Best Trading Platforms for Beginners - Reliable, Free, and User Friendly
Becoming a successful trader is a dream for many Americans. Trading can generate a good passive income for the traders who put effort to learn trading strategies and develop appropriate trading behavior. The brokerage firm plays a huge in a successful trading journey. Traders always want to use the brokerage firms that offer seamless trading platforms commission-free. A beginning trader may want to choose a reliable, free, and user-friendly trading platform. To help beginners choose a perfect trading platform, TradersUnion put together an overview of the top three best brokers that facilitate free trading in stocks, Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and options.
Top 4 Best Brokers for Beginner’s Trading
Searching for the best broker can be an overwhelming experience for beginners. Without having sufficient data on various trading platforms, a novice trader might end up choosing a broker that does not fit the requirements. We, at Traders Union, have analyzed several trading platforms and identified the top 3 best brokers for beginner’s trading.
eOption- Best Trading Platform for Beginners
eOption is one of the top US low-cost brokers for novice traders, offering US stock and ETF trading at zero commission. However, the broker’s main focus is options trading.
Commission per 1 options contract is ultra-low at just $0.10. The clients have access to a wide selection of free features for market analytics, user-friendly, functional trading platforms and a multitude of other ‘gems’.
The broker’s reliability is supported by its regulation by FINRA, while the quality of its services has been confirmed by prestigious ratings. Thanks to membership in the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), your assets are protected for up to $500,000.
👍 Pros of eOption
• Zero-commission US Stock and ETF trading
• $0.10 commission per one options contract
• Free demo account for beginners
• User-friendly trading platform
• Coverage of an account for up to $500,000
👎 Cons of eOption
• No cryptocurrency trading
• No access to markets outside the USA
Robinhood – Best User-Friendly App
Robinhood is a well-known trading platform that facilitates stock trading, options trading, ETFs, and cryptocurrency. Robinhood was the first platform to introduce commission-free trades. Robinhood has both web and mobile trading platforms that facilitate investing or trading in over 5000 individual stocks and ETFs. The easy-to-read charts, ratings on every stock, and statistical reports make the Robinhood platform stands out in the highly competitive online trading environment.
Robinhood allows its users to trade on the top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin at 100% commission-free. Robinhood also offers a cash management account that enables users to earn interest on uninvested or idle cash. According to Robinhood’s website, the idle cash on its platform earns an annual percentage yield (APY) of 0.30%.
👍 Pros of Robinhood
• 100% commission free trading on stock, options, ETF, and cryptocurrency
• The user-friendly trading environment on the website and mobile apps
• Ease of use
• Gives access to a wide range of cryptocurrencies
• Cash management account that provides 0.30% APY
• $1.25 million insurance from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
👎 Cons of Robinhood
• A lot of criticism for using gamification and manipulative techniques to attract inexperienced users and engage them in trading
• Poor online and telephonic support
• Cryptocurrencies are traded only in USD
• It does not support trading from exchanges outside of the United States
Interactive Brokers - Best for Automated Portfolio Management
Interactive Brokers has been one of the popular brokerage firms in the United States for the last couple of decades. In 2019, the organization launched IBKR Lite, a second-tier trading service for investors looking to access commission-free trades on stocks and ETFs that are listed on the stock exchanges of the United States. With an IBKR Lite account, a user can do options and futures trading and invest money in mutual funds and other fixed-income investment vehicles. The customer network of Interactive Brokers is bigger than the other brokerage firms as it offers IBKR Lite services on 135 stock exchanges in 33 countries.
The IBKR Pro service offered by Interactive Brokers is suitable for advanced traders. Traders can get access to advanced features, a broad range of tradable securities, and low margin rates through the IBKR Pro platform. Interactive Brokers has become the most preferred choice of trading platform because of the features such as a $0 account minimum and no inactivity fees.
Interactive Brokers also provides automated portfolio management services for beginners. Advisors at Interactive Brokers create a diversified portfolio for investors based on their risk appetite by allocating funds to different asset classes, including low-cost liquid ETFs. The brokerage firm charges an asset-based management fee of 0.12% to create and manage portfolios.
