Commission-free trades are the norm for trading platforms these days. But not all trading platforms are created equal. I like TD Ameritrade. It has the best tools, customer service, and I have been with them for 15 years and had no issues. If you are seeking the best tools and customer service for non-penny stock investing, then I recommend them and would like to refer you through the following link where we could both earn a small cash reward:

But in the case of penny stocks, Ameritrade is not the best platform to use. They charge $6.95 for OTCBB (Over the Counter Bulletin Board) trades.

Besides Ameritrade, I considered four other platforms. They are TradeStation, Robinhood, Bank of America’s Merrill, and Charles Schwab. For me, the winner is Charles Schwab. But let’s discuss the drawbacks I saw for the others before we discuss Charles Schwab.

To start, TradeStation is considered one of the best brokers for penny stocks in a few online articles. But I had issues when signing up for an account. First, the way to fund the investment account has changed for most stockbroker sites. Most brokers will present the customer with a pop up where you enter your bank account password to put money in your investing account. The problem is I’m uncomfortable with putting my bank password in other websites. It feels like a security issue. On TradeStation, the pop up came up, and in the address bar, it still said the browser was on the TradeStation website. I typed in the password, “you must be joking.” It’s not a real password, and I can’t fund my account with it. In any case, there is the traditional ACH option through a pdf form you fill out, and email in.

The trading tool is limited compared to the thinkorswim trading tool on Ameritrade and doesn’t hold a candle to it. If you look at the BBB rating for the company, it is perfect, but 1-star reviews detail the issues of the TradeStation platform. There is not much-supporting information on the website to help with stock investment research, either. Trades are free up to 10,000 shares, $0.005 per share for each share above 10,000. Only limit orders are allowed for OTC markets. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has made contacting them difficult and slow.

Robinhood has a neat referral program where an account holder can give their link to a friend, and if they sign up, the account holder gets one share of a random stock. Very cool! However, my friend referred me, and he never got his one share. Maybe there are account requirements that I don’t meet. I never funded the account, so I don’t blame Robinhood for not giving my friend a share. In any case, COVID-19 again interferes with communication, but I emailed them and got a quick response. The funding option is through a password requesting pop up. There is a trick for not using that. Type in Sherwood Forrest for the bank (a fake bank name), and an option to link the bank will come up manually. This takes you to an online ACH method.

The trading tool looks very basic, and I don’t see much in terms of help for stock investment research. Penny Stock trades are commission-free, however.

Merrill is a possibility with its commission-free trades. They, too, presented me with pop up requesting a password to my bank account. But I was able to get the form for ACH, which could be emailed. Merrill requires that penny stock trades are limit orders. If the volume is high enough, a trader may want to use a market order. So this limitation ruled them out. I also remember having difficulty determining which stocks I could invest in and which I could not on Merrill, as some are not available through them. I remember putting in a lot of time researching a stock only to find out it was not available for trading through their trading tool. There may be a way to tell what is available to invest in, but the rep I talked to didn’t know what it was. At least they were willing to speak to me on the phone despite the COVID-19 shortages.

And finally, we come to Charles Schwab. Charles Schwab has commission-free penny stock trades. They do present the customer with the pop-up window asking for the bank account password, but they have an online ACH method that is evident and easy to find. Finally, I could chat online with a knowledgeable rep at a moment’s notice during the weekend. The responses were quick.

The trading platform seems fine, and they have a lot of information and tools to help research stocks. I also like their referral program. If I refer you and you deposit at least $1000, you get a $100 reward.

Based on my platform considerations above, I selected Charles Schwab for penny stock trading and am referring my readers to Schwab through the following link:

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/refer-prospect.html?refrid={REFID}

I hope this helps with your platform selection process.

Good luck with your financial goals,

Dr. Paul Keller