Finder’s Share Trading Platform methodology

To find you the best online brokers, we rely on our proprietary algorithm which calculates the rankings of our share trading platforms.

We give share trading platforms a score so that we may give them a ranking in our Finder Awards, 'Best online broker' page, top broker picks displayed at the top of selected pages and for star ratings on review pages.

Set up by Finder's data scientists and investment experts, our algorithm takes into account broker fees, trading tools, educational resources and the list of available stock markets on each platform.

Quick stats

• Trading platforms compared: 38
• Trading features compared: 117

How do we choose our "Top Picks"?

Our top picks are displayed at the top of many of our share trading guides and feature 3-5 'Best for X' categories.

The brokers are awarded titles using the methodology below and Finder's editorial team decides which top picks to display based on research around user demand.

How do we rate brokerage fees?

There's no getting around the fact that a lot of share trading platforms have complicated fee structures. The brokerage fee (sometimes called the commission) can depend on how often you trade per month, how much you spend per trade and which country the stocks you're buying are from.

And while some brokers offers flat fees, others are percentage-based or "tiered", meaning the more frequently you trade the lower your fee. Others are a combination of tiered, percentage-based and flat.

To narrow this down, we compare the total broker fees a person would need to pay if they made 1 to 30 trades per month at trade values of between $100 and $10,000. We also compared fees for stocks listed in Australia, the US and the UK, which are the three most popular share trading markets in Australia.

By doing this, we can evaluate which online brokers are better suited to various trading styles such as active traders, long-term investors, ASX investors and global share trading investors.

Other fees we include:

• ETF brokerage
• Options trade fees
• Inactivity fees
• Live data fee
• Account fees
• Foreign exchange fee

Which features do we compare?

Along with broker fees, we look at whether share trading platforms have the following features:

• The number of stock markets available
• Margin trading
• Managed funds and mFunds
• Fractional investing
• Educational resources and training options
• Conditional order types
• Access to ASX and US stock options
• Charting and technical analysis tools
• Support options
• Mobile accessible
• Appropriateness for beginners
• The ability to trade Forex, CFDs, warrants and futures
• User ratings on the App and Play stores
• Minimum trade amount
• Micro and auto-invest features
• Ready made portfolios
• Availability of cryptocurrency
• Broker ratings or price targets
• Dividend filters and search tools
• Access to IPOs
• ESG filters, ratings and portfolios
• Copy trading and social trading
• P/E and EPS ratios
• Watchlists
• News feed and market updates
• Tax reporting functionality
• Cash management account
• SMSF or Super account access
• Minor accounts
• Live data access
• Online demo account
• Personal financial advice access

How do we decide which features are more important?

Our selected brokerage fee categories and trading features are weighed based on the expertise of Finder's banking and investments team as well as user research to show which features are the most important to different investor types. The ratios may change as we update the formula to provide a better comparison experience for our users.

• Best for beginners

  To find the best online broker for beginners, we rely on our proprietary algorithm and prioritise how easy the platform is to use for new investors and whether it has training and educational resources. We also look at the brokerage fees for smaller and less frequent trades and whether there is an inactivity fee.

  We place less importance on advanced features such as the ability to trade options or forex.

  Depending on user demand, we may split this award into two categories – 'Best for US shares' and 'Best for Australian shares'. This uses the same methodology as above but filters out brokers that don't offer either US or ASX shares.

  Features we consider:

  • Low minimum investment amount
  • Auto-investing feature
  • Fractional shares
  • Educational resources
  • Stock and ETF brokerage fees
  • Other account fees
  • Support options
  • Easy to use platform
  • Customer ratings
  • Availability on mobile and desktop

• Best for Australian shares

  For some investors, Australian shares will always be the priority. Using our share trading algorithm, we prioritise the features that are key to specifically trading ASX-listed shares and exchange traded funds (ETFs). This includes brokerage and inactivity fees for Australian shares and the ability to access the ASX. We put no importance on international share trading features or products such as forex or CFDs.

• Best for international shares

  International brokers give access to some of the biggest companies in the world such a Google (Alphabet), Facebook and Apple. And some share traders will prefer to prioritise platforms that work best for buying global stocks. Our share trading algorithm prioritises global brokerage and foreign exchange fees as well as the number of global markets available on the app. We also remove any brokers that do not offer direct global share trading.

• Best for active traders / day traders

  We consider active or "day traders" to be experienced traders and assume they would want trading features to suit. Our share trading algorithm weighs whether each platform has advanced charting tools, access to both Australian and global shares, a high list of order types, broker analysis and the ability to trade options, forex, CFDs and margin trading. Brokerage fees also prioritise a high level trading activity of more than 10 trades per month.

