How do you pick a good brokerage firm to open a brokerage account?

Question

Which ones are the best and how do you decide?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Customer need to select the firm that is best for them.  Traders have requirements in a firm, while investors have other requirements.  

Although firms are geared to general securities and commodities, however customers may have special needs for the types of products they provide and the markets in which they are members.

All major brokerage firms are the same and provide basically the same services.   There no such things as the "best" or "better" they're all the same,  

Every once in a while Barrons does a report of the best brokerage firms, but this is usually political and not a good indication of good, better, best firms

Answer 2

First of all, you need to first decide what kind of brokerage firm you want.  Do you want a full-service broker that will hold your hand or do you want a discount broker where you make the decisions on your own.  Of course the latter will be much cheaper in terms of commission.  After you have selected a type of brokerage firm, do some research.  Compare the commission rates and compare the services offered at brokers of the selected type.  It doesn't hurt to read reviews, but don't base your entire judgment on the rankings because every person has different criteria.

I currently use Firstrade, a discount broker, and one of the major reasons why I chose it is because it has a decent interest rate and also offers DRIPs.  It's also slightly cheaper than Scottrade.

Answer 3

Do you want advice or are you making your own decisions? I make my own decisions so have a discount broker. I'm very happy with TD Ameritrade. Good luck.

Answer 4

A broker or Financial Advisor is a relationship business.  So go to each brokerage house and meet some of the broker/FA and see which one you trust.  It all comes down to trust.  If you do not trust somebody why in the world would you give them your money.  

If you don't find any you like remember you can do it yourself via a discount broker like eTrade or Scottrade.