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Standout Online Brokers For Stock Trading
There are a lot of online brokers out there. So many, in fact, it can be overwhelming to weed through all the options — good and bad — and then confidently choose one. Social scientists call this “information overload”. We call it inconvenient. To make the search easier, we created this shortlist of standout picks from our partners. And with low commission rates, impressive investing tools, easy-to-access research and more, they’re a great choice for most investors.
Broker | Highlights | Commissions | Account Minimum | Current Offers | Start Investing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 NerdWallet rating | Breadth of research; strong educational offerings | Commissions $0 per trade | Account Minimum $0 | Current Offers Up to $600 cash credit with qualifying deposit | on Merrill Edge's website |
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 NerdWallet rating | Large selection; low fees | Commissions $0 per trade | Account Minimum $0 | Current Offers None no promotion available at this time | on E*TRADE's website |
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 NerdWallet rating | SoFi Active Investing: Cryptocurrency trading; fractional shares. | Commissions $0 per trade | Account Minimum $0 | Current Offers Free career counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit | on SoFi Active Investing's website |
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 NerdWallet rating | A well-rounded online brokerage with top research and educational content. | Commissions $0 per trade | Account Minimum $0 | Current Offers None no promotion available at this time | on TD Ameritrade's website |
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Want to earn a high APY on your savings?
Savings accounts offer you access to your cash whenever you want. If you want instant access to your money, a savings account is a good alternative or compliment to a broker account.
| Bank | APY | Monthly Fee | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
 at American Express National Bank, Member FDIC | 0.60% With $0 minimum balance | $0 | Pros
Cons
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 at Chase, Member FDIC | 0.01% With $0 minimum balance | $5 Waived with $300 minimum balance | Pros
Cons
|
See the possibilities
Predicting exactly how much money an investment will return would be magic. Unsurprisingly, no such crystal ball exists. You can, however, crunch the numbers with a compound interest calculator and guesstimate a range of different outcomes. As a starting point, the average annual return from the S&P 500 was just below 7% for the 10-year period 1996-2016.*
Estimated Future Balance: $14,290
Check out those gains
With investing, time is your friend. The sooner you start, the longer you'll have to let compound interest do its thing.
Disclaimer: This is hypothetical and in no way predicts future performance. The average annual nominal return of the S&P 500 the last 30 and 10 years was calculated by the geometric mean with no adjustment for inflation. Investments that pay higher rates of return are generally subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long-term investments. The hypothetical performance above does not take into account fees or sales charges.
