20 Signs It's Time to Look for a New Brokerage

When you're buying and selling investments, you need the right online stock broker to facilitate the process.

A brokerage firm that charges expensive fees or has a cumbersome trading process can cost you both time and money. Worse, it can ultimately impact your ability to accomplish your investment goals.

Fortunately, there are a vast number of online stock brokers so you don't have to settle for one that's not meeting your needs. In fact, watch out for these 20 signs that you're working with the wrong broker and it's time to make a switch.

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When you invest with a brokerage firm, that company has control over your money -- and over whether you can buy or sell the stock you want when you want to.

If you aren't confident that your broker follows ethical business practices and prioritizes the needs of its customers when it comes to its trading policies, you should be looking for a different one.

Is your broker easy to contact? Can you speak with a customer service representative via phone or chat when you need to? Are they responsive to your questions and quick to solve problems? Is there a local branch you can visit to get in-person support when you need it?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, you may want to think about switching to a different brokerage firm. That way, if you have an issue, you can reasonably expect it will be resolved quickly without a lot of hassle on your part.

Trading for the long term is the best approach, so you don't necessarily need to be active in your brokerage account all the time.

But at the same time, you do want to be able to execute trades when you need to. And if your brokerage has a lot of downtime where its website or mobile trading platform crashes and you can't access your account, that's a big problem.

Look for an alternative that's more stable to avoid these types of issues.

Most brokers have gotten rid of commissions on stock trades. If yours hasn't, it's definitely time to make a switch. There's no reason you should be paying to trade when so many brokers offer commission-free purchases.

These commissions can eat into your returns, making it harder to make a profit. They also make small purchases impractical, which can make it harder to build up your account balance over time.

ALSO READ: Zero-Commission Trading: What You Need to Know

Although you shouldn't have to pay a fee to trade stocks, many brokers still do charge for other types of trades. For example, you may have to pay a commission or contract fee to trade options.

But there is variation in price among brokerages. If yours is charging more than competitors and you make these types of trades, consider looking for a different one that won't make your trading costs so high.

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Some brokers charge if you don't engage in buying or selling within a limited time period.

If you're practicing a smart buy-and-hold strategy, you could end up paying a fee just because you aren't an active enough trader. You definitely don't want that to happen, so find a broker who won't charge you for maintaining a stable portfolio.

Do you like to do a lot of charting in order to determine what to invest in? Or look back at many years of historical pricing data or read earnings reports?

Some brokers have trading platforms that are much more full-featured than others. If your broker doesn't offer you the tools you're looking for, find one who does.

It can be helpful to read what the experts have to say about the market as a whole, as well as about how analysts view the stocks you're interested in.

Some brokers provide ample research material to help you become a fully informed investor. This can include daily market reports, equity research reports, and more. Larger brokers may produce this research internally, while others will outsource to third-party services.

If your broker doesn't make much research available and you're interested in access to more reading material, there are plenty of brokers out there who will provide it.

Some trading platforms are much easier to use than others, which could have a steeper learning curve or a poor design. And the best brokers will offer a choice of trading platforms, with some geared toward beginners and others focused on more active traders.

If your brokerage doesn't make it easy to execute buy or sell orders (including conditional ones) or to place complex trades when you need to, look for a broker that's well known for its platform.

If you're like most people, you use your phone or tablet as much or more than your computer. Naturally, you'll want to make sure your broker offers an excellent mobile app so you can easily research investments and execute trades on the go.

Plenty of brokerage firms offer standout mobile apps, so make a switch if you're dissatisfied with the mobile experience your broker offers.

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Being able to trade both from your mobile device and your computer are obviously essential. But you may also want to be able to enter trades by calling your brokerage and either speaking to a live person or using an automated system. Or, you may even be interested in faxing in buy or sell orders.

Brokers differ in their ability to handle these alternative methods of executing orders. And some charge more than others if you use them. If it's important to you to have a full array of options, look for a broker that offers multiple trading methods at an affordable cost.

Beginning investors, especially, will appreciate access to articles, webinars, downloadable books, and other learning material. But even skilled investors may still be interested in accessing educational materials to help them branch out into new investment types.

There's a lot of variation among brokers in terms of the support they provide for learning. When improving your skills is important, find a broker offering the support you need.

Most brokers offer standard investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But if you're interested in branching out into alternative options such as cryptocurrency, you may not be able to stick with your current broker if they don't offer that.

You don't want to be limited in your investment choices simply because your broker doesn't offer a particular asset class. And it often doesn't make sense to manage multiple brokerage accounts just to access different kinds of investments, when you could instead switch brokers and keep all your money in one place.

ALSO READ: 5 Things to Know Before You Open a Brokerage Account

Many investors don't want to stick to stocks alone and would prefer to include some commission-free ETFs or mutual funds in their portfolio.

If that's you, you'll want your brokerage to offer an ample selection of these asset types. Some do this much better than others, so if yours is weak in this area, look for one that offers a broader selection of these simple, low-cost investment options.

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Fractional shares allow you to engage in dollar-based investing rather than buying full shares. You specify the dollar amount of a stock you want to invest in, rather than the number of shares you want. Then you buy whatever portion(s) of a share that money can purchase.

Because of fractional shares, it's possible to invest in stocks with high per-share prices even if you don't have a lot of money. You don't want your investment options limited by the size of your pocketbook, so look for a broker offering fractional shares to avoid that happening to you.

ALSO READ: The Best Places to Buy Fractional Equity Shares

Good brokers offer screeners to help you narrow down your investment choices to ones that fit specific parameters. This can make it easier and quicker to make smart investments.

If your broker's screeners aren't very good, this can affect both your user experience and your portfolio's performance. Don't settle for poor quality on such an important feature when there are plenty of brokers who excel in this area.

Do you want to trade on margin? This means borrowing against the value of your existing stock to execute more trades.

Different brokers have different minimum balances to qualify for a margin account. If your broker's required balance is very high and you can't clear that bar, consider switching to one that makes margin accounts more accessible.

Just make sure you're very clear about the risks of trading on margin before you get started.

You'll have to pay interest when you trade on margin. Interest costs vary by broker. If you're going to borrow money from your broker to trade stocks, it just makes sense to try to pay the lowest margin rate possible so you don't lose as much of your returns to interest costs.

If you maintain a cash balance in your account, you'll likely want to earn at least some type of return on it. That means you'll probably want a broker that pays interest on cash balances.

Some brokers do, and at better rates than others. Look for one that pays a generous rate if you often have cash in your account.

Investing should be as easy as possible for you -- but it won't be if your broker makes it difficult to transfer money in and out of your account. This could be because of limited options to move money over, or long delays in transferring funds.

You may also want to look for a brokerage firm that offers options to move money into your account automatically as automating your investments makes it easier to accomplish your goals.

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If any or all of these red flags apply to you, it's a good sign that it's time to switch brokers. Research your options to find one that's a better fit so you can start trading with a company that deserves your business.

Just be aware you may need to pay a transfer fee or a fee to close down your old account. However, many brokerage firms offer incentives to get you to move money over, and these could more than cover any costs associated with making a change.