The Best Online Brokers, 2018

When Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes in 1973, securing his place in racing history as a Triple Crown champion, he beat the competition by a whopping 31 lengths, or about 248 feet. The results of this year's online broker survey aren't as clear-cut. In a photo finish, TD Ameritrade beat Charles Schwab by less than a nose, with Fidelity and then E*Trade fast on their heels.

As the world of online brokers continues to evolve, it has become increasingly difficult for firms to stand apart from one another. Their fees and commissions are generally low, their online tools are plentiful, they provide generous access to low-cost investments, and the firms' websites and mobile apps are crammed with research reports, charts and videos. Overall, the contest for best online broker is a neck-and-neck horse race.

But zoom in, and you'll find that each firm has something different to offer--a niche that lets it shine in one way or another. This year, we surveyed eight firms: Ally Invest, Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Fidelity, Firstrade, Merrill Edge, TD Ameritrade and WellsTrade. With commissions about $7 or less at most firms this year, that category carries less weight. Because the firms we surveyed told us that investors increasingly interact with them on smartphones or tablets, we assigned more importance to mobile apps. The biggest, best-known firms, you'll notice, score better overall in our survey. But almost all of the firms let you trade stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and individual bonds online, as well as offer some online advisory services.

There are a couple of exceptions: Firstrade's online robo adviser may launch later this year. And although WellsTrade offers individual bond investing, which we factored into its ranking, trades must be made over the phone. Finally, we approached T. Rowe Price and Vanguard, but both firms declined to participate in our survey this year. Read on to find out which brokers did best足--and why--in each category.

Commissions & fees

Plenty of brokerages offer reasonable fees and commissions, thanks to the decades-long brokerage price wars. The latest salvo from Fidelity eliminated all account fees, including fees to

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