Online brokerage firms provide an essential service by connecting investors and traders to the market 𝔉to buy and sell securities while catering to different trading styles and investment goals. Choosing one that is righ🍰t for you can become a challenge, especially for beginners taking their very first steps. The best online brokers for beginners provide their novice users with a secure, cost-effective platform equipped with excellent customer service and sound educational and research capabilities.
Investopedia found Charles Schwab to be the best overall online broker for beginners. Schwab requires no minimum deposit to open an account, charges no fees for stock and ETF trades, provides industry-leading education, and has strong customer service. To find the best overall offering, Investopedia researched 27 various online brokers and compared each company based on 28 different criteria. While Schwab took top spots in several categories, there are a few other excellent brokers worthy of consideration.
Best Online Brokers for Beginners for June 2025
- Best Overall, Best Broker for Investor Education, Best Broker for Customer Service: 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: Charles Schwab
- Best Broker for Ease of Trading: E*TRADE
- Best Broker for Research: 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: Merrill Edge
- Best for Young Investors: 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: Fidelity
Best Overall, Best Broker for Investor Education, Best Broker for Customer Service : Charles Schwab
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Charles Schwab
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0.65 per contract for options
Best Overall
Charles Schwab is our choice for the best overall brokerage service for beginners. Like most brokerage ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚfirms nowadays, Schwab has no minimum to open an account and offers no-fee stock and ETF trades. What sets Schwab apart, however, are the many extras the company provides to new traders, such as industry-leading education, great research capabilities, and strong customer service–tools essential to supporting new traders and fostering their growth.
Best Broker for Investor Education
Charles Schwab is also best for investor education due to its all-encompassing free educational offering, useful for investors of all skill levels. It contains well-written articles, high-quality videos, podcasts, and a quarterly magazine. Moreover, Schwab also provides free access to Schwab Coaching, a unique service where Schwab professionals teach live lessons on advanced trading concepts. Users can sign up for a live virtual workshop or attend an in-person event even without becoming a Schwab client. If any of the live content is missed, they can always catch up on the on-demand webcasts.
Best for Customer Service
Charles Schwab is also our top choice for customer service. It offers several communication methods to accommodate every customer in need. Clients can call or chat with a Schwab representative 24 hours a day. Unlike many online brokerages, Charles Schwab has physical locations nationwide that customers can use for their convenience.
Excellent education and customer service
Cost-effective platform with bro✱kerage, retirement, and custodial accounts
Access to advanced platforms such as thinkorswim
No fractional ETF shares
Uncompetitive 0.05% interest rate on uninvested🌟 cash
Does not offer direct cryptocurrency exposure
Charles Schwab is one of the largest online brokerage firms and is a great choice for beginning investors or traders. The company has no account minimums and offers a wide range of account types, including brokerage accounts, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:retirement accounts, and custodial accounts. Users get access to many financial instruments, such as stocks, options, bonds, ETFs, and futures. Schwab even offers 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:24-hour trading for its award-winning thinkorswim platform.
One key area for beginning traders where Schwab truly outshines the competition is education. The brokerage maintains a dedicated section on its website where clients and non-clients can learn everything from technical and fundamental analysis to financial and tax planning and even things like advanced trading concepts and strategies. The material is extensive and up-to-date and comes in multiple formats, such as articles, videos, podcasts, and live and on-demand coaching from a professional instructor.
Schwab also offers excellent customer service. Clients can expect fast and professional responses from Schwab’s representatives, who are available 24/7. On top of its general support number, clients are also provided a directory of different departments that they can call to receive faster service.Those who prefer a human touch can visit one of Schwab’s nationwide branches. Importantly, the company also maintains a directory for investors with disabilities where they can receive additional assistance.
Charles Schwab is an excellent broker and has won multiple categories, including best overall, best for education, and best for customer service. It does, however, have a few drawbacks. Schwab pays a very uncompetitive interest on uninvested cash of just 0.05%. In addition, Schwab does not provide access to fractional shares of ETFs or offer direct exposure to cryptocurrency; instead, it only offers spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.
Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Charles Schwab Review.
