Best options platform websites

The Best Options Broker. Latest Update October 28, 2016. The best options trading platform isn’t going to be an afterthought tacked on to an existing suite of products: it should be robust and easy to use. Beginners need enough support to learn the ropes and experienced traders are after low fees and powerful tools. We signed up, assessed the fees, took the tools for a spin, and narrowed it down to three top picks. The one that's best for you depends on what you’re after. Tons of online and in-person support, plus a practice platform that lets you try everything out with “paperMoney.” The downside? Higher fees. Rock-bottom pricing, but no research or method support. Unrivaled tools & research with pricing that favors active traders.

There are a lot of brokers that are perfectly capable of trading options — nearly all of the big (read: old-school) names have an options platform integrated into their suite of offerings. But for those looking to really dive in, whether as a beginner just starting out or an active trader looking to level up, the best platform won’t be something that’s just tacked on. How We Found the Best Options Broker. To find the brokers that cater specifically to options, we looked at 36 choices and analyzed their products. We prioritized the most important aspects: Cost matters a lot when it comes to trading options. It’s the very nature: part of the appeal of options is that the returns can be major even if you don’t fork over a lot of cash up front, and many traders use options as a cheaper alternative to going long on a high-priced stock. Fees can add up and even wipe out the profits from any profitable trades. Granted, slightly higher fees may be worth it if a broker can provide other perks (say, excellent resources and education for beginners), but we wanted all our picks to have competitive pricing. We also wanted to avoid minimum balance requirements, or a set number of trades per month. Easy-to-use interfaces are a make-or-break for most platforms. The price of options contracts can swing a lot over the course of a trading day poking around a clunky options chain can literally cost you. Education and resources are important, especially for investors who are getting their feet wet. Sure you’ve got a handle on multi-leg options trades, but do you know when it’s the right time for a bull call spread?

What’s an iron butterfly? Not all traders will need hand-holding, but we wanted to find at least one excellent options broker we could recommend to newcomers. Flexibility can be interpreted a few ways. For us, it meant the robustness of the platform (could we research and purchase stocks and ETFs in addition to options?) its flexibility (could we streamline a multi-leg options trade, or did we have to input them all separately?) and whether or not we could customize it to our liking. It was quick work to eliminate the most expensive platforms, as well as the ones that had absolutely no resources or reports. To test ease of use and flexibility, we signed up for accounts and simulated making trades on all the rest. Three brokers rose to the top, and each brings something unique to the table. Our Picks for Best Options Broker. TD Ameritrade Higher fees on an ultra-easy platform. Plus, tons of support and education. TD Ameritrade is one of the largest online brokerages in the market today, with over 7 million funded customer accounts and over $700 billion in total client assets, and despite its slightly higher prices, it provides the best platform for a beginner trading any product, options or otherwise.

For more novice traders, the platform supports the jump from trading stocks with the funds in an IRA to more sophisticated products like options. It’s robust, plus it has the customer service and educational resources to make the transition. There are webinars and hours of on-demand videos that’ll teach you about options strategies and how to literally execute those strategies on the platform. TD Ameritrade is a full-service broker, and that full service (we’re talking 247 customer service and 100 branches for face-to-face consultations) does come with higher fees. Barron’s agrees, awarding it “best platform for novices” five years running. We can anticipate its service only getting better too. In 2016, TD Ameritrade started the process of acquiring Scottrade, another platform known for it’s in-person customer service offerings. In fact, TD Ameritrade is one of the best platforms for all levels of investors, serving up two discrete products: thinkorswim and Trade Architect. Thinksorswim is a desktop platform designed for an all-around trading experience: charts with real-time data, news tickers, 300-plus technical studies, alerts and alarms, heat mapping, options screeners, securities scanner, and more, all accessible in a single click. It’s definitely for seasoned investors — newcomers will likely be overwhelmed — but it’s worth bringing up because a virtual playspace called paperMoney allows even total novices to cut their teeth without risking even a single penny. We recommend beginners stick to TD Ameritrade’s web-based platform Trade Architect. It is nowhere near as robust as thinkorswim (and has nowhere near as jazzy a name), but it provides everything a new investor would want and it’s ultra-easy to use. It’s not bogged down with all the bells and whistles and live-streaming CNBC. Tabs at the top are simply categorized under jargon-free headings: account overview, watch lists, alarms, idea generators, and heat maps.

Unlike thinkorswim, the platform is customizable. If you want more widgets, like say, additional stock tickers or video, they’re there for the adding. If beginner investors use TD Ameritrade’s education library to learn the ropes, practice using paperMoney in thinkorswim, and then easily execute trades with Trade Architect, the slightly higher fee may suddenly seem worth it. OptionsHouse The lowest fees and no minimum balance requirements. OptionsHouse isn’t the most recognizable name in the industry, and that’s probably because this online broker hasn’t pursued an aggressive marketing campaign like some of the other brokers out there (remember E*Trade’s old Super Bowl ads?). The company was founded in 2005 and was established to specifically provide options traders who demanded lower fees from the then burgeoning online brokerage industry. Those low fees are still what makes OptionsHouse so popular. There’s a $0 minimum deposit to join and options trade at $4.95 + $0.50contract (stocks trade at a flat $4.95 fee). This is the lowest price in the industry. Only TradeKing comes close — matching that $4.95 options base fee, but charging $5 more than OptionsHouse for the exercise fee. The OptionsHouse platform is striking if a bit chaotic — there are buttons, tabs, and menus all over the place.

