We have researched the best US stockbrokers, so you don’t have to. This is an incredibly detailed review & analysis of the Best U.S. Stock Brokers. We Compare Firstrade vs. Interactive Brokers vs. SpeedTrader vs. LightSpeed vs. TC2000 Brokerage vs. Ally Invest.
We have it all covered from the lowest commissions to the best trading platform, retirement planning, and which broker is best for Day Traders or Investors.
Select your Broker Based on Preference:
- The Lowest Trading Commissions
- The Biggest Selection of Commission-Free ETFs
- Best Selection of Stocks, Options, ETF’s, Mutual Funds, Futures, Forex & Bonds
- Best Trading Platform for Stocks & Options
- The Brokers Best for Day Traders
- Best Brokers for Investing & Retirement Planning
Select Your Broker on Investing Style:
- A Mid to Long-Term Investor seeking meager commissions on stocks and options & an industry-leading 700 Commission-Free ETFs. Full MorningStar Research access and 5-star customer satisfaction
- An investor buying Stocks, Options & ETF’s directly from Charts using an Award-Winning Trading Platform with low commissions & incredibly low margin rates.
- An Investor seeking low commissions, good execution on stocks, options, ETF’s, Futures, Bonds, Semi-Automated Portfolio Management & Banking & Credit Services with great customer satisfaction
- A Day Trader wanting Direct Market Access & Lightning Execution for very low-cost Stock & Options trading.
- An Active Investor / Day Trader seeking the absolute lowest trading costs, direct market access for fast execution, and best-in-class margin costs.
- An Active Day Trader seeking fast execution & very low commissions for higher volumes. Seeking a broker with a very good customer satisfaction score and a good suite of tools.
The Best Brokers for Lowest Commissions
- Firstrade – $0 Stock Trades, $0 per options contract, $0 ETF’s & Mutual Funds
- Interactive Brokers – $1.00 Stock Trades, $1.00 Option Traders, Lowest Cost of Leverage
- Lightspeed – $4.50 per Trade or $0.0045 per share, $0.60 per contract
- SpeedTrader – $4.49 per Trader or $0.0044 per share, $2.95 + $0.40 per options contract
- TC2000 Brokerage – $4.95 per stock trade, $2.95 + $0.50 per options contract
- Ally Invest – $4.95 per stock trader, $4.95 + $0.50 per contract
The Best Brokers for Free ETF Trades
- Firstrade – 2200+ Commission-Free ETF’s
- Interactive Brokers – 28+ Commission-Free ETF’s
The Brokers with the Best Trading Platform
- TC2000 Brokerage – Using TC2000 – Real-time Scanning, Trading off Charts
- Interactive Brokers – Web Trader + Trader Workstation + 20 other products Free
- Firstrade – Firstrade Navigator, Options Wizards & Real-time Watchlists
- SpeedTrader – DAS Trader Active Web & PRO – $104 per month
- Lightspeed – Great selection of Free & Paid Products
- Ally Invest – Banking, Trading, Loans all in one place
The Brokers Best for Day Traders
- SpeedTrader – DAS Trader + Direct Market Access + per share commissions
- Interactive Brokers – Lowest Commissions, TWS Trader, Algo Trader DMA
- Lightspeed – Lightning Execution, Low Commissions for High Volume Traders
- SureTrader – Best for Day Trading for non-U.S. Residents
The Best Brokers Retirement Planning
- Firstrade – Retirement & Long-Term Investing Tools & Commission-Free ETF’s
- Ally Invest – Self Directed & Guided Trading, Banking and Loans All-in-One
- Interactive Brokers – IRA & Retirements Planning Tools
- TD Ameritrade – Full Suite of Retirement Planning Tools – Commissions High
- Fidelity – Great selection of Tools & Advisory Brokers but High Commissions
The Top 6 Best US Brokers
1. Firstrade: Best Free Stock & ETF Broker
Add to this full MorningStar access and 5-star customer satisfaction, which means Firstrade is a great choice for brokerage services.
There is a lot to love about Firstrade.
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Announcement
On August 23, 2018, Firstrade made the extremely bold move to move to complete Commission Free Trading. Firstrade were already our 2018 review winner and had amongst the lowest commissions in the industry, now they have officially the lowest in the industry with ZERO, yes ZERO commissions.
Previously their commissions per stock trade were below $3.-. Their Options trades were also excellent at only $2.95 + $0.50 per contract.
What really stands out is the unique offering of over 2,200 commission-free Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) on offer. That is over twice as many as the next best competitor TD Ameritrade.
You also get completely cost-free access to the suite of Morning Star research; only three other brokers offer free research of this quality.
The Firstrade Trading Platforms Firstrade Navigator, Options Wizards, and Real-time Watchlists hold up well against the competition.
And finally, a 5-Star Customer Satisfaction Rating rounds of the package for an excellent Brokerage for mid to long-term investors.
p.s. Did we mention the 2,200+ commission-free ETFs!
Round 1 – Trades & Commissions – Clear Winner
Firstrade is the outright winner in the commissions’ round with a $0 flat fee per trade and $0 per options contract.
But what also adds to the appeal with Firstrade is the 2,200+ commission-free Exchange Traded Funds on offer. This is a huge selection, more than the total for all the other brokers reviewed in our Top 10 Brokers Review.
