5-Star Rated Online Share Trading Brokers in 2019

Choosing a share trading platform can be a difficult task. To help narrow your search, Canstar has revealed its 5-Star Rated online share trading brokers for 2019.

Canstar has awarded a 5-Star Rating to 10 online share trading platforms out of the 45 products analysed.

Each eligible platform reviewed in the Online Share Trading Star Ratings was awarded points for its comparative cost and the features on offer, to determine a price score and a feature score.

Price takes into account each platform’s brokerage fees and ongoing fees over a year, while features take into account a number of different functions and tools across the following categories:

• Account services and support
• Research tools, charting and information
• Platform information and options
• Education
• Accessibility and security
• Trading securities/markets
• Fees and charges

The 5-Star-Rated platforms offering outstanding value are available through the following online brokers, listed in alphabetical order:

• Amscot
• Bell Direct
• CMC Markets
• CommSec
• Interactive Brokers Australia
• nabtrade
• Saxo Capital Markets
• St. George Bank

Investor profiles for online share trading

Understanding different investors have very different requirements, Canstar compares the cost and features of online share trading platforms across three investor profiles:

1. Casual Investor: A ‘casual investor’ buys and sells shares occasionally (about once a month) and uses a long-term strategy to review their investment portfolio. Education tools, ease of use and cost are usually important factors.
2. Active Investor: An ‘active investor’ buys and sells shares more frequently than the casual investor, making between two and five trades each month. Comprehensiveness of research tools and cost are often important factors.
3. Trader: A ‘trader’ buys and sells shares very frequently, typically from 15 to 45 times every month. A trader generally likes to use the latest market information to determine his or her portfolio holding. Cost, availability of derivatives and a dynamic trading platform are typically important.

See our methodology in full for more information about how Canstar rates online share trading platforms for each investor profile.

Broker of the Year for 2019

CMC Markets received Canstar’s Online Share Trading – Broker of the Year Award for the ninth year in a row. Canstar Research found CMC provided outstanding value in terms of price and features offered across all three investor profiles: casual, active and trader.

CMC Markets’ Classic platform particularly stood out when it came to price (which includes annual costs such as brokerage fees and ongoing platform fees over a year) for casual and active investors. For example, Canstar found the market average platform cost for a casual investor was about $53.19 a year, while for the Classic platform, it was $11.69.

Accessibility and security were among CMC’s strong points. All rated CMC platforms offered iPad, iPhone, Android and tablet apps, allowing customers to check accounts and positions easily while executing trades via a mobile app. From a security perspective, CMC offered two-factor authentication and encryption for desktop computers and mobiles.

CMC Markets also offered extensive access to a variety of investment options such as Exchange Traded Funds, managed funds and foreign currencies. It also offered broad international market access, including to the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange and the London, Hong Kong and Tokyo stock exchanges.

Outstanding value online share trading platforms in 2019

Listed in the tables below are the platforms that received Canstar’s 5-Star Rating in 2019, recognising the outstanding value they offered within each investor profile.

Top platforms for Casual Investors (average 1 trade per month)

See our Casual Investor comparison table for full Star Ratings.

Top platforms for Active Investors (average 4 trades per month)

See our Active Investor comparison table for full Star Ratings.

Top platforms for Trader Investors (average 30 trades per month)

See our Trader Investor comparison table for full Star Ratings.

For more information on how we do our ratings, see our methodology here.

Compare online share trading