Best of
14 Best Online Brokers for Free Stock Trading
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Welcome to the new era for free stock trading.
While stock trading price steadily declined in recent years, only a handful of brokerages offered $0 trades until October 2019, when the race to zero commissions broke into a sprint led by Charles Schwab. Now commission-free trades for stocks, exchange-traded funds and options are the industry standard among top online brokerages.
Here are NerdWallet’s picks for the best brokers for commission-free trading. (Need to back up on this process? See our step-by-step instructions for how to buy stocks.)
Welcome to the new era for free stock trading.
While stock trading price steadily declined in recent years, only a handful of brokerages offered $0 trades until October 2019, when the race to zero commissions broke into a sprint led by Charles Schwab. Now commission-free trades for stocks, exchange-traded funds and options are the industry standard among top online brokerages.
Here are NerdWallet’s picks for the best brokers for commission-free trading. (Need to back up on this process? See our step-by-step instructions for how to buy stocks.)
Summary of Best Online Brokers for Free Stock Trading
| Broker | NerdWallet Rating | Commissions | Promotion | Account Minimum | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$0 per trade | Up to $600 cash credit with qualifying deposit | $0 | on Merrill Edge's website | ||
$0 per trade | None no promotion available at this time | $0 | on Interactive Brokers's website | ||
$0 per trade | Up to $5,000 cash credit with a qualifying deposit | $0 | on TradeStation's website | ||
$0 per trade | Free career counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit | $0 | on SoFi Invest's website | ||
$0 per trade (on eligible US securities) | $50 - $3,500 in cash bonus with qualifying deposit. | $0 | Read review |
on Merrill Edge's website
Merrill Edge
Fees
per trade
Account Minimum
Promotion
cash credit with qualifying deposit
on Merrill Edge's website
on Interactive Brokers's website
Interactive Brokers IBKR Lite
Fees
per trade
Account Minimum
Promotion
no promotion available at this time
on Interactive Brokers's website
on TradeStation's website
TradeStation
Fees
per trade
Account Minimum
Promotion
cash credit with a qualifying deposit
on TradeStation's website
on SoFi Invest's website
SoFi Active Investing
Fees
per trade
Account Minimum
Promotion
career counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit
on SoFi Invest's website
Want to compare more options? Here are our other top picks:
Last updated on September 14, 2020
Methodology
NerdWallet's ratings for brokers and robo-advisors are weighted averages of several categories, including investment selection, customer support, account fees, account minimum, trading costs and more. Our survey of brokers and robo-advisors includes the largest U.S. providers by assets under management, plus notable and/or emerging players in the industry. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include advisory fees, branch access, user-facing technology, customer service and mobile features. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.
To recap our selections...
