The stock market notched outstanding gains in 2023 and 2024. And historical data says the market's likely to rally for a third year. What more could investors want? The best online broker to help them make the most of it. That's where the customer-driven rankings of the IBD Best Online Brokers for 2025 can help.
In our 13th annual survey, Investor's Business Daily and polling partner TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence asked thousands of investors to rate their online broker.
Out of seven major brokers that qualified for the survey analysis, we recognize three as the best online brokers overall. We also recognize the top three brokers in 20 key performance categories that investors deemed important.
The trio at the top of this year's survey are Fidelity, Merrill Edge and Robinhood. This marks Fidelity's 13th year among IBD's Best Online Brokers and its ninth year in first place for overall customer satisfaction.
One theme in 2024 was the increased importance of mobile trading platforms and broker apps. Robinhood Markets showed its strength by topping all other brokers in that attribute.
Merrill Edge, owned by Bank of America, topped the rankings for investment research, portfolio analysis and tools, and an attribute new to this year's Best Online Brokers survey, risk management.
The other brokers that qualified for the survey analysis based on the number of their customers who provided ratings were Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers, E-Trade (part of Morgan Stanley), and Vanguard.
Schwab has been honored among IBD's Best Online Brokers for 12 years of the survey.
Read Our Full Special Report On The Best Online Brokers For 2025
Attributes Of The Best Online Brokers
The attributes most valued by the investors who took our survey included trade execution speed/price, website security, equity trading platform, site performance, customer service and investment research.
IBD's Best Online Brokers list for 2025 is objective and the results are based solely on the data from our extensive customer survey. This independent special report is produced by the IBD editorial team. There is no sponsored content, nor are there any commission links.
Check the lists to see how your online broker compares with others in the areas that matter to you. If it doesn't stack up, consider whether another broker in the study would better meet your needs. And to learn more, read our Best Online Brokers overview story for this year's report.
Best Online Brokers 2025: Best Overall Customer Experience
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| Broker |
Strengths |
| Fidelity Investments |
Fidelity earns a top spot on our Best Online Brokers list for the 13th consecutive year — that's every year IBD has conducted this survey. For 2025, Fidelity scored the highest among survey respondents who said they were "very satisfied" with their broker. Fidelity also ranks No. 1 in nine of the attribute qualities, including trade execution speed/price, website security, equity trading platform and site performance.
See our Fidelity profile for more information.
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Merrill Edge
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Merrill's customer-approved offerings for investment research and for portfolio analysis and reports are, for a second year in a row, among the reasons it ranked highly in IBD's 13th annual Best Online Brokers survey. Merrill Edge, owned by Bank of America ranked first in eight attributes customers deemed important in their brokers. Those categories include risk management, trade ideas and research tools.
See our Merrill Edge profile for more information.
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| Robinhood |
Robinhood, founded in 2013, is the youngster among IBD's Best Online Brokers. For 2025, the company shot into the top ranks as customers gave high marks to its mobile trading app. Survey respondents also gave Robinhood the thumbs up for its performance in the area of pre-market and after-hours trading. Robinhood has focused on millennials and, yes, the company is named after that legendary hero outlaw.
Read more about Robinhood in this year's profile.
