Types of Online Trading Brokers

Trading of financial instruments got very popular after the introduction of online trading services by online brokers. These brokerage firms offered a different range and level of trading services that make many traders, especially the experienced ones, their customers. Now almost all brokerage firm – traditional and discount – offer online trading services to traders. In addition to that many new brokerage firms also emerged which offer their services exclusively through internet and their services differed highly from the traditional ones; most noticeable of these changes are the faster execution of orders and highly sophisticated trading systems.

One can divide online trading brokers to different classes according to their services, products, etc. Most noticeable among these classifications are the ones based on products and markets to which the brokers offer access and the services that brokers offer as a whole.

Types of brokers according to the products/markets

1. Stock brokers – are brokers whose premium service is for traders of equities and other stock exchange traded products.
2. Forex Currency brokers – are brokers whose primary service is for traders of foreign currencies in forex market.
3. Futures brokers – are brokers whose primary service is for traders of futures on commodities. This group include a great variety as one can find many brokers who specialize on certain commodities.
4. Options brokers – are brokers whose primary service is for traders of options contracts.
5. Funds trading brokers – are brokers whose primary service is to trade mutual funds, indeed funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

But this classification is not a very good one for a trader who is looking to start his trading carrier with a very good broker. More over now one can hardly find any broker who specializes on one product. Most brokers now offer services for trading multiple products – stocks, futures, options and funds. The only exception is online forex trading brokers; most of them specialize exclusively on forex currencies and it is the biggest financial market on our planet. Our next classification can help traders to find the best brokers suitable for them.

1. Full-service brokers – many call them as traditional brokers. They offer services for trading almost all products or markets; except forex currencies. They offer good trading assistance and many other trading advantages. But they charge quite high and thus not much suggested for experienced traders and active traders who can make their own trading decisions.
2. Discount brokers – are brokers who are pretty much like full-service brokers but charge less commission schedules. But one can never expect the same level of customer support and trading assistance from them. Experienced traders able to make their own decisions are most comfortable with discount brokers.
3. Deep-discount brokers – they established themselves very well in recent years. These are brokers who employ high automation in trading services. They offer trading services for very low rates but expect nothing more from them. Usually they offer limited number of markets and products. But there are also some big names among them. They are good option if you are an active trader who demands only good trading software, streaming market info and quality order execution only from the brokers.
4. Day trading brokers – are brokers who specialize in offering trading services to day traders. They have the most advanced trading systems, high automation of trading services and lower ever commission schedules. But they have many minimum requirements which only a day trader can fulfill.