It’s been a while since I’ve done any research into online brokers, but here’s a new one worth checking out: TradeMONSTER.
TradeMONSTER is an online options broker, but they also cover all the basic trades for stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and bonds. They have a heavy emphasis on providing educational resources for the customer as well.
They’re not as new as they might seem. TradeMONSTER is a subsidiary of OptionMonster and was launched in 2007. How did I miss that? Anyway, TradeMONSTER is a member of FINRA and SIPC, so you’re as insured as you can be with a broker. They also offer a PaperTRADE account to learn with virtual money – virtual investing allows you to test your methods and learn from experience without actually risking your own money and is something I am a big proponent of. They’re also socially connected – they integrate with Twitter, so you can post trade details or comment on a trade you made. They received 4 out of 5 stars from Barron’s for trade experience, usability, research amenities and portfolio report & analysis.
TradeMONSTER seems to be geared more toward options trading, or just plain trading in general. Not that I have anything against that. I’m more of a long term, buy and hold type of investor. But if you’re looking for a more active trading platform that offers a high degree of customization, then check them out.
Thanks for that review. Traders these days are looking for more active platforms, because the days of buy-and-hold have almost been wiped out by the recent crash!
As Web2.0 grows, the aspect of social bookmarking is becoming more and more important, so a trading platform linked to twitter is bound to do well.