Theresa W. Carey

Top Technical Analysis Tools for Traders

Several of the brokers listed below utilize Trading Central, a third-party provider. A Canadian-based company, Trading Central provides excellent technical analysis tools that many brokers have integrated into their frequent trader platforms. Trading…

Top Technical Analysis Tools for Traders

MetaStock can identify more than 30 candle patterns on a chart, giving you advice on how to interpret and use them. A Metastock R/T subscription is $100/month; data feeds are additional. MetaStock connects via API to online brokers. NinjaTrader…

Payment for Order Flow (PFOF)

What Is Payment for Order Flow (PFOF)? Payment for order flow (PFOF) is a form of compensation, usually in terms of fractions of a penny per share, that a brokerage firm receives for directing orders for trade execution to a particular market maker…

I Have Thoughts on the WSB/GME/Reddit issue

So many issues that expose problems in the retail trading universe were exposed by the whole GameStop short squeeze episode. Here are my thoughts on some of them. 1. Do we need to police investing forums more thoroughly?The WallStreetBets Reddit…

Ally Invest Review

Ally Invest is part of a diversified financial services company that includes banking, lending, and an online brokerage formerly known as TradeKing. Ally Invest has made large strides towards becoming a better broker for newer investors, but this…

How to Switch Online Brokers

Note: The original version of this piece was published on Investopedia in October, 2018. It has since been removed from the site, so I have edited it and republished it here. If you’re terribly unhappy with your online broker, you may be considering…

Betterment Co-Founder Jonathan Stein Steps Down as CEO

Jonathan Stein, who co-founded Betterment, one of Investopedia's top-rated robo-advisors, announced on December 8 in a blog post that he was stepping down as CEO. Stein will remain with the company as Chairman of the Board. The process of recruiting…

Interactive Brokers Breaks Down near Market Open on Monday

Shortly after the open on December 7, 2020, Interactive Brokers, a platform that is typically resilient and crash-proof, had major issues. Customers of Interactive Brokers started complaining on Twitter and posting reports to DownDetector very early…

Online Brokers Suffer Service Failures as Markets Surge

As markets surged on positive vaccine news and election sentiment, online investors and traders worldwide were foiled, yet again, by an inability to place trades on many major platforms. In the UK, traders reported problems with AJ Bell, Hargreaves…

Robinhood Kicks Cybersecurity Month Off by Getting Hacked

Approximately 2,000 Robinhood accounts were accessed by hackers and looted during the week of October 5, according to Bloomberg . Victims told Bloomberg that their trading accounts were hacked in spite of already having set up account protection. A…

Robo-Advisors Thrive in 2020 Amid Volatility and Consolidation

The roller coaster ride that is 2020 drew quite a few new investors into the markets. Was it FOMO (fear of missing out) or just wanting to get in on a good thing? Or was it boredom due to sheltering in place and the lack of sports? Any way you look…

Interactive Advisors Review

Interactive Advisors, a service offered by Interactive Brokers (IBKR), offers among the widest range of securities to choose from, in addition to placing a special emphasis on socially responsible investing products. That's why we have named it the…

Wealthfront Review

Wealthfront, our top choice overall for robo-advisors as well as best for goal setting, offers the full package of goal-setting, planning, banking, and investing in an elegant, user-friendly platform. Wealthfront has continued to improve its offering…

Best Robo-Advisors

We've spent thousands of hours analyzing the robo-advisor market in order to identify the best options for a wide range of needs and objectives. This list represents our top rated robo-advisors across a number of categories, all driven by our…

Interactive Brokers Raises Margin Requirements

Interactive Brokers' clients were greeted with an email informing them of an increase in margin requirements leading up to the November elections in the United States. The letter states that initial margin requirements will rise up to 35% from normal…

Payment For Order Flow

What Is Payment for Order Flow? Payment for order flow (PFOF) is the compensation and benefit a brokerage firm receives for directing orders to different parties for trade execution. Equity and options trading has become increasingly complex with the…

Top Technical Analysis Tools for Traders

A vital part of a trader’s success, especially those who trade frequently, is the ability to evaluate the patterns in trading data. Technical analysis techniques can remove emotion from a trading decision. A technical analysis system can generate buy…

Schwab Announces thinkorswim Platform Will Survive

Schwab's acquisition of TD Ameritrade, announced in November 2019, continues to move slowly forward. On August 5, 2020, Schwab announced that the thinkorswim trading platform and the thinkpipes advisor platform would be supported once the acquisition…

eToro Review

Founded in 2007 and based in Israel, eToro has millions of clients in over 140 countries. Starting in mid-2018, U.S.-based customers in registered states have access to a subgroup of assets (by regulation) that the brokerage enables, focused…

WellsTrade Review

Wells Fargo’s brokerage, WellsTrade, is intended to serve Wells Fargo Bank customers who want the convenience of managing their investments at the same institution where they have checking accounts and mortgages. WellsTrade was late to the zero…