It’s intuitive and there’s a tutorial to walk you through, but to a beginner it might seem more like sitting in front of the controls of an aircraft than is comfortable. Beginners take note: OptionsHouse does have a virtual platform that’s great for practicing. And, the tradeLAB makes dissecting options spreads simple — the green smiley face is good the red frown is no good. What you won’t get for those low fees is method and research: OptionsHouse has about 30 technical studies TD Ameritrade has 300. It’s important to note that E*Trade purchased OptionsHouse for a whopping $725 million in 2016. It is still unclear how any pricing structures or account features and perks will change after the sale is completed, but an OptionsHouse blog post suggests that E*Trade’s tools and services will become available after the platforms merge. Best Tools and Research. optionsXpress A one-stop shop within a major firm, with an options-native platform. OptionsXpress was purchased by Charles Schwab back in 2011 to enhance Schwab’s competitive edge in options trading. The result is a one-stop shop with an options-native platform that’s pretty whiz-bang. Everything happens through the desktop platform, Xtend, but all the trading tools are also on the optionsXpress web platform.

It’s fully customizable, and it’s easy to find real-time quotes and market data, news and reports, and company background information. The Idea Hub scans the market for volatility, earnings, and income-based strategies and offers new trade ideas. With Walk Limit, you can set a few parameters, and it will scan updated market data and re-create an order you may have made at a higher price in the past. Sign up for the Xpresso newsletter and you’ll get a daily email alerting you to the day’s risks and opportunities. Add to that an impressive library of educational resources, as well as access to all of Charles Schwab’s investment research (and free access to its seminars and meetings at local branches), and a virtual trading platform that helps beginner investors practice all types of trading with $25,000 in fake cash. If you need help from a broker — to calm your first-timer nerves or to walk you through a complex method — they’re ready to help and totally free, too. The standard rates are steep, so we don’t recommend optionsXpress to the casual trader. Make more than 35 trades a quarter and you’ll click into “Active Trader” status and your fees will go down. Trade in volumes and there’s another discount trade contracts under a nickel and there’s another discount. This is all to say the price structure favors the active.

And while optionsXpress has a $0 account minimum and does not charge any annual or inactivity fees, if you leave, there is a $60 full outgoing transfer fee. The Best Options Broker at a Glance. Options are contracts that allow an investor the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset on or before a set date. Here’s an example: Say you are a buyer looking for a specific vintage car and you end up finding one you just have to have. When you find it, however, you know you won’t have any cash to buy it for another six months. You then negotiate with the owner to give you an option to buy the car in six months for a specific amount. If the owner agrees, you pay him a percentage up front for that option. The same scenario applies in the stock market – just for financial assets instead of vintage cars. If you were trading stocks, you’d be actually buying the car. Or, rather, not buying it since you didn’t have the money. Because options are simply options and not promises, if something happened to that vintage car — say it was sitting in the driveway and a tree fell on it — you wouldn’t have to buy it. You’d still be out the price you paid for the options contract, but at least you wouldn’t have lost all that money on a now-worthless pile of steel. And, if in those same six months something happens that makes the car go up in value, well, hey, you’ve already locked in your price. If you’re new, you should prize learning tools. If you’re experienced, you’ll need to choose between low cost or amazing tools.

No matter what, options trading shouldn’t be an afterthought tacked onto your platform. Best for Beginners. TD Ameritrade TD Ameritrade fees might be higher, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Consider your entire investment method. Don’t make your final decision solely based on options trading if it’s not the only kind of trading you’ll be doing. These online brokerage firms all offer a variety of investment opportunities. You may want to take into account their extra perks or the price of their mutual funds, for example. Know your expirations. Options are contracts that expire if they’re not acted on and an expired contract is worthless. Make sure you understand your expirations and set reminders using your broker’s platform, or on your calendar if you’re not trading every day. We find the best of everything. How? We start with the world. We narrow down our list with expert insight and cut anything that doesn't meet our standards.

We hand-test the finalists. Then, we name our top picks. 5 Best Online Broker Platforms For Options Traders. Options trading can be simple, but can quickly get complicated. Online brokers provide customers tools to handle the tons of quotes, statistics and underlying-securities tracking they might need to succeed in trading puts and calls. IBD's 2013 Best Online Brokers Survey found the five options trading platforms that clients rated highest. They were OptionsXpress , TD Ameritrade ( AMTD ), Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab ( SCHW ) and TradeStation . "Options can be used by a wide variety of investors to target a wide variety of objectives," said Jim Bittman, director of program development and a senior instructor for the Options Institute at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Brokerage firms have developed platforms to help options traders of all levels, from novices who buy a call or put to advanced folks who put on multilegged positions. While some platforms are bare-bones, others have a barrage of features such as streaming data, sophisticated analytics and pricing tools. Investors can choose a platform that's Web-based or downloaded as a separate program. A Web-based trading platform is accessed from your broker's website. These are generally less fancy and less customizable.