You can purchase Mutual Funds for $0, and Bond purchases are on a Net Yield Basis.
The only thing you cannot trade with Firstrade is Forex.
Finally, the Margin Commissions Percents are higher than with Interactive Brokers or Worden2000 Brokerage. If you are not buying on margin, this is not a problem.
Round 2 – Trading Platform – Highly Recommended
Firstrade has completely rebuilt its trading platform from scratch, and the improvement is dramatic. Gone are clunky java programs, replaced by a fast HTML 5.0 platform. This platform is future-proofed and highly scalable. The user experience is clean, intuitive, and easy to learn.
Also, what we like is its price – Free.
The trading platform has several components. The web-based platform is available for all clients. If you have an account balance over $10,000, you will have complimentary access to Firstrade Navigator, a downloadable, more powerful trading experience.
Web Trading Platform – Heatmap & Sector & Industries Tool
To find a potential opportunity to trade, you can start with the big-picture view of the market and drill down from there. The heatmap is designed for short-term traders who need to see where the price action and volatility are on any given day.
Alternatively, you can utilize the sectors and industries to evaluate past performance and select a sector to review in more depth.
Web Trading Platform – Advanced Screener, Fundamental Data & Event Calendar
No product set would be complete without scanning and screening for stocks based on the fundamental data. Firstrade attempt at this is pretty good. It does not match the offerings from TradingView or TC2000, but it is adequate for most investors.
A new event calendar is also available, neatly broken into tabs for Earnings Announcements, Dividends, Ratings Changes, Economic Indicators, IPOs & Splits.
Web Trading – OptionsPlay
Firstrade put a lot of effort into the Options Trading Platform OptionsPlay. A first-class platform that focuses first on what kind of options strategy you want to implement. You can drill down through industries and sectors, and you instantly get a technical analysis for the stock, the bullish or bearish score. You can even sort your watchlist based on the bullish or bearish score.
The image to the right shows the OptionsPlay Bullish and Bearish Ratings based on three scenarios based on if you are feeling bullish or bearish about the stock or index.
- Strategy 1 – Selling 100 Shares of the stock – A Bearish Strategy – Cost would be $6764 – with a mediocre score of 96 for the trade
- Strategy 2 – Buy the June 9th Put Options – Bearish – Cost $185 – Low probability Rating of 74
- Strategy 3 – Buy June 9th Put Vertical – Bearish – Cost $147 – High Probability Rating of 104
I really like the implementation here; simple and implementable.
Firstrade OptionsPlay Trading Platform Walk-through
See how the whole OptionsPlay functionality works in the image below to get an overview of the functionality.
- Immediate feedback into the 1 month and 6-month trend for the stock.
- This particular fund is has a rating of 88 for a bullish strategy but only a 35 rating for a bullish options strategy. The beauty of this is you can compare where you should buy the stock or utilize an options strategy.
- The ability to then sort your list on the strongest score is excellent functionality.
- Finally, the Profit & Loss simulator is really good as it enables you to try to predict what your profits would be depending on how much you invest in the strategy.
Watch the “How to Trade Options Like A PRO” Video from Firstrade
See OptionsPlay in action in this detailed video.
Desktop Trading Platform – Firstrade Navigator
Firstrade Navigator is a very nicely designed and relatively powerful system.
It is very customizable and also has a selection of widgets that you can embed into the dashboard. Studies and indicators are included.
This is relatively newly developed, and I expect more functionality to be released in the near term.
Round 3 Winner – Customer Support
Firstrade does very well in this round. They provide full email, chat, and telephone coverage and are quick to answer. They have also had zero negative tweets or negative TrustPilot reviews in the last 12 months. Additionally, customers rave about the service, which is unusual; this means a 5-star customer satisfaction rating.
What I also like is they throw into the mix free access to Zacks Research, Morningstar Research & Ratings, Breifing.com & Benzinga (although not the real-time Benzinga PRO version). These third-party services are quite valuable, and considering Firstrade offers very low commissions, they also add value through these services.
Round 4 – Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
Is the company well established, well funded, and well regulated? This is the main object of this round of comparisons.
Any US-based Broker should be a member of the following institutions.
Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) Membership.
FINRA is a nonprofit organization established to protect investors and ensure that the members comply with the law and the Securities and Exchange Commission rules. They audit all members regularly.
Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) Membership.
The SIPC is there to protect and hopefully recover any money lost if a Brokerage firm fails. Although Broker failure is rare, it can happen, and SIPC membership ensures that your account is protected up to $500,000.
Firstrade has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Open an Account with Firstrade
Firstrade Discount Broker Review USA – Master Data Sheet
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Review Winner |
| Great for: | Mid to Long Term Investors |
| Likes | ★ ZERO Commissions ★ 700+ Commission Free ETF's ★ Free MorningStar Research ★Excellent Customer Satisfaction |
| Dislike | ✘ Highish Margin Rates |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✔ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $0 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $0 |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | $0 |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | 700 |
| Futures | ✘ |
| Mutual Funds | $0 |
| Bond Purchase | ✔ |
| Bonds | Net Yield |
| Forex Trading | ✘ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | ✘ |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 4.75% to 9.% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | FirstTrade |
| Trading Platform Cost | Free |
| Web Software | ✔ |
| Desktop Software | FirsTrade Navigator Options Wizard Real-Time Watchlist |
| Mobile Software | ✔ |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✘ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✘ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✔ MorningStar Free |
| News | ✔ |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $0 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
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Open an Account with TC2000 Brokerage
2. TC2000 Brokerage: Best for Market Scanning in the USA
Investors buying Stocks, Options & ETF’s directly from Charts using award-winning TC2000. Also, take advantage of incredibly low margin rates.