Best Broker for Ease of Trading : E*TRADE
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- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock, ETF, and mutual fund trades; $0 plus $0.50-$0.65 per contract for options, depending on trading volume
E*TRADE is our choice for beginning investors and traders who seek out an easy trading experience. Clients will appreciate its easy-to-use, yet incredibly powerful integrated platform, accessible via two highly-functional mobile apps and a sleek no-frills website. Whether using a mobile device or a desktop, users can intuitively manage their accounts, trade various financial instruments, utilize trading tools, and co🔯nduct research.
Smooth, functional, multifaceted platform
Excellent educational and research capabilities
Access to a wide variety of trading tools
Low interest rate on uninvested cash
Does not offer direct crypto exposure
Fractional shares are only available th⭕rough the dividend reinveꦗstment plan (DRIP) or a robo-advisor
E*TRADE is our choice as the best broker for ease of trading due to its versatile, multifaceted platforms that are beginner-optimized. New users don’t need a minimum deposit to open an account and enjoy no fees or commissions for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Options trading, however, does have fees and, depending on your quarterly trade volume, can cost between $0.65 and $0.50 per contract. Futures trades cost $1.50 per side plus fees.
In addition to its smooth trading experience, it doesn’t skimp on essential features like education. E*TRADE’s educational section is rich in content and covers both basic and advanced subjects. Users interested in derivati👍ves will find that E*TRADE goes the extra mile in teaching how to tr🎐ade options, provides access to past webinars, and offers an options boot camp training event and a forum to get guidance from other users. Users can sign up for future live webinars, which are free.
E*TRADE also equips it🐻s users with a good variety of trading tools and research resources. The broker provides real-time quotes and news sources, as well as access to independent research by Reuters, TipRanks, Morningstar, and Argus, along with their own proprietary research. E*TRADE also provides scanners, drawing tools, and technical indicators that beginners will find beneficial.
E*TRADE is a great choice for beginning traders, but there are a few areas where it falls short. The broker pays an uncompetitive interest on uninvested cash of between 0.01% to 0.15%. It also does not offer direct crypto exposure, although clients can trade crypto ETFs. Another potential downside is that E*TRADE does not offer fractional stocks or ETFs through regular trading–such shares can only be acquired through its robo-advisor or the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).
E*TRADE does not offer direct trading of cryptocurrencies. In January of 2025, several media outlets reported that the company is considering adding cryptocurrencies to its platform, but so far, no formal announcement has been made.
Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:E*TRADE Review.
Best Broker for Research : Merrill Edge
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- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0 plus $0.65/contract for options trades
Few can compete with Merrill Edge’s research. The broker has long focused on catering to diligent investors keen on studying the markets, which is why Merrill Edge is our choice for the best broker for research. The broker provides excellent proprietary research and a wide range of sophisticated independent research at no extra cost.
Exceptional proprietary and independent research
൲Seamless integration for Bank of America customers
$0 account minimum and $0 fees
Low interest for uninvested cash
Limited advanced features
Does not offer futures or cryptocurrencies
Merrill Edge, a subsidiary of Bank of America (BofA), is our choice as the best broker for research. The company’s proprietary research is superb. Merrill Edge’s nearly 4 million clients get access to Bank of America’s Global Research, a cutting-edge data platform that provides investors and traders with professional insights into global economics, investing trends, thematic reports, U.S. Economic Weekly, and much more. Merrill Edge also provides access to Idea Builder, an advanced interface that takes data from the Global Research platform and transforms it into easy-to-digest investing and trading ideas.
It’s important to note that while the Idea Builder is a convenient tool, especially for beginning traders, it's always best practice to conduct your own research through other independent agencies, which Merrill Edge also provides. At no extra cost, Merrill Edge clients get access to Morningstar, Lipper, MSCI, and CFRA. In addition to those independent reports, Merrill Edge also provides access to Trading Central, an advanced technology platform that specializes in high-quality fundamental and technical research capabilities.
