17 Best Trading Platforms for Stock Trading 2024 (2024)

Sam Levine, CFA, CMT, the lead writer for StockBrokers.com, has over 30 years of investing experience and actively trades stocks, ETFs, options and futures. He's held roles as a portfolio manager, financial consultant, investment strategist and journalist. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designations and served on the board of directors of the CMT Association.

Blain Reinkensmeyer has been investing and trading for over 25 years. After having placed over 2,000 trades in his late teens and early 20s, he became one of the first in digital media to review online brokerages. Blain created the original scoring rubric for StockBrokers.com and oversees all testing and rating methodologies.

For this guide:

• Whenever possible, we used our own brokerage accounts for testing. For several brokers, we used a test account that was provided to us.
• We collected 3,528 data points (196 per broker).
• We tested each online broker's website, browser-based trading platform (where applicable), downloadable desktop trading platform (where applicable), and of course, the mobile app (or apps in the case of several brokers).
• We met with the product teams of nine online brokers.

Our writers maintained active, funded online brokerage accounts for testing. In certain circ*mstances, a demo account was provided by the broker.

As part of our annual data check process, we sent a data profile link to each broker summarizing the data we had on file and the data they provided us last year, with a field for entering any data that had since changed. For the brokers that filled out these profiles, we audited the information for any discrepancies between our data and the broker’s data to ensure accuracy.

As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones in a live meeting that took place in the fall. Meetings with broker teams also took place throughout the year as new products rolled out. Insights gathered from these calls helped steer our testing efforts to ensure every feature and tool was assessed.

Once our data collection, auditing, and trading platform testing was completed, we entered our final 1-10 opinion scores of each broker's key area (Commissions & Fees, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education, and Ease of Use). We then ran all the collected data through our proprietary scoring engine to determine each broker's Overall percent score and rating.

We tested 17 online trading platforms for this guide:

• Ally Invest review
• Charles Schwab review
• eToro review
• E*TRADE review
• Fidelity review
• Firstrade review
• Interactive Brokers review
• J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing review
• Merrill Edge review
• Public.com review
• Robinhood review
• SoFi Invest review
• tastytrade review
• TradeStation review
• Tradier review
• Vanguard review
• Webull review

Fidelity is a broker I use almost every day. It’s also StockBrokers.com’s Best Overall thanks to its industry-leading research, convenient trading tools, and an easy-to-use mobile app. All essential features are clearly labeled and easily understood by everyday investors.

Fidelity provides a ton of news and market commentary, along with extensive education on a wide array of investment options. If you’re new to investing, you’ll appreciate a huge library of helpful articles, too. Read full review.

Fidelity Mobile app gallery

Fidelity research gallery

E*TRADE won StockBrokers.com’s No. 1 awards for Investor App and Web Trading Platform in 2024. Offering not one but two apps, my takeaway is that E*TRADE Mobile provides usability and depth for what matters most to casual investors: portfolio management, quotes, watch lists, market research. Power E*TRADE hits the sweet spot for beginning to intermediate traders. I found it to have just enough tools to be useful without it being so bogged down with features that it was confusing. Tools such as Live Action Scanner are top-notch. Read full review.

E*TRADE Mobile apps gallery

E*TRADE Mobile, one of two strong apps the broker offers. Press play for a tour of its features.

Whether you are day trading, options trading or futures trading, I found Charles Schwab's trading platform thinkorswim to be a winner in StockBrokers.com’s comparison testing. I prefer thinkorswim desktop for monitoring huge watch lists, charting, and watching streaming market news. Meanwhile, for casual investors, thinkorswim web gives traders an easy way to quickly manage their account while accessing essential trading features. Read full review .

thinkorswim gallery

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A trading platform, otherwise known as an online brokerage account, allows you to buy and sell investments via computer or mobile app. The brokerage holds your investmenta and deposited cash for you and provides activity reports and account statements. It also credits any interest accrued and dividends to your account. To open an online broker account in the United States, you will need a Social Security number and you will be required to enter basic financial information such as your name, address, phone number, and trading experience.

In the United States, brokers are regulated by both FINRA and the SIPC. The SIPC insures $500,000 per account including up to $250,000 in cash against theft or the firm going belly-up. It’s important to remember, however, that insurance does not protect any investor against losses due to market fluctuations.

Most trading platforms in the United States don’t require minimum account balances. Now you can open an account, fund it with a dollar or two, and buy a fraction of a share of stock. You can also practice investing with no money at all at a broker that offers virtual trading, also called paper trading. See our top broker picks for paper trading.

There are two types of stock brokers. Online stock brokers, meaning companies like E*TRADE and Fidelity, allow you to buy and sell stocks. Traditional stock brokers — individuals who pass a series of exams and work at brokerages — buy and sell stocks on behalf of clients. Traditional stock brokers often work for corporations and may earn commissions on the products they sell you (they are salespeople), and that may affect their advice.

If you are looking to buy and sell stocks on your own, you are looking for an online broker. When you open an account with a regulated brokerage, you can deposit money and make investments in the stock market.

If you want someone to manage your money for you, you will want to hire a financial advisor. We prefer registered investment advisors who are paid a predictable fee over registered representatives who charge commissions. To get started finding a registered investment advisor, search our sister site, investor.com.