One of the advantages of having a traditional broker was, ostensibly, to have someone who could parse the information on your investments to put it into a comprehensible form. The problem with this is that it assumes the broker, firstly, will be effective at condensing and conveying complex information and, secondly, will know what information you want. If you understand what kind of investment strategy you want to take, there may be key details that get left off or that the broker simply does not want to share.

With an online broker, these problems disappear entirely because, once again, you are relying entirely upon your own abilities to find the information you need. The difference, however, is that these brokerage sites provide a wide range of research tools that can help you collect information and present it in a digestible format. The depth and ease of use of these tools are key considerations for comparing online brokers.

Of course, with direct control of your portfolio, there are also a range of unrelated websites and investing services that you can also make use of more reliably. But having research tools embedded in your broker’s site with which you are comfortable can make the process that much more convenient and encourages you to check any moves before you make them.

In addition, some more expensive online brokers even provide access to more exclusive reports from analysts or credit ratings agencies.