Downloaded platforms tend to use flashier charts and tools. They also tend to give users the ability to customize screens and layouts. OptionsXpress, owned by Schwab, has offerings for clients ranging from beginners to more sophisticated traders. The broker's Web-based platform is not flashy, but is laid out well. It has easy-to-use order-entry interfaces under secondary navigations for single-option orders as well as spreads and covered calls. The company also has an all-in-one trade ticket that makes entering orders with multiple options faster and easier. Just select the method you want to put on, and the different legs of the trade will be set up for you. OptionsXpress also has tools to help find trade ideas, as well as volatility charts and price calculators. TD Ameritrade also offers a basic, Web-based platform that has something for every level of investor. Order entries for single options, covered calls, spreads and strangles can easily be accessed under a secondary navigation. For single options orders, you can choose an exchange to handle the order or you can have it done automatically.

Whether you're putting on a spread, strangle or straddle, you easily get quotes for those trades as a package rather than viewing them in individual legs. For traders who want more advanced features, TD Ameritrade offers the Trade Architect and Thinkorswim platforms. Trade Architect is a Web-based platform catering to active investors, who can select a method and get profit-and-loss graphs to see how the trade can play out. Thinkorswim, which requires a download, is TD Ameritrade's platform for advanced traders. Packed with sophisticated features, investors can monitor the market and place trades in one screen. Complex strategies can be easily placed, and investors can switch layout views to see implied volatilities and probabilities. Interactive Brokers has two platforms for customers. One is its Web Trader platform, which has just the basics for viewing option chains and entering orders. The company also offers a much more advanced tool for options traders. Interactive Broker's OptionTrader, which is within its Trader Workstation platform, lets users view options chains, including key statistics such as implied volatilities and greeks -- a term that refers to delta, gamma and other measures of options' sensitivity to various factors.

Orders for single options or combination orders can easily be entered. Buttons are conveniently placed to reverse a position or hedge it from price risk. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of NASDAQ, Inc. Top 10 Binary Options Brokers : List of best trading Brokers Websites. Below you will find out listing of the top 10 Binary Options broker sites, to ensure you find one that suits your exact needs you will find listed their available markets, minimum and maximum trading limits plus the minimum deposit amounts you can make into each respective site. We have also got in-depth reviews on several of our featured Binary Options Brokers so please do have a good look around our website. Do you want to learn to how to trade binary options , or looking to find out how binary options trading works . Then follow the link above to find the answers to the questions you may have. Best Options Trading Brokers and Platforms. NerdWallet offers financial tools and advice to help people understand their options and make the best possible decisions. The guidance we offer and info we provide are deeply researched, objective and independent.

We spent over 300 hours reviewing the top online brokers before selecting the best for our readers. And to help you find the one that’s best for you, we’ve highlighted their pros, cons and current offers. Who is the best options broker today? The answer depends on whom you ask and what they value. For some investors, the best broker for trading options is the one with the cheapest commissions. Others prioritize trading tools, platform design, research, customer service or all of the above. While most of the brokers on our best-of list below would be a good, all-encompassing choice for many investors, we’ve also highlighted the standout candidates in specific areas that matter most to options traders. Unsure what you’re looking for? See how to choose an options broker for more on what can make or break an options trading experience. Summary: Best online stock brokers for options trading. Best for low-cost. Best options trading platform.

Best for research and education. Best overall for options trading. Our top picks cover all the option trader needs — access to high-quality research, analytical tools, a user-friendly platform — at reasonable prices. TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers earn high marks for options investors for their advanced trading platforms, deep bench of research and tools, plus their high-caliber options trading capabilities. TD Ameritrade handily serves option traders no matter where they are on the learning curve. The broker’s thinkorswim platform offers a robust options trading experience for active investors seeking professional-grade tools to identify trading opportunities, analyze potential risks and rewards, test trade strategies and quickly place even the most complex options trades. The broker’s web-based Trade Architect platform is for investors just getting into options or those who don’t require a high-octane platform. Its stripped-down, easy-to-use interface won’t overwhelm newbies. And although Trade Architect isn’t as fully stocked with tools and data as thinkorswim, it’s no slouch, either. Intermediate investors will find advanced features like a marketoptions heat map, screening and tradefinder tools, and streaming news. Get details in our TD Ameritrade review. For cost-conscious, active options traders looking for low costs and a platform with a lot more meat on its bones, Interactive Brokers may be more your style. Interactive Brokers charges just 70 cents per contract with no base fee ($1 minimum order), plus discounts for larger volumes, if you can manage the $10,000 account minimum. Its Trader Workstation platform (with an options method lab) is considered one of the best and most sophisticated around.

But watch other fees to ensure that the lower commissions pay off. Both brokers allow prospective clients to test-drive the goods without putting any real money on the line. TD Ameritrade offers a paperMoney virtual trading account to test out the thinkorswim platform. At Interactive Brokers, once customers open a real account (which has a $10,000 minimum funding requirement), they can set up a paper trading account that offers them hands-on practice using IB’s Trader Workstation platform and tools. Best brokers for low-cost options trading. These brokers offer competitively priced options trading commissions and have eliminated or dramatically capped minimum trading fees. In early 2017 most of the mainstream online brokers slashed commissions to levels once reserved for their deep-discount peers. That doesn’t mean that they’re the best deal in town for every investor. For active options traders, eOption earns five stars from NerdWallet for its low options trade commissions. The company charges a fixed $3 base plus 15 cents per contract.

