Orders don't get executed because computer systems crash. In our annual survey of online brokerages, we've sought to take the emotion out of your task of deciding which firm merits your affection. After all our poking and prodding, the unmistakable conclusion is that they are, on the whole, more reliable and offer you a better deal than they did just a year ago. The good and bad Moreover, Kiplinger's exclusive execution data, based on information provided by brokerages as well as on actual trades, shows that online brokers aren't marking up the prices of stocks to investors nearly as much as they were a year ago. Most Web sites are richer and offer more research.
Web sites are more reliable, too.
Last spring, for example, a stock owned by Paul Bedoe fell so low that he worried he would violate TD Waterhouse's margin requirement for investors who borrow money. So on a Monday he mailed Waterhouse a check to provide additional collateral. He needn't have bothered. Bedoe is hardly alone in his rage at his online broker. Nor was the handling of margin accounts during that abrupt market plunge the only thing that drove customers through the roof.