No Minimums

• Several online discount brokers do not require minimum deposits to open an account. Most brokerage firms require new clients to put in anywhere from $250 to $2,500 to open an account. ING Sharebuilder, TradeKing and Zecco did not require account minimums to open basic, non-retirement cash accounts as of May 2011.
  
  

Retirement Accounts

• Many online discount brokers -- including giants eTrade and Scott Trade -- do not require minimums to open individual retirement accounts (IRAs) such as Roth IRAs or traditional IRAs. Just as with a cash account, you can freely buy and sell stock in the account, but you if you take the money out of the IRA before retirement, you incur a penalty. Watch out for annual maintenance fees or required monthly minimum deposits for these accounts, however.
  
  

Other Fees

• Some online discount brokers try to pad their profits by charging myriad fees for services associated with the account aside from brokerage commissions, such as transferring money, getting copies of records, talking to a broker, low account activity, annual maintenance and closing the account. Be careful that you are not signing up for a long list of fees.
  
  

Trading

• While you can open an account online for free, you do need to deposit money into your brokerage account to start trading. No company fronts money to buy and sell stock without seeing that the investor has money to repay the loan. Every trade costs you money through brokerage commissions (and perhaps other fees); do not trade a lack of account minimums for high commissions and fees.