Another plus: eOption is known for having some of the lowest margin rates available. Although eOption charges a $50 annual inactivity fee on accounts that have placed fewer than two trades in the past 12 months or have less than $10,000 in credit or debit balances, the minimum trade workaround isn’t onerous, even for infrequent traders. Charles Schwab’s trade commission of $4.95 base rate plus 65 cents per contract puts it within spitting distance of deep-discount peers. Schwab recently fully took over the old OptionsXpress and incorporated that broker’s options experience into its own platform, with both web-based and mobile functionality. Commissions aren’t the only costs associated with trading options. Platform, data and other fees can quickly cancel out what you save on commissions. See our full reviews of Charles Schwab and eOption for details on what they offer. For those simply looking for a cheap way to execute options trades, Charles Schwab and eOption get the job done. Best options trading platforms. These brokers offer some of the most powerful trading platforms available for a reasonable price. Judging a broker’s trading platform by the number of features it offers is like buying a car based solely on what you read in the dealer brochure. While all investors have their must-have features, what’s more important is how the platform feels when it’s in their hands. The trading platforms at Ally Invest and TradeStation offer a wide variety of analytical tools, provide stable and speedy trade execution, and allow investors to customize the tools and design to best suit their needs. Unlike TradeStation, Ally Invest (formerly TradeKing) is technically a deep discount broker as reflected in its commissions (options traders pay a $4.95 base plus 65 cents per contract with only one base charge per spread), $0 account minimum and free access to research and data.

Frequent traders (those who place 30 or more trades per quarter or who carry a balance of $100,000 or more) pay a discounted $3.95 base and 50 cents per contract. But don’t be fooled by the lower prices: Customers get a lot of platform power for free. Ally is suitable for newer options investors. The browser-based platform resembles the offerings of its pricier competitors and comes with free options trading tools for screening and advanced charting. Navigation is easy and streamlined. Customers can create a custom dashboard with movable modules with the data and features they want to use. The setup extends to what users see across all devices, including mobile and tablet. TradeStation is best left to more experienced, tech-savvy investors who want to experience options trading using the same tools as pro traders. The broker provides all the tools needed to design, test-drive, monitor, automate and speedily execute the most complex trades via direct-market access (no pesky middleman to slow down the process). Its OptionsStation Pro platform is fully integrated into TradeStation’s regular trading platform. An added bonus is the broker’s active investor forums, where traders discuss ideas, ask questions and get help. Access to all of TradeStation’s bells and whistles used to come at a steep $99.95 monthly platform fee for those who didn’t meet account balance or trading activity minimums.

But in March 2017 TradeStation eliminated the service fee, lowered its trade commissions for stocks and options and tossed in free real-time market data and free access to its market-monitoring and portfolio-level back-testing tools. Educational tools and platform tutorials are plentiful, which is a plus: Because of the sophisticated nature of the platform, it may require some time to become familiar with all that it offers. See more in our TradeStation review. Best research and options trading education. Both offer extensive research and data for free, as well as live classes and webinars for beginning and advanced options traders. If you’re new to options trading or want to expand your trading strategies, a broker that devotes its resources to research and customer education is a must. Because Schwab and Fidelity each have offices across the country in addition to their online options education libraries, they’re able to offer in-person guidance and free seminars on how to trade options, as well as one-on-one guidance on using the tools each platform offers. Fidelity’s constantly refreshed library draws from more than 20 providers, including Recognia, Ned Davis, S&P Capital IQ and McLean Capital Management. The full suite is available to customers when they sign into the broker’s web-based platform. And you don’t have to stop digging when you’re away from your computer: Fidelity has a strong mobile app that lets customers access the company’s full suite of research through a mobile browser. Charles Schwab’s options trading capabilities and lineup of trading data and research got a big boost as the company integrated its purchase of OptionsXpress.

In October Schwab re-launched its online platform under the StreetSmart name, with both web-based and mobile functionality, though for now only former OptionsXpress clients have access to the new platform. In the first quarter of 2018, Schwab will begin rolling out the new platform to all clients. While the platform name is changing, Schwab still provides a fully realized suite of offerings for options traders, including trade assessment tools, customizable screeners, access to Schwab analyst options-market commentary, live online webinars and pre-recorded seminars. Best brokers for beginner options investors. These brokers provide ideal conditions (educational resources, user-friendly platforms, customer support and low minimums) for investors just learning the options trading ropes. TD Ameritrade — one of our top overall brokers — ranked highest in this category, too. But since there are many types of beginners with many different preferences, instead of highlighting the category champions we’ve focused on brokers that are excellent candidates in three key areas: Low minimum opening balance requirements. Ally Invest, TD Ameritrade, Merrill Edge: If you’re not yet ready to devote a lot of your capital to options trading, you don’t want to tie up much in an account to meet the minimum. Many of the brokers on our list require no money to open an account. However, industry regulations require that traders maintain a $2,000 minimum to trade options. Strong customer support. Scottrade and TD Ameritrade: On-call help is particularly handy when starting out.

