Brokerage Firms

Selecting a Broker for Your Personal Finance Transactions

Discount and online brokerages have increased their customer service and added more servers so that customer trades are executed rapidly. Full-service brokers are increasing the capabilities of their Web [more…]

What Does an Investment Broker Do?

Many investment options require that you negotiate your trades or buy and sell through a broker. A broker is essentially an intermediary between you and the investing world. Brokers can be organizations [more…]

Transacting Your Financial Business through Discount Investment Brokers

Perhaps you've researched investment options and have chosen your preferences among stocks, bonds, treasury issues, funds, futures, and other financial tools. All you want is someone to transact your buy/sell [more…]

Brokerage Firms Offer Accounts According to Creditworthiness

Most brokerage firms offer investors several different types of accounts, each serving a different purpose. The three most common are cash accounts, margin accounts, and option accounts. [more…]

How to Choose a Broker for ETF Investments

You can’t personally buy a share of an ETF — you need someone to actually buy it for you and hold it for you. That someone is a broker, sometimes referred to as a [more…]

ETF Investments Start with Opening a Brokerage House Account

Before you can invest in exchange-traded funds, you’ll need to open an account with a brokerage house. The brokerage will ask lots of questions related to your personal finances, your financial goals, [more…]

The Basics of Placing an Order to Buy ETFs

Your first step to buying exchange-traded funds is to set up an account with a brokerage house. Then, you’re ready to buy your first ETF.

ETFs are usually traded just as stocks are traded. Same commissions [more…]

Who Can You Buy Annuities From?

You will probably buy your annuity from a licensed insurance agent, broker, or financial adviser. Standing directly behind these intermediaries are brokerage firms [more…]

How Open Outcry Works in American Futures Trading

Around the world, most futures exchanges now use electronic trading. The United States still uses the open outcry system of futures trading for many physical commodities, such as agricultural and oil. [more…]

Questions to Ask before Trading Futures and Options

Before becoming a futures and options trader, you need to know what you're getting into — and what you may get out of the risk-taking experience. Look to this checklist for key questions that can help [more…]

How to Choose a Futures and Options Broker

If you are interested in trading options but aren’t sure about your own ability to trade them, you need to find a good options broker/advisor to help you out. A broker can assist with strategy development [more…]

Opening an Account with a Commodity Broker

To start trading exchange-traded products, you have to open a trading account with a commodity broker who’s licensed to conduct business on behalf of clients at the exchange. [more…]

Placing Orders at the Commodities Exchange

Your trading account is your link to the commodity exchange. The broker’s trading platform gives you access to the exchange’s main products, such as futures contracts, options on futures, and other derivative [more…]

Trading in the Interbank Market

The interbank market is an over-the-counter (OTC) market, which means that each trade is an agreement between the two counterparties to the trade. There are no exchanges or guarantors for the trades, just [more…]