• Best for long-term investments

  Many investors aren't interested in trading frequently and prefer to invest a couple of times a year in order to achieve long-term profits. Our algorithm prioritises fees charged for a few trades per month of more than $1,000 as well as platforms that do not have additional charges if an investor chooses to make no trades at any given time (AKA the inactivity fee). We also look at whether the platforms offer managed funds and put less importance on whether the platform features fractional investing, options trading and forex and CFDs.

• Best for ETF or index fund investing

  Index funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become popular in recent years in Australia as a less risky alternative to buying stocks. We see that most index fund investors will be looking for a platform that caters specifically to Australian ETFs as a long-term investment.

  The algorithm used is similar to 'long-term investments' however it prioritises the fees for Australian stocks and ETFs if a user makes very few trades per year. It also gives a much higher rating to platforms that do not have additional charges if an investor chooses to make no trades at any given time (AKA the inactivity fee). In addition, we look at whether the platforms offers managed funds (mFunds) and place less importance on whether it features fractional investing, options trading, forex or CFDs.

• Best for penny stocks

  Because penny stocks (often called micro caps in Australia) are so volatile, they're a favourite among traders that like to take on a little more risk for the chance at bigger profits. Our algorithm prioritises a high frequency of trades per month, advanced charting tools, access to the NSX, the ASX and US exchanges as well as conditional order types and news. As penny stocks tend to be better suited to experienced traders, we put less importance on whether the platform is good for beginners and whether it offers features suitable for long-term investors such as managed funds.

• Best for US stocks

  Wall Street stocks are a favourite among Australians, especially with the emergence of household tech giants such Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. For this category we only include trading platforms that offer access to the US market and then prioritise lower broker fees on US-listed stocks for both active and casual investors. It also takes into account inactivity fees, currency conversion fees and the range of additional available features.

• Best overall platform

  Our best overall platform takes into account all features and fees listed above and weighs them a little more equally. This means our "best overall" platform might not come first in any one category but has a high average score for each of them. This platform might best suit someone that wants to have the option of trying out all types of trading features, such as global and Australian shares and ETFs, training tools for beginners and more advanced options such as charting tools.

• Best for cheap broker fees

  This category only takes into account brokerage fees. An average brokerage fee is calculated for trade sizes of between $100 and $10,000 and trade frequencies of 1 to 30 times per month. Broker fees for Australian, US and UK shares are taken into account.

• Best low-cost broker

  The focus here is primarily on broker fees at every level of trading – regardless of how often you trade, the trade size and the market you're trading. This category also takes into account inactivity fees, foreign exchange fees, ETF brokerage fees and user ratings from the App and Play stores. Broker fees for both Australian and global share trading is also taken into account.

• Best for trading features

  We rate brokers primarily on the range of available features, including whether the broker offered ASX shares, global shares and other markets such as Chi-X, forex, CFDs, options and unlisted managed funds. Brokers were also ranked higher if they offered a wide range of trading tools such as conditional orders, charting tools, news and educational resources.

• Best for exchange traded funds

  The winner of this award offers the lowest brokerage fees for Australian-listed exchange traded funds and no ongoing subscription or monthly fees.

• Best for options trading

  The winner of this award offers low options trade fees, low brokerage for active traders plus a number of trading tools including technical analysis charts, conditional orders, margin orders, news and broker analysis. We also rated whether the platform was available on both desktop and mobile as well as availability of support. We only rated brokers that also offer direct stock trading in addition to options.

• Best for customer satisfaction

  Online brokers in this award were rated as part of a survey of nearly 20,000 Australians. Customers were asked to give a rating for customer service, fees, tools, overall experience and asked whether they would recommend the broker to someone else. The broker with the highest score across these categories is the winner. You can find more details on this here.

• Best mobile trading app

  Our algorithm selected the best mobile stock trading apps by incorporating:

  • Average user ratings on the App Store
  • Average user ratings on the Play Store
  • Brokerage fees
  • Inactivity fee
  • User-friendliness

  User ratings were given the highest weighting followed by our user-friendliness score (selected by the editorial team), brokerage fees and inactivity fees.

• Best for demo account

  Our algorithm selected the best trading platform for customers seeking a demo account by weighing the following features:

  • Availability of demo account (Y/N filter)
  • Average Play store user rating
  • Average App store user rating
  • Availability of training and educational content

• Range of markets

  This category award is offered to the share trading platform with the longest list of available stock markets for Australian customers. This category may also be called "Access to markets" or "Available global markets".

