HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD STOCK BROKER

Investing in the stock market is no child's play. I n most cases the use of a good stock broker and even a financial specialist is an element one can not ignore if you want to make success in this market.

List of some stock brokers online are TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, E-trade,Fidelity, Tradeking, Just2trade, Sogotrade, Nobletrading, Trademonster, Cobra trading, Sharebuilder and so on.

To invest through any stock broker, you need to consider the following points.

DISCOUNT OR FULL SERVICE BROKER:

There are two types of Stock Brokers: discount brokers and a full service brokers. Full service brokers as the name implies are brokers that renders more full financial services to their clients. They gives financial advice, strategies, stock recommendations to guide their client to achieve his/her major goal/objective in the stock market. But this type of brokers due to their detailed services they charge more commissions. A discount brokers usually charges lesser commission and performs only the primary function of carrying out your buy and sell orders. They don't care about your investment portfolio or objective. So, the type of broker you choose depends on what you want.

COMMISSION,FEES AND ACCOUNT MINIMUM:

The two biggest fees when dealing with an online brokerage are the fee per trade and maintenance fees. The fee per trade (is also called commission) is what you pay to execute a stock trade. Maintenance fees are additional fees that are charged monthly, quarterly or yearly. To start global stock trading, brokers requires different account minimum, some are as low as $250 initial deposit while there are others collecting as high as $2,000 initial deposit. A broker's website will list the fees, commissions and start-up capital, so make sure you check that out.

REPUTATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICES OF THE BROKER:

It is very necessary that you evaluate the reputation of any broker you intend dealing with. Check if they are registered with any regulatory body. Ask questions through friends and in forums about the broker. You can also test their customer service by contacting them to see how fast or slow they attends to their customers requests.