TC2000 Brokerage is a relatively new offering from Worden Brothers Inc. This is a well-established company offering one of the best Stock Market Analysis Software Packages around. The logical step for Worden Brothers was to expand into the Brokerage side of the business.
And boy, they did a good job. They offer Stock Trade commissions at $4.95, $2.- less than TD Ameritrade and Merrill Lynch, and their options trade fare even better at $2.95 + $0.65 per contract.
They surprisingly lead the pack in Margin Interest Rates. When you buy a stock with a margin, it enables you to leverage that stock with borrowed money. This is traditionally where brokerage firms make a lot of profit through this lending.
However, TC2000 Brokerage does not take advantage of the client in this area and simply offers very low-interest rates of 3% to 4.2% on the margin loans.
The icing on the cake is that you get to trade directly off the charts with TC2000. TC2000 enables real-time fundamental and technical screening of the entire stock markets, including ETFs, and enables you to create indicators from market conditions easily. Not only that, but the options trading in TC2000 is also arguably the best in the industry.
TC2000 brokerage only offers trading in Stocks, Options, and ETFs, but if this is all you need; then, this is a first-class operation that should meet your needs.
Round 1 – Commissions & Trades – Highly Recommended
If you only want to trade stocks, options, and ETF’s and would like to utilize leverage to increase
your buying power, the TC2000 Brokerage could be ideal for you as they offer an incredibly low 3% to 4.2% margin costs. These rates are available to those with smaller balances also.
Stock Trades are a flat fee of $4.95, and the Options Contracts are $2.95 + $0.65, which is at the median point across all brokers, so not the lowest but far from the highest also.
Lastly, ETF trades are $4.49. There are no commissions free ETFs available. Outside Stocks, Options, or ETF’s there is nothing else to trade. If you are looking for a full-service broker offering everything, including Bonds, Forex, or Commodity Futures, then it may be worth looking at Firstrade or others in our Top 10 Broker Review.
Round 2 – Stock Trading Platform Winner
How do you find the in-play stocks, have high volatility and are in a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform.
As you may have noticed in our Review of the Best Stock Market Analysis Software, TC2000 was one of the clear winners.
Worden Brothers continue their winning ways, with very competitive pricing starting at only $10 per month for the Silver package. I would recommend Gold to start with as you get a more powerful alerts engine and unlock the huge power of the Technical & Fundamental Scanning and Filtering that TC2000 is famous for.
TC2000 is aimed squarely at those trading Stocks, ETF’s, Mutual Funds, and Options only, specifically on the US A and Canadian Markets.
The software is first class, runs on PC, Mac, and Tablets SmartPhones, and requires Zero complex configuration.
Support is excellent both on the forums or via the phone, where you get to speak immediately with skilled personnel in the US.
If you trade U.S. Stocks, ETF’s or Mutual Funds, then this is a great solution. Worden also provides regular live training seminars that are of very high quality and also tours the US with free live training seminars for subscribers.
Worden Brothers make a clean sweep when it comes to trade management, with full Broker Integration (as long as you choose them as your broker).
TC2000 also offers fantastic Options trading and integration; you can scan and filter on hundreds of Options strategies and then execute and follow them directly from the charts.
Good Profit & Loss tracking & Analysis round off the package.
Industry Leading Options Trading Visualizations & Live Trading
Options Strategies
Use the Strategies button in the lower left of a chart to open option strategy tickets directly on the chart. The menu divides strategies into bullish, bearish, and volatility categories. Strategies include single-leg, multi-leg, and combinations of the underlying stock.
Multi-leg strategies open as a single trading ticket on the chart.
How to Use Option Charts & Chains with TC2000 Brokerage – Video
Fundamental Scanning and Screening
Make no mistake about it; if you want fundamentals stock screeners in real-time layered with technical screens all integrated into live watch lists connected to your charts, Telechart is a power player.
I selected TC2000 as my tool of choice back in the year 2000 because it offered, back then, simply the best implementation of fundamental scanning, filtering, and sorting available on the market. Even now, they are still a leader in this section.
They offer a huge selection of fundamentals to choose from, but what makes it unique is the fact you can, with a few clicks, create your own indicators based on the fundamentals.
You can then overlay the indicators directly on the charts, which opens up a whole new world and technical and fundamental analysis. 10 out of 10 for TC2000 again.
Read the Full TC2000 Trading Platform Review
Round 3 Customer Satisfaction Winner
TC2000 has an avid following; I know I am a member of the forum and a long-term member.
They receive a 5-star rating for customer satisfaction.
The support covers chat, phone, and email, and I have been in contact with the support desk, and they are skilled and effective operators who resolve issues immediately.
The only area in which they do not excel is in the research and news services included. You can pay an extra $8 per month to get integrated MT Newswire, but the selection does not compare to the offering from Firstrade or Interactive Brokers.
