Scottrade Review

Cristina By: Cristina | Last updated June 22, 2017

scottrade logo online stock trading
scottrade screenshot online stock trading

9.9 / 10

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PROS:

  • No maintenance or inactivity fee
  • Four different platforms

CONS:

  • Requires a minimum deposit of $500
  • No Forecasting tools
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SUMMARY:

Scottrade offers four different trading platforms designed to maximize trading on any level. All four platforms are highly customizable and well optimized. Scottrade is a well-known online broker that has fair pricing and a full range of tools needed for successful trading. Its broker-assisted trade fee is a bit high but the company doesn’t have a maintenance and inactivity fee that most other services charge for. Scottrade’s education center is well stocked with different level tutorials and guides and they also hold free webinars and other real-time learning events.

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COMPLETE REVIEW

Scottrade is an online stock trading company that has all the necessary tools and features any professional or beginner trader can need. It is affordably priced and it doesn’t have extra fees for maintenance or long-term inactivity. The website’s education center also has a healthy number of articles, guides and tutorials to help you fully master Scottrade’s online platform.

Interface and Features

The company has four platforms depending on the expertise level of the trader. The Scottrade is the basic setup and it has all the necessary tools a beginner user might need. It’s also somewhat simplified, but it still keeps full functionality showing you basic stats and allowing you to fully monitor your account. The next level platform is the Scottrader that adds real-time stock quotes, personalized stock lists and access to Dow Jones news without an extra charge. The Scottrader allows for much more customization. Another step up is the Scottrade Elite platform designed to best suit the needs of active traders. Aside from the basic tools available on other lower tier platforms, the Elite features Comtex and Dow Jones news, access to higher level quotes and more advanced charting tools. The fourth platform is the OptionsFirst designed specifically for options trading. This platform lets you use more advanced tools like the risk assessor, market watcher and others. It also allows you to set up hot lists and option chains. With four platforms, Scottrade is suitable for traders of any expertise level.

Although they primarily differ in the number of tools they feature, all platforms feature an intuitive design that is easily customizable to suit each individual user. For example, every user can set up three homepages he can then use to view his account information or trading situation. The platform lets you easily switch between any open windows, and you can even drag and drop certain items into place.

Scottrade offers a modern stock trading app available for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. The app is a mobile extension to your desktop platform. It allows you to trade and monitor the performance of your securities. Another commodity, which many other services don’t offer, is that you can transfer funds to your account over your mobile device, even if you don’t hold a banking account with Scottrade.

Features:

  • Option Strategies
  • Analytic Charts
  • Mobile App
  • Simulated Trading
  • Broker Support
Pricing

Scottrade has a flat fee of $7 for buying stocks online. The fee for broker-assisted trades is $32, which is among the highest fees for this type of service in our review. The service also requires you to put down $500 as a minimum deposit when you first open an account. Scottrade offers a variety of investment options like mutual funds, IRAs, stocks, bonds and even international investing, if you have the know-how.

Help/Support

Email: www.scottrade.com/contact.html

Phone number: 800.619.7283

Website: www.scottrade.com/online-trading

Knowledge Center: www.scottrade.com/knowledge-center

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Scottrade

Scottrade cares about fully educating its users on its platform so it offers a wide variety of help options in its knowledge center. There are dozens of articles you can search through based on what exactly you’d like to learn about. To manage your trades, the education center also offers an investment planning calculator and many trade-related tutorials. Since there are four trading platforms you can choose from, the website includes many different videos focusing on each platform individually. Web seminars and other events are free and available to all users. Although you can find a lot of basic information on the website, the learning center also holds a lot of useful tips expert users could also use.

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Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.

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