A thoroughly resourceful, all-inclusive online discount brokerage offering. With a package of independent research and analytic tools you won’t find at other brokers,

$14.95 per trade for market or limit orders

Cash Sweeps pays 1.84%

Back button doesn’t work sometimes, you get some strange html errors.

Unlimited free checkwriting

Customizable screens allow you to arrange your portfolio position summary screen nicely. Lot of flexibility here.

Four automated stock selection systems from Validea, MarketEdge®, VectorVest® and Growth Stock Analytics, customizable charts, and more.

News and commentary from Dow Jones, CBS MarketWatch, RTT News and Econoday. Choose objective, third party research from Argus, S&P, Zacks, Multex, Morningstar, Baseline, Optionetics, RiskMetrics, and more, including SmartMoney.com's ETF research. Many podcasts for your ipod or on-the-go

Confirmed a lot of Java. Prophet Java charts, 3rd party.

US and World market tracking 24 hours a day.

Stock histories and java charts have data back to 1968.

Trade complex options online; screen and invest in Fixed income securities and new issues online.

More than 13,950 mutual funds, 5,148 of them no load and 1,503 with no transaction fee.

Extended hours trading, before and after regular market hours, through all available ECNs

Dynamic Trader, a fully-customizable streaming desktop you can use to display multiple windows of dynamically-updating quotes and market data, plus, one-click access to trading, order status, option chains, positions, balances, history, account detail and SiebertNet’s full range of research and analytic tools.7  Dynamically-updating quotes and market data, including streaming real-time positions, watchlists, Nasdaq Level II quotes and indices, as well as news, alerts, customizable charts, Time and Sales and more.  Online tax lot trading (specific share selection).  Free access to Optionetics' Trade Finder and Volatility Rankings. 

Certainly not a pretty site but it does have a lot of horsepower.

No Live Chat, does have email and FAQs though

They have mutual fund specialists. They will not make recommendations, but they will assist you in making informed decisions by providing help, guidance and info from nationally respected fund eval services like Morningstar.com.

For those that you do have to pay a transaction fee for, it is $35

Free dollar cost averaging in their Mutual Funds

They hired in a lot of Morningstar’s services

PERK: They are currently offering to pay your old broker’s exit fees

Third party resources:
1) ETFs – Smartmoney.com – performance, holdings, sector weightings & charts. REGISTER FOR THIS!

2) Mutual Funds – Morningstar.com

3) Options – Optionetics.com

4) Risk Measure - RiskMetrics Group: RiskGrades™ evaluations of comparative risk and volatility of U.S. equities.

5) Lehman Brothers: Daily stock research with recommendations, upgrades, downgrades, index targets and analysis of U.S. and global markets, opportunities and trends. 

6) Argus: Daily morning and evening reports with ratings, estimates, analysis and stock picks.

7) Thomas Weisel: In-depth coverage of key trends, specific company research and recommendations for growth stocks. 

The options strategies center was fun and informative. A lot of great educational material at this site. They’re great at breaking down option trades into easily understandable concepts.  Unfortunately, the fancy stuff is behind lock and key at optionetics, you’ll have to pay extra to get your hands on those features and tools.

Automated Stock Selection Systems 

1)  Validea®: Automated stock analysis and ideas based on the strategies of eight legendary investors in the exclusive "All Star Guru Scorecard." 2 
 
2)  MarketEdge® by Computrade: Combined fundamental and technical reports with timing signals, recommendations and advanced stock "idea generator." 
 
3)  VectorVest®: Combined fundamental, technical and timing reports with detailed evaluations and recommendations. 
 
4)  Growth Stock Analytics: Technical, fundamental and timing reports/charts for high earnings per share and relative strength stocks in the online searchable database. 
 
5)  Media General Financial Services: Search for stocks by industry, and your choice of price, P/E ratio, total return, earnings per share, market cap, dividend yield, price/book ratio and Beta. 

Fundamental 

 
1)  Standard & Poor's: Complete five page stock reports with earnings, industry activity and analysts' recommendations. Plus monthly market letter, “stars” lists and weekly screeners. 
 
2) Zacks: Full company reports with detail, earnings data and analysts' recommendations. 
 
