Best Stock Brokers 2026

Stock Trading: CFDs vs Real Shares

When trading stocks through an online broker, you'll encounter two main approaches: buying real shares or trading stock CFDs (Contracts for Difference). Real share trading gives you actual ownership of the company — you can receive dividends and vote at shareholder meetings. Stock CFDs let you speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset, often with leverage.

Most brokers on this list offer stock CFDs with leverage up to 1:5 (under EU regulation) or higher in other jurisdictions. Some also provide direct market access (DMA) for buying real shares on exchanges like NYSE, NASDAQ, and LSE. The right choice depends on your goals: long-term investors typically prefer real shares, while active traders may prefer the flexibility of CFDs.

What We Tested

Our product range score evaluates the number of available stock markets, the total count of tradable instruments, whether real shares are offered alongside CFDs, and the availability of fractional shares. We opened real accounts with each broker and tested order execution, available order types, and corporate actions handling.

Key Factors When Choosing a Stock Broker

Commission structure varies widely across stock brokers. Some charge per-trade fees ($0-$10 per execution), others build costs into the spread for stock CFDs, and a few offer zero-commission trading on real shares while making money on the spread or currency conversion fees. Figure out which model works for your trading frequency — a zero-commission broker that charges 0.5% on currency conversion might cost you more than a fixed $5 per trade if you're buying US stocks from a non-USD account.

Market access is another critical factor. If you want exposure to US tech stocks, any broker will do — they all offer NYSE and NASDAQ. But if you want to trade European small-caps, Asian markets, or emerging market stocks, the selection narrows quickly. Brokers like eToro and IG stand out for broader market coverage, while others focus primarily on the most popular exchanges.

Common Mistakes with Stock Trading

Confusing stock CFDs with actual stock ownership is the most common misunderstanding. If you're buying stock CFDs, you don't own shares, can't vote at meetings, and may not receive dividends (some brokers do credit dividend equivalents, but not all). For long-term investing and dividend strategies, make sure you're trading real shares — not CFDs that carry overnight financing charges.

Overlooking currency conversion costs catches many international traders. Buying US stocks from a EUR or GBP account means the broker converts your currency — often at a 0.3-0.5% fee each way. On larger portfolios, that adds up. Some brokers let you hold multi-currency balances, which avoids repeated conversion charges if you regularly trade across markets.

Fractional Shares and Accessibility

Fractional share trading has become a major differentiator among stock brokers. Rather than needing $3,000+ to buy a single share of Amazon or $500 for a share of Microsoft, fractional shares let you invest any amount — even $10 or $50 — and own a proportional slice of the stock. This is particularly useful for building a diversified portfolio with limited capital. Not all brokers offer this feature, and among those that do, some restrict it to US stocks only. We've noted fractional share availability in our individual broker assessments.

Dividend handling also differs between brokers. If you're investing for income, confirm whether the broker pays dividends on real share positions (most do), passes through dividend adjustments on stock CFDs (varies), and handles corporate actions like stock splits and mergers correctly. These details matter more than you'd think when your portfolio grows beyond a few positions.