Best Discount Stock Brokers

I know how much time it can take to find the right online broker, so I have looked round all the major discount stock brokers and spoke to a few of them on the phone to find out all of their charges.

I don't know about you, but I really hate hidden charges, so i've deliberately not included these, as they really get up my nose. If you use any of the online stock brokers below and find there are any hidden charges, I would be very grateful if you could drop me a line and let me know.

Zecco was established in 2006 and is now a well known broker. They offer very low commissions of just $4.95 per trade. They have no account minimums, maintenance or inactivity fees.

I did wonder if they would need to cut corners somewhere to get trading so cheap, but I haven't been able to find anything. The customer support is good. I have rang it a few times and got through quickly and spoke to a very competent person at the other end.

Zecco also offer a vibrant trading community, infact it's one of the best communities online. They have also won many awards including the "Best of the Online Brokers" award from Kiplinger.

Opening an account was very quick and easy, with just a 2 short forms to fill in, It only took me about 10 minutes.

The only negative I can say about Zecco is they do not currently have any special promotions at the moment.

Open an account with Zecco

Scottrade is a well established broker that offers competitive pricing at $7 per stock trade. They also have a fairly low account minimum of $500. This deep discount broker also has no account maintenance or inactivity fees. Scottrade won the award for "#1 for Customer Loyalty 2009" by Brand Keys.

One major advantage of scottrade over smaller brokers like Zecco is they have been established for decades and have several hundred local branches you can visit in person.

Open an account at Scottrade

TDAmeritrade have been around since the 1980's and are now one of the largest discount brokers in the world. They have over 500 local branches accross America and over 7 million clients. Surely, all these people can't be wrong? In my view they most certainly arn't.

One minor issue that is quite striking, broker assisted trades are $44.95 each. If you place trades online and don't call your broker, this cost won't affect you. I think they basically don't want you to call them to place trades!

TDAmeritrade have no account minimum, but if you deposit more than $2,000 in an account, they will let you trade for free for 60 days.

Open an account with TDAmeritrade

E-Trade are a popular broker. They aren't just a stock broker. They offer you the ability to trade just about every financial instrument imaginable, all from one platform.

They have been around for decades and have one countless awards. They also have some awesome promotions. Currently, if you open an account with more than $2,000 you get FREE trading for 60 days. They also offer bonuses up to $500 depending on the amount you deposit!

Trades cost $7.99 if you make more than 150 per quarter or $9.99 otherwise.

Click here to open an account with E-Trade

OptionsXpress is a long established broker founded in late 2000. They initially started as an Options brokerage, but have since added many additional instruments. Currently you can trade stocks, bonds, options and futures with OptionsXpress.

They charge a competitive $8.95 per stock trade. In all honestly, Optionsxpress does have quite a lot going for it. They offer excellent customer support, a great platform, free virtual accounts and no extra costs for broker assisted trading.

Open an account with OptionsXpress