10/2019 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE 23mobile apps offered customers the
functions and convenience of tradi-
tional websites tailored to the devices
on which, studies show, people spend
some 20% of their waking hours.
Of the brokerages we surveyed, only
Interactive Brokers’ mobile app handles
stock, mutual fund, ETF and bond
trading. Fidelity does not offer bond
trading on its mobile app, but otherwise,
the apps at Fidelity and Interactive hit
practically every mark we looked for.
You can trade options or trade on mar-
gin (that is, using a loan from the bro-
ker), for instance, and both apps allow
customers to pay bills from their bro-
kerage accounts, provide real-time
streaming quotes and send news alerts
on stock positions. Interactive Brokers’
app offers robust charting, with 70
technical indicators for users to apply
to their charts. (Only Firstrade’s mo-
bile chart has more indicators to choose
from, but because the app lacks key
functions, such as mobile check depos-
its, it brings up the rear in the category.)
E*Trade, Merrill Edge and Schwab
also score well in this category, with
all offering most of what we looked for
(minus bond trading) as well as hand-
some mobile interfaces. E*Trade lostMerrill and Fidelity not too far behind.
Firstrade boasts the largest list of
commission-free ETFs, with an aston-
ishing 2,200. The totals at TD Ameri-
trade, Schwab and Fidelity number in
the 500s, with a steep drop-off after
that. Fidelity’s commission-free ETF
roster is full of low-cost options, com-
ing in with the lowest average expense
ratio of the bunch, at 0.36%.
No brokerage offers more corporate
and municipal bond trading on the
secondary market than Interactive
Brokers. E*Trade reigns supreme with
new-issue corporates, and Fidelity has
the most new-issue munis. Interna-
tional investors will appreciate that
Interactive Brokers offers trading on
85 exchanges in developed and emerg-
ing markets; Schwab comes in second
with 61. Fidelity made the most U.S.
initial public stock offerings available
to investors—271 over the 18 months
ending June 30. Second place: Trade-
Station, with 55.
MOBILE APPS
Brokerage reps say their customers
interact with their mobile platforms
more than ever before. High marks in
this category went to brokers whose
a few points for its relatively basic
mobile charting. Merrill’s score suf-
fered because users can’t make ACH
fund transfers, and Schwab got dinged
because users can’t pay bills from its
app. A major blow to the scores of Ally,
Firstrade, TD Ameritrade, and Trade-
Station: None of their apps allows for
mutual fund trading.TOOLS
Brokerages that offer an array of high-
quality, low-cost investments give
their customers many ways to invest
to help meet their goals. But most in-
vestors need help charting a path to-
ward those goals and narrowing down
the investments that are best for their
particular portfolios.
Most of the brokerages offer plenty
of tools aimed at helping investors do
just that. Nearly all of them offer a tool
that shows a client’s progress toward
a goal, and all but a few show users an
aggregate view of disparate accounts,
giving them a holistic view of their
financial life. All but Firstrade and
WellsTrade show investors how their
portfolio’s performance stacks up
against appropriate benchmarks. Five
firms—E*Trade, Fidelity, Interactive
Brokers, TD Ameritrade and Trade-
Station—offer some form of virtual
trading, so you can test-drive strate-
gies before putting them into action.
The leaders in this category are
committed to educating their clients.
Schwab hosted more than 5,000 live
educational events for clients in 2018
on saving and investing topics ranging
from estate planning to behavioral
finance. Merrill Edge has more than
3,600 educational videos and webinars
on its site. TD Ameritrade has eight or
nine educational webcasts and two
blog posts daily, in addition to the 7.5
hours of live market commentary that
runs weekdays on its proprietary TD
Ameritrade network.
For investors with some expertise,
virtually all of the top performers in
the category offer stock charts as well
as stock, mutual fund and ETF screens
with dozens of data points to help you