Best Brokers for Beginners

Are you a new investor ready to take the first steps in online trading and managing your investments independently? The first step will be to find an online broker. The broker will allow you to not only access markets to buy and sell financial instruments you are interested in, but will also allow you to keep and manage your portfolio (i.e. for the receipt of dividends or to participate in a capital increase).

If at least one or more of the following descriptions match your profile, this guide is for you:

• I have little or no experience in online trading and have little to no knowledge of financial markets
• I have limited capital available to invest
• The potential average value of the transactions I intend to execute is low
• The monthly frequency of transactions is likely to be low

While we recognize that not all novice traders will be small investors and that not all small investors will be beginners, there are certain brokers that are particularly suitable for traders who fall into both of these categories. The explanation lies in the numerous traits inexperienced and/or not very active investors (or little capitalized investors) have in common.

What will the priorities be for these traders? We list the priorities in order of importance:

• Low trading fees
• User-friendly website and easy-to-use platform
• Efficient customer support service
• Learning and training courses

Before diving into the analysis, we reiterate the concept expressed elsewhere on the site that choosing a broker is an absolutely subjective process that varies from person to person, in light of personal preferences, habits and more.

We would also like to advise novice investors that they should absolutely avoid the following investment tools during their learning phase:

• Short selling
• Trading derivative instruments such as leveraged CFDs (high-risk instruments)
• Trading financial instruments on margin (use of financial leverage)

Having made these necessary clarifications, we will continue with the analysis of the two brokers identified, with our personal opinions.

Based on the four points made above we’ve selected two brokers with the highest rating in the aforementioned areas and compared them. Among the many, we have chosen brokers that:

• Do not require minimum deposits
• Have a simple and modern web platform (as well as a mobile app)
• Have a helpful customer service

eToro is one of the leading brokers in the financial industry. eToro offers an easy-to-use platform and fee structure that does not charge fees for stocks and ETFs.

Pros

As mentioned above, the platform is easy to use. Those who enter the world of online trading for the first time will have no difficulty starting their trading journey right away.

There are no commissions or spreads when trading real stocks or ETFs.

With eToro, one can do fractional trading; that is, you can buy fractions of shares, thus investing even very small capital to start.

If one doesn't feel comfortable developing their own trading strategy, one can copy other investors within the platform. Doing so is very simple. Choose one of the traders available in the eToro list and click on the Copy button, indicating the amount you wish to invest.

You can start practicing with the eToro demo account, which allows one to have 100,000 USD of virtual money to simulate the operations of having a virtual wallet.

Cons

Withdrawals with eToro cost $5.00. The account is denominated in USD only and when one deposits the funds the system will convert from GBP to USD, unless you deposit US dollars directly into your account (contact us to find out how).

If you need customer service assistance, telephone assistance is not provided with this broker. Email and instant messaging are the only customer service means available.

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"78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money."

DEGIRO is an online broker particularly suitable for beginners due to its ease of use and fee structure that is favorable for those who invest low capital and have a limited trading frequency.

Pros

DEGIRO provides a clear and intuitive website to collect all necessary information for trading and investing.

The web platform and the mobile app are simple and user-friendly, although there is no demo account. Searching for a product or placing an order are simple operations with DEGIRO.

But DEGIRO’s strength is its fixed fee structure. Commissions for UK stocks are £2,25; commissions for US stocks are £0,42; fees for ETFs are £2,09 but there are about 200 ETFs negotiable without commissions.

The customer service is available to explain the functioning of the platform or to resolve any issues. The account can be opened entirely online in just 10 minutes.

Cons

DEGIRO does not have training courses or learning materials: a problem that could be resolved for an investor by turning to other sources online, where there are free materials to increase one's preparation and deal with increased mastery of the world of online trading.

Another shortcoming is due to the lack of a demo account, which is particularly suitable for beginners and those who wish to practice on the platform with virtual money.

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