Our Top 10 Online Stock Trading Sites

If you're new to stock investing or online trading, you'll need to source the best stock market web sites for a variety of reasons, from information on how to buy stocks, news on what the market is doing, stock quotes, and tips on where to find the best online brokers.

Here are some of our favorite stock market web sites. As we're always exploring additional approaches to stock and options trading, we'll no doubt be adding to this list in the near future.

If you're a novice at online trading, these sites should give you a good introduction to the topic. Not all of them will fill your needs, but take a quick look around, and if you connect with a site's style and content, bookmark it for future reference.

You'll probably wind up with 5-6 sites that you visit constantly. As with any topic, beware of information overload. Take it slowly and absorb the information one step at a time. Because taking action is the best way to learn, paper trading will make the concepts much clearer than simply reading about them.

This was the list we used when first researching the stock market:

  1. The Motley Fool

    Brothers David and Tom Gardner are the authors of the investing trilogy,The Motley Fool: You Have More than You Think,The Motley Fool Investment GuideandThe Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers. Their web site focuses on personal finances and investing, with an emphasis on fundamental analysis, and is definitely worth a look.
    http://www.fool.com/
  2. Decision Point

    This popular site offers a no-cost online course on technical analysis as well as other relevant stock market information. A great introduction to the topic.
    http://www.decisionpoint.com/
  3. Impulsive Profits

    Stephen Pierce, one of the top Internet marketers and author of the bestselling eBook,The Whole Truth, has a cluster of impressive web sites on stock amd commodities trading. You can start by visiting his Impulsive Profits site and and checking out his no-cost downloads.
    http://www.impulsiveprofits.com/

    Stephen's other sites include:
    http://www.rapidfireswingtrading.com/
    http://www.futures-trading-commodity-trading.com/
    http://www.future-charts.com/
    http://www.elliot-wave-theory.com/
    http://www.chart-traders.com/
  4. Big Charts

    If you're looking for charts, this is one of the best places online. Take a look at the wealth of information they offer.
    http://www.bigcharts.com/
  5. The Online Option Trader

    Stephen Cooper is the stock market advisor to Robert Allen of Multiple Streams of Income fame. He sells a top quality options trading course and several other products.
    http://www.onlineoption.com/
  6. CBS Market Watch

    This large site is a excellent source of stock market news. You can receive daily price alerts on up to 25 stocks via e-mail, and can also request financial news alerts as part of the same no-cost service.
    http://www.cbsmarketwatch.com/
  7. Vanguard Group

    For conservative investors, or those who wish to allocate part of their portfolio to conservative investments, Vanguard is considered the king of index funds. Click on the Personal Investors link to access the most relevant information.
    http://www.vanguard.com/
  8. Schwab Trading CT

    If you're interested in buying stocks online and are looking for an inexpensive online broker, Charles Schwab is a company with a reputation for quality service and reasonable prices. Other low-cost online brokers can be found on the CBS Market Watch site, or do a search in Google for 'discount brokers'.
    http://www.schwabtrader.com/
  9. Medved Quote Tracker

    Jerry Medved offers a useful no-cost spreadsheet program that tracks your stocks daily. Take a look at his product to decide if it's for you.
    http://www.quotetracker.com/
  10. Incredible Charts

    Although he's based in Australia, chartered accountant Colin Twiggs also offers information on the US stock market. His pages on technical analysis offer an extensive overview of the subject and are basically a free online course.
    http://www.incrediblecharts.com.au/

If you have some favorite stock market web sites, please feel free to let us know via ourcontact us page.

We also welcome your reviews of any relevant sites.