Gone are the old days where you send a check of you your broker and hope for the best. You never knew whether or not commissions and service fees would eat up your whole investment. With the explosion on the Internet marketplace, discount online brokers have helped the average investor to recoup fees as well as make intelligent investment decision.

Prior to the online discount broker age, most full service brokers charged large commissions to buy and sell stock for you. Also due to the manual process of moving money over to your broker trying to time the market with your investments was virtually impossible. Your broker may not have placed that trade exactly when you wanted it done which could have lead to possible losses of your investment of future gains.

One benefit of using an online discount broker is large reduction in commissions when placing trades. Discount broker commissions can be as low as five dollars per trade versus the twenty five dollars some larger brokers charge. If you make a large quantity of trades a year, you can see how those savings will add up. You also have full control of when you want to trade. If the market starts to fall you no longer have to wait to talk to your broker, just place the trade online and you are done. You can usually find all the same services offered by a regular broker as well.

Many online brokers are starting to offer very attractive promotions such as a brokerage account opening bonus or a new account transfer bonus to get you to open an account with them. For example there is an OptionsXpress Promo where you can get $100 when opening a new account. If you are moving from one account to another you may check out the Tradeking Promothat will rebate you up $150 in transfer fees when you switch from your current broker to a new Tradeking account.

Anyone can buy and sell stock. If you are going to start investing make sure that the broker you choose is in line with your investment needs.