre av dem fikk 4 stjerner (ut av 5) og sitte på toppen av årets rangering. Interaktive meglere, nr. 1 for fjerde år på rad, kantet ut nyopprettede OptionsHouse i andre og TD Ameritrade, tredje. Disse tre firmaene tilbyr svært forskjellige onlineopplevelser og er ment å appellere til ulike typer investorer og handelsfolk. Ved å gjenkjenne bredden til disse stilene identifiserer Barrons også toppmeglere i seks kategorierfrequent trading, personlig service, internasjonal investering, langsiktig investering, tjenester til nybegynnere og opsjonshandel for å hjelpe deg med å bestemme hvor du skal åpne (eller overføre) en konto. Vi viser meglerne som var i ekstremer når vi beregnet den månedlige kostnaden for handel for sjeldne handelsmenn, så vel som for de som handler flere ganger om dagen. (Les om vår metodikk i Hvordan vi klassifiserer våre beste online meglere, og se gjennom de syv kategoriene som informerte vår analyse i tabellene: Barron Online Broker Survey 2015: Hvordan de stabler opp.) Vi har utvidet våre beskrivelser av hver megler. Disse sidebaserte sammenligningene gir deg mulighet til å se hvordan tallverdier ble ankommet og stjerner tildelt. Du kan se ikke bare vår faste gradering for, si mobile tilbud, men en sammenfelling av hvilke spesifikke mobilplattformer en individuell online megler støtter eller om plattformen tillater handel med utenlandske aksjer, for eksempel. Vi starter med våre topp 4-stjerners meglere og fortsetter til resten, hver gruppert av sin rangering. Interaktive meglere. vår leder, nettopp lansert sin nyeste oppgradering, Investors Marketplace. Denne nye funksjonen lar kundene finne rådgivere og tredjeparts programvare som er koblet til plattformen. Nåværende kunder og det bredere investeringsfellesskapet kan søke på markedet og enkelt finne en tjenesteleverandør som passer deres behov, mens partnertjenesteleverandører finner markedet en mer effektiv måte å annonsere og nå individuelle og institusjonelle brukere over hele verden, forklarer Steve Sanders, en leder visepresident. Selv om teknologien for registrerte investeringsrådgivere er utenfor vårt perspektiv, er Interactives blant de mest komplette og fleksible for styring av flere kontoer. På mobilfronten redigerte Interactive sitt ordreinngangssystem, noe som gjør det enklere å plassere komplekse bestillinger på en smarttelefon eller nettbrett. Det legges til en pakke med grunnleggende data - og forskningsrapporter, knyttet til handelskort, bør en aksje streike din fancy. Sanders anslår at mobiltransaksjoner står for om lag 10 av detaljhandelsordrer, slik at firmaet fortsetter å lete etter forbedringer. I mange år var Interactive best kjent som megler for internasjonale porteføljer. Mer nylig presset det inn i nye områder. I det siste året har Interactive utvidet sin fellesfondsproduktlinje, noe som gir det mer appell for investorer med høy nettoverdi. Hvis du har 100.000 eller mer i kontoene dine hos Interactive, blir fradragsavgiften på 10 måneder per måned fraviket. Firmaet var også blant de første detaljhandelsmeglerne for å tillate kundene å bestille bestillinger til IEX, en ny utveksling designet for å hindre rovdyrere. Interactive har innlemmet bourse, lovet i Michael Lewis bestselger Flash Boys. inn i sin smarte ordrerrouter (How To Slow Flash Boys, 14. april 2014). Den er til og med knyttet til Shanghai børs i forkant av amerikanskbasert handel der. Viser fleksibilitet, la Interactive en skrivebeskyttet passordmulighet om to uker etter at vi nevnte det som en prioritet for leserne. Nye kunder blir introdusert til plattformene i en omfattende innbydende prosess, og oppfordres til å bruke de mange videoene på filen i Utdanningssenteret. Interactive har lagt til en Ask the Experts QampA Webinar-serie om emner som Option Strategy Lab og Volatility Lab, som finner sted i et Google-chatrom. Kunder legger inn spørsmål på forhånd, som besvares av toppledelsen i løpet av sesjonen. Lav kostnad er en viktig del av handel, og Interactives prisforbedringsstatistikk er imponerende. Det har også de laveste marginavgiftene i Barron-undersøkelsen. Vi mener at dette er en hensiktsmessig megling erfaring for mellomliggende til avanserte investorer og handelsmenn som ønsker å bli engasjert i markedene. Second-place OptionsHouse. også med 4 stjerner, men en litt lavere score, har en plattform som tilbyr den sofistikerte teknologien til sin siste fusjonspartner, tradeMonster, til lave provisjonsrater. En funksjon, Trade Journal, er best i klassen. Når du legger en handel, kan du fange opp markedsstatistikken og en rekke grafer, pluss typen opsjoner spredt (hvis aktuelt) tilbake til journalen hvis du vil vurdere dine underliggende forutsetninger senere. Dette er en god ide for å hjelpe en næringsdrivende finne ut hvilke strategier og markedsforhold som fungerer i den favør, og hvilke som trenger ekstra oppmerksomhet (eller kanskje forlatelse). OptionsHouse har også et fantastisk varslingssystem. Nytt i år er Follow Alerts, som gir deg nyheter om selskaper i din portefølje eller på din overvåkningsliste, levert i henhold til spesifisert metodeoppgave, mobil eller e-post, blant andre. Du kan velge hvilken type nyheter du vil motta, si insiderhandler og inntjeningsmeldinger, mens du filtrerer ut de som du heller ikke ser. Ordrehåndteringsverktøy lar deg nese betingede ordre som utløses når forhåndsvalgte markedsfaktorer er i spill, for eksempel et bestemt prisforhold. De kan også utløses når en annen ordre er fylt. Bedriftens risikoprofil, som hjelper deg å forstå den potensielle effekten av en handel, har blitt forbedret med ekstra valg for tilpasning. OptionsHouse-nettsiden lar deg også konfigurere utseendet på opp og ned flått gjennom hele plattformen. Vil du at de skal blinke eller vise i forskjellige farger Dens din samtale. En kartleggingsfunksjon inneholder mange nye beregninger, inkludert noen esoteriske som Ichimoku-skyer (som kan prognostisere prishandlinger) og Keltner-kanaler (for å avgjøre om prisene ligger utenfor motstand og støtte i forhold til et glidende gjennomsnitt). OptionsHouse har tilpasset flere funksjoner som tidligere kun er tilgjengelige på nettplattformen, som skal brukes på farten. AdjustTrade-verktøyet gir kundene muligheten til å justere eller lukke en posisjon raskt, noe som er en utrolig enkel måte å rulle et spredt på, eller bare lukke en lang eller kort posisjon. Gjennom Bid Ask Trading-funksjonen, kan mobilhandlere raskt sette opp et spredt bare ved å tappe på hvilket som helst bud eller en pris i en alternativkjede. Også meriterende 4 stjerner er TD Ameritrade, som vi bare evaluerte sin standard nettside og sin sofistikerte thinkorswim-plattform. Etter oppkjøpet av TD Ameritrade ble thinkorswim i fjor lansert med tilleggsdiagramverktøy og mønstergenkjenningskapasiteter. Det gir flere muligheter for investorer til å dele evner og erfaringer med andre. Du