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What Is a Stockbroker?

A stockbroker buys and sell stocks on behalf of investors. Many investors opt to open an account with an online stockbroker like Fidelity or Charles Schwab.

Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

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Arielle O'Shea

Head of Content, Investing & Taxes

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19 years of experience

Expertise

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Arielle O’Shea leads the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for nearly 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Published in

Head of Content, Investing & Taxes

Arielle O’Shea leads the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for nearly 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Published in

Head of Content, Small Business

Robert Beaupre leads the SMB team at NerdWallet. He has covered financial topics as an editor for more than a decade. Before joining NerdWallet, he served as senior editorial manager of QuinStreet's insurance sites and managing editor of Insure.com. In addition, he served as an online media manager for the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Lead Writer

Sam Taube writes about investing for NerdWallet. He has covered investing and financial news since earning his economics degree from the University of Maryland in 2016. Sam has previously written for Investopedia, Benzinga, Seeking Alpha, Wealth Daily and Investment U, and has worked as an editor for Investment U, Wealth Daily and Haven Investment Letter. He is based in Brooklyn, New York.

A stockbroker is a person or company authorized to buy and sell stocks or other investments. If you want to buy stocks, you will almost always need a broker — essentially, a middleman — to place those orders on your behalf.

Many people open a brokerage account with an online broker rather than working with a person. Often called discount brokers, online brokers are typically less expensive and allow you to buy or sell stocks and other investments directly through their websites or trading platforms. Many online brokers now charge no commission to buy or sell stocks and other investments.

What does a stockbroker do?

To understand what stockbrokers do, it helps to have some quick background about the stock market.

Stocks are traded through market exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. These exchanges are like a supermarket for stocks: Companies list their stock with an exchange, and the exchange connects buyers and sellers, imposes rules and regulations, and tracks the demand for each stock, which influences the stock’s price. (Read our beginner's guide to the stock market.)

But the average investor can’t just walk into an exchange and pluck a stock off the shelf. Instead, you need a stockbroker, a company or person who is licensed to execute trades with the exchange. Brokers generally must be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In some cases, brokers also provide advice on which stocks you should buy and sell. However, brokers should not be confused with financial planners, who tend to offer more holistic guidance on your financial situation.

Brokerage firms

on Charles Schwab's website

on E*TRADE's website

on Vanguard's website

on Fidelity's website

How do stockbrokers make money?

Stockbrokers are typically compensated through a commission on each trade. Investors have historically paid a broker a commission to buy or sell a stock.

That's still true of human stockbrokers at full-service brokerage firms, but investors who manage their own brokerage accounts and use an online broker to buy and sell investments can now do that commission-free if they choose the correct broker. (See our list of brokerages that offer free trading.)

Brokers that do not charge commissions make money off investor assets in other ways — most often by earning interest on uninvested cash in investor accounts. Most investment accounts hold a small amount of cash, and a broker sweeps that cash into a deposit account that earns interest. A small portion of that interest is paid to the investor, and the brokerage firm pockets the rest.

Brokers also sell trades to market makers, which earns them a small fee per trade. Investors rarely notice this, but it can, in some cases, slow trade execution and increase the cost of the trade slightly. High-volume traders may wish to choose a broker that routes trade orders based on price, such as Interactive Brokers.

How much does a stockbroker make?

According to Salary.com, as of November 2025, the average salary for a stockbroker in the U.S. is $164,429. Stockbroker salaries range from $98,230 to $176,172

How do you find a stockbroker?

These days, it’s easy to find a broker. Most investors should opt for an online broker due to the cost savings and ease of placing online orders.

To find the best online broker for you, look for discount brokers that require a low minimum investment and charge no ongoing account fees. If you’re new to investing, consider choosing an online broker that offers educational resources — many have libraries of how-to content on their websites to help you get started.

Once you choose a broker, you’ll open a brokerage account, which is an investment account. You need a brokerage account to buy or sell stocks and other investments, such as mutual funds. The broker will walk you through the process of opening an account, which takes minutes and is typically completed online.

» Ready to start investing? See our picks for the best online brokers

Helpful resources