TD Ameritrade is a popular online discount broker for investing and trading in stocks, ETFs, Bonds and Mutual Funds.

TradeStation Securities features the TradeStation charting platform that has through the years earned an excellent reputation amongst the trading community with their ground breaking and innovative
backtesting and trade automation capabilities.

Scottrade offers online trading and investing in stocks, options, mutual funds, IRAs, CDs and fixed income but not in index nor commodity futures.

Review of MB Trading, a direct access broker that offers a great trading platform for active traders, yet maintaining reasonable commission rates for the occasional investor.

Part 2 of how to trade and invest in stocks and shares for a beginner