kan sende diagrammer, skanner, studier eller se lister til en andre thinkerswim-bruker. TD Ameritrades Mobile Trader kan finne avanserte ordrer (en-utløsere-en annen, blant mange andre) for kunder, samt tilleggsoptimaliststatistikk. Kartleggingsverktøyene ble gjennomgått i fjor, og tavleapplikasjonene konkurrerer med en desktop-plattform. Alternativ skanning og trading verktøy er også godt designet og nesten like kraftig som thinkorswim plattform. Vårt løpende mål er å gjøre det lettere for investorer å håndtere sine økonomiske liv i håndflaten, sier TD Ameritrades Quirk. Inkludert er mobile videoer fra CNBC og Thomson Reuters, og mange tilpassede filtreringsfunksjoner, samt relaterte nyheter og kalenderhendelser. TD Ameritrades-priser er på den høye enden av dagens rekkevidde, men provisjonene er enkle og uten gimmick. Til gjengjeld får du tilgang til streamingdata og analyserforskning som du sannsynligvis vil bli belastet for andre steder. Says Quirk, Denne enkle og enkle forståelsen strukturen hjelper oss med å finansiere den betydelige investeringen som kreves for å bygge og vedlikeholde et omfattende tilbud for våre kunder som blant annet inkluderer tilgang til alle våre handelsplattformer og mobilapps, flere kartleggingspakker , tredjeparts forskningsrapporter, og verdifulle data som opsjonstid og salgs - og opsjonsstatistikk. Tilsynelatende virker denne tilnærmingen. TD Ameritrade satte nyregistreringer for daglige gjennomsnittlige inntekter, totale klientmidler og netto nye klientmidler i 2014. Følgende gruppe med åtte meglere tjener hver fire stjerner. Deres spesielle styrker varierer mye, og en av dem kan være det riktige valget for deg. TradeStation serverer det aktive handelsmarkedet på en rekke beundringsverdige måter. Klienter handler i gjennomsnitt 46 ganger per måned og holder en stor del av investerbare eiendeler med firmaet. Den 99,95-plattformen avgiften er fraviket for de med over 100.000 i husholdningenes eiendeler. Det er også handelsminimum som gir deg tilgang til plattformen gratis. Med støtte fra forelder Monex, presenterte TradeStation tre store versjonen oppgraderinger og 19 oppdateringer til den nedlastbare plattformen, samt 25 nye utgivelser for web trading og mobil trading apps. Firmaet har også tre prissettingsplaner, rettet mot ulike handelsformer, de mest aktive handelsmenn migrerer til den ubundne planen, med prissetting pr. Aksje. De som forstår markedsstruktur, og vet om de er produsenter eller takers for en bestemt handel, kan senke sine handelsavgifter betydelig. Men den ubundne planen er ikke for amatører. Når det gjelder handelsverktøy, er himmelen grensen på TradeStation. Ikke bare er plattformen utrolig kraftig, med mange skanne - og analyseverktøy, men TradingApp-butikken lar kunder abonnere på over 800 produkter. TradeStation tilbyr fantastisk verktøy til de som ønsker å utvikle en handelsstrategi basert på tekniske og grunnleggende data, i tillegg til muligheten til å teste det og forbedre den. TradeStations rapporteringsfunksjoner, som hjelper deg med å lære hvilke strategier som fungerer og under hvilke markedsforhold, er spesielt pedagogiske og hjelper deg med å forbedre dine strategier. Strategihunden lar deg kjøre flere strategier på tvers av et stort antall aksjer, og returnerer et bord som beskriver om en strategi er vellykket eller ikke. Strategi Hound er foreløpig tilgjengelig gratis. Du kan fortsatt ikke bruke mobilappene, som nå er utviklet internt, til å designe et handelssystem, men firmaet bygger en. Alle firmaopplæringstilbudene er tilgjengelige utenfor påloggingen, slik at ikke-kunder kan få en smak av plattformens kraft. Fidelity tilbyr en kraftig pakke med verktøy som er designet for å appellere til alle nivåer av investorer, og inkluderer kontantbehandling og et vell av screeningsverktøy og tredjepartsforskning. Dens trade-routing-motor søker etter prisforbedringer for kundene, og firmaet forteller oss at en gjennomsnittlig 1000-aksjekursordre mottar 8,40 i prisforbedring, betaler 7,95 provisjon og litt endring. En bestemt styrke av forskningen som er tilgjengelig på nettet, er ETF-senteret, som gir deg dypt innblikk i midler som ligger til grunn for holdninger, utgifter, avgifter og ytelse. De fleste ETF-undersøkelser gjør at du kan sjekke ut en topp 10 beholdninger, men Fidelity ETF-senteret tilbyr en komplett liste over alle underliggende verdipapirer for de fleste amerikanske baserte ETFer. Theres en ETF Portfolio Builder, og et marked tracker verktøy som viser trender etter sektor og plassering i et fargerikt varma kart. Fidelitys Learning Center tilbyr toppkursutdanning og verktøy. Aktive handelsfolk kan dra nytte av Trading Strategy Desk, som tilbyr treningsøkter på en rekke fag med små grupper av kunder. You can find Webinars devoted to technical and fundamental analysis, complex options strategies, and planning tools. The Portfolio Review tool helps define goals and portfolio rebalancing guidance, and there are a variety of retirement and college planning capabilities. Premium services are available to those with over 250,000 in combined assets, or who trade frequently. These allow customers to develop a one-on-one relationship with an account executive, as well as a personal rate of return report. Premium customers using a Fidelity debit card have their ATM fees reimbursed. New active trading customers can take advantage of the Onboarding Wizard, which helps set up a default trading layout and gets you over that first hurdle. Trade Armor helps you set an exit strategy, similar to OptionsHouses tradeCycle, which is a great feature. Fidelity is a good all-around broker that can grow with most investors and active traders. Merrill Edge is in its third year of investing in its platforms and in personal service, adding personnel to parent Bank of Americas branches. They have a terrific suite of research tools free to customers, including Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch reports. Customers who also bank with BofA will see a more consistent look and feel across the two platforms. The firm reworked the sites navigation features over the last year, making it much easier to move from one place to another. There is a pulldown menu choice labeled, I want to that lets customers quickly find the more frequently used parts of the platform, eliminating quite a few mouse clicks. The portfolio page can now be extensively customized, and you can generate a report every day that looks like a monthly statement, with gains, losses, and balances displayed clearly. The MarketPro tool has Recognia and OptionsPlay built in you can trade directly from an OptionsPlay analysis screen. When viewing market research for a particular stock, youll get a lot of information on a single page, including proprietary and third-party research, and real-time news. Novice investors can take advantage