3) Multex: Detailed seven part company profiles with consensus reports, analysts' recommendations and revisions. 

Technical and Fundamental 

 
1) Baseline: Tearsheets with key ratios, earnings data and performance. 
 
2) ProphetFinance: Customizable and interactive java charts with technical indicators and studies. 
 
3) BigCharts: Customizable charts with fundamental and technical studies.

For large or active accounts, we individually negotiate commissions and margin rates.

Guaranteed quality service – or your trade is commission-free.

Complex options trading online – spreads, strangles, straddles, combinations.

Referral Program offering you two free trades for each friend you refer.

Consolidation Program offering you a commission-free trade for every $25,000 you switch from another financial institution.

All reps are Series 7 registered representatives

CS available 7:30AM – 7:30PM EST

Stock Trades:
$14.95 per trade for up to 1,000 equity shares, market or limit orders. 1.5 cents per share for each additional share over 1,000.
Broker Assisted Trades: 3 cents per share to buy or sell any exchange-listed stock of any price, with an overriding minimum of $75 per trade.
$29.95 per trade, for market or limit orders on any supported handheld
   device or Web-enabled cell phone.
 Up to 1,000 shares, two cents per share thereafter.
 Pay only $14.95 per trade for up to 1,000 shares and 1.5 cents per share 
   thereafter on any wireless PC.

(Paste options pricing chart from SiebertNet here)

Corporate Bonds:
This schedule is for agency transactions only and is subject to an overriding minimum commission charge of $35 for listed corporate bonds:   Up to 49 bonds - $3.50 per bond 
 From 50-99 bonds - $3.00 per bond2 
 100 bonds or more - $2.50 per bond 

Margin Rates = Broker Call + (chart from Siebertnet)

NOTE: We didn't review SiebertNet for the 2008 rankings but they will be included in 2009. They are a niche site that caters to a specific type of investor so we didn't think they'd have a chance making our top ten. After our review, we're happy to admit that we were wrong, SiebertNet has a lot to offer. We're not going to tell you where they would have landed because that would spoil the fun of the 2009 Rankings but let's just say that we were very impressed overall.

SiebertNet seems to cater to clients with large accounts who are active traders.This website is easy to navigate with well–labeled tabs and links. They also provide virtual tours and tutorials that will teach you the ins and outs of the service.

Lot of Java Script on the site so can run into frequent errors

Navigation is smooth and intuitive at SiebertNet. They have a very large site but it's well organized with tabbed navigation and logically sorted sections. They have tons of info, features and even a social networking section so you may feel a little overwhelmed at first, but the clean layout will help you learn your way around pretty quickly. If SiebertNet's only navigation issue is tons of features for their customers, then they're in pretty good shape.

Even those that are new to the internet or to online trading don't have anything to worry about at SiebertNet. We were impressed with the quality of the educational material and tutorials that they provide for beginners and new members. Each walkthrough looked great, complete with video demos, screenshots, and step-by-step instructions.

SiebertNet is a dependable site, we didn't find any complaints about crashes, glitches or extended downtimes and we didn't experience any problems during our review. Sometimes screen loads were a bit sluggish but you can always count on the most important ones, like account summary and trade screens, to load as fast as any competitor.

SiebertNet offers a lot in the way of customization, it was fun to play with the many options available. You can change the layout of your account summary screen, add notes on your portfolio screen, and we were thrilled to FINALLY find a site that put some effort into the historical activity screen. You can slice and dice your trade and transaction history by selecting different types of transactions, time periods and/or sorting by any column on the chart. Very strong in this category.

SiebertNet doesn't offer a trade guarantee and that was a little surprising considering they cater to the option and day trader crowd. That being said, we found very few complaints about slow or inaccurate executions. People seem very satisfied with SiebertNet's execution overall, it’s just odd not to offer a guarantee if you’re going to specialize in short term trading strategies.

We individually negotiate commission and margin interest rates based on activity and size of account.

This is the major reason that we're confident SiebertNet will be in the top 10 in the 2009 Rankings. They advertise $4.95 per trade and they deliver. There's no catch and there are no conditions, trades really are only $4.95 for EVERY client. They don't try to make up for extremely low transaction fees by sneaking account fees or inactivity fees in either.

