Starting with the bottom line, you can quickly evaluate which stockbrokers are too expensive to consider and which are just incompatible with the type of financial activity you’re interested in.
Step 4: Test the Broker’s Platform
While each brokerage should provide a reasonably detailed overview of the tools and resources available on their trading platform, sometimes the best way to assess platform quality is to give it a spin. If you can register an account for free with a broker, it may be worth your time to go through the signup procedure merely to have access to the trading platform.
Whether the brokerage offers a web-based platform that everyone can access or a free downloaded forum that requires no-strings-attached signup, do everything you can to get free access to the tools you’d genuinely use.
Even if you’re a more experienced trader and there’s no free way to experiment with “Pro” tools, you can get a fair sense of a brokerage’s products by glancing at its basic suite. However, if nothing on the stable platform appears intriguing, the advanced platform is unlikely to be worth your time as well.
However, some organizations include a plethora of tools and information with their free offerings, so don’t dismiss brokerages that use only one platform just yet.
We’ve already spent some time limiting down your options based on price and basic account features. Now that we’ve arrived at the fun part take some time to browse through the options offered in various regions.
Put yourself through the procedures of making a deal to see how smoothly the process works. Pull up numerous stock quotations and other securities quotes, and then click on each tab to discover what kind of data the platform gives. You could also look into any screeners or other available tools to help you identify investments that fulfill specified criteria.
Step 5: How Well Does the Stock Broker Educate Its Clients?
While a helpful trading platform is essential, you should also peruse the brokerage’s instructional programs and experiment with the search function.
If you’re a new investor, you should be able to search for unfamiliar terminology and get assistance in evaluating data. For example, if there’s a topic you’ve been curious about or a metric you’re not entirely sure about, try using the search tool to see if you can get the information you need quickly and efficiently.
Remember that what is logical and user-friendly for one investor may be a nightmare maze of useless search queries for another, so it’s critical to pick a platform with which you can collaborate.
After spending about 20 minutes cruising a platform, you should be able to answer the following questions rather readily. If you can’t, and a fast search of the site for specific answers yields no results, it’s probably a clue that the brokerage’s platform isn’t for you.
Step 6: Ease of Depositing and Withdrawing Funds
It’s critical to understand how simple it is to transfer money in and out of your brokerage account, significantly if you’re investing to supplement your regular income. Of course, if you want to use a more set-it-and-forget-it technique, withdrawing funds may not be as important. Still, life frequently throws us curveballs, so it’s a good idea to read the deposit, withdrawal, and funds settlement terms of any brokerage you’re considering.
Depositing Funds
How Can You Deposit Money Into Your Brokerage Account?
Determine whether you can deposit funds by check, ACH transfer, wire, or credit card (this isn’t always suggested, but it may be a possibility).
