Best Online Brokers for Beginners for April 2025

Charles Schwab is one of the largest online brokerage firms, and is a great choice for beginning investors or traders. The company has no account minimums and offers a wide range of account types, including brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, and custodial accounts. Users get access to many financial instruments such as stocks, options, bonds, ETFs, and even futures.

One key area for beginning traders where Schwab truly outshines the competition is education. The brokerage maintains a dedicated section on its website where clients and non-clients can learn everything from technical and fundamental analysis, to financial and tax planning, and even things like advanced trading concepts and strategies. The material is extensive, up-to-date, and comes in multiple formats, such as articles, videos, podcasts, and even live and on-demand coaching from a professional instructor.

Schwab also offers excellent customer service. Clients can expect fast and professional responses from Schwab’s representatives, available 24/7. On top of its general support number, clients are also provided a directory of different departments that they can call to receive faster service.Those who prefer a human touch can visit one of Schwab’s nationwide branches. Importantly, the company also maintains a directory for investors with disabilities where they can receive additional assistance.

Charles Schwab is an all-around excellent broker and has won our multiple categories including best overall, best for education, and best for customer service. It does, however, have a few drawbacks. Schwab pays a very uncompetitive interest on uninvested cash of just 0.05%. In addition, Schwab does not provide access to fractional shares of ETFs, or offer exposure to cryptocurrency; instead, it only offers spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.

E*TRADE is our choice as the best broker for ease of trading due to its versatile, multifaceted platforms that are beginner-optimized. New users don’t need a minimum deposit to open an account and enjoy no fees or commissions for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Options trading, however, does have fees and, depending on your quarterly trade volume, can cost between $0.65 and $0.50 per contract. Futures trades cost $1.50 per side plus fees.

In addition to its smooth trading experience, it doesn’t skimp on essential features like education. E*TRADE’s educational section is rich in content and covers both basic and advanced subjects. Users interested in derivatives will find that E*TRADE goes the extra mile in teaching how to trade options, provides access to past webinars, offers an options boot camp training event, and a forum to get guidance from other users. Users can sign up for future live webinars, which are free. 

E*TRADE also equips its users with a good variety of trading tools and research resources. The broker provides real-time quotes and news sources, as well as access to independent research by Reuters, TipRanks, Morningstar, Argus, along with their own proprietary research. E*TRADE also provides scanners, drawing tools, and technical indicators that beginners will find beneficial.

E*TRADE is a great choice for beginning traders, but there are a few areas where it falls short. The broker pays an uncompetitive interest on uninvested cash of between 0.01% to 0.15%. It also does not offer direct crypto exposure, although clients can trade crypto ETFs. Another potential downside is that E*TRADE does not offer fractional stocks or ETFs through regular trading–such shares can only be acquired through its robo-advisor or the Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).

Merrill Edge, a subsidiary of Bank of America (BofA), is our choice as best broker for research. The company’s proprietary research is superb. Merrill Edge members will have access to Bank of America’s Global Research, a cutting-edge data platform that provides investors and traders with professional insights into global economics, investing trends, thematic reports, U.S. Economic Weekly, and much more. Merrill Edge also provides access to Idea Builder, an advanced interface that takes data from the Global Research platform and transforms it into easy-to-digest investing and trading ideas.

It’s important to note that while Idea Builder is a convenient tool, especially for beginning traders, it's always best practice to conduct your own research through other independent agencies, which Merrill Edge also provides. At no extra cost, clients get access to Morningstar, Lipper, MSCI, and CFRA. In addition to those independent reports, Merrill Edge also provides access to Trading Central, an advanced technology platform that specializes in high-quality fundamental and technical research capabilities.

Opening an account with Merrill Edge is easy, as it has $0 account minimums and $0 commissions for stock and ETF trades. Merrill Edge also offers seamless integration for existing Bank of America customers. There are a few downsides that prospective customers should keep in mind. While Merrill Edge does offer indicators and charting, the company’s platforms aren’t as advanced as those of some competitors. It also doesn’t support order routing control or algorithmic trading. Prospective customers should also note that the interest rate for uninvested cash with Merrill Edge is just 0.01%, and it does not provide access to cryptocurrency and futures trading.

Fidelity has an exceptional brokerage account designed specifically for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17, and is our choice for young investors eager to grow their financial literacy from a young age.

Parents or guardians who are interested in opening such accounts will find the process straightforward. First, parents must be Fidelity members. If there isn’t an existing account, parents can easily create accounts for themselves and the teenager who will be in possession of the youth account–all Fidelity accounts have $0 account minimums. Once the account is established, the teenager can download the app and activate it. They can also request a debit card that will be linked to the account.

Once the account is fully activated and funded, the account holder can start learning more about investing with Fidelity’s in-app lessons about the power of saving and investing. With as little as $1 they can invest in the majority of U.S. stocks, REITs, Fidelity mutual funds, and some Exchange-Traded Funds. While teenage account holders will have sole discretion on how they want to invest, parents and guardians can still monitor their accounts and see their investing and spending habits. In addition, Fidelity Youth Accounts also get to benefit from Fidelity’s broader 3.97% interest for uninvested cash.

It is important for parents and guardians to keep a few considerations in mind, before opening and funding a Fidelity Youth account. One of those are potential tax liabilities, as earning capital gains with the account may require the teenager to file taxes. Furthermore, the account may affect the status and eligibility for college financial aid, such as FAFSA. Depending on how parents and guardians look at it, certain financial instruments may be unavailable, such as derivatives, penny stocks, cryptocurrency, and many others. However, given the complicated nature of trading such assets, the extra caution may not be a bad thing.