Most of my readers, like me,  approach trading from a retail perspective.  A “retail trader” is a person that executes trades through a broker.  The alternative is an “institutional trader” – someone who is part of a company that has their own exchange memberships and clearing ability and thus can function as their own broker.  So if you’re going to operate as a conventional retail trader, you need a broker.  And it turns out that choosing a broker is very complicated.  What makes it worse is that you have to choose a broker before you can gain any real trading experience.  So traders are at the most ignorant point in their careers when they have to make this important decision.  I’m going to walk you through some aspect of the process, and hopefully at the end you’ll know enough to proceed. Continue reading →