I am assuming that you finally made the decision to sign up with an investment brokerage account so you can invest in the stock market and start to make money or save for retirement. Maybe you are already a more experienced trader or investor but is looking for other brokerage options out there. There are a lot of options these days and is can be confusing to find the right online discount broker. You can choose from full service premium brokers to online discount brokers. A good way to pick a broker is a combination of a popular one that has been around for some year as well as a broker that has consistently appeared in the top rankings of reviews.
Other factors to consider before choosing an online discount broker is to look at the type of investment vehicles you would like to start trading: stocks, bonds, forex or foreign exchange, index, options, mutual funds. Other factors include the amount of your investment, the extend and type of research you are looking for, customer service and trading reliability. It is also good to know what kind of investor you are: an active trader with a large number of transactions each week or a more passive trader who follows the index or has a more buy and hold strategy. Brokerage charge fees and commission between the different brokers are therefore important to review.
I have opened an account with TDAmeritrade based on their service, research, excellent on-line tools including the Think-or-Swim platform which I use to keep track of my option trading.
For more information and a list of the 10 most used brokers, go to http://www.hoppietrading.com/onlinediscountbroker.htm