The Big Three Online Brokers

Blain Reinkensmeyer

Posted on Wed 7th Jun, 2006 12:59:36 PM

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I am pretty excited to start this mini series as I think it will be an excellent read through for anyone looking to find out more about what’s out there or find an online stock broker that fits what they need. Today is the first post of a handful covering deep discount brokers.

I think a great way to kick off this mini series is to go into who’s out there to trade through. So, here is a list of some online brokers currently available today (in no particular order): TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, Etrade, Sharebuilder, Schwab, Fidelity, FirstTrade, TradeKing, OptionsXpress, Lowtrades, etc. Now, there are obviously many more out there, but the ones above stand out typically. Of these though three I like to call as the “big 3″ lineup. Who are they?

TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, and Etrade makeup the big 3 lineup of stock brokers, not only because of their vast numbers of clients (TD Ameritrade has over 6 million), but also because of their popularity on the net. Try a google search at the top right corner of this page and search, “stock trading online” and I am sure two of the three brokers above will show up. Marketing is a big piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting the word out, but there is a reason why these companies can afford to advertise so extensively; they have a specialty aspect to their business model.

Scottrade has been ranked #1 for investor satisfaction with online trading services for the last 6 times in a row. Ameritrade has one of the best if not the best customer relations departments out there, and Etrade has taken an account security stance unprecedented in the broker arena. All of these aspects are extremely important to different traders depending on what matters most to you.

I think it is important to know who the big three brokers are as you read through this mini series, because each of them stands out in their own way and independently separate themselves from small competitors. The further down the rabbit hole we go, the more you realize how separated these brokers are from the rest; it’s mind boggling. So what next? Tomorrow I will go into the different factors that people most consider when choosing an online broker, and how they really are or aren’t so important in the end.