Best online brokers 2019

Want to trade stocks? On these measures, the brokerage firms below earned their place on our list of the best online brokers for stock trading. We evaluated brokerage firms and investment companies on the services that matter most to different types of investors. For example, for active traders, we've noted online brokers with low or no commissions and robust mobile trading platforms. For people venturing into investing for the first time, we've included the best online brokers for educational resources including webinars, video tutorials and in-person seminars and on-call chat or phone support. Read on to see our picks for the best brokers, alongside links to our investing experts' in-depth reviews on each.

Best Online Brokers

Questrade claims the top spot in this year's edition of our online broker rankings. Here's everything you need to choose the broker that's right for you. NOTE: These rankings are based on data collected in May and do not reflect changes which may have taken place since then.

Canadians have never had more options when it comes to managing their investments, from full-service brokerages and financial advisors, with their often hefty fees, to an emerging crop of robo-advisors offering hands-off, low-cost portfolios.

However, many investors want the best of both worlds—low fees and access to a full range of investments—and they prefer to take personal control of where their money goes. For these investors, online brokers remain the best choice.

But, among the dozen or so firms serving Canadians, which is the best online broker in Canada for your investing style and needs? For the seventh year in a row MoneySense has teamed up with Glenn LaCoste, the founder of Surviscor , a firm that analyzes banking and brokerages across North America, to bring you the most definitive ranking of the Best Online Brokers in Canada for Boiled down, LaCoste says, all the online brokers can do the same thing—that is, provide quotes, and allow you to buy and sell stocks.

Go here for our full comparison tool of all 13 online brokers to see how they stack up. See full online broker comparison tool for details. And the ads appear to be working. This is an online broker that continues to invest and innovate at a time when many of its rivals have stagnated. However, despite what was happening behind the scenes, Qtrade continued to innovate, and remains near the front of the pack in our ranking.

While it may not lead in most categories, Qtrade does things well across the board and adapts fast to new advances in the industry. TD Direct Investing has improved a lot in the past several years, distinguishing itself from the other bank-owned brokers. Many of its innovations draw inspiration from its operations in the U.

Some online brokers excel in areas that may be important to certain customers. Explore each category below:. Secondly, traders need to be aware of what are called ECN fees. These are tiny yet confounding fees from electronic communication networks and exchanges that get passed on to traders in certain types of transactions over and above stated commissions.

You can read more about ECN fees and how to avoid them here. Surviscor takes into account commissions on U. The discount broker scene could see a commission shake-up in the near future. Interactive Brokers is a new entrant to the ranking this year. They also offer the cheapest commissions for options traders.

User experience is a critical category, says LaCoste. The category encompasses 13 criteria that cover the full range of experiences investors have with online brokers, from ease of customization and design, to account information and management to order placement including equity, ETF, options, mutual funds, bonds, global equities and alternative orders to navigation and user protection.

As noted above, Qtrade does well in every broad category we looked at. Even though the broker may not come in first place in every category, Qtrade has no glaring holes in its offering. And Qtrade has developed a reputation for quickly adopting the best features from other online brokers. BMO InvestorLine scores well in this category because of its notifications and alerts and planning tools.

As described above in the best overall brokers category, when it comes to the experience of placing orders, no broker makes it easier. But unlike mutual funds, they generally come with much lower management fees, and are bought and sold like stocks. With some online brokers, on the other hand, investors can avoid paying commissions on ETF trades altogether, making them a cheaper alternative. There is a catch—the commissions are waived only on orders of ETF units or more.

Of all the online brokers we looked at, Qtrade is often near the top in each category, but not quite number one. Qtrade does well in other areas, such as by producing ETF reports and providing investors with product watch lists to keep them informed. Access to timely market research data is critical, and that is one of the metrics Surviscor considered when grading the brokers. Points were also awarded for the brokerages that make it easiest to get quotes fast, and that offer market information, charting features, technical analysis, equity research, portfolio, market notifications and screening tools.

TD Direct Investing has held the top spot in this category for many years. They offer best-in-class market information, providing up-to-date snapshots of market movers and the ability to screen those results easily. Investors can visualize how stocks compare to industry peers in terms of fundamentals, and TD offers extensive screening tools with many criteria to chose from. Bonus: TD Direct Investing offers good market notifications and alerts.

Qtrade also offers very good technical analysis tools. Having access to your portfolio on the go is critical; but needing a separate app on your phone to do that no longer is. Ideally, an online brokerage website should give you all the same access to tools and analysis on your mobile device as you do on your desktop, but unfortunately for now that is hardly ever the case.

This is the first year Interactive Brokers have been included in the rankings. Designed for advisors the retail platform for Interactive Brokers is geared at very active traders.

And while other online brokers skimp on features when it comes to the mobile versions of their websites, Interactive Brokers offers all the advantages of the platform they built for professions but on mobile. Questrade offers a mobile app, but they also have a well-designed responsive website that adjusts to any mobile screen and works across all devices.

This category can be summed up with a question: Which online broker makes it easiest to get set up and start trading? Surviscor looked at things like the onboarding experience for first-time customers, and how intuitive the platforms are. Questrade gets it. This broker has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to the application process for new accounts. While some brokers still require hand-written signatures and an in-person visit to a branch—where salespeople can pitch you on high-fee funds and other products that will transfer more dollars from your pockets to theirs—everything is digital with Questrade.