of a variety of planning tools and education, including content from Kahn Academy. Youll find streaming quotes on all platforms, including mobile. The tablet platform has a particular focus on retirement planning, including the Face Retirement feature, which can be used outside the login. Try this one out if youre not afraid to see what you might look like in a few decades. OptionsXpress has added its Walk Limit order feature to the mobile platform, which lets you set up a spread trade at a particular limit price, taking gradual steps toward a price that will execute. This is an incredibly popular feature both on the Web and on mobile, with usage nearly doubling from year to year the firms says that 85 of Walk Limit trade volume is now from repeat users. The broker has also added the Idea Hub to its mobile platform, letting you check out covered call, income generation, and futures trading ideas. The All-in-One Trade Ticket, one of the easier ways to trade on any Web or mobile platform, also lets you set up advanced and contingent orders. OptionsXpress hosts a huge number of Webinars last year it had over 15,000 attendees for over 240 events. Futures and futures options trading has grown significantlythese two asset classes now comprise 20 of transactions for optionsXpressso youll also find a lot of education features intended to guide you into that fold. Its possible that this is the last year well have optionsXpress as a separate brokerage for this story, as features continue to migrate over to parent Charles Schwabs Website. We shall see. ETrade overhauled its Website and mobile apps, vastly reducing the number of clicks it takes to get from one spot to another. Both Website and mobile experiences are among the more customizable setups we saw this year, a most welcome change. Kunal Vaed, an ETrade vice president, says, Our guiding principles for the redesign were: intuitive, hassle free, helpful, trusted (touch ID on smartphone), engaging, insightful, personalized, and seamless. ETrade offers an account application that you can start on mobile, and finish on a Website (or vice versa) as the data is stored on its servers. New customers are invited to attend in-person events in New York, San Francisco, or Chicago, or check out the New to Trading track on the education page. The Pro platform added streaming options Greeks, and when setting up a trade, the midpoint between bid and ask is preloaded as a limit price. Youll also find a strategy risk analyzer and a great options screener. The trade ticket lets you pull in a canned strategy, such as a butterfly, or create your own. As you add a leg to the ticket, the risk graph is updated with streaming data to let you analyze the potential trade. Those who are not yet ETrade customers can check out a lot of the tools and education content quotes are delayed, but you can get a feel for what is possible. Its great to see ETrade rethink its entire navigation scheme, both on the desktop and on mobile. In the past, it often felt as though new features were just tacked on. Its a much smoother experience now. ETrade continues to cling to a tiered commission structure, however, and it is among the highest cost brokers in the review. Livevol is a fascinating platform for the very active options trader. Skip to the next broker description if thats not your game. The firm added futures and futures options trading last year, and built new risk charts for single positions and for total portfolio risk. Youll find measurements of volatility, sliced and diced from a dizzying array of views. Orders can be staged, and a basket of orders can be launched all at once. The extremely customizable options strategy scanners are the heart of this platform. There is a covered call scan that shows the top four by sector based on yield and call-away return, which includes dividends. This is a very agile development company. CEO Clay says that 40 of LiveVol employees are engineers, who are constantly creating new products that are rigorously tested before theyre released. Costs are relatively low and are executed and cleared through Interactive Brokers. TradeKing also earns four stars. Its new platform, launched in November and still being rolled out across the customer base, was developed with mobile in mind. Active traders can fully customize the experience to fit their needs, using various widgets and placing them where they work best. Customizations are stored on TradeKings servers, so you get the same experience no matter which device you use to log in. The responsive design quickly resizes your view depending on the size of your monitor or device. Anywhere you go on the Website or app, you can easily pop open a trade ticket, which rolls out across the right side of the screen. Options traders can set up the desired strike range and expiration dates using a slider bar on the top of the quote screen. Pretty slick. There are quite a few connections to social media throughout the platform as well. A Twitter feed built off TradeKing customers so-called cashtags are built into the news feed. TradeKing recently acquired TraderOS which is now operating under its TradeKing Media subsidiary, which will generate trading ideas on curated TradeKing channels. Options guru Brian Overby will have his own channel. Don Montanaro, TradeKings CEO, explains: The idea is to instantly collaborate with people on that channel. Share live charts and news items, engage in live chats, and share watch lists among the community. Theres even a live order ticket capability. Charles Schwab rounds out our list of four-star brokers. Tools from its acquisition, optionsXpress, continue to make their way over, including the excellent All-in-One Trade Ticket and Idea Hub on the Website. The active trader platform, StreetSmart Edge, is extremely customizable, while mobile usage is growing rapidly. The firm says its seeing more trading activity from those who use mobile their trade activity increases by about 20 once they are engaged. Schwab continues to offer in-branch workshops regional managers hosted more than 2,600 events and conducted more than 3,000 one-on-one, in-person consultations in the last year. The Schwab Trading Services Live Online Webinars, 464 in number, reached 12,000 live attendees and have been popular as playbacks as well. Commission-free ETFs now total 198, and the entire universe of mutual funds is available for trading. Schwab is also continuing to build out its multi-leg options capabilities in advance of the eventual folding in of optionsXpress you can now trade four-legged options on the Web platform and in StreetSmart Edge. As Schwab builds out its options capability, the firm enhanced trade and probability calculators, and launched a new daily market commentary series that focuses on options. We dont have any 3 star brokers this year, but we