Round 4 – Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
TC2000 has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Open an Account with TC2000 Brokerage
TC2000 Service Datasheet
Here you can find the table containing all the data in one place. Use the search box to filter on a particular item you are looking to compare. For example, type “forex” or “margin,” and you will get only the relevant rows to compare.
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Review Winner |
| Great for: | Investors buying Stocks, & Options directly from Charts |
| Likes | ★ Excellent Trading Platform ★ Low Commissions ★ Very Low Margin Rates ★ Excellent Customer Satisfaction |
| Dislike | ✘ Lack of News & Research ✘ No Futures, Forex |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✘ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $4.95 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | $0 |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $2.95 + $0.65 per contract |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | $4.49 |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | ✘ |
| Futures | ✘ |
| Mutual Funds | ✘ |
| Bond Purchase | ✘ |
| Bonds | ✘ |
| Forex Trading | ✘ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | ✘ |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 3% to 4.2% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | Worden Brothers |
| Trading Platform Cost | Additional Cost |
| Web Software | TC2000 IB TWS |
| Desktop Software | TC2000 $9.95 per month |
| Mobile Software | TC2000 |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✔ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✔Extra cost |
| News | ✔Extra cost MT Newswire |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $2,500 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
3. Interactive Brokers: Ideal for International Day Traders
Add to that a huge selection of bundled Market Research Reports & News Services, and you have a very compelling offering.
Interactive Brokers (IB) is the grandfather of online discount brokers. Not only are they a long-established company, but they are also big in terms of market capitalization and financial stability.
[wp-review id=”10287″]
IB has a complete set of services, enabling you to trade practically anything on any market.
This includes Stocks, Options, ETF’s, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Foreign Exchange, and even futures and commodities; they also claim any market anytime.
Usually, when a company is well established and large, it loses its competitive edge, not so with Interactive Brokers.
The industry’s lowest commissions on Stock Trades at $1- and great commissions on Options demonstrate competitiveness. They also have the lowest margin interest rate in the review, probably in the industry.
When it comes to the trading platform, there are no additional costs. Web Trader and TWS are all free.
Interactive Brokers caters to the more professional investor, or at least those with a minimum account balance of $10,000. Also, you will need to have a balance of $100,000 to be able to trade Forex.
Another huge bonus is that IB manages to throw into the package Zacks and Morning Star research for free, including real-time news.
IB manages to span the divide between Day Traders and Long-Term investors, and that is not easy. If you plan to span those worlds, also IB is a natural choice.
Round 1 – Trading & Commissions – Winner
When it comes to the lowest trading costs, then Interactive Brokers comes out on top. With a stock trading fee of $1 and even a per-share trading fee of $0.005, you have flexibility and low slippage.
The options fee of $1- is also best in class for this review.
Interactive Brokers does offer commission-free ETF’s but only 28 of them. However, the commissions on all other ETFs are so low that they may not matter, as they charge only $1- per trade.
Futures and Mutual Funds are also the lowest in the test at $0.85 and $1.- respectively.
The margin account interest rates are also the very best, at only 2.2% to 3%. This clearly makes IB the leader for commissions.
The icing on the cake is that you will also get pain on your account cash balance up to 1.4% with IB. Most other Brokers offer 0% and a maximum of 0.25%. So if you maintain large cash holding, Interactive Brokers makes a lot of sense.
Open an Account with Interactive Brokers
Round 2- Stock Brokerage – Trading Platform Comparison
How do you find the in-play stocks, have high volatility and are in a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform.
You need your trading platform to be fast, intuitive, and powerful. In this section, we rate the brokers on their choice of trading platform.
Round 2 – Trading Platform Winner
Interactive Brokers has a truly outstanding trading platform based on Trader Workstation (TWS). It is free to download and use as a client.
Not only that, there are a huge number of advanced add-on tools that plug into TWS, such as:
- ChartTrader – for trading directly from charts.
- Continuous Futures – for commodity futures scanning and analysis.
- DepthTrader – for deep analysis of market liquidity
- OptionTrader – deeper Options Analysis with specific Options strategies
- ProbabilityLab – to test the Probability Distribution of a particular trade
In total, there are 27 different advanced trading tools to suit every possible approach to the market.
Round 3 – Stock Brokers – Customer Support & Research Comparison
In this round, we compare:
- Customer Support – We want to see all three options of Email, Messaging, and Phone.
- Customer Satisfaction Score – how many complaints or bad reviews within the last year on Twitter or TrustPilot (jump to methodology)
- Research & Ideas – what services are provided free of charge to help you research a particular stock or sector. Stand-alone research services can be costly, so free with an account is a big bonus.
- News – Is a real-time news service available for free or an additionally paid to upgrade
The table is results are sorted in order of:
- Customer Satisfaction Rating: ★★★★★ People actively praising the broker & Zero Negative Reviews. ★★★★ 4 is Zero Negative Reviews
- Research & Trade Ideas: Quality of the integrated and Zero Cost Research Sources
Round 3 Customer Support & Research Winner
Interactive Brokers offers by far the best free services in the area of research. Here is a snapshot of some of the services you will get for free.
