LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), a leading financial news and research organization, today announced the results of its ninth annual investor survey of the Best Online Brokers. Tastyworks was named the Best Online Broker Overall and ranked within the top five brokers in all 15 categories of performance just one year after its debut on the Best Online Brokers list. Charles Schwab and Fidelity also impressed again this year, with each ranking among the top five brokers in nearly all of the categories (14 and 13 categories respectively), including Best Online Brokers Overall. Rounding out the top five overall brokers were TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers.
Five other brokers -- E-Trade, TradeStation, Merrill Edge, Vanguard and Robinhood -- showed one or more areas of strength.
“On the heels of such an unpredictable year in the economy and stock market, investors are perhaps more in tune with their brokers, as well as their own investment needs, than ever before,” said Chris Gessel, Chief Content Officer of IBD. “We’ve taken investors’ first-hand insights of brokers’ strengths and weaknesses and created a well-established, trusted list that investors look forward to each year as they consider which broker to choose or whether to continue an existing relationship.”
IBD’s Best Online Brokers list has always been based solely on objective data drawn from each brokers’ own clients, unlike other broker rankings constructed from editors’ subjective selections. The result is honest, unfiltered feedback from investors, including everyone from beginning ETF investors to veteran options traders who actively use the brokers to execute their investment strategies. The resulting list serves as another outstanding educational resource that IBD provides to the investment community. It is also a list that investors trust. In fact, 81% of survey respondents indicated that their likelihood of doing business with a particular broker increased if that broker were named to IBD’s Best Online Brokers list.
Conducted in conjunction with respected polling partner TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, this year’s survey analyzed responses from more than 5,000 participating investors to determine which brokers met or exceeded expectations.
This year's study followed the same two-phase methodology employed in previous years. Both phases used online surveys to collect data. Phase I determined which features and services offered by online brokers are most important to investors, examining 21 different attributes. Based on these results, the attributes were narrowed to 15 and assigned weights to compute the Overall Customer Experience Index for each broker. The five most important attributes according to investors were: Trade Execution Speed/Price, Website Security, Site Performance, Equity Trading Tools, and Customer Service. The remaining 10 consisted of Research Tools, Investment Research, Mobile Trading Platforms/Apps, Portfolio Analysis & Reports, Options Trading Platform, Trade Ideas, Educational Resources, Margin Investing/Margin Interest Rate, Access To IPOs, and Original Programming (podcasts, videos, live streams, etc.).
Moving into Phase II, the study measured consumers' experience and satisfaction with their primary online broker based on these 15 specific attributes. Between October and December 2020, 5,262 investors participated in the survey. To qualify for the ranking, a broker must have had at least 125 customers participating in Phase II.
2021 Best Online Brokers -- Overall and By Category
Best Online Brokers Overall:
- Tastyworks
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- TD Ameritrade
- Interactive Brokers
Trade Execution Speed/ Price:
- Tastyworks
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- Interactive Brokers
- TD Ameritrade
Website Security:
- Tastyworks
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
- Vanguard
Site Performance:
- Tastyworks
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- E-Trade/ Capital One Investing/ ShareBuilder
- TD Ameritrade
Equity Trading Tools:
- Tastyworks
- TD Ameritrade
- TradeStation
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
Customer Service:
- Tastyworks
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
- Vanguard
Research Tools:
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
- Charles Schwab
- Tastyworks
- Merrill Edge
Investment Research:
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- TD Ameritrade
- Merrill Edge
- Tastyworks
Mobile Trading Platforms/ Apps:
- Tastyworks
- Robinhood
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
Portfolio Analysis & Reports:
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- Tastyworks
- TD Ameritrade
- Interactive Brokers
Options Trading Platform:
- Tastyworks
- TD Ameritrade
- Charles Schwab
- Interactive Brokers
- E-Trade/ Capital One Investing/ ShareBuilder
Trade Ideas:
- Tastyworks
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
- Merrill Edge
Educational Resources:
- Tastyworks
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- Merrill Edge
Margin Investing/ Margin Interest Rate:
- Tastyworks
- Interactive Brokers
- Robinhood
- Charles Schwab
- TD Ameritrade
Access To IPOs
- Tastyworks
- Fidelity
- TradeStation
- Interactive Brokers
- TD Ameritrade
Original Programming (podcasts, videos, livestreams, etc.):
- Tastyworks
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- TradeStation
To view the complete list of Best Online Brokers, learn more about this year’s winners, and find brokerage profiles, please visit Investors.com/BestOnlineBrokers.
About IBD
Investor’s Business Daily is the leader in stock research and education. For over 35 years, IBD has helped countless investors around the world make more money in the market and reach their financial goals.
Founded by legendary investor William O’Neil with the goal of democratizing stock investing, IBD provides its customers access to the same type of research Wall Street uses to make big profits. All of IBD’s products and content are based on the CAN SLIM Investing System, which uses historical precedent to identify leading stocks before their big price increases.
IBD helps its customers succeed in the market with its unparalleled stock research and education. IBD’s customers have access to its proprietary research, including market-beating stock lists, exclusive stock ratings and powerful investing tools that help them make more profitable trading decisions. In addition, IBD provides customers with world-class investing education that includes complimentary coaching, interactive webinars, videos, IBD University, live workshops and more.
IBD reaches investors around the world via its main website, Investors.com, its suite of digital products (IBD Digital, MarketSmith, Leaderboard, SwingTrader and IBD Live), mobile apps, a weekly print edition, social media and more. To learn more about all that IBD has available, please visit www.investors.com.
© 2021 Investor's Business Daily, Inc. All rights reserved. Investor's Business Daily, IBD, CAN SLIM and their corresponding logos are registered trademarks of Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
Benefits from Licensing and Reprints
Eighty-one percent of this year’s survey respondents indicated that the IBD Best Online Broker seal of approval would increase the likelihood of doing business with a broker. To highlight this achievement, Licensing and Reprints of the 2021 Best Online Brokers logo and accolades are available through IBD’s partner, The YGS Group. For more information, please contact YGS at 1-800-290-5460 or IBDlicensing@theygsgroup.com.
