January 28, 2025
Since 2009, StockBrokers.com has been the home of the most in-depth online broker reviews in the industry. Our editorial principles and unbiased, data-driven broker reviews and guides have earned the trust of over 20 million readers.
Based on our hands-on testing (see How We Test) and data collection, the StockBrokers.com 2025 Annual Awards recognize brokerage firms who push the industry forward while delivering excellent value to U.S. investors.
Lead writer Jessica Inskip directs research, testing, and scoring at StockBrokers.com. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Jessica is a sought-after guest and commentator at financial outlets such as CNBC, Fox Business, and Yahoo Finance. Blain Reinkensmeyer, co-founder of StockBrokers.com, has more than 20 years of experience trading a variety of instruments.
Visualize the results
See the full rankings for the StockBrokers.com 2025 Annual Awards in infographic format:
StockBrokers.com 2025 Annual Awards Infographic.
The StockBrokers.com 2025 Annual Awards
Category Award Winners
Category Winners for the StockBrokers.com Annual Awards are brokers that stand out as the best of the best in our carefully curated Awards Categories. Categories have been refined over our nine-year history of Annual Awards, and are designed to reflect the features, products, and services that matter most to investors and traders.
Overall
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class Overall:
- Interactive Brokers
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Methodology: Our highest award, this selection is both data- and opinion-driven and recognizes the broker that scored the most total points across all categories: Commissions & Fees, Investment Options, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education and Ease of Use. This broker demonstrates the highest level of client service.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the overall Best Stock Brokers.
Active Traders
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Best in Class for Active Traders:
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Methodology: The #1 Active Trader award recognizes the best platform for advanced, frequent retail traders (10+ trades per month). Platforms are evaluated on the breadth of product offering, research, education and support, violation support (e.g. day trading rules), balances and positions user interfaces inclusive of tailored margin, advanced order ticket, and desktop platform functionality. We assess the overall trading experience through the lens of the active trader.
Bank Brokerage
Winner: Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Best in Class for Bank Brokerage:
- J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
- Ally Invest
- SoFi Invest
- Fidelity
Methodology: This award recognizes the broker that the editorial team believes provides the best value and experience for intermediate-level U.S. retail investors who want to consolidate their financial activities with one company. We take into consideration the breadth of banking services on offer and how well they are integrated with self-directed investing.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Bank Brokerages.
Beginners
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Beginners:
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Interactive Brokers
Methodology: This opinion-based award recognizes the broker that the editorial team believes provides the best investing experience for novice U.S. investors. Key criteria include educational content, ease of use, product marketing, transparency, products and features, cost, and the client dashboard.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Beginners.
Casual Investors
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Casual Investors:
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The #1 Casual Investors award recognizes the best platform for engaged investors who diversify their portfolios with stock, funds, and fixed-income products. These investors prioritize research of individual securities and broader market trends. Platforms are evaluated on tools for discovering and validating investment ideas, a holistic product offering, and resources that empower investors to expand their knowledge while managing diversified portfolios.
Customer Service
Winner: Fidelity
Best in Class for Customer Service:
- Charles Schwab
- SoFi Invest
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Ally Invest
Methodology: For customer service testing, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research group Confero to conduct phone tests from locations across the United States. Confero agents used one of 10 unique scenario templates provided by StockBrokers.com (on average, three questions are asked) to assess each broker. To ensure fairness as well as to gather the highest quality data, each agent used a single template to test all brokers.
To score each test, three separate buckets are assessed: 1. Time to connect 2. The ability of each broker representative to professionally (and thoroughly) answer each question and 3. A Net Promoter Score for the overall support experience. Response times are 15% of each test score, representative assessments are 35%, and Net Promoter Scores make up the remaining 50%.
Once all individual test scores were compiled, they were combined to determine an overall score for Customer Service.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Customer Service.
Ease of Use
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Ease of Use:
- E*TRADE
- Fidelity
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Interactive Brokers
Methodology: This opinion-driven award recognizes the broker that scored the most points in our analysis for Ease of Use.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Ease of Use.
Education
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Education:
- Fidelity
- Interactive Brokers
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Methodology: This data- and opinion-driven award recognizes the broker that scored the most points for the Education category, which factors in the availability and quality of articles, webinars and videos surrounding various aspects of trading and investing.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Education.
Futures Trading
Winner: tastytrade
Best in Class for Futures Trading:
- Interactive Brokers
- TradeStation
- Charles Schwab
- E*TRADE
Methodology: This opinion-based award recognizes the broker that the editorial team believes provides the best value and experience for intermediate level U.S. retail futures traders. Key criteria include features, cost, layout, trading workflow, platform design, and platform responsiveness.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Futures Brokers.