- IB Market Signals
- IB Traders Insight
- Morningstar equity ownership
- Thomson Reuters (in 10 languages), stock reports, news, fundamentals
- Zacks Investment Research
- Real-time News Streaming
In terms of customer service, they offer the full package of telephone, chat & email contact, so no issues there.
We could not find any evidence of negative tweets or reviews, so IB has a very good customer satisfaction score, particularly since they have by far the largest Twitter following of 233,000 people.
They are lower on the list of winners because they do not have a history of people raving about their services. Perhaps the more professional investors trading with IB are not focussing on praising them on Twitter but traders making profits in the markets.
In any case, IB is a very high-quality company with the very best research included for free in your account.
Round 4 – Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
Interactive Brokers has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Account minimums with Interactive Brokers are higher than with their competitors, as they are squarely going after clients with larger investment portfolios, higher net worth individuals, or professional money managers. The account minimum of $10,000 for normal trading and $100,000 for Foreign Exchange Trading will be a barrier to new investors.
Interactive Brokers – Stock Broker Master Table (Searchable)
Here you can find the table containing all the data in one place. Use the search box to filter on a particular item you are looking to compare. For example, type “forex” or “margin,” and you will get only the relevant rows to compare.
| Brokerage |  |
|---|---|
| Result | Review Winner |
| Great for: | Active Investors & Day Traders seeking lowest commissions |
| Likes | ★ Industry Leading Low Commissions ★ Great Trading Platform ★ Direct Market Access ★ All Markets & Vehicles ★ Lowest Margin Rates |
| Dislike | ✘ Less than perfect Customer Satisfaction |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✔ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $1.00 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | $0.005 |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | 1% of Trade |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $1.00 |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | $1.00 |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | 28 |
| Futures | $0.85 |
| Mutual Funds | $1.00 |
| Bond Purchase | ✔ |
| Bonds | $1 + Net Yield |
| Forex Trading | ✔ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | $2.00 |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 2.2% to 3% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | Interactive Brokers |
| Trading Platform Cost | Free |
| Web Software | WebTrader Free |
| Desktop Software | Desktop TWS - Free |
| Mobile Software | Free |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✔ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✔Zacks + MorningStar Free |
| News | Real-Time |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $10,000 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
4. SpeedTrader: Recommended for Day Traders Wanting Direct Market Access
Add to the mix a 5-Star Customer Satisfaction Rating, and you might have something special.
| Like | Dislike |
| ★ Direct Market Access ★ Fast Execution ★ Low Per Share Commissions ★ Great Customer Service |
✘ Software Costs ✘ No Futures, Forex, ETF’s |
SpeedTrader is one of the key brokers in the review, specifically targeting Day Traders with their services. So, what do day traders look for?
- Direct Market Access (DMA)
- Fast Order Execution
- Low per Share Commissions Structures
- Rock Solid Software
- 1st Class Customer Service
Well, SpeedTrader has all of this and a little more.
The key service offering is Direct Market Access (DMA), meaning you do not go through a 3rd party market maker for your trades; you deal directly on the market itself, which means better visibility of prices and tighter spreads.
They also offer a very low “commissions per share” option as an alternative to a fixed cost per trade. The per-share option comes in at $0.00044 per share, a significant cost saving for any trade under 10,000 shares.
Round 1 – Speed Trader Commissions & Trading
Commissions are not the be-all and end-all, but low commissions help reduce slippage, especially if you are an active investor or trader.
Some Brokers offer a flat fee regardless of how many shares are traded. Some offer an optional “per share” commission structure, which can be beneficial for smaller traders.
Direct Market Access (DAM) is the name of the game when it comes to day trading in the markets. All of the contenders in the Top 10 Best Stock Broker Review have this, but the key is in the implementation, and from the rave customer feedback, SpeedTrader gets this right.
When it comes to commissions, SpeedTrader offers a $4.49 flat fee per trade. Still, most interestingly, they offer a per-share pricing structure of $0.0044, which beats Interactive Brokers, LightSpeed, and SureTrader by the width of a cat’s whisker to be the best in our review.
When it comes to Options Trading Fees, the offering of $1.99 + $0.40 per contract is among the best of all 20 brokers reviewed.
Suffice to say, extremely competitive. But that is where the competition ends as SpeedTrader does not offer Forex, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bonds, or Commodities.
So, if you are into Stocks and Options Day Trading, this is a good place to be.
Round 2- SpeedTrade – Trading Platform Review
How do you find the in-play stocks, have high volatility and are in a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform.
You need your trading platform to be fast, intuitive, and powerful. In this section, we rate the brokers on their choice of trading platform.
SpeedTrader has white-labeled the suite of products developed by Direct Access Software Inc. (DAS Trader).
And why not? It is a highly rated set of tools designed for day traders to enable fast screening analysis and order execution with direct market access.
Developing an in-house suite of trading apps is a huge job and incurs many expenses, so only the biggest companies can manage this.
For the smaller brokers, using a third party is quick and efficient.
The only challenge is as a broker, are you have to pay for the software on behalf of your client or pass the cost onto the client directly by making the client pay.
This is exactly the situation with SpeedTrader and most other Day-Trader Brokers.
I mention this because, ultimately, you will need to be making at least $25 to $104 per month in trading profit just to cover the cost of the software.
