| Broker | Features |
|---|---|
  FeaturedGo to XTB | Excellent 24-hour customer service. More than 3000 instruments to trade. Regulated broker.(*) Warning: Your capital is at risk. 79% of retail CFD accounts lose money. With XTB you can invest with low commissions in more than 1,500 shares of companies in Europe and the United States.Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 0 €/$ Trading Platforms: xStation5, iOS App, Android App. Execution: Market Maker / STP Regulation:  FCA, CNMV and IFSCWeb Page: https:/www.xtb.com |
 FeaturedGo to Pepperstone | Very low spreads on over 1,200 instruments. 24/7 support, fast execution and no requotes.(*) Warning: Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. Pepperstone allows you to trade over 250 major US, UK, German and Australian stocks.Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 200 €/$ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView. Execution: STP / NDD Regulation: FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFin, DFSA, CMA and SCBWeb Page: https://www.pepperstone.com |
 FeaturedGo to eToro | Buy stocks without commission. Automatically copy the best investors with the eToro CopyTrader tool.(*) Warning: 77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
With eToro you can trade over 2,600 spot stocks with zero commissions. Trade whole stocks or fractions either manually or by automatically copying the best strategies of other investors.Demo Account: Yes, unlimited Minimum Deposit: 200 $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader, iOS App, Android App. Execution: Market Maker Regulation: FCA, CySEC and ASICWeb Page: https://www.etoro.com |
 Go to IC Markets | True ECN account with ultra-low spreads and ultra-fast execution designed for scalping and automated trading systems. With IC Markets you can invest in more than 1,600 shares of stock market indices such as the ASX in Australia or the NASDAQ and NYSE in the USA.Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 200 $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader. Execution: ECN Regulation: ASIC, CySEC and FSAWeb Page: https://www.icmarkets.com |
 Go to IQ Option | $1 minimum investment. Powerful and intuitive trading platform. Fast withdrawals.(*) Warning: Your capital might be at risk. With IQ Option you can trade around 175 CFDs on stocks from all over the world.Demo Account: Yes, unlimited Minimum Deposit: 50 €/$ Trading Platforms: Proprietary Platform, iOS App, Android App. Execution: Market Maker Regulation: CySECWeb Page: https://www.iqoption.com |
 Go to Exness | Low spreads as low as 0.0 pips. No swaps on most instruments. Instant withdrawals. Exness allows you to trade over 80 stocks, mainly from the US stock market.Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 10 $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5. Execution: Market Maker / ECN Regulation: FCA, CySEC, FSCA, FSC, CBCS, FSA and SDLWeb Page: https://www.exness.com |
 Go to AvaTrade | One of the most regulated brokers worldwide (in 9 different jurisdictions). With AvaTrade you can buy or sell over 620 stocks of popular companies such as Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet, Microsoft, Pfizer,...Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 100 €/$ Trading Platforms: WebTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, iOS App, Android App. Execution: Market Maker Regulation: Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC, BVI, FSCA and FSAWeb Page: www.avatrade.com |
 Go to Eightcap | With Eightcap you can trade over 350 US, Australian, London Stock Exchange and German stock exchanges (XETRA) shares.Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 100 $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView. Execution: STP / ECN Regulation: ASIC and SCBWeb Page: https://www.eightcap.com |
 Go to RoboForex | $30 welcome bonus with a minimum deposit of $10 and bonuses up to $50,000 per deposit. RoboForex allows its clients to trade more than 3,000 spot stocks and more than 8,400 CFDs on US stocks.Demo Account: Yes, unlimited Minimum Deposit: 0 €/$ Trading Platforms: WebTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, iOS App, Android App. Execution: STP / ECN Regulation: FSCWeb Page: https://www.roboforex.com |
 Go to FP Markets | With FP Markets you can trade over 10,000 stocks from global financial markets and covering a wide range of sectors (pharmaceuticals, aviation, tourism, technology,...).Demo Account: Yes Minimum Deposit: 100 €/$ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, IRESS. Execution: ECN Regulation: ASIC, CySEC and FSPWeb Page: https://www.fpmarkets.com |
 Go to OANDA | Oanda allows online trading of popular European stocks such as Deutsche Bank, Adidas, Santander, Porsche, Lufthansa,... Demo Account: Yes, unlimited Minimum Deposit: 0 $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5. Execution: Non Dealing Desk Regulation: FCA, ASIC, NFA, IIROC, BVI FSCWeb Page: https://www.oanda.com |
What are the best stock brokers?
Stocks are one of the many financial instruments in which anyone can invest their money, in fact, it is one of the most popular financial assets to buy or sell. One of the main reasons why many investors choose to invest in stocks is because they allow the possibility of higher returns than other instruments such as currencies, indices or commodities. Equities generally behave more volatile than other financial instruments that may be more stable and suffer less from price fluctuations. Many traders also choose to buy shares of companies that they know or can follow through economic news, sector performance, business knowledge, etc.
The main characteristic of shares is that they represent a part of the company’s capital, with the pros and cons that this entails (in contrast, fixed income assets represent a debt, which has a maturity). Nowadays, the simplest and easiest way to invest in stock market is not to buy the shares physically and own them, but to invest in shares through CFDs (contracts for difference) offered by most brokers.
By investing in CFD’s on shares you can profit from the movement of the share value and you can buy and sell shares immediately with a single click through your broker’s trading platform. You can also profit whether the shares of the company you choose go up or down in value . CFDs allow you to take advantage of the slightest movement in such a volatile market as equities (i.e. company shares). More info: List of the best online CFD brokers.
In addition to all this, when investing through derivatives (such as CFDs), you have the possibility of leverage which allows you to provide only a small amount of capital as collateral and actually trade with a much larger amount, thus having the possibility of maximising your profits. In addition, with CFDs there are no custody fees or other management fees. They are more agile instruments for short-term trading.
There are many brokers that allow you to buy or invest in stocks through CFDs. Most of them offer the most popular shares of European and American companies (for example, we can trade shares of Apple, eBay, Twitter, Meta, Alphabet, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Bank of America, Yahoo, Visa, Coca Cola, Nike, etc.). There are also online brokers where you can invest in shares of your country. Stock trading is very popular in countries such as South Africa, Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Kenya, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi,…), China, Indonesia, Kuwait, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan Qatar, Vietnam among others.
The main advantage of the stock market is that there is a large number of companies, each one different from the other, with different behaviour depending on the time and economic and market situation. Stocks offer the trader the possibility of designing a huge diversity of trading strategies. If we add to this the agility of CFD trading, the available strategies multiply. In the equity market it is possible to find stocks that are beneficial for both novice and experienced traders.
Having tested and analysed numerous online brokers, the ones you can see in the comparative table at the top of this page are what we consider to be the best brokers for stocks.
References and sources:
- How to Start Trading Stocks
- How Does the Stock Market Work?
- The Relationship Between Stocks and Forex
