What Is a Brokerage Account?

Before knowing the detail on how to open a brokerage account, let us first look into some basic details about it.

A brokerage account is a type of taxable account used in trading stocks. You can open this type of account with a stock brokerage firm. Some big stockbrokers may allow you to buy and sell everything from stocks and mutual funds to bonds, currency, futures, and options contracts etc.

You may deposit cash into this account either by submitting a check or linking it to a savings account at your bank. Once the cash is deposited, you can use that money for many different types of investments.

In exchange of executing your buy and sell orders, they will charge you some nominal commission or brokerage fee.