did find three brokers who merit three stars. Scottrade worked over the last year to expand its online capabilities, and enhanced its equity, ETF and mutual fund screeners. The Portfolio Review Tool was beefed up, and can be used independently or in conjunction with an investment consultant in a branch office. Active traders can access the ScottradeELITE platform, which allows basic (single leg) options strategies. The Elite platform was updated with more customization possibilities and a streamlined order-entry system. You can add notes on watch lists, and options analytic tools were added to help traders play with potential scenarios. We remain confused by Scottrades approach to complex options trading, however. For the last few years, those who wanted to trade multi-leg strategies had to use a separate platform powered by OptionsHouse. That deal is being phased out in favor of a white-label implementation of the Interactive Brokers platform. We have not seen this live yet, but find it a little strange to require a separate account for multi-leg options trades. Lightspeed Trading is aimed at extremely active traders, hedge funds, and institutions. These peripatetic traders can use the proprietary platform to trade equities, complex options, and futures from a single screen. All quotes are streaming, and customers can automate a trading strategy. Traders also control the order-routing logic, and direct orders to multiple market centers for better execution. They can also take advantage of Lightspeeds newly introduced smart route, which offers lower execution costs. Our wide-ranging ranking criteria are not geared toward such a focused offering, especially since the firms mobile app was not yet available when we were wrapping up the calculations. I suspect Lightspeed will move up in the rankings once we can get our hands on the mobile app. Sogotrade integrated OptionsPlay into its platform, including a way to open a pre-filled trade ticket from the ideas generated. Multi-leg options traders will appreciate the single charge plus per-contract charges most brokers apply a base charge per leg to complex options trades, which can make them more expensive. Investment support was a focus for the firms development over the last year. Customers can elect to receive the firms Morning Call report, which is based on institutional grade research using technical indicators. It gives customers both trading ideas as well as education on the various indicators used. There is a Stock Analyzer on the Website that displays rating reports and a variety of fundamentals, plus a look at the shares industry sector. This feature would be much improved by an ability to automatically add a stock to a watch list at present, customers must do that manually. Another little issue is that watch lists are all stored locally, so if you set one up on your desktop, you wont be able to see that same watch list on your mobile device unless you go through the trouble of recreating it there. Our final group earns 2 stars. These are brokers with particular niches one might fit your style. TradingBlock took on the full-service brokers released by tradeMonster following its merger with OptionsHouse, integrating them into its MoneyBlock platform. Individuals can use their TradeBuilder strategy scanner, which takes an investors most basic outlook for an equity or ETF and ranks the top 40 options strategies by potential profit or loss, and the strategys probability of breaking even or better. Investors can compare strategies to buying the stock long or selling it short. The Trade Analyzer feature graphs a strategys PampL over a range of prices, dates, Greeks, and volatilities. Another feature, Portfolio Hedger, scans for collar strategies to protect existing stock or ETF positions. Investors can also enter underlying symbols to model possible collar strategies on theoretical or held-away or positions, and rank them by cost or upside potential. For an additional fee of 199month, customers can make use of EdgeFinder, which is a real time customizable strategy scanner. Most of what is possible with EdgeFinder can be found on other brokers Websites for no additional charge, but the intriguing component here is the ability to find mispriced contracts, which can result in more profitable trades. The site itself is fairly basic, and portfolio analysis is limited. Firstrade returns to the survey this year after taking a year off for a site rebuild. New to the suite of services is a mobile app, which was developed in-house and features streaming quotes. There are basic charting capabilities a pending update will add 70 or more technical studies, but it was not available for the survey. On the Website, much of the development effort went to options trading. While looking at an options quote screen, clicking on a bid or ask populates a trade ticket and builds your strategy. The order status display has an interesting meter feature that shows the status of the order fill graphically. Another feature added this year is the ability to edit an open order rather than having to cancel it and replace it with a new order. The stock screener is easy to use you can choose from a predefined screener or create your own. Most stock screeners show how many stocks fit your current criteria, but the Firstrade screener displays the top results as you go. Clicking on a symbol brings you to a page where you can get additional fundamental details, or place a trade. This is a much better implementation of the Website, which can be translated to Chinese with a click. Fees are reasonable though the experience is still pretty basic compared to competitors further up the list. Capital One Sharebuilder . a unit of the big bank Capital One, has added features that help you understand your portfolio allocation. This is a nicely designed, very secure Website with reasonable mobile planning tools that is hurt in our ratings scheme by the limited range of assets you can trade online. This broker was built on the idea of automatic investing. Set up dollar-based investments, say 100 per week of Google stock (GOOG), and it executes on a weekly schedule. When you exit the position, you can place a regular limit order. The Portfolio Builder tool is one of the original robo advisors, and walks you through a quiz to determine your ideal asset allocation. Then you can choose from a variety of ETFs that fall within each asset type. One of the most helpful features is True Value, which can show you concentrations of stocks and sectors in your ETF and mutual fund holdings. You may think youre diversified by holding a portfolio of ETFs, but its possible youre not. The IPO Center lets you queue limit orders the day an initial public offering is priced, so you can get in on the secondary action quickly. Sharebuilders mobile tools are nicely laid out and