👍 Pros of Interactive Brokers
• It gives access to a wide range of asset classes across the world
• It gives access to the world’s largest mutual fund marketplace with 26,000 funds
• Mutual funds replicator helps to choose low-cost ETFs
• Interactive advisors help generate passive income at lower asset-management fees
👎 Cons of Interactive Brokers
• Smart order router is available for only IBKR Pro users
• The U.S. based users earn interest on idle cash only if it exceeds $10,000
Webull - Best For Free Stock Trading
Founded in 2017, Webull is a U.S.-based discount broker that offers commission-free trading to customers. Webull provides an opportunity for users to trade on U.S stocks from countries like the United States, India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, China, and Korea.
The trading platform also facilitates individual retirement account, cryptocurrency, options trading, and fractional shares investing. As a member of Securities Investor Protection Corporation, Webull offers $500,000 investor protection, including a $250,000 limit for claims for cash.
The clients on the Webull trading platform would get one free stock worth $3 to $300 as soon as they open an account. They would become eligible for claiming the second stock worth $7 to $2000 after funding their account with a minimum amount of $5.
👍 Pros of Webull
• A zero commission trading platform
• No inactivity fees
• User-friendly trading environment through a sleek interface for desktop and mobile apps
• Well-structured execution of orders
• Quick and easy account opening
• In-depth charting, technical indicators, and Level II market data from NASDAQ
👎 Cons of Webull
• It does not support trading from exchanges outside of the United States
• Poor online and telephonic support
• It charges $75 per stock for transferring stocks from the Webull platform to other trading platforms
• Deposits and withdrawals can be made only through bank transfer
• It does not offer interest on un-invested cash; the un-invested cash sits idle
7 Tips on How to Choose Best Trading Platform for Beginners
According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 10 million new brokerage accounts were opened in 2020 in the United States. There are various factors to consider before choosing the best trading platform. Having a realistic review of these factors helps to choose the most suitable trading platform.
Here are the 7 tips that help to choose the best trading platform for beginners:
No Commissions
Commissions can eat the revenues of traders and investors. So, we suggest traders choose a trading platform that offers trading services 100% commission-free.
User-friendly Application
Traders need to quickly navigate from one window to another to execute orders on time. Applications that navigate and load quickly are suitable for trading.
Paper Trading
Paper trading helps beginners gain hands-on experience in trading without any capital investment. Paper trading also helps users to familiarize themselves with various features of the trading platform.
Promotions
Promotions give access to free trades for beginners. These free trades help beginning traders gain real-time trading experience.
Education
Trading is a long journey. Traders need to update their skillsets and strategies regularly. A brokerage firm that does not offer free educational content would not contribute to your professional growth. Traders may want to choose a broker that provides educational content in the form of videos, webinars, articles, trading books, and podcasts.
Low or No Maintenance and Inactivity Fees
Most brokers charge annual maintenance and inactivity fees; these are hidden charges most traders pay to brokerage firms without their knowledge. Trading platforms that don’t charge inactivity fees are ideal for beginners.
Automated Portfolio Management
Beginners may need to choose a trading platform that helps to create a diversified portfolio by investing money in various asset classes at a low asset-management fee.
Best Free Trading Platform for Beginners - Fees Comparison
We put together a comparison between Webull, Robinhood, and Interactive Brokers, analyzing their fees on stocks trading, options trading, ETFs, minimum deposit, deposit fees, and withdrawal fees.
| eOption | Robinhood | Interactive Brokers | Webull | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stock Trading |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
IBKR Lite: |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Regulatory Charges on Stock Trading |
||||
Options Trading |
$0.1 per contract |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
$0.65 per contract (Regulatory charges apply) |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Regulatory Charges on Options Trading |
||||
ETFs |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Commission-free (Regulatory charges apply) |
Regulatory Charges on ETFs |
||||
Minimum Deposit |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
Deposit Fees |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
Zero fees on ACH deposit. |
Withdrawal Fees |
$35 on withdrawals via wire transfer |
$0 |
It allows one free withdrawal every month. After the first withdrawal, it charges $10 on wire transfer, $4 on the check, and $1 on ACH. |
Zero fees on ACH withdrawal. |
Best Trading Platform for Beginners Promotions
| eOption | Robinhood | Interactive Brokers | Webull | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Promo |
Traders Union Rebate |
1 Free Stock |
Referral Bonus |
2 Free Stocks |
Short conditions |
The eOption broker pays $150 to Traders Union for each client attracted and who deposited over $2,000. The client (you) receives 80% of the broker’s affiliate payout from the Traders Union. |
Users get a free stock worth $3 to $225 as soon as they link the bank account and fulfill the conditions in the promotion. |
Referrer clients get paid $200 for each referred client when the referred client opens an account and maintains a balance of at least $10,000 for one year. |
Users get a free stock worth $3 to $300 soon as they open an account. They would become eligible for claiming the second stock worth $7 to $2000 after funding their account with a minimum amount of $5 |
Best Trading Platform for Beginners Education
| eOption | Robinhood | Interactive Brokers | Webull | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stock Trading Tutorials |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Trading Books |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Educational videos |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Investor Dictionary |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Webinars |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Paper Trading Account |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
How to Start Trading: a 5-step guide
Here are the steps involved in getting started with trading.