During the 2008 Ranking review, we found several sites that advertise their lowest price and don't tell you until you are filling out the application that there are conditions and additional fees so it was wonderfully refreshing to find a brokerage that delivers on their promise. Kudos to SiebertNet both for having integrity and also for putting the customer relationship at the top of their priority list. There's not enough of this in today's corporate environment, especially when it comes to pricing.

Internet Trades = $4.95 per trade.
Interactive Voice System = $4.95 per trade.
Broker Assisted = $4.95 per trade.

Market and Limit Orders
Internet Trades = $4.95 per trade + $0.65 per contract
Interactive Voice System = $4.95 per trade + $0.65 per contract.
Broker Assisted = $4.95 per trade + $0.65 per contract.

No-Load No-Fee Funds = None available.
No-Load Funds = $14.95.
Load and Fee Funds = No fee to buy but $14.95 to sell.

Manage your investments the smart way with Siebert FundExchange. Buy and sell over 13,950 of the most popular mutual funds through one consolidated Siebert account.
Tip: Avoid any funds with loads or fees. With the vast selection of no-load no-fee offered by many of today's online brokerages, there's no reason to ever pay them!

Bonds: $4.95 per bond, $14.95 minimum per transaction
Treasuries: $24.95 per transaction
Certificates of Deposit: $24.95 per transaction

They offer bonds; however, you can’t trade bonds online. You have to go through there customer support service.

Interest Paid on Cash (Sweep): 0.90% Money Market Sweep
Checking Available? Yes
Paper Statements: $2.50 per month
Electronic Statements: Free
Wires: $20 US, $50 Foreign

The customer service hours are limited to 8AM to 6PM EST Monday - Friday for both phones. That's a little limited compared to several of the other major online brokerages, hopefully SiebertNet will expand their hours for Phones until at least 9PM during the week soon. It's tough for those who have to wait until they get home from work in the evening to make a call by 6PM EST, especially in west coast time zones.

If you're able to call during business hours you won't have any problems with any basic questions. Wait times are very short and reps are friendly and knowledgeable. You may have trouble getting answers to advanced questions since they don't have specialized support for financial planning, mutual funds or bonds. They are usually able to answer advanced options questions though or at least point you to some of their great educational material.

No Live Chat but a FAQ and email support.

There are alerts so you can set your desktop to notify you when a change in a stock occurs. Also, there are charts and graphs and level I and II quotes. This online broker offers streaming news, newsletters and analyst research reports so you can make educated decisions and better plan your trading strategies.

Research - Learn more about our broad array of independent, third–party research and real–time news and research alerts.

Based on the strength of the tutorials they provide for new members and beginners, we were very excited to see SiebertNet's research and analysis tools. They definitely delivered in the "tools" category but we were disappointed in the "research" category. All of the focus seems to be on options, anything else they provide seems to be more of an afterthought to make sure they covered all the bases with at least minimum effort.

SiebertNet decided not to use third parties much, most of the reports available are internally generated and there doesn't appear to be a lot of horsepower behind the research. However, they do shine in the "Tools" category if you like to do most of your own research and analysis, we'll talk more about this below.

We will give credit where it's due, the options support is truly superb. They have tons of tutorials if you're a beginner and they also have some of the best tools in the business for advanced option traders. One of the most interesting training features is the Option Guy's Blog. He provides a weekly commentary and all of the articles that we read were interesting, educational and fun to read. He adds humor to his posts rather than boring you to death with the mind-bending fact and analysis dump common to most options publications.

SiebertNet's ETF Screener is one of the best we saw at any online brokerage. ETFs are a relatively new investing vehicle so there aren't many great screeners available for them yet. SiebertNet is miles ahead of most in this category. Our favorite feature was that they've already incorporated "pre-built" screens such as Income Producing ETFs, Top Performing International ETFs, or High Yield Bond ETFs to name a few.

The Mutual Fund Screener was competitive with the other major online brokerages but we were a little disappointed with the number of selection criteria available. SiebertNet's ETF tool stood head and shoulders above the competition but the Mutual Fund Screener is only mediocre. They were in the process of revamping parts of the Mutual Fund Center during our review so hopefully they will have added more criteria and beefed up the Predefined Screens section when we do our 2009 Ranking review in December.

