Risk disclosure

You can lose money

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Past performance does not predict future results. Choosing a well-regulated, low-cost broker does not make an investment safe — it changes what you pay and who holds your assets, not what those assets do.

Nothing here is advice

We are not a registered investment adviser, a broker-dealer or a financial planner, and we are not licensed to give personalized advice. Nothing on this site is a recommendation to buy or sell any security, to open an account at any firm, or to adopt any strategy.

Our comparison tool and broker finder produce reading lists and name constraints. They do not know your circumstances, your tax position, your time horizon or your obligations, and they are not a substitute for advice from a licensed professional who does.

What investor protection covers

SIPC protection is limited to $500,000 per customer, including a $250,000 limit for cash. It covers the custody function of a broker-dealer: it restores securities and cash missing from your account if the firm fails. It explicitly does not cover a decline in the value of your securities, losses arising from bad investment advice, commodity futures contracts, foreign exchange trades, or digital assets that are unregistered investment contracts.

If your account is held by an entity outside the United States, SIPC may not apply at all. The account agreement names the entity, and that document — not the marketing page — determines what protects you.

Risks specific to products in our tables

• Options carry risks that can exceed the amount invested and are not suitable for every investor. Brokers must provide the standardised options disclosure document; read it before trading.
• Margin amplifies both gains and losses, and your broker can liquidate positions without contacting you first in order to meet a margin call.
• Futures are leveraged, can lose more than the initial deposit, and are largely outside SIPC protection.
• Crypto assets are volatile, and SIPC states that it does not protect digital assets that are unregistered investment contracts, nor stablecoins, currencies or commodities.
• Frequent trading is subject to FINRA’s pattern day trader rule, which requires a minimum $25,000 equity in a margin account. No broker can waive it.

The limits of our data

Every figure here was accurate at its source on the verification date shown. Fee schedules change without notice, sometimes between our re-verification cycles. Verify anything you intend to act on directly with the provider.

Five scoring categories on this site are unscored because we have no evidence for them, which means our rankings are silent on platform quality, research, education, customer service and execution. A broker that scores well here may be poor at all five. We are telling you what we checked; we are not telling you it is everything that matters.

Tax

Anything we say about account types or tax wrappers is general background, not tax advice. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change. Speak to a qualified tax professional before making decisions with tax consequences.