Step 1: Registration
The user may be asked to sign-up to the trading platform through personal mail id or phone number. The broker would send a verification code to the user’s email id or phone number for confirmation.
Step 2: Paper Trading
Beginners would like to do paper trading before getting started with real money. This would enable you to use paper money to execute trades and gain basic trading experience.
Step 3: Link your Bank Account to Transfer Funds
The real trading begins from here. The users may need to link a bank account to deposit money to the trading platform. After submitting the account details, the broker would verify the bank account and give access to transfer money via ACH or wire transfer.
Step 4: Create a Watchlist
Most trading platforms allow users to create a watchlist of stocks.
Step 5: Pick your Stock and Execute Trade
Users can pick the stock they want to trade from the watchlist.
How to Buy Stock Online
There are three important steps involved in buying a stock online, they are:
Step 1: Select an Online Broker
Several online brokers offer commission-free or low-commission trading on stocks, ETFs, and options. A few of them including, but are not limited to, Webull, Robinhood, and Interactive Brokers. Create a brokerage account with any of these online brokers to kickstart your investing journey.
Step 2: Research Stocks and Add them to the Watchlist
More than 4200 companies are listed on stock exchanges in the United States, but all of them are not worth investing in. If you are a beginner, it is good to create a watchlist of around 100 stocks that you can regularly monitor. Beginners may need to conduct fundamental analysis on stocks to identify their intrinsic values before making an investment decision.
Step-3: Buy Stocks
After finding a stock that is worth investing in, you can decide on the number of shares and execute the order.
Our Methodology
TradersUnion’s methodology to come up with the best trading platforms for beginners is unique. It uses several parameters such as user experience, reviews, costs, commissions, safety, reliability, support, trading conditions, educational content, research features, technical indicators, account opening process, paper trading availability, margin availability, and minimum deposit. The stockbroker's financial stability, which indicates the solvency, economic status, and liquidity position, is also taken into consideration while compiling the ratings.
Best Forex Trading Platforms by Countries
Summary
The first step in starting the journey of trading online is to choose the right trading platform. Several trading platforms allow users to create a brokerage account and start trading in stocks, ETFs, and options. The best trading platforms for novice traders, according to TradersUnion, are eOption, Robinhood, Webull and Interactive Brokers. These trading platforms facilitate commission-free trading and have user-friendly trading interfaces. Opening a brokerage account or starting the journey with these platforms is straightforward.
Best Forex Trading Platform Reviews
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Comment
The Webull broker is characterized by low-quality execution of transactions. Transactions revolve within the company. If you compare trading here with trading in other companies, the difference will be very noticeable. I do not advise.
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Comment
I have been cooperating with Webull for the third month. It seems to me that this is a sufficient period to see all the obvious advantages and disadvantages of the company. First, about the cons, which, perhaps, only catch me. I don't like their terminal from the word "generally". It lacks tools for analysis, and performance leaves much to be desired. Another disadvantage is that access to margin trading is opened from $2,000 in the account balance. But still, I lingered here, because there are pluses: trading without spreads, increased leverage on intraday trading and a demo account for testing strategies. I don’t see a worthy replacement among competitors yet, I stay with Webull until better times.
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Comment
I started using Robinhood for cryptocurrency trading. I appreciate the $1 minimum investment and the lack of trading fees. The platform runs smoothly, but the selection of cryptocurrencies is limited, and I’d like to see more altcoins available. Unfortunately, stock or ETF trading services are not yet available in Germany, which is a bit disappointing. However, the mobile app works without delays, and the support team is always ready to assist. Overall, it’s a good option for those who want to explore the cryptocurrency market.