High Net Worth Investors
Winner: Fidelity
Best in Class for High Net Worth Investors:
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Charles Schwab
- E*TRADE
- Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The High Net Worth Investors award recognizes the best broker for self-directed U.S. retail investors with investable assets of $1 million to $10 million. We prioritized the needs of intermediate level, long-term-oriented investors with portfolios that include a variety of instruments. Key criteria include consolidated reporting, integrated service model, specialist support, high net worth enhancements, financial planning tools and education, ease of use, and design.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for High Net Worth Investors.
Investor Community
Winner: eToro
Best in Class for Investor Community:
- Interactive Brokers
- tastytrade
- Webull
- Public.com
Methodology: This opinion-based award recognizes the broker that the editorial team believes provides the best investor community experience for U.S. retail investors. Included in the analysis are the quality and quantity of user posts and how well they are presented.
Mobile Trading Apps
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Mobile Trading Apps:
- Interactive Brokers
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Webull
Methodology: This data- and opinion-driven award recognizes the broker that scored the most points in our Mobile Trading Apps category. It takes into consideration the availability and quality of watch lists, charting, real-time and streaming quotes, stock alerts, and educational resources, among other variables. We also look for a fluid user experience moving between mobile and desktop platforms, where offered.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Mobile Trading Apps.
Options Trading
Winner: tastytrade
Best in Class for Options Trading:
- Charles Schwab
- Interactive Brokers
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
Methodology: This opinion-based award recognizes the broker that the editorial team believes provides the best value and experience for intermediate level U.S. retail options investors. Key criteria include features, cost, layout, trading workflow, platform design, and platform responsiveness.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Options Trading.
Passive Investors
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Passive Investors:
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The #1 Passive Investor award recognizes the best platform for investors focused on long-term, hands-off wealth building. Platforms are evaluated on available investment options, automated investing experiences (e.g. robo-advisors, recurring investments, basket trading), supporting goal-based planning tools, educational resources, and research. Priority is given to platforms that simplify investing, support portfolio diversification, and offer an overall investing experience that is ideal for the passive investor.
Platforms & Tools
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Platforms & Tools:
- Interactive Brokers
- TradeStation
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
Methodology: This data- and opinion-driven award recognizes the broker that the StockBrokers.com editorial team regards as providing the best suite of platforms and tools for U.S. retail clients.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Platforms and Tools.
Range of Investments
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Best in Class for Range of Investments:
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity
- E*TRADE
- TradeStation
Methodology: This data-driven award recognizes the broker that scored the most points for the Range of Investments category, which considers availability of instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, options and cryptocurrency.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Range of Investments.
Research
Winner: Charles Schwab
Best in Class for Research:
- E*TRADE
- Fidelity
- Interactive Brokers
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Methodology: This data- and opinion-driven award recognizes the broker that the StockBrokers.com editorial team regards as providing the best research and market commentary experience. Elements considered include quality and quantity of research and ease of use.
Check out StockBrokers.com's guide to the Best Brokers for Research.
Retirement Accounts
Winner: Fidelity
Best in Class for Retirement Accounts:
- Charles Schwab
- Merrill Edge Self-Directed
- E*TRADE
- J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
Methodology: This opinion-based award recognizes the broker that the editorial team finds to provide the best value and experience for everyday U.S. retail retirement-focused investors. This award combines features important to other categories, but emphasizes retirement account availability and costs.
Industry Awards
The StockBrokers.com Industry Awards recognize breakout innovations, unparalleled product offerings, and remarkable platform experiences.
#1 Bond Research
Winner: Merrill Edge Self-Directed
Methodology: The Bond Research Award acknowledges the broker that the StockBrokers.com editorial team views as offering the best fixed income research resources at no additional charge to retail investors. Criteria include frequency, types of fixed income products covered, quality of research and market commentary.
#1 Bond Trading Platform
Winner: Charles Schwab
Methodology: The #1 Bond Trading Platform award recognizes the best platform for retail investors focused on trading bonds. We prioritized accessibility, pricing transparency, and execution quality, along with tools for analyzing yield, duration, and credit risk. Key criteria included ease of use, bond inventory, search functionality, and the ability to compare offerings across different issuers and maturities.
#1 Client Dashboard
Winner: Charles Schwab
Methodology: The Client Dashboard award recognizes the best homepage summary for a typical U.S. retail investor. We prioritized relevancy of information, layout, design, consolidated views, and clear labeling of key data.
#1 Desktop Trading Platform
Winner: Charles Schwab
Methodology: The Desktop Trading Platform award recognizes the best downloadable trading platform ("desktop") app that meets the needs of sophisticated retail traders across multiple asset classes. In addition to data, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness, we prioritized platforms that provide a comprehensive view of market activity, enabling traders to understand both macro and micro market movements effectively.
