Direct-Access Broker

If you’ve heard of a full-service broker...you know, the ones that offer investing advice and supposedly have some legit research up their sleeves...a direct-access broker is on the opposite end of the broker scale.

Direct-access brokers are efficient AF. Their priority is speed and order execution via high-tech software (electronic communication networks), and they don’t offer investment advice straight up. Direct-access brokers are more of a surrogate for their clients, giving them direct access to trade on markets they otherwise wouldn’t be able to trade on as easily.

Direct-access brokers have really given full-service brokers a run for their money, with low fees and extras, like interactive charts, streaming quotes, and other real-time features technology and the internet have given us.