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Comment
I use Robinhood to buy U.S. stocks. I was attracted to its zero-commission trading and access to over 6,000 assets. I immediately found the price alert feature invaluable. However, there are some drawbacks, such as the lack of access to international markets and the few-day withdrawal period. Using a debit card can expedite withdrawals, though it incurs a fee. Additionally, I would like to see more advanced analytical tools for in-depth market research. Overall, the platform fulfills its purpose. It's genuinely simple and easy to use.
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Comment
What stands out for me with Interactive Brokers is their mobile app. I use the IBKR Mobile app a lot when I’m not at my desk, and it offers pretty much the same experience as the desktop version. The ability to trade everything from stocks to options while on the go is a huge plus. It also has features for international trading, which makes it easy for me to handle trades across multiple markets. The app’s interface is straightforward and user-friendly, allowing me to monitor my portfolio, execute trades, and even access research tools seamlessly. While it might lack some advanced charting features, it’s still one of the most versatile apps I’ve used, especially for global traders like me
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Comment
I am a client of interactivebrokers and I have never faced any problems during the whole time. I am completely satisfied with the service: the staff is always friendly, responsive and ready to help, which really leaves a good impression. Special thanks to the operators - their attentive attitude to people creates a feeling of care and support. It is a pleasure to work with a company that values its customers and does everything for comfortable service!
FAQs
Is paper trading important for a beginning trader?
Yes, a beginning trader may want to use the paper trading feature to gain hands-on trading experience. It helps novice investors build new trading strategies and unique market approaches. However, you can jump into a real trading environment without paper trading.
Which trading platform is the best, Webull or Robinhood?
Both trading platforms are top-rated. They have a user-friendly trading platform and offer commission-free trades. The features that Webull offer might not be available with Robinhood and vice versa. Choosing the best between these two boils down to the specific features you are looking at. We suggest you evaluate the features of both the trading platforms and choose the one that scores high in your evaluation criteria.
Which one should I choose, IBKR Lite or IBKR Pro?
If you are a novice investor, we suggest you start with IBKR Lite. Upon gaining the trading experience and develop appropriate trading behavior, you can switch to IBKR Pro. Do not forget that IBKL Pro is not commission-free as it brings in additional features.
Is trading risky?
Return and risk go hand-in-hand. Trading can be risky if you don’t know the trading strategies. We suggest you go through books, videos, articles, and podcasts to gain theoretical knowledge on trading. No trader would become successful overnight. You need to be highly disciplined in implementing your trading strategies to become a successful trader.
Glossary for novice traders
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1
Investor
An investor is an individual, who invests money in an asset with the expectation that its value would appreciate in the future. The asset can be anything, including a bond, debenture, mutual fund, equity, gold, silver, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and real-estate property.
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2
Wire transfer
A wire transfer is a method of electronic funds transfer in which money is sent from one bank or financial institution to another, typically across international or domestic boundaries. It involves the sender providing their bank with specific instructions, including the recipient's bank details and the amount to be transferred, and the funds are then electronically moved from the sender's account to the recipient's account.
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3
Options trading
Options trading is a financial derivative strategy that involves the buying and selling of options contracts, which give traders the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specified price, known as the strike price, before or on a predetermined expiration date. There are two main types of options: call options, which allow the holder to buy the underlying asset, and put options, which allow the holder to sell the underlying asset.
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4
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital or virtual currency that relies on cryptography for security. Unlike traditional currencies issued by governments (fiat currencies), cryptocurrencies operate on decentralized networks, typically based on blockchain technology.
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5
Day trading
Day trading involves buying and selling financial assets within the same trading day, with the goal of profiting from short-term price fluctuations, and positions are typically not held overnight.
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Team that worked on the article
Rinat Gismatullin is an entrepreneur and a business expert with 9 years of experience in trading. He focuses on long-term investing, but also uses intraday trading. He is a private consultant on investing in digital assets and personal finance. Rinat holds two degrees in Economy and Linguistics.
Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.
Mirjan Hipolito is a journalist and news editor at Traders Union. She is an expert crypto writer with five years of experience in the financial markets. Her specialties are daily market news, price predictions, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).