Had a suggestion that I should try Interactivebroker.com as a budgeted Broker for myself;?
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I don't know that Interactive would turn you away for a lack of experience. However, you should be aware that their primary business is institutional, and their services reflect that. Low commissions depending on number of shares traded ($0.005/share, min $1, which is great if you are trading 200 shares, but not so great if you are buying or selling 5,000 shares. I love the workstation now (a program you launch to track quotes and place orders), but it takes a while to get the hang of it. Another thing they allow you to do that I like is trade stocks and futures from the same account. I've also had good luck with the executions...although lately, it seems orders are sometimes taking a while to transmit. The low commissions come with a $10 monthly charge if you don't spend $30 in a month on commissions. Its also not easy to get them money...they don't credit ACH deposits until the fourth day after you send them. I don't remember how bad the check policy is...but its bad enough that I have never sent them a check. No interest on the first $10K of deposits (although rates are close to as good as they get after that). Upsides: Can trade futures, forex and some foreign stocks in addition to U.S. stocks and options, good interest on high cash balances ($100K plus), good commissions if your average trade size is 500-1000 shares or less, orders entered on the workstation can be entered with a few mouseclicks and without having to type anything...I can do an order in a second or two on the workstation vs. 10-15 seconds on other sites. While this doesn't matter much to buy and hold people...for traders it is important. Downsides: Slowness in crediting cash, $10 data charge in months with less than $30 in commissions, no research, minimal customer support (which I really haven't needed, but I've been doing this a while), no mutual funds, etc.
For a beginner, I'd go either Scottrade, or Tradeking is another one that has been getting good reviews lately. Scottrade is $7/trade, and has reasonable support. Never traded with TradeKing, but they have $4.95 commissions, and good reviews. If you really end up doing, say 10+ trades per month, and you aren't making a lot of deposits/withdrawls...I think Interactive would work well. If you are also futures trader, want to buy and sell shares in other countries (they offer direct access to some foreign markets), or want to do forex also, then it would work very well. If you want instant credit for deposits, ability to buy mutual funds, any sort of research, easy to understand website, etc., then Interactive isn't for you.
I think you should try scottrade not only because they are cheap ($7 a trade) but also because they have very fast trade executions (the importance of which you will realize as you become more experienced) as well as a bunch of branch offices all over the states. On top of that they have great service and little fees. To sum it up scottrade.com is simply the best regardless of whether you are looking for price or service. check out their website www.scottrade.com and their comparisons with other discount brokers
Try www.nystockexc.com
I learned a lot from http://www.thestockfather.com lots of good information
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