Opening an account with Merrill Edge is easy, as it has $0 account minimums and $0 commissions for stock and ETF trades. Merrill Edge also offers seamless integration for existing Bank of America customers. There are a few downsides that prospective customers should keep in mind. While Merrill Edge does offer indicators and charting, the company’s platforms aren’t as advanced as those of some competitors. It also doesn’t support order routing control or algorithmic trading. Prospective customers should also note that the interest rate for uninvested cash with Merrill Edge is just 0.01%, and it does not provide access to cryptocurrency and futures trading.
Best for Young Investors : Fidelity
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Courtesy of Fidelity
- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0 plus $0.65/contract for options trades
Fidelity is our choice for the best broker that caters to youth investors between the ages of 13 and 17. What sets Fidelity apar♉t from its competitors is that the Fidelity Youth account is not a custodial account, where a parent or guardian makes all of the account decisions. The account holder–the teenager–can invest and manage their money with parental supervision, allowing them to learn financial literacy from a young, impressionable stage in their life.
🍒A youth-controlled account with parental sup🍬ervision
$0 fees to open an account and no subscription♊ღ fees
Excellent interest rate on u☂niဣnvested cash at 3.96%
Has trade restrictions for certain assets
The Youth Account may be subject to taxes
The account may affect federal financial aid for col🌠lege
Fidelity has an exceptional brokerage account designed specifically for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 and is our choice for young investors eager 🌳ꦚto grow their financial literacy from a young age.
Parents or guardians who are interested in opening such accounts will find the process straightforward. First, parents must be Fidelity membe൲rs. If there isn’t an existing account, parents can easily create accounts for themselves and the teenager who will be in possession of 🦄the youth account–all Fidelity accounts have $0 account minimums. Once the account is established, the teenager can download the app and activate it. They can also request a debit card that will be linked to the account.
Once the account is fully activated and funded, the account holder can start learning more about investing with Fidelity’s in-app lessons about the power of saving and investing. With as little as $1, they can invest in the majority of U.S. stocks, REITs, Fidelity mutual funds, and some Exchange-Traded Funds. While teenage account holders will have sole discretion on how they want to invest, parents and guardians can still monitor their accounts and see their investing and spending habits. In addition, Fidelity Youth Accounts also get to benefit from Fidelity’s broader 3.96% interest for uninvested cash.
It is important for parents and guardians to keep a few considerations in mind before opening and funding a Fidelity Youth account. One of those are potential tax liabilities, as earning capital gains with the account may require the teenager to file taxes. Furthermore, the account may affect the status and eligibility for college financial aid, such as FAFSA. Depending on how parents and guardians look at it, certain financial instruments may be unavailable, such as derivatives, penny stocks, cryptocurrency, and many others. However, given the complicated nature of trading such assets, the extra caution may not be a bad thing.
Survey Insights
According to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Invest🍰opedia's latest Reader Survey, our readers reveale🌌d that they still own their favorite stocks, despite tariff and recession-related worries being among their top concerns.
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Why You Should Trust Us
To find the best online brokerage for beginners, Investopedia independently collected numerous key data points from 18 leading online brokerage firms. The data we collected included a broker's range of offerings, research amenities, portfolio analysis, and account amenities. We compared each company to find which online broker is best for beginners and carefully constructed a list of other brokers best for various categories.
Survey Insights
According to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Investopedia’s latest Reade💎r Survey, readers still choose individual stocks as their top choice for where they would invest if they had an extra $1ꦑ0,000 on hand, even though their appetite for risk has faded since February. This is followed by ETFs, money market funds, and CDs.
How We Picked the Best Online 🧜Brokers for Beginners
Investopedia is committed to bringing readers a list of the best online brokers for beginners, which was methodically researched by Investopedia staff editors and data analysts and written by a staff writer. To find the best companies, we analyzed 27 leading brokerage firms and collected 28 different types of criteria that were carefully considered specifica🍒lly for beginning investors and traders.
The to꧃p picks were based on the following category weights:
- Range of Offerings: 5%
- Research Amenities: 14%
- Portfolio Analysis: 53%
- Account Amenities: 28%
The criteria collected was then used to compare each company to find which broker is best for beginning invest🌜ors. Data was collected between Dec. 20, 2024, and Feb. 19, 2025.
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