In our guide, we will cover the basics of online trading and analyze the best online brokers in the financial industry. Trading platforms were evaluated based on: commissions, minimum deposits, costs of trading, research and education available, trading tools, customer support, safety and regulations and more. Ideally, you want a brokerage that offers the best of both worlds \u2013 low costs and a comprehensive trading experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a full section with reviews<\/a> that might help you. You can also view our page and compare trading platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We base our reviews on brokers' fees, platforms, research, customer service, education, and more. Here are our top picks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also known as an electronic trading platform<\/strong>, an online trading platform is computer software that is used to place buy or sell orders for financial products online through a financial intermediary or online broker. There are many financial products that can be traded over the trading platform. These include currencies, commodities, derivatives, stocks, bonds, etc. These trading platforms allow trading for users independent of their physical location. The term trading platform can also mean just the computer software used for trading. Electronic trading platforms these days are mobile-friendly and available on all the major operating systems. Some trading platforms have charting tools, news feeds, research and other useful features built into them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When choosing an online broker here are some things to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the most popular trading markets today are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n All forms of online trading involve risk. You can lose money on the best trading platform if you are a bad trader. In terms of cyber security, generally speaking, online trading platforms are safe. Various regulators from different jurisdictions oversee the business practices of brokers and minimize threats. Reputable brokers also have their security measures. As a responsible online trader, you should have your security precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brokers are intermediaries between a buyer and a seller of a financial instrument. For these services, they charge a commission\/fee. You can buy and sell financial instruments online without needing a human broker. Brokers are essentially computer software used to place orders for financial instruments online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are various online brokerage account types available. Brokers offer different accounts ranging from retail to professional trading accounts, cash to margin, demo accounts and more. Demo accounts or practice accounts or Paper Trading are a perfect way to start for any trader. Most of the demo accounts offer the same functionality as real accounts, but without risking real money. Take advantage of this to get to know the platform and its features. Take a look at the best Paper Trading Platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A margin trading account is a type of account where a credit line is given by the broker. Margin accounts have stricter rules and require a minimum investment. One thing to note is the fact that a margin call can be made by the broker. A margin call happens when a broker demands for the investor to deposit enough money into his account so the account is brought to the minimum value. This minimum value is known as the maintenance margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Managed accounts are trading accounts where the trading is done on your behalf. The most popular managed accounts are Forex managed accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most brokers are market makers, but an ECN account gives you direct access to the markets. This means tighter spreads. A good example is IC Markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Direct access accounts are similar to ECN accounts. DMA accounts use a specific liquidity provider while ECN accounts trades are placed anonymously through a network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Different account tiers offer different fees, commissions, executions speeds and trading terms for traders. Usually account tiers are labeled as bronze, silver, gold, VIP or similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Direct access brokers allow traders to directly route orders through ECN (electronic communication networks), exchanges and market makers. Typical brokers or full-service brokers also focus on research and investment advice. They execute orders through a predetermined liquidity provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best online broker for beginners is eToro. eToro offers a great and easy to use trading platform paired with their social trading capabilities. We also have a full overview of social trading platforms. This makes it a great choice for beginner traders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copy Trading allows traders to automatically place trades by copying other selected traders. It is a popular strategy for traders to have a more hands-off approach to investing. A portion or full funds are linked to the copied traders account. Buy and sell, stop loss, take profits orders are automatically copied. To learn more, read our overview and analysis of the best copy trading platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SEC uses the term \u201cPenny Stock\u201d for a security that is issued by small public company and trade under $5 per share. Penny stocks are traded OTC and not on the trading floor. We compiled a list of the best Penny Stock Brokers where we take a look at the best trading platforms for Penny Stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most brokers offer mobile day trading<\/a> apps. Many traders want to have the ability to monitor, open and close trades from anywhere in the world. Apps allow you to research your investments<\/a>, track your portfolio, buy and sell securities and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best Mobile Trading apps for 2023 are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Binary options is one of the most straightforward financial instruments to trade. It is based on a simple outcome \u2013 will the underlying asset be above or below a specific price at a certain time in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The top rated trading platforms for binary options are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best ETF trading platform is Interactive Brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best cryptocurrency trading platforms are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Below there is a list of brokers with the lowest fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best discount brokers for international traders are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interactive brokers have the best charting capabilities. Real-time charts, parameters, trend lines, margin area, chart trader, multi-window are just a few that can be set-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pattern day trader or PDT rule was established in 2001 by FINRA and SEC. The PDT rule requires day traders that want to trade more than three times per day in a five-day period, to keep a margin account balance of at least $25,000. Some traders tend to use off-shore brokers to get around this rule, but that can be very risky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are ways to get around the pattern day trader rule:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many great resources available online to learn trading. Education should be a top priority for any online trader, beginner to advanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few ways to learn online trading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, you can start trading with less than 25k. The rule of having a minimum account balance of $25,000 was established in 2001 by SEC and FINRA. The rule only applies to margin accounts for pattern day traders. Real money accounts can keep a much lower account minimum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Online brokerage firms make their money in many ways. While some brokers charge $0 commission on stock and ETFs, trading other financial products incur a fee. This price war to the bottom led to some brokers offering low fees and cutting back on services like live support. Most brokers charge a spread or other types of fees like overnight funding fees, and inactivity fees, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":504972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","ub_ctt_via":"","_important_terms":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Ziga Breznik","author_link":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/authors\/"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Ziga Breznik","author_link":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/authors\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers-300x169.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers.jpg",1000,563,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers.jpg",1000,563,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers.jpg",1000,563,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-trading-platforms-and-brokers.jpg",1000,563,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ziga Breznik","author_link":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/authors\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":null,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Trading Platforms<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Trading Platforms<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 7 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on January 4, 2023","modified":"Updated on March 26, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on January 4, 2023 4:50 am","modified":"Updated on March 26, 2024 7:22 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506612"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514128,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506612\/revisions\/514128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506612"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicfinanceinternational.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=506612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Our top choices for 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Online trading platforms and online brokers explained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Things to consider when choosing a broker<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Types of trading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n
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Are online trading platforms safe?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do trading platforms work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Brokerage account types<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Some offer different levels or tiers of accounts such as gold, silver, bronze or VIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDemo Accounts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Margin Accounts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Managed accounts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ECN Brokers Account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
DMA Brokers Account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Account tiers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Online broker vs Direct access<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Best for beginners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Copy Trading Platforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Penny stocks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trading Apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Binary options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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ETF trading platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cryptocurrency trading platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Discount online brokers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Charting trading platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Brokers without the pattern day trader (PDT) rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to learn to trade?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Can you trade with less than 25k?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do online brokerages make money?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n