Features you’ll love
High-quality trading platforms
Schwab offers a pair of trading platforms as well as mobile apps, so you’ll have a means to trade wherever you are.
Schwab.com web trader: The broker’s entry-level platform does plenty. In addition to all the basic features, the platform keeps tabs on major indexes and watchlists, can pull up a company’s financials and trading data, access options chains and analyze trends. If you need even more, you can step up to StreetSmart Edge.
StreetSmart Edge: This is Schwab’s flagship trading platform, and it shows. The interface is highly customizable, so you can set up the interface to optimize your trading process. You can trawl screeners for trading ideas, while news feeds and live CNBC coverage roll on the platform. The platform also offers advanced charting, and you’ll be able to place complex, multi-leg orders on the all-in-one trade ticket. You can access the platform in both web and desktop versions.
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Integration with Amazon Alexa
If you have Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant, then you can load the Schwab skill. With the skill, you’ll be able to request market updates, quotes on stocks and funds, as well as organize a watchlist. It’s hard not to see this evolving in the future so that you’d be able to trade and conduct other account tasks via Alexa, too.
Where Charles Schwab rocks
Research: Schwab is great at providing investors what they need to know, both in terms of research and all the tools that the broker offers.
Clients receive earnings news from Reuters, Briefing.com and others, while Schwab also provides market commentary from Morningstar, Credit Suisse, Ned Davis and more. Those investors looking for research on specific stocks will find Schwab’s in-house analytical work, including Schwab Equity Ratings for evaluating a stock’s performance, as well as other third-party reports.
Fund investors can access the Morningstar rating for each mutual fund, while ETF traders can trawl through the offerings efficiently with Schwab’s ETF Screener and ETF Select List (a guide to the broker’s top picks). It’s a quick way to sift the fund universe for what you really want, and the screener helps you find no-fee funds quickly.
Fixed-income traders can pore through more than 30,000 offerings with Schwab BondSource, a screener that includes ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.
Trading fees: Schwab charges $0 for stock and ETF trades and just $0.65 per contract for options. You could find cheaper options commissions, if you wanted to skimp on some other key features such as research, customer support or fee-free funds. But Schwab’s commissions are competitive and more than reasonable for all the value you’re getting. Plus, there’s no account minimum, so it’s incredibly easy to get started.
Fee-free funds: Mutual fund investors should be happy with Schwab’s offerings – with more than 7,200 available without a sales load. Investors in mutual funds should generally be looking to avoid sales loads, since they’re a dead loss, and Schwab gives you plenty of solid fund choices. But it goes one better, offering more than 4,200 funds with no load and no transaction fee, meaning you’ll buy and sell without a commission. It’s another way that Schwab is so investor-friendly.
Customer support: It might be a dark and stormy night, but Schwab’s customer support team is going to be open to take your call. Not only does the Schwab team take calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s also available for live online chats around the clock, too.
You can always send an email, or you can stop by one of the more than 300 Schwab branches if you need more personal assistance. This physical presence is an advantage that Schwab has over online-only brokers such as Robinhood or Interactive Brokers.
New account bonus: Schwab has upped its game on its new account bonus, too. Now the broker offers one of the most competitive bonus structures in the industry. With just a $1,000 deposit you can receive a $100 cash bonus, though you'll need a current Schwab customer to refer you. You can receive even more -- up to a $500 bonus with a deposit of $100,000 or more.
Where Charles Schwab could improve
Transfer out fees: With all the other investor-friendly advantages at Schwab, it feels nitpicky to target the broker's fees for transferring out your account. A partial transfer costs $25, while a full transfer will cost you $50. While Schwab is generally good about not hitting you up for fees here and there, that's not really the case with transfer fees.
Bottom line
Charles Schwab is great for investors who want a full-service broker who can do it all at a high level:
- The research and education packages get investors up to speed quickly and keep them informed.
- Investor-friendly practices such as low fees and round-the-clock customer support make the broker easy to use.
- Schwab charges a competitive trading commission for the entire package.
Investors who are interested in research and education should also have a look at Merrill Edge and Fidelity Investments. Both offer extensive free research on stocks as well as market commentary, and are solid overall picks. Investors who want a more extensive investment selection, including foreign stocks, may find TD Ameritrade interesting, while those seeking an attractive sign-up promotion — including cash bonuses — should check out E-Trade.
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