Today, you can even place a multileg options trade on your iPhone or Android. It's remarkable when you consider that cellphones' financial applications were initially thought of as nice ways to check an account balance or a closing stock price. Once it's created, the same display shows up when you log into the Web platform. In poking and prodding various Websites, downloadable systems, and mobile applications to see what they could do, we realized that some brokers have reversed the development process: They create mobile applications first, and then adapt them to work across their other platforms.įor instance, TD Ameritrade's Mobile Trader allows you to set up a column listing your positions, and gives you the ability to assess your portfolio against any index or stock. "Clients are getting to the point where they want a robust mobile trading platform with cloud capability that can parallel their desktop trading platforms," says Steve Sanders, an executive vice president of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers. Our top brokers let you customize everything from your trade ticket to your portfolio analysis reports, speeding you through placing orders while helping you - understand your gains and losses.
IN RESEARCHING Barron's 19th annual ranking of the best online brokers it was clear to us that personalizing each client's trading and investing experience, regardless of time or location, was becoming a reality.
"It's clear that the devices we use, and the ways that we use them, are fundamentally changing, and that provides investors with room for growth, limited only by the creativity of the tools we provide," says Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelity Investments' retail brokerage business.