Why You Should Trust Us
To find the best online brokerage for beginners, Investopedia independently collected numerous key data points from 18 leading online brokerage firms. The data we collected included a broker’s range of offerings, research amenities, portfolio analysis, and account amenities. We compared each company to find which online broker is best for beginners and carefully constructed a list of other brokers best for various categories.
How We Picked the Best Online Brokers for Beginners
Investopedia is committed to bringing readers a list of the best online brokers for beginners, which was methodically researched by Investopedia staff editors and data analysts and written by a staff writer. To find the best companies, we analyzed 18 leading brokerage firms and collected 27 different types of criteria that were carefully considered specifically for beginning investors and traders.
The top picks were based on the following category weights:
- Range of Offerings: 5%
- Research Amenities: 14%
- Portfolio Analysis: 53%
- Account Amenities: 28%
The criteria collected was then used to compare each company to find which broker is best for beginning investors. Data was collected between December 23, 2024, and February 19, 2025.
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