Which online broker does TradeWiser.com recommend for you? With so many financial organizations picking different brokers as number one, how can you really tell which one is best? Your individual trading style will determine which discount broker is best for you. While we continually urge traders to limit their trading strategies to two or at the most three strategies, we find that many successful traders use two or three, some even four or five online brokers. Several of the currently best discount stock brokers include:

1. Zecco - Looking for free stock trades? Earn 10 free trades each month you make 25 trades per month or maintain a $25k balance. All trades are otherwise $4.50 and only $.50 per options contract. Zecco also is home to the ZeccoShare Community and recently began offering forex trading.

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2. TradeKing - Known for award winning customer service TradeKing also offers extremely competitive stock and options commissions. $4.95 trades and only $.65 per option contract. The Trader Network also is home to over 100,000 investors sharing investment ideas and research.

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3. Etrade - Get 100 commission free stock trades when you open a new account. Designed for the more active investor and day traders commissions are as low as $7.99 with a variety of professional trading tools including Power Etrade and Etrade Mobile Pro. With over 4.5 million clients and 24/7 customer support Etrade is an industry leader.

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4. OptionsHouse - Voted #1 in Trade Experience, the best broker for options traders in the Barron's 2009 Online Broker Survey. OptionsHouse also offers ultra competitive $2.95 flat-rate stock trades. Practice trading with a virtual trading account and have transfer fees up to $100 reimbursed when you switch brokers.

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5. OptionsXpress - Voted best online broker for 4 years by Barrons OptionsXpress offers traders the ability to trade stocks, options, bonds, etfs, mutual funds, and even futures all under one account. Improve your trading with free online courses and even practice with Virtual Trade. International trading supported.

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Don't limit yourself to only one stock brokerage. Some discount brokers focus on different segments of trading. For example, some stock brokerages don't offer option trading, others don't offer the Level II Quotes that daytraders require. Some full-time day traders like to have multiple accounts set up just as a safeguard in case their favorite broker experiences trouble of some sort. Margin is also a necessity for active traders.

There are several things you will want to consider when you choose a online broker. Some otherwise excellent brokers do not have competitive margin rates. Compare rates! A few brokers have hidden fees: Read the fine print -- there are plenty of places they can tack on miscellaneous fees to drive up the overall cost. Most brokers will pay you interest on the money in your account when you don't hold any positions and some will even sweep your funds into a money market to get you a better rate.

For daytraders, swing traders, and all active investors fast execution speeds to achieve the best price is key. The ability to trade options, short, and invest through a retirement account is also important.

At one time most of the brokerages that offered IRA accounts charged an annual fee of $50 or more, to deal with the regulatory hassles of holding your IRA assets. Today, more and more of them are offering IRA accounts with no setup fees, and no annual maintenance fees.

Given the large number of traders that are trading online, you can find traders with any brokerage that are unhappy and have concerns about poor service. As with any human endeavor, there is always the possibility of error. If you or your brokerage should make a mistake, you will find most brokerages have a courteous, professional support staff. They will answer your questions and will help you any way they can.

For international investors seeking to trade the U. S. Stock Markets, most major online stock brokers like Etrade Financial and OptionsXpress welcome foreign accounts. The only countries where most online brokers are still unable to service accounts are Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan, Serbia, and Yugoslavia.

Other discount stock brokers include: TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, Scottrade, Charles Schwab, Bank of America, Firstrade, ShareBuilder, Thinkorswim, Trade MONSTER, Interactive Brokers, SogoTrade, forex.com (forex trading), and FXCM (forex).