Brokers With Free Stock Trading Tools
When evaluating brokers, one of the most important aspects to consider after pricing and customer service is the availability of interactive trading tools. Trading tools are software applications designed to make your trading experience easier and more profitable. Most brokers offer a bevy of tools, all designed to take the pain out of researching and choosing appropriate investments. Check the brokers below for their tools and rich features.
1
TradeKing
- TradeKing offers in-depth technical analysis tools that help investors easily choose the right investments for their portfolios.
- Simulation tools such as tax impact analysis allows you to see the financial impact each trade can make on your bottom line.
- AutoTrade allows TradeKing to make sound investments for you, even when you aren’t online.
- Free access to investment tools, tutorials, webinars and other resources.
- Free access to independent research, fundamental and technical analysis and years of historical data designed to help investors make the best possible decisions.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $4.95 | $4.95 | $0.65 | $0.00 | $4.95 | $14.95 (no load) |
2
Scottrade
- Market news, streaming quotes and other up to the minute information are all available free with any Scottrade account.
- Options strategy analyzers help investors create the perfect customized trading strategy to increase profitability.
- You can monitor investments and initiate trade orders from one screen.
- Advanced mobile applications allows investors to monitor investment positions and execute trade orders from anywhere in the world.
- Get access to five star rated customer service team via email, online chat and telephone support services.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $7.00 | $7.00 | $1.25 | $500.00 | $27.00 | $0.00 - $17.00 |
3
OptionsHouse
- The Risk Analyzer tool allows investors to see the potential risks within their portfolio and with every new investment.
- Advanced options tools includes screeners that identify both call and put spreads that indicate a higher than average return potential.
- Virtual trading platform allows options investors to try out scenarios and view hypothetical results of stock trades before risking their investment dollars.
- Probability calculator allows investors to enter options strategy targets and evaluate the potential of the contract to reach the defined targets through historical analysis.
- Stock screeners make it easy to find appropriate stocks to purchase based on pre-defined user criteria.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $3.95 | $8.50 | $0.15 | $0.00 | $3.95 | $9.95 |
4
E*Trade
- Rated five stars by SmartMoney for their full suite of interactive trading tools designed to make investing as simple and profitable as possible.
- Offers a full line of stock, mutual fund, bond, and ETF screeners that make it easy to find the right investment quickly.
- Get access to online investment advisors who will review your portfolio and help you to create a well diversified investment plan.
- E*Trade offers several mobile trading applications designed to help investors “cut the cord” when it comes to trading.
- Their intuitive order entry interface allows investors to easily place buy, sell, and limit orders.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $7.99 - $9.99 | $7.99 - $9.99 | $0.75 | $500.00 | $45.00 | $0.00 - $19.99 |
5
Zecco
- New account holders can get up to 10 free trades by opening an account with $25,000 or more in initial deposits.
- Their easy trading order interface can handle all kinds of trades from the most complex options strategies to the simplest stock transactions.
- Get access to stock alerts and analyst upgrade/downgrade movements via Twitter, text message service or email for up to the minute notifications.
- Their application software programs make it easy to monitor your investment portfolio while you surf the Internet.
- Zecco offers strategy building software that allows investors to develop and test customized strategies from the ground up.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $4.50 | $4.50 | $0.50 | $0.00 | $19.99 | $10.00 |
6
OptionsXpress
- Offers several mobile trading applications designed to make investing easy and convenient.
- Free access to a powerful virtual trading tool that allows investors to test and adjust strategies before risking real money.
- Xtend is a convenient, comprehensive, downloadable trading platform that allows investors to trade from their desktop rather than from the Internet.
- Mutual fund, stock, bond, ETF and other screeners make finding the right investment simple and fast.
- Watch lists allow investors the opportunity to watch investments they hope to make, to monitor investments they have already made and to receive real time notifications via text message and more.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $9.95 | $0.00 | $1.50 | $0.00 | $9.95 | $9.95 + LOAD FEE |
7
tradeMONSTER
- Received high marks from both Barron's and SmartMoney for options trading, customer service and trading tools.
- Access to real trade activity via integrated Twitter application, which allows investors to see real time trades as they occur.