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| Top Brokers In 20 Key Performance Categories |
Best Online Brokers: Trade Execution Speed & Price
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| Broker routes orders quickly to trading platforms and gets you the best price possible. |
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Fidelity |
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Interactive Brokers |
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Charles Schwab |
Best Online Brokers: Website Security
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| Protects clients' assets and personal data with strong password and user ID features; technologies and procedures prevent unauthorized account access. |
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Fidelity |
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Interactive Brokers |
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Charles Schwab |
Best Online Brokers: Equity Trading Platform
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| Easy to set up buy and sell trades, gauge position size and how much your account is on margin. |
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Fidelity |
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E-Trade |
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Interactive Brokers |
Best Online Brokers: Site Performance
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| Provides fast access to website; always available when you log in. Site is easy to use and navigate. |
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Fidelity |
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Robinhood |
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E-Trade |
Best Online Brokers: Customer Service
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| Responds to questions and requests in a way that serves your needs; may include phone, email, chat, online FAQs or automated AI-driven tools. Short wait times. |
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Fidelity |
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Charles Schwab |
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E-Trade |
Best Online Brokers: Investment Research
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| Offers information that helps you understand and select investments, such as analyst stock research reports, profit forecasts, buy and sell ratings, or research on ETFs, mutual funds, options, etc. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Fidelity |
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Charles Schwab |
Best Online Brokers: Mobile Trading Platforms/Apps
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| Mobile website and apps provide a convenient way to conduct trades, perform research, track holdings and access news, with data security you trust. |
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Robinhood |
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Merrill Edge |
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Fidelity |
Best Online Brokers: Research Tools
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| Offers screening tools and data that let you find stocks, bonds, ETFs or mutual funds based on earnings, sales, yield, duration, investing style, performance, ESG rating, social community lists, etc. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Fidelity |
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Charles Schwab |
Best Online Brokers: Portfolio Analysis & Reports
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| Provides tools and information for you to stay on top of your portfolio, such as monthly/quarterly reports that show gains and losses, asset allocation, and performance vs. the broad market. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Fidelity |
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Robinhood |
Best Online Brokers: Timely Information On Market Shifts
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| Provides information on trends driving stock market shifts. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Robinhood |
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Fidelity |
Best Online Brokers: Incentives/Discounts/Pricing
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| Broker may offer discounts, cash rewards or other incentives. Also considers various other fees that you may pay. |
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Fidelity |
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Robinhood |
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Vanguard |
Best Online Brokers: Risk Management
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| Offers risk management tools such as stop-loss and take-profit orders, deal cancellation and/or trading calculators. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Fidelity |
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Robinhood |
Best Online Brokers: Options Trading Platform
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| Provides breadth of tools to find ideas, set up complex trades, test strategies, measure risk/reward and meet your educational needs. |
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Interactive Brokers |
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Robinhood |
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Merrill Edge |
Best Online Brokers: Trade Ideas
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| Provides buy and sell ideas such as analyst recommendations, access to investor forums and watchlists. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Robinhood |
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Fidelity |
Best Online Brokers: Coverage Of Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading
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| Allows investors to make trades on certain securities that are tradable after hours. |
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Robinhood |
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Interactive Brokers |
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Merrill Edge |
Best Online Brokers: Availability Of Account Types
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| Provides access to various types of accounts from which an investor can trade, such as Roth, 529s, Coverdell, UTMA, HSAs, charitable accounts, etc. |
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Fidelity |
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Charles Schwab |
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Merrill Edge |
Best Online Brokers: Choices For Cash Management
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| Provides attractive interest-bearing vehicles to hold uninvested cash. |
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Fidelity |
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Vanguard |
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Merrill Edge |
Best Online Brokers: Educational Resources
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| Assistance in learning how to invest via articles, tutorials, web tools, downloadable software, webinars and consultations with advisors or videos. |
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Fidelity |
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Merrill Edge |
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Charles Schwab |
Best Online Brokers: Key Inflation/Other Data
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| Helps investors stay up-to-date on and understand key market-influencing statistics. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Interactive Brokers |
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Robinhood |
Best Online Brokers: Trade Ideas For A Down Market
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| Offers information and ideas that help investors select investments in a down market. |
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Merrill Edge |
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Robinhood |
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Fidelity |
Results are based on a two-phase study conducted by Investor's Business Daily and TechnoMetrica. For phase one, an online survey of 409 visitors to IBD's Investors.com website from Aug. 30 to Oct. 21, 2024, determined which features and services offered by online brokers investors consider most important. In phase two, conducted from Oct. 31 to Dec. 9, 2024, 2,212 customers ranked their primary broker on the attributes listed above.
Licensing & Reprints
The 2025 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.
