Online Trading Platforms

[Benny B]

Has this been discussed?  I'm curious as to what people use for an online trading setup, whether you're a professional daytrader or a casual investor who simply wants to control his/her own investments. 

I suppose the real question here is what online brokerage do Scoopers use, but I'm more curious as to what people like or don't like (or cool, useful features not found on other brokers' platforms) about their broker's platform and whether it's strictly the broker's platform or if you're using third party tools, websites, resources to supplement your broker's platform.

I've been toying around with Schwab's Street Smart Edge, which - to me - looks great on the desktop but just seems to leave much to be desired on the mobile apps.  Perhaps all of the mobile apps suck across all brokers, maybe SSE sucks compared to everyone else... I don't know; that's why I'm asking for others' insight.

[Hards Alumni]

Vanguard.  Monthly auto adds, and annual manual adds.

I hate fees.

[MU82]

Most of my investments are held in a Vanguard brokerage account. I invest primarily in companies that have been growing their dividends for years (decades for most), although I have a few other investments (some growth stocks, a couple of funds, a couple of bonds). Vanguard has excellent customer service. I also have a small account with Fidelity; they have very good research tools and $4.95 commissions on buys/sells.

I am not a trader. I don't have the stomach for it. I am a very long-term investor.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

I use Schwab, but haven't really done more than glanced at Street Smart.  I probably do 20-30 equity trades and half a dozen option trades a year, so it suffices for that.

[chapman]

Merrill Lynch.  You get 100 free trades per month at the BofA/Merrill Lynch platinum tier.  I probably do 5 on the high end, but it's free.  The research tools are adequate for normal investing.

[jficke13]

I use TD Ameritrade. It works. It seems like it has more tools than I'll ever use.

[Lennys Tap]

Interactive Brokers - I trade a lot of options and their pricing is reasonable.

[Babybluejeans]

Robinhood. Free trades and super intuitive user experience. It's a no-brainer.

[MU82]

Robinhood. Free trades and super intuitive user experience. It's a no-brainer.

Unless robinhood has changed some rules since I last looked into it (which is possible), it does not allow for dividend reinvestment. It also is only available as a mobile app, and one cannot use a desktop or laptop.

If one doesn't care about those things, and a few of its other quirks, yes, it's hard to beat RH's free trading.