| Broker Review: tradeMONSTER Formed in mid 2007, tradeMONSTER is a sister company of optionMONSTER, a for-pay trade advisory and stock picking service. The parent firm is affiliated with popular market commentators Jon and Pete Najarian, who many active traders may be familiar with from CNBC and the CBOE's website. The web-based trading platform was the best we reviewed and includes lots of tools and a clear pricing structure. Full Review Broker Review: optionsXpress optionsXpress consitently ranks highly in broker comparisons conducted by Barron's and others. However, we are not too concerned with other outside ratings. We are more concerned with how optionsXpress may or may not fit with your trading objectives and style. Let's take a look at who may benefit the most... Full Review Broker Review: Fidelity The target audience for Fidelity Investments seems to be longer-term investors who are looking for comprehensive financial planning help that covers more conservative investments like mutual funds, bonds and other income-producing investments---i.e. annuities, CDs, etc. Full Review | Broker Review: OptionsHouse OptionsHouse is a relatively new firm with a creation date (according to FINRA) of 08/01/2008. The brokerage was actually accepting client funds in 2007 but reorganized in 2008 as an LLC. The firm is located in the heart of the options and futures industry in Chicago and predictably caters to active stock and option traders. OptionsHouse is majority owned by Peak6 Investments, a prop trading, hedge fund, and market making firm. Peak6 also owns ONN.tv a source for web videos covering the daily action in the option's market. Full Review Broker Review: Vanguard Vanguard was formed as a mutual fund company by legendary investor John Bogle in 1974. The company deserves most of the credit for popularizing "index investing" as a way to lower costs and increase performance. Although the company is well known for its suite of mutual funds the firm also sponsors many popular ETFs. Full Review Broker Review: Scottrade Scottrade is a privately held company that was founded in 1980 by Rodger Riney---you may have seen him flying through his commercials in a helicopter. Scottrade consitently ranks highly in broker comparisons. However, we are not too concerned with other outside ratings. We are more concerned with how Scottrade may or may not fit with your trading objectives and style. Full Review | |