easy to use, which has paid off with a large uptick in mobile-originated trades. It doesnt offer streaming quotes, though youll have to refresh the screen to get updated prices. eOption rounds out our list this year. Its Web platform is white-labeled by Scivantage and very basic. The firm has, however, recently integrated the OptionsPlay tools into the platform, and vice president Herrin says, Our clients are using OptionsPlay, and were very excited to offer it. Their newly launched mobile offering, also by Scivantage, displays your watchlist before you log in so you can get quotes on the fly. Those quotes are delayed, however youll have to log in to get real-time quotes. This broker offers low commissions that make frequent option trading more cost-effective. Herrin says eOption is working to enhance the front end of its platform we look forward to seeing how those efforts pan out. Before you log in to any of these sites, you might want to change your brokerage password first, just to be safe. MarketWatch on Twitter lth4gtBarrons on Facebooklth4gtltdiv stylequotborder: none padding: 2px 3pxquot classquotfb-likequot data-hrefquotfacebookbarronsonlinequot data-sendquotfalsequot data-layoutquotbuttoncountquot data-widthquot250quot data-show-facesquotfalsequot data-actionquotrecommendquotgtltdivgt lth4gtBarrons on Twitterlth4gtlta hrefquottwitterbarronsonlinequot classquottwitter-follow-buttonquot data-show-countquottruequotgtFollow barronsonlineltagt Product X on Facebook Product X on Twitter Newest Trading Play: Screen Savings Updated March 15, 2010 11:59 p. m. ET THE BEAR MARKET IN STOCKS ENDED a year ago, but a lot of online traders and investors apparently didnt get the memo. They cut back on equity transactions in 2009 -- despite the 23.5 surge in the Standard amp Poors 500 -- and instead demanded more products and services. They got them. More bonds, options, foreign exchange, commodities and mutual and exchange-traded fund offerings more social networks to combine their talents more education to wean themselves further from full-service brokerages and more smartphone applications to stay in contact with their portfolios 247. But more than anything, theyve started to get a break on prices. Commissions on stock transactions dropped at most big firms like Charles Schwab, ETrade and Fidelity. TD Ameritrade has -- so far -- kept itself out of the fray, except for 30 days of free trading for new customers (through June 30). Others took a similar route. ETrade just announced that new clients who deposit at least 2,000 will have commissions charged during their first 60 days of trading rebated for up to 500 stock or options transactions. Rather than imposing a time limit, OptionsHouse gives new customers 100 free trades after they fund an account. IN BARRONS 15TH ANNUAL ranking of online brokers, we found no sign that the pace of innovation was slowing down. New products are proliferating. Investors can now work out complicated options straddles, place orders virtually instantaneously and put their money to work in Singapore or Germany while hedging their bets in dollars or euros or exchange-traded funds. To make sense of all these new opportunities, online investors increasingly rely on each other. When TradeKing launched its social-networking community in 2005, we were, we have to admit, skeptical. But now, with traders and investors talking things over on a variety of online stages, from Twitter to closed groups, its apparent that the communities are an established -- and accepted -- part of the investing diorama. quotThe social-media component for the active trader is something were seeing more and more, quot says James McGovern, a vice president at financial industry research firm Corporate Insight. quotSchwab has its community, as does Zecco, TradeKing, Trade-Station and thinkorswim -- and that shows no sign of going away. I imagine other firms that are thinking of doing it will go there. quot Many investors who used to look to financial advisors for hand-holding now seek knowledge elsewhere. TD Ameritrade and Scottrade last year beefed up educational resources, always a strength for thinkorswim. Newcomer tradeMonster hosted more than 200 Webinars and 30 live events. McGovern says, quotIn tough market times, thats when people start looking for help, hitting the books and going back to basics. quot Of course, theyre able to tap into these resources via a dizzying array of new technology that now extends to mobile trading. Several brokers launched sophisticated iPhone and BlackBerry applications that enable streaming real-time quotes, and even complex options-order entry. A number of online brokers improved their rankings over Barrons 2009 survey by updating their Websites and making key features more accessible. In preparing this ranking, we investigated the offerings, operations and pricing of 22 online brokers this year, looking for the characteristics that set each apart. We evaluated these rivals across eight categories. Among them: the types of tradable investments the quality and ease-of-use of screeners that help you choose stocks, options or funds and the sites startup process, overall functionality and potential for customization. We recently mentioned to brokers that a reader had asked for an automated-trading journal, and to our surprise, several added this feature in time for our review. We also looked at how trades can be placed with each broker, such as whether an order can be submitted from a graph or a mobile device. The quality of education offerings and customer service were examined. In reviewing costs, we considered not only stock and option commissions, but the interest rate charged for margin debt and fees for other types of transactions and activities. Although Barrons names a No. 1 broker, that doesnt mean its the right pick for your style of investing, so we also name leaders in four other categories -- long-term investing, options trading, international investing and high-frequency trading. We also display the lowest - and highest-cost brokers for those who trade a few times a month or several times a day. Without further ado, then, here are the top online brokers of 2010. A table (How Barrons Ranks 22 Leading Online Brokers ) shows the numerical scores of all 22 outfits. See reviews of all 22, plus additional data, at Barrons. Thinkorswim (thinkorswim ) once again dazzled, earning 4 stars. Last year, we worried about the pace of innovation following the firms takeover by TD Ameritrade, but thinkorswims president, Tom Sosnoff, put those fears to rest. Sosnoff says that thinkorswim still operates as a separate broker-dealer from TD Ameritrade, mainly because the two brokers have different clearing operations. Though the platform has a wide variety of tools, there are no added fees beyond commissions, which fall in the middle of