Best Brokers For Beginners

For beginners in trading or investing, opening a brokerage account can feel overwhelming. From hidden fees to confusing financial jargon, it can be intimidating. Fortunately, the best brokers for beginners help navigate these challenges. In our 2024 guide, we take you through the best brokerage companies for newbies while exploring features aimed at beginners. Along the way, we also explain affordable ways to get started swing trading – defining terms and listing suitable assets for new traders.

Beginner-Friendly Features

The best brokers for beginners offer specific features that benefit novice traders. So before signing up for a live trading account, check whether the platform offers the following:

Educational Resources

The top brokerage sites for beginners offer a multitude of educational resources. Topics can include developing effective swing trading strategies, getting started with new trading platforms and gleaning insights from popular markets like stock and forex.  Learning content can come in many forms, from weekly newsletters and blog posts to tutorial videos and webinars.

Notably, eToro offers a range of online courses, access to market research reports and expert coaches.

Customer Support

For beginners starting out, a reliable customer support team can prove invaluable. Brokers should offer a responsive 24/7 customer service department, including during pre and post-market trading via live chat, telephone or email. Some leading brands also offer assistance via popular social media channels, such as Telegram.

Ultimately, beginners are more likely to need support with setting up accounts, navigating platform features and executing orders. As a result, it is worth signing up with a broker whose customer service team has good reviews.

Pepperstone is one of the top-rated firms for hands-on support.

Demo Accounts

Paper trading accounts allow beginners to practise buying and selling securities under real market conditions. They are also a great way to familiarise yourself with a desktop or mobile trading platform. Importantly, demo accounts are funded with virtual cash. Traders essentially place fake orders using real-time market data.

Eightcap offers a free paper trading account with a $5,000,000 virtual balance.

Platforms

The best brokers for beginners supply a user-friendly trading platform. The top terminals have helpful shortcuts and search functions, easy-to-follow displays and tips for getting the most out of analysis features. Leading online brokerages also offer mobile apps that give customers the ability to trade on the go. Deposits, withdrawals and live positions can all be managed from mobile devices.

Importantly, the best brokers for beginners will support trading platforms that are suitable for novices. For example, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) are widely recognized as the top platforms for novice traders due to their intuitive analytic features and customizable interface. There are also a host of tutorials and guides online to help get started with MT4 and MT5.

MetaTrader 4

AvaTrade is one of the best brokers that supports the MetaTrader 4 platform.

Fees

The best stock and forex brokers for beginners provide a low-cost trading environment. This can come in the form of tight spreads and competitive commissions or discount brokerages that offer commission-free investing. Importantly, the top brokers are transparent and stipulate any trading and non-trading fees on their website, including overnight rollover charges.

Tip: avoid brokerages with account inactivity penalties.

XTB is one of the top-rated brokers for low fees.

Fractional Shares

Online brokers aimed at beginners may also offer fractional stock trading. These let newer investors buy a portion of a share, for example, 0.25 or 0.5. This is helpful for traders looking to speculate on the price of big brands like Tesla or Meta, who cannot afford to buy a full share. Importantly, returns and losses are proportional to your investment. Penny stocks are also good options for traders with less starting capital.

ActivTrades has good reviews for its fractional stock trading service.

Discount Accounts

Some trading solutions are designed to cater for investors on a budget. They adopt a low-fee model with competitive commissions. This is achieved by cutting back on additional services, such as advanced analysis features and specialist trading consultants. The result is a straightforward trading experience free from all the frills.

Webull is a popular discount brokerage.

Leverage Trading

When you open an account with a broker you are generally offered a cash or margin account. Simply put, margin accounts act like credit cards while cash accounts act like debit cards. Margin accounts allow new investors and professionals alike to borrow from their broker to buy more assets than they could afford with their deposited capital. Cash accounts, on the other hand, let you take out positions in line with your balance.

Investing on margin can multiply profits but equally magnify losses making it risky for beginners. With this in mind, new traders may want to start small. For example, a ratio of 1:5 will let you borrow $50 if you deposit $10. Note, most reputable regulators limit leverage to 1:30 for retail traders.

Among the best brokers for leverage trading is eToro.

Markets & Products

As a beginner, it is important to consider how much time and money you can afford to spend. While your interests may help you decide, you might not have the time to day trade stocks, commodities or forex. So time-poor investors may want to consider index funds or mutual funds. Both are designed for more hands-off traders with your capital left to grow with minimal interference. CMC Markets is a respected broker that offers index funds.

Alternatively, investors with a larger risk appetite may want to consider digital currencies, such as Bitcoin. Increasing in popularity, cryptocurrency is now available at many popular online brokers, including Plus500 and IQ Option.

Overall though, the most popular markets for novice traders are stocks and forex. They generally offer deep liquidity and are available on most trading platforms. There is also an array of free market insights and reports offered online.

Bottom Line on Brokers for Beginners

The best stock and forex brokers, whether you are a new investor or a professional trader, provide more than just a vehicle to make trades or investments. They help you make informed decisions by supplying user-friendly platforms, a plethora of educational resources, plus exceptional customer service. Use this tutorial to find the right platform to start your trading journey.

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