One way to test a broker’s level of service is to contact the company with any questions you have about its option trading offerings before you even open an account. Scottrade is known for its standout customer service and huge physical presence of 500 branches. So is TD Ameritrade, with around-the-clock phone and email support and 100 branches where clients can attend seminars and meet with investment associates. At the end of 2017, TD’s acquisition of Scottrade will be complete, increasing each broker’s ability to serve clients. User-friendly platforms. Ally, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade: There’s nothing better than test-driving a broker’s platform before you commit. Check to see if the broker you’re considering offers paper trading (virtual trading on a platform that mimics the real deal) or contact customer service to see if they will set you up with a demo account. As for brokers discussed in this review, Ally Invest’s browser-based platform is intuitive and easy to customize. And both Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade have multiple platforms customers can use to start learning the ropes, then graduate to more sophisticated tools and trades if desired. Best options trading brokers: summary. Updated June 30, 2017. Disclaimer: NerdWallet has entered into referral and advertising arrangements with certain broker-dealers under which we receive compensation (in the form of flat fees per qualifying action) when you click on links to our partner broker-dealers andor submit an application or get approved for a brokerage account. At times, we may receive incentives (such as an increase in the flat fee) depending on how many users click on links to the broker-dealer and complete a qualifying action.

Best Blogging Sites Comparison Guide 2017. A Comprehensive Guide To Premium and Free Blogging Sites. Blogging is a great way to connect with the world. Whether you blog to express your passion for your hobbies, blog to connect on a personal level with others or blog to help promote a business, it can be a great way to connect with the world. In this article I’ll be reviewing each of the popular blogging sites available today. Since blogging is much more than writing or posting photos, finding the best platform for your needs is important. You will want to have a platform that is easy to use and provides you with the customization tools you are looking for to give your audience everything they need to read and interact with your blog. If you have never blogged before, you will want to choose blog platforms that cater to beginners. This means in many cases you will be giving up the option to change HTML or CSS code. If you who have been blogging for a while, these options for coding may be more important to you. As a blogger you will also have to decide whether you want to pay for the options that come with some platforms or stick to the free platforms that may have less options available. This choice can be determined by what your blog’s focus is and whether you plan to make money from the blog itself. There are also blogging sites that provide both free and paid services, which can be useful when your small blog turns into a big hit. Here are some of the top blogging sites that are available and the pros and cons of using each to create your next home on the Internet.

The Major Blogging Platforms Compared ( Free & Premium Blog Sites ) These popular blogging platforms all have positives and negatives, especially when you take into consideration your level of skills as a blogger and as a coder. The longer you blog, the more skills you will pick up, so it is important to either find a platform that meets your needs at the time, or to find a platform that gives you the ability to change the type of services you get to better serve your needs and the needs of your blog’s audience. The. org version of WordPress provides many of the same features as its. com counterpart, but it also provides additional customization features for any blogger. This WordPress option works out well for folks who want to have complete control over the customization of their blog, but it is not a platform that is easy for beginners to use effectively but there are lots of free and paid options to learn WordPress. WordPress. org lets you install your own custom plugins and themes to make your blog look exactly how you want. To use this platform for your blog, you will have to find your own web host, perform routine backups and maintain the blog on your own. For people who are just starting their blogging journey I recommend that they use BlueHost as they offer an easy WordPress installation process, reliable up time and excellent support. Use this link to get a free domain name with your hosting.

In fact, I use BlueHost for this site and many others that I own. You can now get BlueHost’s high quality hosting plan for just $2.95 per month (36 months sign up) plus you get a FREE domain name . This is for a limited time only! Normally this would cost you $7.99 per month, so jump on this deal now while its still available. Here’s what you get for $2.95 per month with BlueHost hosting: A FREE domain name ( worth $15 ) One-click WordPress Install and 247 support. 5 email accounts. 100MB on each account. Ghost is an open source blogging platform that provides a simple, clean interface that makes it very easy to use. It also provides a live preview of your post while you are writing it, so you can easily correct any writing or coding mistakes as you go along. This platform can be great for beginners because of its ease of use, but expert bloggers may also prefer it because of its interface compared to other blogging services. The downside to Ghost is that it can be difficult to install at first but once it is, it can be a great tool for any blogger. Again for running a blog on Ghost you will require web hosting – I recommend BlueHost.

Drupal is a great option for blogs associated with businesses because it is not just a blogging platform, but a complete content management system. This means that along with your blog, web pages and other online content can be created and organized within this platform. Drupal does not host blogs for users, so bloggers using this platform will have to find their own host someplace else. Drupal is also not a platform that readily accommodates beginners, so it is better for those upgrading from a free blogging platform rather than for the blogger just starting out. If you are looking for a full content management system, Joomla is another great option for bloggers. In terms of the ease of use, Joomla may have more of a learning curve than WordPress, but can be much easier to use than Drupal. Many businesses and large corporations prefer this type of platform because it can give you flexibility with a wide range of content options. Joomla, however, can be expensive. While the first month is free, after that a blogger can be charged anywhere from $20-$100 per month depending on the options and upgrades they want. For many novice bloggers, this can be a high cost unless the blog is attached to an existing business that already generates a profit.

