To me, there’s nothing worse than trying to read a review of
something on the Internet. I do it all the time, but it can be a huge headache.
I chalk it up to the mountain of poor reviews I find when I search for stuff.
So much stuff is poorly-written or just straight-up advertising.
This is especially true of financial products. Nine times out of ten, when I’m looking up a trading platform or a
trading product, I find advertisements not-so-cleverly disguised as reviews.
I’ve decided to start making lists of good reviews for
various products I use. I want to honor the work these writers have done and
share good reviews so people don’t have to spend hours digging through the
garbage like I did.
Let’s start with some good reviews of options trading
platforms. These five links are well-written, concise (for the most part), and
educational, and you can read them all for free thanks to the magic of the
Internet.
E*Trade Review
What I Love: This
review comes from a reputable source
(Stockbrokers.com) that I know isn’t necessarily trying to sell me something.
Obviously, all reviews home an agenda of some kind, but I think you get my
point. I love how this review is organized – it makes sense to my brain. Also,
the inclusion of lots of pictures makes reading it easy, even for an idiot like
me!
What I Hate: The
“tab” construction of the main body of the review. I’m seeing this more and
more, so it must be a thing that people like. It’s just not to my taste.
TradeStation Review
What I Love: This
article packs a lot of useful information in a small amount of space. I feel
like I know a lot more about TradeStation after reading it. Those are both huge
factors for me in deciding to trust a review’s advice or not.
What I Hate: Even
though I praised this review’s brevity, it could stand a little beefing-up.
It’s also not the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on, though the simple
dark color scheme makes it easy to read. It’s a trade-off, really.
OptionsHouse Review
What I Love: I
love reviews written in a casual, conversational style. All the reviews at
cashcowcouple.com are like that – they’re written for everyday people to absorb
and apply. I like the use of graphics – it’s not over-done, it’s tasteful, and
the graphics used support the text really well.
What I Hate: Again,
though the review’s brevity is a good thing on some levels, I don’t really feel
like I learned everything about the platform that I should have. Reading the
user comments underneath the article was useful in stitching together the stuff
I didn’t learn from the review, but that shouldn’t be the case.
Scottrade Review
What I Love: There’s
a lot for me to love about this review. For starters, I love the source.
NerdWallet puts together detailed articles that are easy to read, and they are
a trustworthy source. I also love the content – it’s not too brainy, but it
isn’t dumbed-down at all, either.
What I Hate: For
some reason, the review devolves into a series of lists that weren’t all that
useful to me. I thought, for its length, that this review didn’t tell a
complete story in the way that, for instance, the first two on this list did. I
also don’t like the design of the site, but that’s a minor thing.
TradeKing Review
What I Love: I’m
a big fan of the source of this review – it’s a blog called 20-Something
Finance, and what it lacks in beauty it makes up for in content. This is
another review that I feel really educated me about the platform, and I feel
smarter for having read it.
What I Hate: It’s
just an ugly little blog. Bad design isn’t a huge problem, but it doesn’t give
me much confidence in the blogger’s expertise.
Do other good reviews of these platforms exist? Yes, of
course. I even have some of them bookmarked. My point here wasn’t to show you
all the best reviews of trading platforms, it was to highlight what makes a
review good, in my opinion, and get you started on your own path.