Like the Mutual Fund Screener, the Stock Screener is certainly on par with the other online brokerages but it can't measure up to tools available at third party sites specializing in research and analysis. There are 60 criteria to choose from, which is a bit limited, but they did incorporate all of the critical ones, you just won't be able to "tweak" with some of the secondary criteria available in tools at sites like Mornginstar.

This tool is basically a fancy calculator that spits out a score for whatever stock you want to evaluate. Each security is ranked in several different categories such as growth, value, and profitability and then you get an overall score that tells you if it is currently rated a buy, hold or sell.

SiebertNet doesn't share how this tool works and the data provided just doesn't give you enough information to figure it out by yourself. It's hard to imagine that many people are using this tool. You have no way to tell if the recommendation you're receiving is good or bad. All you receive is a mysterious score based on calculations and data that aren't made available for review or validation.

The options Strategy Builder automatically calculates debit/credit amounts, maximum gain, loss and break-even points.

If you're an options trader, SiebertNet has everything you'll ever need regardless of your experience level or trading needs. They can accomodate any kind of trade or options strategy and they have wonderful tools, training, community and support. There are too many option tools to cover in this review so we're only going to highlight our two favorites, the Probability Calculator and the Option Scanner.

Probability Calculator: This is a cutting edge tool, it was definitely designed with the option trader in mind but it's useful and fun for any investor. Creative growth or momentum investors can also get a lot of mileage out of this tool, it's great for analyzing price strength and price behavior. We've seen a similar tool at OptionsXpress and we loved it there as well, this should be standard at every discount brokerage soon. Since SiebertNet was one of the first to offer the tool, it's likely that they'll stay ahead of the competitors in development.

Options Scanners: SiebertNet offers two types of Options Scanners, a strategy scanner and a trade scanner. Basically, the strategy scanner can help you narrow your search to focus on a particular type of trade. The trade scanner then helps you identify the specific combination of contracts that would be the "optimal trade" for the strategy you've selected. These two tools are a powerful combination when used together.

The SiebertNet Community is SiebertNet’s attempt to leverage the social media craze and create a place where traders can share thoughts, opinions, and ideas. SiebertNet is having more success with the social networking component of their site than any other brokerage attempting to create a similar community atmosphere. The forums are a little dead but the blogs are outstanding and there are a lot of active and knowledgeable readers and contributors.

This is a SiebertNet's newest tool and it is amazing for those of us that don't want to spend hours and hours trying to keep track of and interpret all the tax implications of our trades. We saw competing versions at other brokerages but none measured up to Maxit, it's like having your own personal accountant on call.

Maxit can:
- Track the cost basis for all of your investments
- Adjust for corporate actions (splits & mergers) and wash sales
- Specify special sales such as first-in-first-out or last-in-first-out to minimize your tax exposure
- Calculates realized and unrealized gains and track losses
- Generate Tax Reports such as the Schedule D automatically

This is one of the most innovative offerings we've seen at any online brokerage. SiebertNet could take portfolio management to a whole new level that we had never even considered before seeing this tool.

Here's how it works. If you subscribe to any of the investing newsletters that participate in the auto-trade program, SiebertNet will basically manage your portfolio. You will automatically purchase or sell whatever stock, bond, fund or option trades your newsletter recommends.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We are excited about the potential of this product but we don't recommend it yet and here's why. SiebertNet doesn't support any of the major newsletters with 10+ year track records or newsletters that are tracked by independent rating agencies such as the Hulbert Financial Digest. We've never heard of the newsletters currently signed up for auto-trade and most are options related. High risk trading with unproven newsletters is a very bad idea.

However, if SiebertNet branches out into mutual fund, stock and ETF newsletters and picks up some of the industry's best with proven and documented track records like The Prudent Speculator or Equity Fund Outlook, this could be the future of portfolio management. Part of the problem with newsletters is that you can get great advice but the trading is up to you. You have to make sure you buy and sell every recommendation and that your allocations match. Can you imagine automating all of this so that your active portfolio suddenly becomes passive? We'll be watching this feature closely to see if they can sign any of today's best newsletters up for the auto-trade service.