Snake on side of road On Nut

[StevieN]

Anyone have any suggestions for online brokers to buy stocks in US and elsewhere?

I am not a very active (nor rich) investor so would like to avoid the need to fund trading accounts with USD 10,000 such as is needed with the interactive brokers site.

Any suggestions more than appreciated.

[MrRealDeal]

All the usual ones only need 500 or so .. E-trade ameritrade scottrade etc .... just go with whats the cheapest these days.

[jaysg]

optionsxpress?

If you want to have an account with a brick and mortar brokerage firm, can try UOB Kay Hian.

[Rancid]

I belive the funding differs depending on whether you are an American citizen or not. Not all brokers accept foreigners but many do. IB rates are not too bad but there are cheaper.

[fletchsmile]

For US stocks I mainly use Standard Chartered's trading online service. For the US markets you need to fill in a W8 BEN form for tax if non-resident.You can also trade about a dozen markets including Australia, UK, Singapore, and you just set up a currency securities account for each one, and again can just transfer online between your normal currency bank account and securities account.

The big plus is that it is linked to your bank accounts so easy to move money online between your securities trading account and your normal USD account (in my case in Singapore). Other features that would appeal to you are there is no minimum balance needed for the securities account, and the commission is around 0.2% to 0.25% per trade regardless of size of trade.

On the minus side, the platform is pretty crude, so it's OK for if you're just looking for online execution of trades, listing your holdings and managing cash balances. You need to look elsewhere if you want real time prices, decent charting tools, stop losses of more than one day etc etc

I also use Hargreaves Lansdown in the UK occasionally for overseas shares. While the trading platform is much better, they are more limited in which overseas shares can be traded online. They also don't open USD settlement accounts, so you lose out on exchange rates, with each buy and sell attracting additional charges. They're great for UK shares and mutual funds though.

Edited November 27, 2012 by fletchsmile

[ezadventurer]

I am with IB but am an active full time trader. With what you have stated, I would recommend TD Ameritrade (TDA). With this brokerage firm, you will also be able to use a really good platform for free, ThinkorSwim (TOS), and free data. The TOS software is comparable to many of the top software packages out there today such as Tradestation, Sierra Charts, NinjaTrader, Multicharts, etc. It does not support easylanguage, so you will not be able to use many of the customized programs available on the web, but it does have its own scripting language called Thinkscript and has quite a few customized scripts available for download. Most will not need to use any custom scripts since the basic package will probably handle all you will need, but in time you may want to tinker.

There are many discount brokerages out there, but few have such a robust platform available as well.

ez

[54321]

td invest direct, formerly tdwaterhouse

[Bpuumike]

Check out firstrade.com they have good rates but are limited to US stocks.