WordPress is one of the most popular free blogging platforms on the Internet. Millions of users like the options it provides for simple, free blog creation and maintenance. The platform is free and offers services such as hosting, the ability to have a custom domain, integrating your blog with social media and popular features such as comments and polls are available without installing plugins. A number of paid upgrades are also available. The biggest issue with this version of WordPress is that options such as custom themes, plugins and editing HTML are not available. However, WordPress. com also has a sister site, WordPress. org that provides many more customization options. Both WordPress. com and WordPress. org are also known for the detailed amount of support provided. Not only do these sites have the standard tutorials to get you started building on these platforms, but WordPress also has a large community of users that are more than willing to help out a fellow user with common questions and concerns about various aspects of blogging on WordPress.

With all of the information available, it can be easy to learn this platform quickly so you can start customizing your site without too much trouble. I am a huge WordPress fan and recommend it for all my clients, check out my free tutorial if you want to start blogging with WordPress. WordPress. com in my opinion is probably the best free blog site available. If you’re a newbie starting out blogging, then do consider this option. There are many great platforms out there for starting your own blog. They include sites with customizable HTML and CSS for those with more advanced skills. Medium is a place to share your thoughts and writing with a wide audience. Unlike some of the other blogging platforms, Medium has a built-in audience, which makes it often debatable whether it’s a publisher or a platform. Individuals or businesses can sign up for a Medium account since it’s free. Those individuals or businesses can publish their own posts, add their voice and style to other publications or curate posts or publications. Publications are collections of posts that are curated by users and Medium itself.

Readers can comment on other’s posts, recommend posts and follow and share their favorites. The process is like many other blogging platforms except Medium has a slight twist on the commenting process. Readers can highlight and focus parts of the text and make their comments in the margins. Medium allows third party embedding from other sites around the web. Creators can embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo. They can add content from Twitter, Vine, Instagram and SoundCloud. On every post, readers get to see how many minutes it would take to read a post. They’ll immediately know whether they have time to read through the story or whether they should bookmark it for later. Another feature on the front page for viewers to see is how many views it’s gotten on the platform. Recommendations and reads are also available to creators.

The dashboard allows creators to see where traffic originated from too. Best Practises to Create Posts. There is no minimum word count for posts, but Medium suggests that content over 400 words are popular. The headline should be compelling and clickable, but should also stick to the topic of your content. They recommend high quality photographs for the content as well. The platform is a terrific starting point for beginners to the blogging world. It’s simple to use and doesn’t require coding knowledge. It’s also used by brands to recycle their content onto another platform to gain further reads and new readers of their content. A highly recommended free blog site for small business owners and freelance professionals. When it comes to customization, Squarespace is a platform that offers a wide variety of options. The best part about customizing your blog on this platform is that you can change everything without knowing how to code. It is also a platform that lets your expand your services which is a great option if you are using your blog for your business.

The downside to Squarespace for bloggers is that theme and plugin support is not a great as it could be. If you want these options on Squarespace, knowledge of code will be necessary. Another blogging platform that is great for businesses who want to maintain a blog on their website is Weebly. This platform provides a wide range of easy-to-use features, including drag and drop options for those who do not want to learn coding to make simply changes. Since Weebly can be used for blogging and web building, business owners find this platform a lot easier to use than other platforms where blogs and websites are created separately. Expert coding options are also not available on this platform. If you are a blogger who wants to be able to change and customize HTML or CSS on the blog, this Weebly makes it difficult to do so because it focuses its services on those who want to quickly create and update a blog without a lot of hassle. Typepad is a blogging platform that provides an easy-to-use interface for beginning and experience bloggers. The platform provides a wide range of themes to choose from as well as plugins so you can make your blog your own. A key drawback to using Typepad is that all of the blogs are hosting by them on their server, so you do not have the option to use the platform with your own blog host. It is also a platform that makes editing code difficult because it is geared towards bloggers who may not be as confident in editing HTML code for example.

If there is one platform that is easy for beginners to use, it is Blogger. This is a free blogging platform that is simple to use for anyone just starting out with a blog. With this platform a user can just type their content, add photos and publish. Blogger also lets users edit HTML and add widgets to blog, which many blogging sites for beginners do not offer. Blogger is a Google service, so users will have to have a Google account and may find the Google-related add-ons redundant or useless for their blog. It is also one of the blogging platforms that many bloggers grow out of once they learn more about blogging since it does not have any upgrade options. Here’s a more detailed comparison of Blogger versus WordPress. Tumblr is a blogging option that is very popular with younger audiences. The platform itself is simple to use. One of the best features of Tumblr is that it is focused on the community of bloggers, so it provides a variety of options for sharing and reblogging content. The downside to blogging on Tumblr is that it does not focus on text content, but photos and GIFs. Visual bloggers will love it, but writers may want to find another platform to use. The idea of reblogging content may also lack appeal with bloggers, particularly if you are blogging material that you want to have complete control over copyright and other such protections. Wix is a platform that is mainly set up to build websites, but it can also be used to start a blog.

