Should You Choose An Online Broker Or An Offline One?

We live in a new digital era and an increasing proportion of the worlds stock trading is being done online. Sophisticated technology means that someone in London can buy a NYSE stock within a minute with a few simple clicks of the mouse.

While there are some situations that may make having an offline broker advantageous, here are the primary benefits that come with having an online stock broking account:

It’s Far Cheaper To Trade Stocks Online – When a customer has a phone line and executes a trade via a live broker, it costs the company a lot of money to pay the brokers wages and have a physical location for that broker to operate from. When the same trade is done online, it’s an automated process handled by a system. This is far cheaper for the company allowing it to reduce the price it charges for execution only trade.

Faster Execution – With an online stock brokerage account, execution is immediate. There is no need to call a broker and wait while the trade is executed. In addition, online broking accounts enable the user to access their account status immediately via internet connection. In the offline world, a customer would have to wait for monthly statements or phone the stock broking company to know the exact status of their accounts.

Availability Of Tools To Help The Investor – Today, a lot of online broker houses provide key information, statistics and investment tools that can help keep the trader informed and help them to analyse stocks. Such services are rare with offline only options.

What Factors Should You Look For When Deciding On An Online Stock Broker

As you can imagine, there are a huge number of online stockbrokers trying to compete for your account. This high competition means that if you look around you’re likely to find an online stockbroker service that has low fees, good reliability and a fair amount of “bells and whistles”.

In this section we’ll look at some of the different factors you should analyse before giving any online stockbroker service the nod:

Low Commissions Aren’t Always Low – Look at the commission charges and structure of the different online broker companies. Some companies may display very low charges on their ads only for you to discover that the special unbelievable rate applies to certain sized trades, or kick in only after a number of trades have been executed. Also be on the lookout for admin or handling charges that are tagged onto some online broking accounts.

What Is The Minimum Amount Needed To Deposit? If you’re a smaller, casual investor then an account that needs $10,000 deposited before you can open an account would not be suitable, even if the fees associated with each trade are quite low.

Do You Need Margin? If So What Is The Rate? A margin account allows you to borrow money to trade with. Different online accounts have different rates for trading on margin so if you’re going to do this make sure you pick an account that’s best suited for this.

The Bells & Whistles – By this we refer to the type and depth of research available to account holders, whether there is any “back up” for problems that may be experienced, the track record of the company (if new it may experience the occasional glitch) and the level of detail available on the trading account. Some online brokerage firms also provide broker research on various companies, charting, relevant news-feeds and other valuable information that can help your trading and research.

Additional Phone Service? Some online broker companies also make trading via phone, or at least some form of telephone support available. Always a benefit.

Reliability Of Service & How Well The Trades Are Executed - You may find an online broker service that has incredibly low fees…but which has frequent bouts of downtime where trades cannot be executed. This can be a frustrating and expensive experience, so ensure that your potential online broker service has a good level of reliability. What have others said about its service? Are there any reviews for it online?

Ultimately, the category of investor or trader you fall under will decide what type of broker and service you opt for. It's best to analyse these circumstances before you commit to any online or offline broker or you may find your trading needs are not being met.