the pack. Thinkorswim added free access to Gainskeeper, a cost-basis and tax-accounting tool, last November it handles not only stock and options transactions but futures and foreign exchange. Youll find live broadcasts from the SampP 500 pit as well as Shadow Trader, and a live feed from CNBC. One interesting new feature, rolled out in mid-January, is thinkOnDemand, which uses online retailing giant Amazons cloud technology. Its analogous to Nasdaqs Market Replay feature but takes it several steps further. ThinkOnDemand saves every price tick in every options contract available as well as every listed equity and allows you to stream historical data as though its happening in real time. This permits customers to practice their trading strategies against real data. Loading and buffering the data can take 1-2 minutes Sosnoff says most of the traders using this feature launch it after the market closes to practice trading or to check on how an order was filled. Charting functionality was added at the end of February. Another new thinkorswim feature is Prodigio, which offers drag-and-drop trading-model tools with back-testing capabilities. Prodigio can run either inside the thinkorswim platform, or it can be launched independently. A menu on the left side of the screen allows access to tools such as trade actions, type of data, logical operators, technical analysis studies, candlestick patterns, and mathematical equations. Using the Java-based system, you connect the selected tools to create your trading model. Once youve developed a model that you want to use, you can connect it to your thinkorswim account and generate orders. Its an amazing piece of technology, but not for an amateur or the timid. Thinkorswim offers great customer service and a wide array of educational offerings. You can access the tools via its downloadable-software platform, and most are also available on the Web. Many of these powers have been pushed through to the thinkorswim platform for TD Ameritrade customers, which well discuss later. MB Trading (mbtrading ), just a whisker behind thinkorswim in total points, also earned 4 stars. It got there by spiffing up the platform that we so appreciated last year, renaming it MBT Desktop and adding an excellent Web platform, MBT Web 2.0, to the mix. It also released an upgraded software application, MBT Desktop Pro, which features an easily customizable charting application. The charting functionality in the Pro platform allows you to write your own custom indicators, and overlay those on your chart. Another feature, MBT World, is accessible from all of the firms trading platforms and includes a social-networking feature, plus Webinars about MBT products and partner products, not to mention a Wiki with frequently asked questions about MB Trading. Within the community feature is a link for submitting ideas that customers can vote on. One intriguing offering in the MBT suite is its alerts. You can write custom-alert scripts with hundreds of possibilities, including technical and fundamental indicators. When an alert goes off, you can reset the trigger quickly and get back to your trading. You can also set up alerts so that the details of what triggers them are hidden -- so you can trade or even sell them to other MBT customers. MBTs basket-trading functionality lets you create a group of orders and execute them simultaneously. The group of trades can be closed as a basket, or closed individually. The Advanced Options Strategist has 64 strategies built in, and you can create your own. Each strategy is illustrated with a graph and an explanation of the basics, as well as its riskreward characteristics. After youve selected an underlying stock and a strategy, the tool figures out the appropriate way to implement the plan. You can set different default-volume quantities for stocks, futures, and options orders. Your order-entry screen will display these defaults, depending on what youre trading. When we talked up the idea of a trading journal to log activity, MB Trading came back with its new Lightwave platform. Lightwaves opening screen shows trading pressure for every asset class you can trade at MB Trading, and includes a variety of stock and options scanners. You can use any of the MB Trading platforms with a single login, and switch among them as you please. We would love to see the Lightwave features integrated into the Web and Desktop applications. quotOur main objective is to continue to be a low-cost provider in all major asset classes that offers solid customer support and software solutions for everyone from beginners to advanced traders, quot president David Lipsett says. MB Trading seems to be meeting its objective. Below are the nine online brokers who earned a very respectable four stars, together with both their pluses and minuses. Pros . It still leads the pack in access to global markets, with access to bourses in 17 countries on five continents, and cost-consciousness. Consulting outfit Transaction Auditing Group showed that IB customers enjoyed quite a bit of price improvement -- a 31-cent advantage per 100 shares and 21-cent advantage per options contract -- compared with the industry average over the second half of 2009. Its trading platform, Traders WorkStation, was enhanced with added portfolio analysis and risk-management tools, plus expanded access to real-time streaming news. Short sellers can tap a wide array of items, and customers can now trade in multiple currencies as well. Education offerings are wide-ranging and well-written. The mobile applications are very usable and offer streaming data. Cons . Although improved, TWS is still not an intuitive platform to use. The learning curve is steep. This is a broker more geared toward professional traders, so buy-and-hold investors should steer clear. Pros . The go-to broker for those who develop their own trading systems, though competition in this field is heating up. On top of all the modeling functionality built into TradeStations platform, the firm added ways to test slippage (the difference between the expected price of a trade, and the price at which it actually got executed) to their models. Slippage is a major factor for those trading foreign exchange, as the spread changes quickly in volatile markets. The ability to create your own parameters when testing an idea is implemented well on this platform. A new feature is Radar Screen, which is a real-time opportunity scanning tool. TradeStation Support center offers a lot of educational information, and the recently launched Strategy Network allows strategists to sell subscriptions to their calculations. As TradeStation Vice President Janette Perez says, quotYou cannot outgrow our platform. quot For new accounts opened by March 31, TradeStation will waive monthly platform fees for four months. Cons . Its a lot of