Speed Trader – Day Trader Platform Options
Speed Trader Active Web
SpeedTrader’s cost model means you will have to pay for the Active Web version $25 per month.
However, for this price, you do get:
- Real-time L1 Quotes
- Live Streaming News
- Real-Time Charts
- Options Chains
- Risk Management Tools
SpeedTrader (DAS TRADER) PRO
For the desktop-based SpeedTrader Pro version, you will be out of pocket by $49 or $104 per month (depending on which version you go for), but at least the mobile version is free if you have the desktop Pro version. But for this price, you do get a serious upgrade:
- Faster Trade Execution
- Trading off the Charts
- Level 2 Data
- Most importantly, Direct Access ECN Order Routing.
SpeedTrader Elite
The Elite service is squarely aimed at Proprietary Trading Firms (Prop Firms) and offers more benefits in terms of real-time market scanners and more advanced “Market Studies.” This service starts at $120/month or free if you generate $700 or more in commissions.
Round 3 – Stock Brokers – Customer Support & Research Comparison
In this round, we compare:
- Customer Support – We want to see all three options of Email, Messaging, and Phone.
- Customer Satisfaction Score – how many complaints or bad reviews within the last year on Twitter or TrustPilot (jump to methodology)
- Research & Ideas – what services are provided free of charge to help you research a particular stock or sector. Stand-alone research services can be costly, so free with an account is a big bonus.
- News – Is a real-time news service available for free or an additionally paid to upgrade
Customer Satisfaction Ratings are calculated like this:
- Customer Satisfaction Rating: ★★★★★ People actively praising the broker & Zero Negative Reviews. ★★★★ are Zero Negative Reviews
- Research & Trade Ideas: Quality of the integrated and Zero Cost Research Sources
SpeedTrader has a lot of positive tweets and good reviews online.
The users seem to be very happy with the overall services and actively promote it, just do a google search or view their Twitter stream to see.
SpeedTrade offers the full complement of email, chat, and 24/7 phone support that is implemented and effective.
SpeedTrader does have integrated research possibilities, but they come at an extra cost like the DAS software. No one ever said day trading was cheap, it costs money for real-time news and research service, and someone has to foot the bill.
They have not made the step to include for free any news services on the platform’s active web version; if you are interested in this, take a look at Benzinga’s Real-Time PRO services as an add-on.
Round 4 – Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
SpeedTrader has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
SpeedTrader Fact Sheet – Detailed DataPoint Table
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Review Winner |
| Great for: | Day Traders wanting Direct Market Access |
| Likes | ★ Direct Market Access ★ Fast Execution ★ Low Per Share Commissions ★ Great Customer Service |
| Dislike | ✘ Software Costs ✘ No Futures, Forex, ETF's |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✔ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $2.95 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | $0.0025 |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $0.30 per contract |
| Leverage Available | ✘ |
| ETF Trades | ✘ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | ✘ |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | ✘ |
| Futures | ✘ |
| Mutual Funds | ✘ |
| Bond Purchase | ✘ |
| Bonds | ✘ |
| Forex Trading | ✘ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | ✘ |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | Call for Quote |
| Margin Costs Rating | ✘ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | DAS Trader Inc |
| Trading Platform Cost | Additional Cost |
| Web Software | Active Web $25 per month * |
| Desktop Software | SpeedTrader Pro $104 per month* |
| Mobile Software | Free with Desktop Pro |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✔ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✔Extra cost |
| News | ✔ Real-Time |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $0 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
5. Lightspeed: Perfect for Active Day Traders
A perfect customer satisfaction score and a great suite of tools make Lightspeed a good choice.
| Like | Dislike |
| ★ Fast Execution ★ Very Low Commissions ★ Good Customer Satisfaction ★ Good Trading Platform |
✘ Lack of Real-time News ✘ No In-house Research |
Lightspeed is a division of Lime Brokerage, a well-established and reputable broker.
They are clearly targeting active traders with their service offerings, specifically in the commissions, execution speed, and trading platform area.
However, with a set of free and high-quality tools in their trading platform, investors are well catered to.
Round 1 – Lightspeed Commissions Comparison
Commissions are not the be-all and end-all, but low commissions help reduce slippage, especially if you are an active investor or trader.
Some Brokers offer a flat fee regardless of how many shares are traded. Some offer an optional “per share” commission structure, which can be beneficial for smaller traders.
Lightspeed Stock Trade Commissions
With Lightspeed, you can choose a per trade commission, which starts at $4.50 per trade for under 250 trades per month.
But as you scale up your trading, the costs go down to $2.50 per month, which among the best of all the brokers we reviewed.
Alternatively, they offer a per-share commission of $0.0045 per share, scaling up to $0.0010. I am a big fan of having the choice of rates, and Lightspeed’s rates are some of the best in the industry.
As with any direct market access broker, routing fees depend on which market you trade, but Lightspeed is very focused on keeping these extremely tight.
Lightspeed Option Trade Commissions
As with the super competitive stock trades, Lightspeed is also leading in this area and are the only broker to have Zero Fixed Fee per trade; there is only the option contract cost of $0.60 for under 500 contracts. If you trade options contract at scale, this can reduce to an incredible $0.20 for over 100,000 contracts.
