Scottrade is Our Choice for Best Overall Broker

Scottrade was founded in 1980 as Scottsdale Securities by Rodger Riney, the current President and CEO. Scottsdale Securities, which was founded in Scottsdale, AZ before moving its headquarters to St. Louis, changed its name to Scottrade in 2000 to reflect the brand image of their online brokerage web site. Since the Internet emerged as a platform for online trading, Scottrade has taken advantage of new technologies to advance the stock trading process for their customers. They are committed to growth and are continually working to ensure a seamless customer experience. The result is trading platforms and secure systems that give their customers a great trading experience.

Scottrade customers can now trade on a newly redesigned Web site that is easy to navigate with even more advanced stock trading features. Customers can manage their accounts, trade, find stock research and get quotes all within a site that has a new, updated look.

Commission Structure and Fees

Scottrade charges $7 per stock trade. While they do offer broker support for traders, they do charge an extra $20 for it. A broker assisted stock trade is $27. Their option fees are $7 plus $1.25 per contract, which are a bit heavy if you're an active options trader.

Scottrade does have a $500 new account minimum, but there are no inactivity, or other account fees.

Trading Tools

Customers can also trade on Scottrader, where they have access to live streaming quotes, news, top ten lists and interactive charts. Other valuable tools include personal stock lists and quick quotes to help traders track individual stocks and make timely trades when investing online.

ScottradeELITE is an advanced trading platform built exclusively for active traders. ScottradeELITE launches right from the trader's desktop and offers complimentary Dow Jones News, Comtex News, advanced charting capabilities, technical analysis and integrated Level II Quotes. And now, ScottradeELITE offers NASDAQ TotalView, which shows traders every bid and ask for every market participant, allowing them to more quickly make better trading decisions. (Level II and TotalView fees may apply.) ScottradeELITE is free to those who qualify. To download ScottradeELITE, customers have to maintain a minimum account value of $25,000.

Scottrade also offers mobile trading and an extensive knowledge center. The knowledge center offers investment education, how to articles, a trading newsletter that offers strategies and ideas, and interactive educational seminars that can be taken online, or in person at one of their branch offices.

Overall Assessment

We believe Scottrade is the best overall online broker in the market today. Their network more than 475 branch offices and high level of customer support create conveniences not found with other online brokers. This, along with their low trading costs and superior technology, make Scottrade the best choice for the average retail investor.