TD Ameritrade stands out from other brokers for many reasons. Ever since they were founded in 1971, they have been offering plenty of tools, useful products and research to help brokers do their best. They offer mutual fund screeners, lists of stock, stock analysis and so much more. Choosing a broker with the top tools and newest products is always a good idea and you can benefit from it a lot. With TD Ameritrade, you can trade commission-free and you won't have to pay a fee per trade. They don't have a minimum deposit requirement, which is very useful for beginners. TD Ameritrade has a very good app that investors rate really highly. The app allows you to trade, invest in funds ad stream data from your phone! Furthermore, their customer support is outstanding. TD Ameritrade is a great broker for both beginners and experienced traders.

They do still have a fee that you should know about; The paper statement fee. If your account's value is lower than $10 000, you'll be charged $2 per paper statement. 

TradeStation is generally focused on active and experienced traders so if you have been trading for a while, they might be the right broker for you. Recently they have been trying to appeal to active traders and are now offering $0 trades. This broker has plenty of data and tools to help you out and all of their trading platforms are high quality.

They have no account minimum but the thing is, in order to use TS Select, you need a $2,000 minimum account balance. In order to trade for free on their more advanced platforms, TS Select is required so really you can't use the best with an account that has less than $2,000 on it. TS also has a lot of fees that users have to pay. They have annual account fees, inactivity fees, $125 outgoing account transfer fee and more.

TradeStation and E-Trade are popular brokers that also have plenty of good things to offer, but the top broker that we recommend is TD Ameritrade. They have less fees and great educational tools and platforms. They are a great broker for any level trader and don't have too many fees that you would need to worry about.

You'll never be a super successful trader if you treat trading like a casual hobby. If you want to make money and expand your trading business then you need to start treating it like a business! Trading requires not only money, but also effort and time. You need to be ready to learn and take it all seriously, like you would a business. Know the difference between your job, trading and your hobbies. They should all be approached differently. Trading is a lot of hard work and you need to be invested in it more than you are invested in your casual hobbies.

For those wishing to get around the dreaded PDT Rule, CMEG and TradeZero are great brokers. TradeZero is based out of the Bahamas and CMEG is based out of Trinidad and Tobago so the PDT Rule doesn't apply to them. Both of these offshore brokers are known for being the top brokers that aren't located in the U.S. However there are are always risks when setting up an account with offshore brokers. Beware of these risks and stay informed on what you're signing up for. The minimum to open an account with TradeZero and CMEG is $500 but both offer resources and tools that you'll definitely benefit from. These two brokers do have plenty of fees that you'll need to pay, but paying the fees might be worth it since you get to avoid the PDT rule.