Best of
11 Best Discount Brokers 2020
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A discount broker is an online broker with rock-bottom pricing. Here, we’ve sorted through our top online brokers to surface the ones with the best no-fee brokerage accounts. They will help you keep transaction costs down without hindering your ability to trade stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other securities.
A discount broker is an online broker with rock-bottom pricing. Here, we’ve sorted through our top online brokers to surface the ones with the best no-fee brokerage accounts. They will help you keep transaction costs down without hindering your ability to trade stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other securities.
Summary of Best Discount Brokers 2020
| 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 | Up to $200 in Transfer Fee Rebates | $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 August 7, 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...
NerdWallet's Best Discount Brokers 2020
Frequently asked questions
There’s good news for investors — the primary fees charged by brokers, known as trading fees or commissions, have gotten much lower in recent years. As you can see in our table above, all of the brokers we've included here charge no trading commissions.
In addition to the trading fee or trading commission — if charged — there are a slew of other fees and charges to watch for, including ones for broker-assisted trades, as well as annual, transfer, closing and inactivity fees. (Lost? Here's our explainer on investment fees.)
In the table above, click on the review for each of our top-rated brokers to find out about any fees they may charge.
With a full-service broker, you pay higher fees in exchange for investment guidance and management, among other perks.
With a discount broker, you pay far less to trade investments, but generally, you’re in charge of managing your trades, and you’re likely to pay an extra fee if you want help from a person.
One brokerage that offers both low-cost trades and free access to broker-assisted trades is Zacks Trade.
If you’re looking to sidestep a broker entirely, you can try investing directly through a company’s direct investment plan (aka DRIPs). Keep in mind, though, that generally it’s not as easy as trading with a broker — and only some publicly traded companies offer such plans.
It’s easier than ever to invest in stocks with very little money, in large part because a growing number of brokerages and robo-advisors offer fractional shares. These allow you to buy a small piece of a stock share, instead of the entire share. That means rather than needing hundreds of dollars to buy a pricey stock, you can invest in many companies at amounts as low as, say, $5.
Some brokerages that allow for fractional purchases of stocks include Interactive Brokers, Sofi Active Investing, Stash and Motif. Meanwhile, Acorns lets you buy fractional shares of ETFs. A number of robo-advisors also offer fractional-share purchases.
Easy, now that many brokers have eliminated commissions: All the options above provide free stock trades.
If you have long-term goals you’re saving for, such as your own retirement or your kids’ college tuition, it makes sense to invest in the stock market because stocks offer the investment earnings that can power your savings.
Investing in the stock market usually means investing with a broker, because most banks don’t offer access to stock-market investments; or, if they do, those investments tend to be offered through an investment advisory that likely charges higher fees than a discount broker.