TD Direct Investing stands apart for the educational resources it offers first-time DIY investors, with webinars and online interactive masterclasses geared to all levels of investors. Hands down, Questrade offers the most options for its customers and potential customers to reach its representatives, and had the quickest average response time to boot, at 10 hours.

This list is presented in alphabetical order:. There are seven main categories reviewed, with 43 separate criteria, with industry rankings in each based on Surviscor data. Customer service data was logged over a 12 month period ending April It's important to note that our editorial content will never be impacted by these links. We try our best to look at all available products in the market and where a product ranks in our article or whether or not it's included in the first place is never driven by compensation.

For more details read our MoneySense Monetization policy. Your email address will not be published. I need to know which online brokers willingly provide hard copy T etc. March 25th, I have been a customer of TD Waterhouse for many years but they are currently having extremely serious technical problems with little evidence of any progress on a solution. Please do not even consider doing business with this company as you are risking the loss of significant amounts of money.

What a crazy and stupid reviews. After I searched in depth, the Interactive broker was the best. The interest on your margin is 1. I can go on…. What about data? Each time I place an order I have to open up yahoo finance to get a real time quote. How ridiculous is it that a broker where I am paying commissions wants to charge for data that is FREE though a search engine? No one ever mentions the ECN fees at Questrade. I am firing them. Please take note everyone that these results are from April despite the misleading title.

As the leading contributor to this article I would like full transparency thus this note. We have reached out to MoneySense to resolve the title issue. Ask MoneySense. Ask a Planner. Retired Money. Photo created by ijeab - www. Things we like: Data, data, data. Qtrade Investor.

Back to category menu Best online broker for mobile access Having access to your portfolio on the go is critical; but needing a separate app on your phone to do that no longer is.

Interactive Brokers This is the first year Interactive Brokers have been included in the rankings. TD Direct Investing TD Direct Investing stands apart for the educational resources it offers first-time DIY investors, with webinars and online interactive masterclasses geared to all levels of investors.

Back to category menu Best online broker for customer service 1. Comments Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Related Articles. Ask MoneySense Can you gain entry to your formerly shared home after a separation? Marlon's name is still on the mortgage of a Ask a Planner 10 podcasts to amp up your investing and financial confidence These Canadian resources make it easy to bone up Some are suggesting Baby Boomers set back their retirement Retirement How the coronavirus pandemic could change the way we think about retirement in Canada Will we still be able to choose from the Columns Why a prenuptial agreement is a good idea Michael is thinking about proposing to his girlfriend, and

Fidelity - Best research experience. - Best for IRA accounts.

To find the best online brokers in , we went ahead and did the research for you. After testing, analyzing and comparing 61 brokers, 5 made it to the top. We highly recommend all 5 to you. And now, without further ado What makes a good online broker?

Disclosure: We are committed to recommending the best products for our readers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to products, but this never affects our reviews or recommendations.

Disclosure: TheSimpleDollar. However, the rankings and listings of our reviews, tools and all other content are based on objective analysis. For more information, please check out our full Advertising Disclosure.

Who Are 2019’s Best Online Brokers?

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Market volatility is commonplace. Interest rates, which a few months ago seemed certain to rise, now look likely to remain flat or possibly decline. The chances of an economic slowdown in the U. Online discount brokerage firms are happy to accommodate.

Best online brokerage accounts 2019

Jordann Brown. What is an Online Broker? How Do Online Brokerages Work? Online Broker vs. An online broker lets you buy and sell stocks online within your trading account. Online brokers operate on the same principle of investing for growth as mutual fund managers and robo advisors. Online brokers offer investment options that are both higher risk and higher return than savings accounts or GICs, and these higher returns help you save for retirement over the long term. Where online brokers differ from mutual fund managers and robo advisors is how they deliver that service.

Questrade claims the top spot in this year's edition of our online broker rankings. Here's everything you need to choose the broker that's right for you.

We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.

Best online brokers for 2020

Consider this if you want a trading platform with great market access and minimal fees. Saxo Markets is the best online brokerage in Singapore because it combines low cost, great market access and easy user interface into one platform. First, Saxo charges just 0. It also offers a clear advantage due to its wide reaching foreign market access. Read our full review. On top of it's low fees, Saxo offers online trading in 36 global markets, and market leading commission rates for the major international markets such as the U. Additionally, Saxo is one of the best platforms for trading foreign currencies, since its FX spreads are consistently among the lowest available, beating competitors by a significant margin. Finally, our analysts found Saxo Markets's trading platform to have the most intuitive user interface. Contracts for difference CFDs allow individuals to speculate on the future price of an underlying asset, without actually owning the asset. CFDs are also traded on leverage, giving traders additional buying power. For these reasons, they are popular among experienced traders in Singapore. Below we highlight two platforms that stand out for CFD trading.

Best Online Stock Trading Brokers for 2020

With so many different types of online stock brokers available to investors, it can be tough to choose one that works best for you. When we started our online broker reviews in the fall of , no one knew how the world would change. We recognize that we all are living through a particularly volatile time as we deal with this global crisis, and financial markets have also seen unprecedented change, impacting all investors. Our analysis of the online brokerage industry is, " Commission Cuts, Consolidation, and a Coronavirus Crash. Our mission has always been to help people make the most informed decisions about how, when and where to invest.