- tradeMONSTER offers Blackberry and iPhone mobile apps for busy investors on the go.
- What-if tool allows you to enter stock trading strategies and view hypothetical results in order to help you manage risk and create the best possible environment for trading success.
- AutoTrade feature allows investors to take advantage of professional recommendations without ever logging into their broker account.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $7.50 | $0.00 | $0.50 | $2,000.00 | $7.50 | $0.00 - $15.00 |
8
TradeStation
- Free access to tons of real time tools that help investors react quickly to volatile market conditions.
- Access to automatic trading tools allows investors to identify and react to opportunities faster than through traditional means.
- Combines research, analysis, trend data, charting and order entry on one, easy to use screen for the most comprehensive trading platform.
- Interactive strategy building applications allow you to build a custom trading strategy from scratch, which you can subsequently test in a virtual environment.
- Profit and loss and year-end tax calculators allow you to see the impact of your investment decisions before you make them.
| Stock Trades | Options Base |
| $6.99 - $9.99 | $1.00 |
9
Interactive Brokers
- Get access to real time quotes, including forex and streaming exchange rates, to give you an edge on your investing.
- Interactive Brokers offers a full service stock trading platform demo application that allows you to test drive their system.
- Powerful stock screeners allow you to navigate through thousands of penny stocks based on over 50 user defined criteria.
- Profit and loss and tax manager applications allow you to see the impact of your trading decisions before you make them.
- Access to real time, streaming stock quotes and exchange rates for up-to-the-minute trade management.
What To Expect From Brokers With Free Stock Trading Tools
If you are in the market for a new broker, you have probably seen a lot of time devoted to the promotion of trading tools. Trading tools are software applications designed to make your trading experience easier and more profitable. Most brokers offer a bevy of tools, all designed to take the pain out of researching and choosing appropriate investments. Here are a list of some of the more popular and useful tools being offered by brokers today:
- Screeners. Screeners are basically a database query designed to apply either preselected or user selected criteria against all of the investment vehicles on the market today. Common screeners include stock screeners, mutual fund screeners, ETF screeners and many more. Screeners help investors pick specific investments to review out of hundreds of thousands of potential options. What screeners can’t do is replace good research and analysis. Screeners can’t pick winning investments for you. But, what they can do is help you create a short list of potentially good investments, which can speed up your selection process and research. Consider using a stock screener to find out what stocks to buy.
- Strategy analyzers. Strategy analyzers work this way: you enter your trading strategy into the tool and the tool determines whether or not it is a viable one and may even suggest adjustments. Strategy analyzers help minimize the margin of human error made during trading; however, they can‘t ensure a positive result (or profit).
- Tax analyzers. This tool is extremely helpful when it comes to figuring out how your portfolio and the actions you take may affect your tax burden and what you will owe. Does it make sense to sell stocks and withdraw the money? What are the tax implications of removing money from your IRA to buy a home? These questions and many more can be answered by using a tax analyzer tool.
- Educational tools. Some brokers offer tools designed to teach you the ropes of trading by using an interactive, instant feedback educational tool. These can be extremely helpful for novice investors who are just getting their feet wet, but professional traders can also benefit from using such a tool, especially if they are getting into a new investment vehicle.
- Mobile trading platforms. This is an extremely popular tool that allows investors to trade anywhere by simply accessing an application on their cellular telephone. This is a location independent way to invest and trade.
- Real time and streaming quotes. This is one of the most basic offerings provided by brokers and offers a lot of value. Knowing how your investment is doing in real time at any given moment is the key to making profitable investments. In many cases, this tool can even be appended to a desktop, Internet browser or even cellular phone for easy and instant access to the markets.
Trading tools are an important resource for any investor. Each tool is designed to automate a specific aspect of trading and can help simplify complicated and sometimes confusing concepts, thereby allowing the trader to focus on making money.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Why isn’t TD Ameritrade included here?
Ed,
We are diligently working to add new brokers and services to our lists over time. We study each of these brokerages, firms and companies as well as their tools and applications carefully prior to including them in our resource lists. TD Ameritrade should be up shortly.