Round 2- Lightspeed – Trading Platform
How do you find the in-play stocks, have high volatility and are in a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform.
You need your trading platform to be fast, intuitive, and powerful. In this section, we rate Lightspeed on their choice of a trading platform.
LightSpeed has a very well-thought-out portfolio of integrated trading platforms to suit their customers.
Lightspeed Trading Software Targeted to Investors
For investors, who will typically have fewer trades and less demand for L2 quotes and tick-by-tick streaming charts, Lightspeed has a nice solution in Lightspeed Web / Mobile Trader and LiveVolX.
For Web Trader and LivevolX, there are zero data fees & zero monthly costs, which is great. As part of the free package, you get:
- Streaming L1 Quotes
- Equities & Options Trading
- After Hours Trading
- Market Scanners
- Customizable Charts & Studies
- LiveVolX provides an advanced Options Trading Platform.
So a solid platform offering for investors, but what about professional and active investors?
Lightspeed Trading Software Targeted to Active-Investors
Lightspeed has a rounded portfolio of tools targeted specifically at professional traders.
Lightspeed Trader costs $100 per month, but if you generate $100 in commissions per month, it will be free.
For this fee, you get:
- Streaming L2 quotes
- Basket Order Entry
- After Hours Trading
- Streaming Charts & Studies
- Direct Market Access
- Research Reports
Obviously, the key here for professional traders is direct market access (DMA), basket orders, and L2 views.
Lightspeed also offers Sterling Trader, which is targeted at Hedge Funds and Money Managers and is one of the most widely used professional-grade trading platforms produced by Sterling Trading Tech.
This product will cost $140 to $170 per month, but it does open up more advanced Options and Futures trading possibilities.
Sterling Trader gives the additional benefits of:
- Improved routing and direct market access globally
- Powerful charting and studies
- Exchange alerts & imbalances
- Improved portfolio and position management
- Support for futures trading, including market depth and all CME & BOVESPA futures
Lastly, Lightspeed offers RealTick Pro at $325 per month and RealTick Express at $125 per month.
Round 3 – Lightspeed – Customer Support & Research
In this round, we compare:
- Customer Support – We want to see all three options of Email, Messaging, and Phone.
- Customer Satisfaction Score – how many complaints or bad reviews within the last year on Twitter or TrustPilot (jump to methodology)
- Research & Ideas – what services are provided free of charge to help you research a particular stock or sector. Stand-alone research services can be costly, so free with an account is a big bonus.
- News – Is a real-time news service available for free or an additionally paid upgrade?
Lightspeed is a Winner in this Category
LightSpeed has a lot of positive tweets and good reviews all around the web.
The users seem to be very happy with the overall services; specifically, Twitter, which is often used as a stage for complaints, has many people actually recommending and complimenting Lightspeed on the platform, execution, and support.
Lightspeed also has the full complement of email, chat, and 24/7 phone support implemented and operating effectively.
LightSpeed could improve its offerings of real-time streaming news and provide at least some access to research services. There is an attempt to blog on market topics, but it is not really detailed and often enough.
Round 4 – Lightspeed Regulation & Account Minimum
Lightspeed has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Lightspeed is targeting those who have larger trading volumes as the minimum account opening balance is $10,000. For that $10,000, you get a broker with great customer satisfaction ratings and fast execution at competitive commission rates.
Open an Account with Lightspeed
Lightspeed Broker Review USA – Master Data Sheet
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Highly Recommended |
| Great for: | Active Day Traders seeking fast execution & low costs |
| Likes | ★ Fast Execution ★ Very Low Commissions ★ Good Customer Satisfaction ★ Good Trading Platform |
| Dislike | ✘ Lack of Real-time News ✘ No In-house Research |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✘ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $2.50 to $4.50 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | $0.0045 per share |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | $4.50 |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $0.60 per contract |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | ✔ |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | ✘ |
| Futures | ✔ |
| Mutual Funds | |
| Bond Purchase | ✘ |
| Bonds | ✘ |
| Forex Trading | ✘ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | ✘ |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 5.5% to 8% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | Multiple |
| Trading Platform Cost | ✔ - Extra Transaction Commission |
| Web Software | LightSpeed Web Mobile (Free) |
| Desktop Software | LightSpeed Trader $100/month Sterling Trader $140/month RealTick Pro $335/month LiveVol X (Free) |
| Mobile Software | LightSpeed |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✔ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | Limited |
| News | ✘ |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $10,000 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
6. Ally Invest: Best for Simple Stock Trades & Banking
Banking, Credit Services & Home Loans combined with a great customer service score means Ally could be a good choice for an All-in-One Service Provider.
| Like | Dislike |
| ★ Competitive Commissions ★ Full Suite of Investing Vehicles ★ Banking ★ Great Customer Service |
✘ Higher Margin Costs ✘ No News or Research Services |
Ally is not just a broker; they are a financial institution offering banking, credit cards, home loans, and auto finance and insurance. After the acquisition of TradeKing in 2016, they branched into trading & brokerage services.
This acquisition seems to have worked well as they have a very competitive suite of investing services and excellent customer satisfaction scores.