technology, and not for the casual trader. A platform fee of 99.95 per month is charged for those who trade below certain levels. Bonds can only be traded with a live broker. Pros . OptionsXpress underwent a site redesign that cleaned up navigation considerably. The firm allows its customers to trade a wide variety of financial products in a single account. The suite of tools has been consolidated into quothubs, quot so that theyre much easier to find and use. In addition, optionsXpress rolled out a variety of streaming tools and data, including streaming options chains and customizable charts. You can enter and modify an order from a chart, which is a function many technical traders want. The mobile application, OX Mobile, is well designed, with streaming real-time data, charts, and watch lists, and stock, options, and futures trading. CEO David Fisher says, quotWe found that customers are doing significantly more trading through these phone-based apps than we thought possible. quot Portfolio margining calculations help traders who hedge their positions keep their margin costs down. You can see how much price improvement you got on a particular order when you look at your order status screen, which is a nice touch. Cons . One of the few brokers left with tiered pricing 14.95 per trade puts them near the top of the stock commissions list. Pros . Fidelity continues to offer a stable platform with a wide variety of products that can be traded online. It made a number of changes to its pricing structure last month, eliminating the tiered commission structure, and offering 25 BlackRock exchange-traded funds at no fee. A nicely laid-out and informative Stock Research Center was introduced last fall, along with an international trading center that lets customers trade in 12 overseas markets and eight currencies. The Fixed Income Investments center is an excellent place to learn about, and choose, bonds for your portfolio. Active Trader Pro (ATP), Fidelitys downloadable software platform, received charting enhancements that include customization options. ATP also updated its options features, and now includes an Option Pairing Summary, with the ability to view options based on underlying security, strategy or expiration. Overall this is a very deep offering with numerous portfolio analysis tools. Cons . The tools are divided across several platforms. To make the most of Fidelitys offerings, youll have to use both Active Trader Pro and the Website. Pros . The firm is still the king in integrated community resources on its trading platform. Expanded education resources include a variety of Webinars, an updated edition of the Options Playbook, 13 quotall-starquot trading bloggers, and an area called quotThe Rookies Cornerquot in the online-learning center. TradeKing also went into the fixed-income market with vigor, launching a bond-screening tool and an interactive table of fixed-income investments that shows users a snapshot of the entire marketplace, and what yields are available in various time frames. Other enhanced tools include deeper quote pages, more options data, and much-enhanced stock screeners. The new Trading Dashboard brings the Trader Network community resources right into the TradeKing platform, and is nicely customizable. You can set up a trading journal at TradeKing through the Trader Network as well. Cons . There is some portfolio analysis functionality that is not available unless you use the Trader Network. You cant select a tax lot online when closing a position. Pro . This online broker has created a very useful and customizable platform, especially for options traders. The recently launched TradeCycle illustrates the steps a disciplined trader should follow when choosing a trade. The folks at tradeMonster consider this cycle a key to proactive investing. The steps all use key functions of the tradeMonster platform, such as research tools, strategy-selection tools, ways to test strategies and exit planning. The charting features are enhanced frequently, and include streaming implied volatility for every expiration and strike price, displayed against a 30-day average. Trade-Monster maintains its own volatility database, which is a key component in choosing an appropriate options strategy. TradeMonster also added a trading journal in time for this review, which allows you to create an entry that captures the values for several indices, plus the underlying price and implied volatility, at the point an order is filled. You can attach notes to it and keep track of what you were thinking when you got into that trade. TradeMonster added mobile access in the last year as well. The firm has low margin rates. Cons . Cannot select a tax lot when closing a position. Pros . The site is packed with tools for options traders, and it has added some for stock traders, too. The core of the Options - House platform is its risk viewer. President George Ruhana says, quotWe really want people to understand the risk associated with their positions. quot He notes that a customer may have a position that is suitable on the basis of his margin but inappropriate for the size of his account. The potential effects of a change in the market on your positions, and your overall portfolio, are nicely laid out and understandable. Ruhana acknowledges that a lot of his customers have accounts elsewhere, and bring assets to OptionsHouse for its options-related tools and low stock commissions. Clients place approximately 100 trades per year. The firm launched a mobile-Web application in October 2009 that handles trades, order management, and portfolio management. An iPhone-specific app is planned for later this year. Cons . Very options-centric, as the name would suggest. A change in options commissions from flat-rate to per-contract went into effect in December. Pros . This is one of the places you can still go for quotone-stop shoppingquot and is benefiting from its takeover of thinkorswim. The toolset available to TD Ameritrade customers was much enhanced by the launch of thinkorswim from TD Ameritrade last year. Anyone interested in higher-level options data, research, and charting should be moving over to the thinkorswim platform. On the Website, one of the key strengths of having a TD Ameritrade account is the wide range of third-party research thats built into the platform and easily available, from outfits like Credit Suisse, SampP, Market Edge, Ford Equity, First Call, Vickers Insider Trading and Morningstar. The order entry quotsnap ticketquot was updated this year to include streaming quotes and mini-charts. The Website built in a bit of community function by displaying the symbols and news articles that have been most viewed by the client base that day. We expect to see the technology continue to be enhanced with thinkorswim tools. Single-stock futures, futures, and futures