Fidelity

Reviewed December 2009

Best online broker overall

Great research tools
Full range of financial services
Wide range of investment products
Mobile applications

Minimum opening balance of $2,500
Higher commissions

Our Analysis

Fidelity is a one-stop shop, offering services that range from international trading to checking accounts. The broker offers a large selection of no-load, no-transaction-fee mutual funds, and Fidelity's website is easy to use and packed with helpful planning and educational tools. Unless you have at least $50,000 in assets or make a lot of trades, you'll pay about $20 per trade; frequent traders and those with more assets get lower commissions and other perks. If you're looking for a broker with good customer service and lower commissions, reviewers suggest TradeKing.

We found the best reviews of Fidelity in SmartMoney magazine and Barron's, which annually rank online brokers. J.D. Power and Associates measures customer satisfaction with Fidelity and other online brokers, and ConsumerReports.org provides a ratings chart based on a survey of online subscribers' experiences with brokerages.

Where To Buy

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Fidelity

Our Sources

1. SmartMoney.com Details/Subscribe

SmartMoney magazine identifies the best online brokers in six categories. A chart at the end ranks the 16 brokers included in the review and gives the category ratings for each one. Fidelity is second in the rankings and is named best online broker in the category of investment products and mutual funds, and one of the three best in the category of online banking services.

Review: SmartMoney's 2009 Broker Survey, Roya Wolverson and Neil Parmar, May 19, 2009

2. Barron's

Barron's rates the top 25 online brokers for 2009 and summarizes the results in a table. In addition, several short tables break down the data to show the best brokers for certain categories of investors. Fidelity is ranked fifth of the 25 brokers covered, and it is named the best online broker for long-term investors, third-best for international traders.

Review: Blue Chips, Theresa W. Carey, March 16, 2009

3. ConsumerReports.org Details/Subscribe

Seventeen brokerage firms are rated and ranked, based on a survey of online subscribers. Respondents rated brokers on their account service, website, phone service and in-person service.

Review: Brokerage Service Ratings, Editors of ConsumerReports.org, May 2009

4. J.D. Power and Associates

More than 5,000 investors who make their investment decisions without the help of a financial adviser responded to J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study. Fidelity ranks fifth out of 13 brokers.

Review: 2009 Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study, Editors of J.D. Power and Associates, Oct. 1, 2009

5. Kiplinger.com Details/Subscribe

Kiplinger.com evaluates a dozen brokerages by opening accounts and trying them out. Editors name Fidelity the best overall online broker of the 12. This review highlights the research and analysis tools on Fidelity's website, its range of investment products and its customer service.

Review: Best of the Online Brokers, Thomas M. Anderson, Nov. 2008

6. Forbes Details/Subscribe

Forbes awards Fidelity a Best of the Web award. In a short review, the editors write that the firm has "Best-in-class planning tools. Fidelity's multi-goal financial planner lets you run simulations to see how your goals are affected by changing priorities and investment strategy."

Review: Website Reviews: Brokers, Editors of Forbes

7. American Association of Individual Investors JournalDetails/Subscribe

AAII's website features an annual discount broker guide, including a summary of members' feedback during the previous year about the online brokers they used. In the 2009 guide, AAII members are reported to have expressed the highest rates of satisfaction with ThinkOrSwim, Fidelity and Scottrade. However, the article is available only to AAII members.

Review: 2009 Discount Broker Guide, Jean Henrich and Maria Crawford Scott, Feb. 2009

8. TopTenReviews.com

Detailed reviews of 16 brokers are provided by the editor of TopTenReviews, and a comparison chart summarizes data about each of them. Fidelity gets a Bronze award as third-best among the 16 brokers.

Review: Fidelity Review, Editors of TopTenReviews.com

9. BetterTrades.com

Financial analyst Robert Stammers offers fairly short reviews of 11 online brokers. Of Fidelity, he writes that the firm "is known for customer service and wins various customer service awards every year...;. Fidelity provides a variety of valuable research and analysis tools that are reminiscent of features provided by upscale full service brokers."

Review: Better Trades Broker Reviews, Robert Stammers, Chartered Financial Analyst, Dec. 2008

10. Keynote Systems

Twelve online brokers are rated by Keynote Systems, based on how quickly they process a stock order and the success rate of order completion. For the week of Oct. 26, 2009, E*Trade, Scottrade and Fidelity responded most quickly when an order was placed, and Fidelity along with two other brokers had a 100 percent success rate in order completion. However, rankings and results can vary from week to week, and that data is available on the site as well.

Review: Business Transaction Index for Brokerage Web Sites, Editors of Keynote Systems, Inc., Oct. 2009

11. Epinions.com

Fidelity gets the best score of all the online brokers rated here by their customers. Although the rating is based on more than 100 reports, many date back several years.

Review: Ratings of Fidelity, Contributors to Epinions.com