Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), a leading financial news and research organization, today announced the results of its 11th annual investor survey of the Best Online Brokers. Charles Schwab was named the Best Online Broker Overall for 2023. The firm regained the top spot after ceding it to Fidelity for the past three years. Charles Schwab is also the only broker to stand among the top three in Overall Customer Experience in all 11 years of the survey. As part of this year’s survey, it ranked No. 1 in seven of the 18 performance categories and placed in the top three for 12 categories.
Fidelity and TD Ameritrade were also recognized as leaders. Fidelity ranked in the top three in 13 of the 18 performance categories, winning one and scoring the No. 2 ranking on six key traits. TD Ameritrade ousted E-Trade from the No. 3 position in the latest survey by claiming the No. 1 position in six categories.
“Investors reeled last year from one of the most treacherous trading markets in over a decade,” said IBD Managing Editor Susan Warfel. “Charles Schwab came out No. 1 in the 2023 survey, in part for its commitment to offering continuous updates on market shifts and its outstanding customer service.”
Warfel added: “Fidelity and TD Ameritrade, which also ranked among the top three brokers overall in 2023’s report, also rallied to respond to customer needs during a tough year, while still working to improve their platforms.”
IBD’s Best Online Brokers list has always been based solely on objective data drawn from each broker’s own clients, unlike other broker rankings constructed from editors’ subjective selections. The result is honest, unfiltered feedback from investors, including everyone from beginning ETF investors to veteran options traders who actively use the brokers to execute their investment strategies. IBD’s annual Best Online Brokers report serves as another outstanding educational resource IBD provides to the investment community. It is also a list that investors trust. In fact, nearly eight out of ten (78%) of investors surveyed indicated that the “IBD Best Online Broker” distinction increases their likelihood of doing business with a broker.
IBD again collaborated with its respected polling partner, TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, to measure investor sentiment toward brokers’ performance in a number of critical service areas. Since 2012, IBD has asked investors to rate their primary online broker based on the most important and desirable broker attributes. This year’s study follows the two-phase methodology employed in previous years. Both phases use online surveys to collect data.
Phase I, conducted between August and September 2022, examined a total of 29 different attributes to determine which features and services offered by online brokers are most important to investors. Based on these results, the attributes were narrowed to 18 and assigned weights to compute the Best Overall Experience Index for each broker. The attributes for the 2023 Best Online Brokers were (in order of customer importance): Trade Execution Speed/Price, Website Security, Equity Trading Platform, Site Performance, Customer Service, Investment Research, Research Tools, Mobile Trading Platforms/Apps, Portfolio Analysis & Reports, Timely Information on Market Shifts, Coverage of Pre-market & After-hours Trading, Incentives/Discounts/Pricing, Options Trading Platform, Trade Ideas, Educational Resources, Up-to-the-Minute Data on Inflation & Other Market-influencing Statistics, Availability of Account Types and Trade Ideas for a Down Market.
Moving into Phase II (September to November 2022), the study measured consumers’ experience and satisfaction with their primary online broker based on these 18 specific attributes. To qualify for ranking on the Best Online Brokers list, a broker must have had at least 125 customers participate in Phase II. Seven brokers met this threshold: Charles Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade (a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation), E-Trade Financial (part of Morgan Stanley), Vanguard, Robinhood and Interactive Brokers.
2023 Best Online Brokers — Overall and By Category
Best Online Brokers Overall:
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
Trade Execution Speed/Price
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Interactive Brokers
Website Security
- TD Ameritrade
- E-Trade
- Fidelity
Equity Trading Platform
- TD Ameritrade
- E-Trade
- Vanguard
Site Performance
- TD Ameritrade
- E-Trade
- Fidelity
Customer Service
- Charles Schwab
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
Investment Research
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- E-Trade
Research Tools
- E-Trade
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
Mobile Trading Platforms/Apps
- Robinhood
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
Portfolio Analysis & Reports
- Vanguard
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
Timely Information on Market Shifts
- Charles Schwab
- Robinhood
- Fidelity
Coverage of Pre-market/After-hours Trading
- Robinhood
- E-Trade
- Charles Schwab
Incentives/Discounts/Pricing
- Charles Schwab
- Vanguard
- E-Trade
Options Trading Platform
- TD Ameritrade
- Charles Schwab
- E-Trade
Trade Ideas
- Robinhood
- Charles Schwab
- Vanguard
Educational Resources
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
Up-to-the-Minute Data on Inflation & Other Market Influences
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- E-Trade
Availability of Account Types
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- TD Ameritrade
Trade Ideas for a Down Market
- Charles Schwab
- Robinhood
- Vanguard
To learn more about this year’s winners, and find brokerage profiles, please visit Investors.com/BestOnlineBrokers.
The 2023 Best Online Brokers logo and accolades are available for licensing through IBD’s partner, The YGS Group, at IBDlicensing@TheYGSgroup.com or 800-290-5460.
About IBD
Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) is the leader in stock research and education. For over 35 years, IBD has helped countless investors around the world make more money in the market and achieve their financial goals.
Founded with the mission of democratizing stock investing, IBD provides its customers access to the same type of research Wall Street uses to make decisions. All of IBD’s products and content are based on a time-tested investing methodology, which uses fundamental and technical analysis to identify leading stocks before their big price increases.
IBD helps its customers succeed in the market with its unparalleled stock research including market-beating stock lists, proprietary stock ratings and powerful investing tools that help them make more profitable trading decisions. In addition, IBD provides customers with world-class investing education that includes product coaching, interactive webinars, live and virtual workshops, videos, online courses and more.
IBD joined the Dow Jones and News Corp family of companies in May 2021. IBD reaches investors around the world via its main website, www.investors.com, its portfolio of digital products (IBD Digital, MarketSmith, Leaderboard, SwingTrader and IBD Live), mobile apps, a weekly print edition, social media and more. To learn more about all that IBD has available, please visit www.investors.com.
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