Best Broker for Small Investors
If you’re looking for the best broker for a small
investor, chances are you’ve heard a lot of positive reviews
about TD Ameritrade services and platform. They are one of the “free brokers” out there when
considering all the value they provide relative to their straightforward costs. This article will go
over all the major advantages of trading with TD Ameritrade.
Local Branches
With so much emphasis on cost-cutting these days, many of the discount brokers don’t have physical locations anymore. That’s not true for TD Ameritrade, which boasts more than 450 local branches spread out across the U.S. This is a great convenience for investors, as you can easily schedule walk-in appointments to get help with your investment planning or assistance with account issues.
Straightforward Commissions/No Surcharges
Some brokers charge their customers an additional fee on top of their standard commission for trading penny
stocks, while other brokers don’t even offer penny stocks. A great feature of your TD Ameritrade account is that
they have a straightforward, fixed commission of $0 for all equity trades.
No Account Maintenance or Inactivity Fees
Right in line with TD Ameritrade’s straightforward commissions, they are a very transparent broker when it comes to fees in general. They don’t charge any account maintenance or inactivity fees, which means you could open an account today without depositing a dime and still take advantage of all their great benefits and features for free. Trading is really the only action where they charge you, besides small fees for certain things, like wire transfers or choosing paper statements over electronic ones.
Trading Platforms
When it comes to trading software and platforms, this is another area where TD Ameritrade leaves little to be desired. They boast a variety of different trading platforms, from their website and mobile app, which are best for basic functionality, to their Trade Architect and world-class Thinkorswim trading platform. Thinkorswim is highly-regarded among equity and option traders for its advanced features and user friendly approach to building complex options trades.
Free TD Ameritrade Account
Open TD Ameritrade Account
Practice Trading
TD Ameritrade offers Paper Money virtual trading accounts free of charge within its Thinkorswim software. This feature is a great way for beginners to get as close to the real thing as possible without risking actual money, and similarly is used by experienced traders to test out new strategies.
Trading Community
TD Ameritrade investors can easily access the broker’s myTRADE investor community to learn from experienced traders and see what trades other TD Ameritrade clients are putting on in their accounts.
Free Level II Quotes
All TD Ameritrade accounts, regardless of their balance or trading volume, receive free, real-time level II quotes. This is a big benefit, because many brokers don’t offer real-time level II quotes, or if they do they come at an extra cost.
Leading Research and Tools
Also free with your TD Ameritrade account is a rich selection of third-party equity research reports from a dozen firms, including Standard & Poor’s,
Morningstar, and TheStreet. In addition to research reports, TD Ameritrade also boasts robust screening tools for stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs.
Mutual Fund Selection
TD Ameritrade boasts one of the strongest selections of mutual funds that we’ve seen with any broker. They offer more than 13,000 mutual funds, with about 2,500 of them being commission-free.
Free DRIP
Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIP) are a convenient feature of many brokers because they allow you to choose to have your broker automatically reinvest any dividends your investments pay instead of receiving them as cash and having to pay a commission to buy more of the stock. TD Ameritrade offers a DRIP service free of charge, and lets you individually choose which of your investments you want included in your DRIP.
No IRA Fees
Another great feature of TD Ameritrade is that their IRA accounts are similar to standard accounts in that there are no setup, termination, or account maintenance fees.
Great Customer Service
Having had to contact customer service for a variety of brokers, we can safely say that TD Ameritrade has some of the best customer service in the brokerage space. They offer chat, email, and phone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The representatives we’ve gotten on the phone have always been very knowledgeable and wait times are usually less than a minute.
Free TD Ameritrade Account
Open TD Ameritrade Account
Best Broker for Small Investors Summary
It was tough to summarize all of the advantages and benefits of trading with TD Ameritrade in one article. There are so many reasons to go with TD Ameritrade, whether you are a frequent day trader, long-term investor, or brand new to the markets. They offer high quality features and platforms that cater to all types of investors, all for a reasonable and straightforward commission schedule.