The key feature of Wix is that the web pages or blogs you create with the platform are supported for portable devices, so your readers can see your work easily displayed on their smartphone or tablet. Wix also provides a good amount of information and support for its users, including email and phone support for customized answers to your questions. Although Wix offers an easy to use solution it has a lot of negatives from an SEO perspective. The best way to find the right platform for your needs is to understand whether each platform focuses on beginners or experts, how much it costs to use and how much customization your audience will demand. Remember that it can be easy to upgrade to a better platform in most cases, so starting with an easy-to-use option is great for anyone just starting out in the blogosphere and wanting to learn how to start a blog. The Ultimate Blogging Platforms Comparison Chart – Both Premium & Free Blogging Sites. To help you even further with your quest to find the best blogging platform for your new or existing website or blog, I have put together a pretty comprehensive comparison chart. The chart is easy to digest and covers the pros and cons, features, detailed information and ratings on each blogging platform for both premium and free blogging options. Best Binary Trading Sites 2017 – and the Rest. Maybe you’re still learning about trading, or perhaps you feel ready to take your first step into the trading market as a beginner. We’ve researched the binary options trading market extensively to help make your task of choosing a platform simpler. As you may have heard, trading with binary options is one way to get into the markets with minimal trading experience but with the real possibility of ending up with some great returns. Of course, before you can begin trading, you will need to find the best binary option broker for you.

There are a LOT of brokers in the giant binary options trading industry. Naturally, a single broker cannot necessarily be said to be outright “the best” one versus another. However, we do our utmost here to review all aspects of the best binary options sites to help you decide. Our site’s role is to act as a guide in this sometimes overwhelming task of yours. By following these helpful tips and recommendations, you’re just a click away from the best binary trading brokers. So, let’s get started. Recommended Trading Platform. Top Binary Options Broker. What is trading with binary options? Before moving to the particular part of our research for the best binary options brokers, it is a good idea to make a quick revision of your binary options knowledge and to be more specific – of the binary options trading activity. To understand trading with binary options you should know, at first, what binary options are.

In general, a binary option is a class of an option where the payoff comes with only two final possible results. The first result is the fixed amount of money of the asset you have chosen, while the other one (the negative or the loss) is nothing at all. As you can see trading with binaries is different from trading on regular Forex markets, like the top forex brokers are different than the binary options ones, where in most cases some continuous range of payoff might appear. Trading with binary options is usually quick and simple, which makes this way of trading extremely interesting and quite suitable for beginners. Moreover – binary options trading results in comparatively speedy payouts, while the risk may be quite low. The fact that you either win, or don’t win anything means that trading with binary options can be considered as child’s play. However, do not underestimate the necessity of proper prediction, constant following of the latest news from the market and the analytical skills, because binary options trading still requires you to think and consider, rather than to gamble. Best Binary Options Brokers. What are binary options brokers? When it comes to best binary options trading sites, looking at the essence of what the binary options brokers actually provide is a must. Like all things in life, one always needs to research a topic before being able to compare apples with apples.

In brief, binary options brokers are ordinary brokerages which either solely provide features for binary options trading, or include different ways of trading – including binaries. However, it would also be accurate to say that when it comes to the best binary options trading sites, they are usually entirely geared to binaries without dealing with other markets (e. g. Forex) at all. You should be aware that binary options brokers are also brokerage firms that are in most cases operated and owned by large financial services providers or companies. Their size and reputation provides the feeling of assurance to their users and you would rightly expect these aspects to appeal to people looking to join binary options brokers. We strongly recommend that you follow our guide in order to give your trading experience the highest levels of security and safety. How to select the best binary options brokers? If you think that we will list for you a single binary options broker that is considered the best binary options site, don’t. The truth is that the large number of websites and the good trading environments that most of them offer makes it impossible to name one particular best binary trading site. Moreover – as you know different traders prefer different things. If you are a beginner in trading with binaries, features like user-friendly interface and reliability are the top things you are looking for, but others – more advanced traders – will probably try to look for good bonus systems or even intuitive platforms. But since we are here to help you in improving in trading with binaries and in finding the best binary trading sites, we cannot just pass you by without giving you some hints. What we are about to do is to show you how to select the best binary options brokers. Such a task won’t be difficult at all, if you follow our advice. To find out the most beneficial platforms for trading with binaries, make sure the binary options brokers you review or take under consideration have the following (or at least most of them) features: Outstanding reputation. They say reputation is everything, and when it comes to business with binary options trading sites the same thing applies.

If a broker is mentioned by the critical institutions that are involved in the financial field, then it is probably worth checking. However, such formal recommendations aren’t the only sources for binary options brokers with a good reputation. Different forums, where the trading community gathers, can give you some directions in finding the best binary options brokers, too. Alternatively, some binary options trading sites have a section on their official page with feedback from their users. Last, but not least, there are many rating websites that exist to compare the different brokers, as well. Excellent reliability. Until you actually start using them, you cannot be 100% sure that certain binary options brokers are reliable although, there are a few features that might lead you to the conclusion that these websites for trading with binaries are actually reliable. In most cases, reliability consists of two main things. First of all, it is mandatory for one of the best binary option brokers to be officially licensed by the national authority from the country it is based in. Second of all, a reliable broker for binary options trading is supposed to provide protection, not provide a scam. The protection covers both – personal data and financial transactions – and many of the binary options brokers today are even double protected. Such an example is any of the binary options brokers that are based in the European Union. In this example the platform is regulated by the national financial services regulation body and by the EU as an additional controlling body. Other Brokers ( Warning: Unverified ) Functional customer support services.