• Best CHESS-sponsored brokers

  Our algorithm selected the best trading platform for customers seeking a chess-sponsored broker by weighing the following features:

  • Availability of ASX CHESS-sponsored equities (Y/N filter)
  • Availability of shares, ETFs, IPOs, mFunds, warrants and ASX options
  • Order types including market order, stop loss, phone orders and conditional orders
  • Minimum order amount
  • Research tools including broker ratings, price targets, PE ratios, dividend tracking, watchlists and tax reporting features
  • Educational resources
  • Brokerage fees for Australian shares and ETFs
  • Platform fees including withdrawal fees and inactivity fees
  • Availability on desktop and mobile
  • Average user rating
  • Ease of use and sign up

Does Finder compare all share trading platforms in the market?

No, but we're trying our best to make that happen. Because it takes a long time to find and properly analyse broker fees and features, and it's important that we don't share misinformation, we may not be able to cover 100% of the market. However, we do list the majority of Australia's most popular and well-regarded online brokers.

The process of gathering this data in Australia is quite manual. Our banking and investment team hunts down online brokers that are available to most Australian users and exclude those that are limited to "wholesale" (i.e. professional) investors.

We also exclude platforms that don't offer direct share trading via a stock exchange – this includes most robo-advisers, micro-investment platforms and CFD-only providers.

Star ratings on review pages

Star ratings are displayed on our broker review and 'broker vs broker' pages to help you identify strengths and weaknesses. To find an overall score, we take into account six key categories:

The Finder Score on our comparison tables

The Finder Score is displayed on our comparison tables as a way to help our readers compare share trading platforms. It's calculated based on 4,370 data points within 8 categories:

Finder's Customer satisfaction awards

Our customer satisfaction awards use a different methodology as our regular product awards.

The Finder customer satisfaction awards recognise Australia's favourite brands across a huge number of categories. We survey thousands of real Australians to understand how they feel about their recent product purchases to help you make a decision about what product to get. It's an independent awards program calculated by our data and insights team. Commercial partnerships do not influence the results in any way.

Finder worked with leading insights company Dynata to ask Australians to rate the brands they know and use for our Customer Satisfaction Program.

Customer satisfaction awards methodology: Share trading platforms

• 1,252 Australians were asked to review a share trading platform they had previously used.
• Brands had to receive a minimum of 45 responses in this category to be eligible for the award.
• We then judged them based on 6 categories:
  • Customer service
  • Fees
  • Features and benefits
  • Ease of application
  • Performance
  • Overall experience
• Respondents were also asked whether they would recommend each product to a friend. This result was scored out of 5 as a percentage. For example, if 80% of respondents said they would recommend a product, it received a score of 4 out of 5.
• The final score was calculated as an average of all metrics scored.
• Finder's Customer Satisfaction Awards is an independent awards program and commercial partnerships do not influence the results in any way.

Customer satisfaction awards methodology: Robo-Advisors (investment apps)

• 726 Australians were asked to review a Robo-Advice or auto-investing platform they had previously used.
• Brands had to receive a minimum of 45 responses in this category to be eligible for the award.
• We then judged them based on 5 categories:
  • Customer service
  • Fees
  • Performance
  • User Experience
  • Overall experience
• Respondents were also asked whether they would recommend each product to a friend. This result was scored out of 5 as a percentage. For example, if 80% of respondents said they would recommend a product, it received a score of 4 out of 5.
• The final score was calculated as an average of the 5 metrics scored.
• Finder's Customer Satisfaction Awards is an independent awards program and commercial partnerships do not influence the results in any way.

Other questions

• How often are the rankings reviewed?

  Our share trading platform algorithm runs every day but is re-calculated once a quarter and adjusted on our site.

• Something doesn't seem right: who can I contact?

  Click the blue chat bubble in the bottom right of your browser or scroll down to the bottom of the page to ask a question of one of our experts.

• What other conditions are there?

  Due to the complicated nature of broker fees, there were a few assumptions we needed to set:

  • Where fees are priced in different global currencies, the rates are based on the exchange rate set as of 28 April 2022.
  • Where fees are based on a dollar per share structure, we've used a nominal share price of $10 per share.
  • In cases where fees are charged as a percentage of total holdings, we assume the total trade value per month is 10% of total holdings. For example, if you make 1 trade of $100 per month, the assumption is your total holdings equal $1000.
  • In cases where the broker offers both CHESS and issuer sponsored shares, we have used the least expensive option in terms of broker fees.

Written by

Kylie Purcell

Investments analyst

Kylie Purcell is the senior investments editor and analyst at Finder. She has completed a Certificate of Securities and Managed Investments (RG146) and specialises in investment products including online brokers, robo-advisors, stocks and ETFs. See full bio

Kylie's expertise

Kylie has written 153 Finder guides across topics including:

• Investment strategies
• Financial platforms
• Stockbrokers
• Robo advisors
• Exchange traded funds (ETFs)
• Ethical investing
• ASX stocks
• Stock and forex markets