Commission stopped being the cost of trading years ago. What you pay now is currency conversion, spread, and whatever your order is worth to a market maker. This table ranks brokers on those, plus the protection scheme standing behind your account.
Brokers tracked
14
Do not sell order flow
7 of 14
Cheapest FX conversion
0%
Robinhood
Offer tokenized assets
1
Brokers compared on commission, conversion cost, order-flow practice and investor protection
Go
Interactive BrokersThe cheapest way to hold foreign currency and trade foreign markets, by a distance — 0.03% conversion where retail apps charge 0.5-1.5%. The interface punishes casual users; the pricing rewards serious ones.Partial PFOF1 incident
FidelityOne of the few large US brokers that does not take payment for order flow on equities, which shows up as better execution rather than a lower headline price.No PFOF
Charles SchwabBalance-sheet strength and a full-service platform. Routes order flow for payment like most US zero-commission brokers, and charges a full percent on currency conversion.Sells order flow1 incident
Public.comPublicly rejected payment for order flow and rebuilt its revenue around tipping, options rebates and treasury yield. Rare transparency for a retail app.No PFOF
Trading 212The cheapest mainstream route into US stocks from Europe: no commission and a 0.15% conversion charge that it discloses on every order.No PFOF1 incident
eToroBroad international access and social trading, with the cost living in the spread, the 1.5% conversion charge and a monthly inactivity fee. Convenient, not cheap.No PFOF1 incident
RobinhoodThe zero-commission pioneer, funded almost entirely by order-flow payments. Now also the largest regulated issuer of tokenized US equities — but only for EU customers.Sells order flowTokenized assets3 incidents
If you fund in euros, pounds or any currency other than dollars, the conversion charge dwarfs everything else on this page. A 1% conversion on a $10,000 purchase is $100 — round-trip, $200 — against $0 of commission. Interactive Brokers charges 0.03%; several popular apps charge 1.5%. That single column is worth more than every other line of the fee schedule combined.
+ − What is the real cost of a zero-commission broker?
Three things replace the commission: payment for order flow (your order is sold to a market maker, which can mean slightly worse fills), currency conversion charges of 0.5-1.5% if you are buying US stocks with another currency, and interest earned on your idle cash. For an international investor, the conversion charge is usually the largest of the three by far.
+ − Does payment for order flow cost me money?
Indirectly and in small amounts per trade. Brokers that sell order flow argue their price improvement is still better than the public quote, and often it is. But the incentive runs against you, so we label it plainly and rate transparency accordingly rather than pretending the effect is zero.
+ − What does SIPC actually protect?
SIPC covers up to $500,000 per customer (including $250,000 cash) if the broker fails and your securities are missing. It does not protect you against the shares going down. FSCS in the UK (£85,000) and national investor-compensation schemes in the EU (typically €20,000) work the same way.
+ − Are tokenized stocks covered by SIPC?
No. A tokenized share is a claim on an issuer, not a securities account at a broker-dealer, so no compensation scheme applies. That is a real difference, and we display protection as 'None' on those rows rather than leaving the column empty.
Informational only, not financial advice. Terms, fees and availability change frequently — always verify on the provider's own site before committing funds. Some outbound links may be partner links; they never affect ranking or scoring.
Informational comparison only — not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Scores are computed from published fee schedules and public regulatory records, and are never influenced by affiliate status.