A website without customer support representatives becomes non-functional at all. And binary options brokers are not just websites, but platforms, where money is in constant use. This means that the customer support services are mandatory and the best binary options brokers offer them 247 and in multiple languages. Most of the websites these days cover the entire day, however, as to the availability of different languages, it is generally provided by the brokerage firms that operate among the entire international market by covering larger and more diverse audience. The ability to reach the customer support representatives via several communication methods – for example, phone calls, emails, fax, live chat and etc – additionally provides you confidence while being in the trading arena. The platform is a thing that makes ordinary binary options brokers either one of the best binary options trading sites or one of the completely bad sites that will not bring you anything, but nerves and a bad mood. Make sure that the software a broker uses is easy enough to learn, so that you will not lose any time studying how it works. The intuitive feature is also very important, because once you become more advanced, good organization of your binary options trading activity will be considered as a plus for you. And last, but not least, the best binary options brokers provide platforms with various features and useful conveniences. We cannot list all of them, but the more they are the better and the easier it will become for you trade. Attractive bonus system.

There`s an unwritten rule among the trading audience, and according to this all of the best binary options sites have the most attractive bonus types. It is logical that good bonuses are really great, but this concept is definitely not something that many of the most advanced traders will agree with. Wondering why? Well, the answer is actually simple. The thing is that many newly established or not so popular yet (and scams, too) binary options brokers usually need a method to attract more customers. The beneficial and intriguing bonus system appears to be a great tool to get a traders attention by any means. However, not all of these binary options brokers are as reliable and good as their bonus system is. So what we are trying to tell you is that in case you come upon unbelievably huge bonuses offered by a binary options broker, don’t fall for the trap to immediately sign up for it. There`s no guarantee that the rest of the broker features are ok. Still, binary options brokers bonuses remain one of our favourite parts of trading. Additional conveniences. Speaking of bonuses and their correlation to the rest of the features of the best binary options trading sites, it’s important to mention some conveniences that you should look for too. Features like an education centre for beginners in trading with binaries, as well as extras like personal account managers or possibilities to trade with dozens of assets are also quite important. And if they appear on the website you are a member of, then be assured that you are a customer at one of the best binary options brokers.

Where to find the best binary options broker? Our ultimate guide for the best binary options trading sites continues with some practical ideas and tips you can use in order to find the best binary options trading sites. Review them to see if they could help you for your research. Become aware of what you are looking for – Different traders look for different things in a broker for binary options trading. For example, if you are a beginner, then you might prefer a simpler platform with an intuitive interface and maybe, a good education centre to help conduct your method with expert tips for advancing in binary options trading. Though, on the other side, if you search for certain binary options – one touch binary options, 60 second options etc – then, your research filter changes. Undertake your own research – Start your own research for the best binary options brokers. It`s not hard or tough and usually it does not even take too much time. Since you already know what you are looking for – the best binary options trading sites with particular option types and features – use them as keywords and insert them in your browser search engine. The results provided will definitely have some of the best binary options brokers! Recommendations are always preferable – Having recommendations for the best binary options brokers is also a useful alternative you can take advantage of. You can be recommended by a friend of yours, who has been on the binary options trading market for longer and who can be aware of the most suitable website for a beginner. This recommendation will come with the advantages of a particular platform, saving you some research. Read our helpful reviews – Binary options brokers reviews are many and you can come upon them in forums for trading communities and for informative websites – like ours.

Feel free to read our helpful reviews that will point you the pros of each reviewed website (at the end of the article review). Considering these pros, you can determine if you have finally discovered the best binary options trading sites. Test a few binary options brokers – And finally, there`s one more alternative for you to find the most reliable and promising binary options brokers. Even though a little bit risky, you should try this method, too, because after all getting used to taking risk is a part of your trading job, as well. What we recommend you do is test several binary options platform. Make a list of your favorites that might be the next best binary options brokers. Begin with the first titles and see if you can find the most profitable among them. Attention – avoid investing a lot of money until you can make sure that the binary options broker is really your type of platform. How to compare the best binary options brokers? Last, but not least, when you are done with your list of the best binary options trading sites, you will need to compare them. Being a member of too many websites for trading at once is not a very good idea – especially if you are a beginner – so it’s better to continue filtering your list of top binary trading favorites. Consider the next features as the keys for your comparison process of the desired brokers you want to visit and become a member of: Minimum deposit amount – This is the minimum amount of money you are obliged to invest in order to start trading on a certain binary options trading site. If it is too high for you, keep searching for another, more budget-friendly option! Assets – The more assets a broker offers the better and the bigger its chance to be one of the best binary options brokers.

The standard amount of assets is usually above 30, so try to avoid platforms that have only 10-15 assets only, because they will limit your activity. Acceptance of particular traders – Some brokers have the policy not to accept certain traders according to their current residences. In most cases these users are either USA, or Canadian-based citizens. However, this is only the general rule and there are many other countries that might be excluded from the list of customer types in binary options brokers. Always read this information before considering making a registration on a trading platform. Maximum trading amount – Remember, you are still a beginner and your first investments – both, the deposit and trade amounts – will probably not be high enough to reach this limit. However, consider the future – your future growth is a sign of smart trading. Who knows, maybe you will become skilful in trading with binaries very soon! Don’t hesitate to use our useful tips to discover the best binary trading brokers. We wish you the best of luck. Best Binary Options Brokers. Best Education Broker.

Your capital is at risk. Trade with caution, these products might not be suitable for everyone so make sure you understand the risks involved.