options will be added in the next few months. Cons . Not engaging in the quotprice wars, quot which is a mixed blessing. Stock transactions remain at 9.99, and options fees are near the top of the list. Many tools segregated on separate platforms. Pros . ETrade is another one-stop shopping destination, and features terrific mobile-trading applications. The broker has enhanced a number of services, including fixed income, research, retirement planning, active trader and advice-based tools. Its also implemented some navigation improvements, allowing for greater site customization and focused on better customer service. Mobile Pro for the iPhone is one of the best mobile-trading apps weve seen, and includes streaming video and options quotes. As the year goes on, ETrade plans to improve its mobile applications further the firm is being rewarded by a huge increase in trades placed via mobile devices. Portfolio margining is in beta test and should be available by summer. Cons . The Website could still use some streamlining, as navigation is occasionally confusing. Too much segregation of toolkits on different platforms. Whats still to come More investment opportunities more mobile applications more integration of various tools onto a single site and more education to support those intrepid investors whove sworn off full-service brokers. Oh yes, theres likely to be some more price cutting as well. Pros: Its recently-launched Web platform update, Flex Trading, is aimed at less-experienced traders who still want a lot of tools. The application is modular, encapsulated in widgets that you can move around and resize. Very nicely designed trade ticket for stocks and options. Downloadable application routes orders very efficiently. Low-end Web platform is rather sparse customers should bypass that in favor of the Flex app. Cons: Minimal feature crossover from one platform to another. Pricing is different for Web platform versus direct access. Pros: Excellent fixed-income resources, backed by a conservative and financially stable firm. Clients have access to numerous original bond issues and receive personal attention when adding to their fixed-income portfolios. Firm has very low margin fees. Muriel Siebert, president and CEO, says, quotSiebert has a special appeal to investors for whom peace of mind, safety, security, a variety of alternatives for diversification and a choice among multiple research and analytic tools mean more than paying the lowest commissions. quot Cons: Published pricing structure is very high though company officials insist that fees are negotiable. Website navigation is difficult. Pros . Low fees for stock and option trading make this an attractive place for very active traders. Range of offerings increased this year with the addition of foreign-exchange and complex options, plus Lightspeed Spotlight, an online social-networking community. Very fast trade executions and good customer service. Cons . No bonds or mutual funds, but thats not the customer theyre trying to attract. Must choose either Web or direct-access platform as customers cannot switch back and forth at will. Pros . A wide range of products that can be traded. StreetSmart Pro, Schwabs direct access software platform, offers some terrific filtering tools and the ability to enter conditional orders and some complex options. Schwab has many offices around the country, a plus for those who want face-to-face contact. Live-education events are well-run. Cons: The Website is feeling dated, and navigation gets more difficult as new features seem to be tacked on rather than incorporated into the structure. Pros: Added a huge amount of educational resources, both online and in branches. Nearly 450 offices around the country that provide customers with a local resource for education and support. Rodger Riney, Scottrades founder and CEO says, quotWe have always focused on providing exceptional customer service and feel it is important to have branch offices where our customers live and work. quot Just added some international trading. Cons: Separate platform (provided by OptionsHouse) for complex options trading. Like several other brokers, theres no single place to go to make use of all the firms offerings. Pros . Much improved Website along with company focus on improving support. Quote display, plus access to enhanced research, are much easier to use. Zecco added options features in the last year. We also appreciate the display of insider-trading activity on price charts. The Zecco community is nicely integrated into the new Web platform, including the ability to share screeners. First 10 stock trades per month are free for accounts with 25,000 or more. Cons . Can trade forex but its a separate account. Unable to enter conditional orders. Pros: Added options trading in the fall of 2009. The options platform includes streaming real-time chains, multi-leg strategy chains, integrated analytics, price modeling, riskreward assessment, and education in partnership with the Options Industry Council. Commissions are well below average. SogoTrade has launched their Webinar education series and plans to add to it as the year goes on. Cons: Cannot trade mutual funds or bonds. No conditional orders. Pros . Offers the RealTick platform to customers, which was one of the pioneers in providing streaming data and charts. RealTick has a lot of competition now. InstaQuote platform offers a variety of order types and options analytics. Cons: The firm has no proprietary platforms and recently dropped one of its third-party trading applications, forcing a migration of the remaining customers to a different platform. All platforms carry fees of 100month and up, depending on trading level. There are better deals out there. Pros . Low commissions and margin fees. J2Trader added real-time streaming quotes in 2009 streaming charts will be added by summer. Another addition this year is a mutual - fund screener. Just2Trade has Maxit tax accounting built in. Cons: No complex options. J2Trader only allows 15 symbols per watchlist. Trading application is very basic. Pros . Developing a new trading application, which will be launched in late spring. Thats a good thing because the existing Website is tired and in need of an update. Firstrade can be completely translated into Chinese, if desired. Cons: Current trading application is outdated. All reports show delayed data rather than real-time. Pros: Cobra IQ and OmniPro platforms offer streaming quotes and charting. Phones are answered quickly and customer service is polite. You can set up a custom-commission schedule. Cobra brokers will help you locate securities to sell short. Cons: Limited screeners and search tools. Cobras Web platform is extremely limited and has almost no tools. Software platform fees are high in comparison to other, more powerful, platforms.