There are so many online stock brokers that it will take ages to write review on all of them. So, I am just going to pick Top 5 online stock brokers that are cheap, simple to use and easy to work with. I am writing this post for beginners who want to start investing with low capital and learn about the stock market.

1. Zecco : Zecco (aff.)opened in 2006, so they are fairly new in the market, but perhaps the cheapest. They offer 10 free trades every month if your total monthly trades are more than 25 or if your account balance is $25,000. If not, it is just $4.50 per trade, which is still ridiculously low.

I just opened an account with Zecco today because they have good reputation with penny stocks and the commission does not increase based on the number of shares you buy. And also, no minimum balance is required to open an account. I will post more information based on my personal experience later.

Update: Unlike other traders, Zecco has no hidden fees. Each trade is just $4.50 flat. I am extremely happy with the fees and the fact that I can trade any penny stocks unlike sharebuilder where there are only limited stocks available for trading. For newbies, I definitely recommend Zecco.

2. Sharebuilder : I have been using Sharebuilder for couple of years now. It has a simple and easy to understand fee structure. The cost of an automatic investment plan is $4.00 per trade. That is the cheapest rate in the market. Automatic investment plans are executed only on Tuesdays. The cost of a real time trade is $9.95 for 1000 shares.

I realized that Sharebuilder is not that good for trading penny stocks because first, they have very small number of penny stocks you are allowed to trade and second, the commission increases really fast when you buy more than 1000 shares. Obviously, you are not going to buy only 1000 shares of a stock that costs 10 cents per share.
The good thing about Sharebuilder is that it is owned by ING DIRECT. So, if you have money in your ING account then you can link that with Sharebuilder and transfer funds in real time. Like Zecco, Sharebuilder also does not require any minimum balance to open an account.

3. Etrade: Etrade is the perhaps the most well known online brokerage. It offers a flat-fee of $12.99, so the commission can not exceed that amount unlike with Sharebuilder. They have received 5 star rating for customer service, trading tools, research and banking service from SmartMoney. So, if you feel like you will be dealing with the people of the brokerage regularly, then go with Etrade. The are a publicly traded company since 1996 with the ticker ETFC, so you know they will be reliable.

4.Scottrade: For Scottrade, the online stock trades are just $7 for 1000 shares. They do require $500 to open an account though.They have also won numerous awards for customer service, ranking number 1 for years. They also have an award winning trading platform called ScottradeELITE which is built exclusively for active traders.

5.TD Ameritrade: TD Ameritrade offers 24/7 customer service and their commission is $9.99 – flat rate. They offer broker support in Canada and also in UK. They have service centers all around US and Canada and they offer Asset Protection Guarantee, so you have a peace of mind about keeping your money there.

There are numerous other online traders, but these are perhaps the cheapest ones that offer quality trading platform for Stocks Newbie like you.

Related posts:

1. Review of Stock Brokers: Option House Vs Zecco Vs Choice Trade Vs TradeKing