#1 Ethical Investing
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Methodology: Our #1 Environmental, Social, and Governance, or ESG, Investing award, which is heavily informed by the testing in our Research category, highlights the broker that provides the most comprehensive experience for socially responsible investing. We consider the availability of screening tools, third-party ratings, visual data, and other research features that help to identify ESG-related investment opportunities.
#1 Futures Trading Platform
Winner: tastytrade
Methodology: The Futures Trading Platform award recognizes the best trading platform for futures traders. We prioritized the needs of active, intermediate level retail futures and futures options traders. Key criteria included data provided, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
#1 Innovation
Winner: tastytrade – Options Backtesting
Methodology: The innovation award recognizes broker achievement in pushing the industry forward. Our team tests and analyzes new tools, experiences and features that challenge industry standards and unlock new abilities for individual investors.
#1 International Trading
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Methodology: This industry award is primarily based on the reach of a broker’s international offering. Data is collected to determine how many international exchanges each broker allows clients to access for trading. In addition, the trading platforms themselves are assessed using criteria from the Platforms & Tools category.
#1 Investor App
Winner: Charles Schwab – Schwab Mobile
Methodology: The Investor App award recognizes the best mobile app for everyday passive and active long-term investors, which we define as Americans who place fewer than 36 trades each year or approximately three trades each month. Key criteria included portfolio reporting, data provided, tools, research availability, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
#1 Margin Trading
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The #1 Margin Trading award recognizes the best platform for retail investors utilizing margin to enhance their trading strategies. We prioritized competitive margin rates, risk management tools, and clear margin requirements. Other information considered includes margin rate transparency, margin calculators, real-time monitoring, intuitive display of margin positions and balances, and educational resources to help traders understand the risks and opportunities of margin trading.
#1 New Tool
Winner: Merrill Edge Self-Directed – Options Strategy Assistant
Methodology: Our award for #1 New Tool is partly based on data collected during our testing across all primary categories, with particular attention given to Research, Education, Platforms & Tools, Mobile Trading, and Investment Options. The award for #1 New Tool recognizes a new innovative feature or product experience launched by a broker during the previous calendar year that innovates or elevates either 1) the execution of a user intention; or, 2) the presentation of valuable information.
#1 Options Trading Platform
Winner: tastytrade
Methodology: The Options Trading Platform award recognizes the best trading platform for options traders. We prioritized the needs of active, intermediate level retail options traders. Key criteria included data provided, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
#1 Overall Client Experience
Winner: Charles Schwab
Methodology: The Overall Client Experience award recognizes the best user experience for typical U.S. retail investors. Our testing simulates dozens of workflows for investors and traders alike. Key criteria include satisfying user intent, design, customer support, platform responsiveness, convenience, workflow, education, marketing communications, and transparency.
#1 Paper Trading Platform
Winner: Webull
Methodology: The Paper Trading award is given to the broker that offers the best easy-to-use, but feature-rich, trading experience using virtual dollars.
#1 Professional Trading
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The Professional Trading award recognizes the best broker for sophisticated U.S. traders who frequently execute large trades across a variety of financial instruments, such as day traders or those working for a professional institution such as a hedge fund. Key criteria include price, publicly available order execution data, investment options, tools, data, charting, trading workflow, platform reliability and responsiveness.
#1 Stock Trading Platform
Winner: Charles Schwab
Methodology: The Stock Trading Platform award recognizes the best trading platform for stock traders. We prioritized the needs of active, intermediate level retail equity traders. Key criteria included data provided, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
#1 Trader App
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Methodology: The Trader App award recognizes the best mobile app for active, moderately experienced retail U.S. traders. Our ranking is weighted toward customers who place at least 120 trades per year or 10 trades per month. Key criteria included data provided, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
#1 Web Trading Platform
Winner: E*TRADE – Power E*TRADE
Methodology: The Web Trading Platform award recognizes the best browser-based trading platform. We prioritized the needs of active, intermediate level retail traders using a variety of instruments. Key criteria include data provided, tools, charting, trading workflow, ease of use, design, and responsiveness.
2025 Overall Rankings Table
Company | Overall | Mobile Trading Apps | Ease of Use | Range of Investments | Platforms & Tools | Education | Research |
Charles Schwab
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Interactive Brokers
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Fidelity
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E*TRADE
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Merrill Edge
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J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
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Firstrade
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Webull
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TradeStation
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tastytrade
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Ally Invest
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Robinhood
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Public.com
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eToro
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Tradier
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SoFi Invest®
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