Stock trading commissions weigh in at $4.95 per trade, and for larger volume traders, there are discounts available. If you have a trading balance of $100,000 and or make more than $30 trades per month, the cost drops to $3.95. The Options trading costs drop from $4.95 +$0.65 per contract to $3.95 + $0.50 per contract, making them more competitive than TD Ameritrade, Fidelity & Merrill.
Ally also offers the full suite of vehicles such as Stocks, Options, Bonds, ETF’s, Forex, and even Commodity Futures.
If you are looking for an institution to provide competitive rates across the full suite of investing and banking services, Ally could be a very good choice.
Round 1 – Stock Brokers Commissions Comparison
Commissions are not the be-all and end-all, but low commissions help reduce slippage, especially if you are an active investor or trader.
Some Brokers offer a flat fee regardless of how many shares are traded. Some offer an optional “per share” commission structure, which can be beneficial for smaller traders.
At Ally Financial, Stock trading commissions weigh in at $4.95 per trade, and for larger volume traders, there are discounts available.
If you have a trading balance of $100,000 and or make more than $30 trades per month, the cost drops to $3.95. The Options trading costs drop from $4.95 +$0.65 per contract to $3.95 + $0.50 per contract, making them a lot more competitive than TD Ameritrade, Fidelity & Merrill.
Ally also offers the full suite of vehicles such as Stocks, Options, Bonds, ETF’s, Forex, and even Commodity Futures, which means you can easily balance your investments across different asset classes to suit your bullish or bearish outlook.
Round 2- Stock Brokerage – Trading Platform Comparison
How do you find the in-play stocks, have high volatility and are in a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform.
You need your trading platform to be fast, intuitive, and powerful. In this section, we rate the brokers on their choice of trading platform.
Ally Invest does not have the strongest suite of tools available in our Top 10 US Stock Brokers Review.
If you favor being able to manage all your Ally Services in one place over having powerful scanning and fundamental screening or a wealth of expert advisors or studies, then Ally is for you.
Ally is not trying to be the leader as a dedicated brokerage with the most powerful tools; Ally offers its banking and credit services customers the possibility to trade and cost-effectively as an extension of their current services. Many dedicated banks will upsell brokerage services to clients at higher commissions because they prefer to have all services under one roof.
Ally has launched its “Ally Invest Live” Html 5 trading application, but it still does not cover all trading vehicles. It does not compare to competitors like Firstrade, TC2000 Brokerage, or Interactive Brokers.
Round 3 – Stock Brokers – Customer Support & Research Comparison
In this round, we compare:
- Customer Support – We want to see all three options of Email, Messaging, and Phone.
- Customer Satisfaction Score – how many complaints or bad reviews within the last year on Twitter or TrustPilot (jump to methodology)
- Research & Ideas – what services are provided free of charge to help you research a particular stock or sector. Stand-alone research services can be costly, so free with an account is a big bonus.
- News – Is a real-time news service available for free or an additionally paid to upgrade
Ally Invest has all the core requirements of good customer service in place. A 24/7 Support desk to handle customer calls and live chat and email services. The company prides itself on good customer service and has also inherited strong customer service from TradeKing, which it purchased in 2016 to extend its brokerage services.
Because Ally is not a deep specialist broker, it has not yet added any deep Stock Market Research or real-time News Services into its product offering.
Round 4 – Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
Is the company well established, well funded, and well regulated? This is the main object of this round of comparisons.
Ally Financial has all the protection and oversight required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Ally Invest – Stock Broker Comparison Master Table (Searchable)
Here you can find the table containing all the data in one place. Use the search box to filter on a particular item you are looking to compare. For example, type “forex” or “margin,” and you will get only the relevant rows to compare.
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Highly Recommended |
| Great for: | Investors seeking low commissions & many services |
| Likes | ★ Competitive Commissions ★ Full Suite of Investing Vehicles ★ Banking ★ Great Customer Service |
| Dislike | ✘ Higher Margin Costs ✘ No News or Research Services |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✘ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $0 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $0 + $0.50 per contract |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | $0 |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | ✘ |
| Futures | ✔ |
| Mutual Funds | $9.95 |
| Bond Purchase | ✔ |
| Bonds | $1 + Net Yield |
| Forex Trading | ✔ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | Spread |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 4.75% to 9.25% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | Ally Financial |
| Trading Platform Cost | Free |
| Web Software | ✔ |
| Desktop Software | ✘ |
| Mobile Software | ✔ |
| LII Quotes | ✘ |
| Indicators / Studies | 100+ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★ |
| Brokerage |  |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✘ |
| News | ✘ |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $0 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
Notes on the Review
Customer Satisfaction Score (Star Ratings)
The customer satisfaction score was compiled using the following methodology.
The Twitter Accounts of the Brokers were scanned back for one year for any negative feedback from customers. Also, TrustPilot UK and USA were reviewed, and any negative comments counted against the broker. These two sources of information were combined to provide the star rating you see below.
★★★★★ – No Complaints & Positive Recommendations (1 year)
★★★★ – No Complaints (1 year)
★★★ – < 10 Complaints (1 year)
★★ – 10 to 20 Complaints (1 year)
★ – > 20 Complaints (1 year)
Review Methodology
Over 200 data points were collected during this review. Brokers change services, terms, and commissions regularly. If you represent a Brokerage House or are a client and spot an inaccuracy, please leave a comment or contact us here, and we will endeavor to correct it.
