online brokeragesOnline brokerages are brokerages that focus on delivering brokerage services to Internet clients. Some of these brokerages also operate offline, while others are fully online enterprises. General characteristics for Internet brokerages are low commissions, 24-hour service desks, online real-time portfolio tracking, real-time news and analysis. Because of the low cost base of operating fully online, these companies can provide low commission structures to their clients. This has been one of the main draws for clients over traditional brokerages, which charge hefty fees for trading. Available Online BrokeragesEver since the early 90’s, when WWW started to become more popular, online banking and related services have been popular. Some of the early birds in the online banking sector were independent brokerages, such as Ameritrade that got sufficient venture capital funding to start large scale operations. Nowadays there are such newbie independent operations as well as brokerages tied to the more traditional brokerages such as Charles Schwab or Merrill Lynch. When choosing an Internet brokerage, most look at their commission structures first. Other features that you can compare include additional services (real time charts, news, analysis packages, analyses from brokerage analysts, etc), market training options, and other similar services and features on the brokerage package. Available brokerages with Internet operations include:
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