[Nick1984]

Yea good point Brown. Tell us a little bit about how you want to trade.

I started out with stocks with long term trades being my goal. My trading time frame was up to a year long so as to get capital gains tax breaks!

E*trade is good cause if you're going to be swing trading all you really need is EOD data which is provided free for you once you set up your account.

I use ComSec for my stock trades but thats an Aus based broker which trades my domestic markets.

I guess commissions are a big factor. If you're going to be trading often then you may be better off going to a non online broker cause their commissions may be cheaper than Etrade etc where you can pay up to 30 dollars for each trade (AUD), and more for short orders and some limit orders.