Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence and user experience research to financial institutions. It conducts annual e-Monitor Awards to recognize the best online brokerages in categories like account information, investor education, news & research, trading, and mobile capabilities. For the 2015 awards, Fidelity led with 7 gold medals, followed by Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, and TD Ameritrade each with 3 gold medals. The document provides details on the top gold medal winners in each category.

1. 2015 Award Winners
Gold Monitor Awards
E-MONITOR

2. AboutUs
Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence and user experience research to
the nation’s leading financial institutions. For over 20 years, the firm has tracked
technological developments in the financial services industry, identifying best
practices in online banking and investing, online insurance, mobile finance, active
trading platforms, social media and other emerging areas. There are no assumptions
in Corporate Insight’s work – we use live accounts at all of the firms we research,
providing our clients with unparalleled, unbiased intelligence on the competition.
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Promote Your Firm’s 2015 Gold Monitor Awards!
Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors.
For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com.
Press Coverage

3. This month, we are proud to present our annual e-Monitor Awards, detailing
the best features of online brokerage offerings and functionalities. We
reviewed the offerings and capabilities for firms in the e-Monitor coverage
group, divided into nine categories: Account Information, Investor Education,
News & Research, Online Help, Product Range, Quotes & Trading, Planning
Tools & Calculators, Prospect Experience and Mobile Capabilities. Each
category includes a distinct set of attributes and criteria that we used to grade
and rank firms. Based on this review, conducted using our proprietary audit
software and industry experience, we awarded gold, silver or bronze medals
to firms that go above and beyond.
To review, a Gold Medal is awarded to those firms that offer products, tools or
website features that are innovative and extensive, meeting or exceeding all
of the criteria we have established in each category. Website offerings that
provide strong value but suffer from a few small flaws earn a Silver Medal,
while offerings that are imperfect yet offer a distinct value or unique capability
to users earn a Bronze Medal.
E-MonitorAwards

4. E-MonitorAwards

5. Account Information
Investor Education
News & Research
CategoryOverview
Quotes & Trading
Online Help
Promote Your Firm’s 2015 Gold Monitor Awards!
Corporate Insight is happy to assist all Gold Monitor Award winning firms in promoting their honors.
For more information and to see examples of past promotions, contact us at PR@Corporateinsight.com.
Planning Tools & Calculators
Prospect Experience
Mobile Capabilities
Product Range

6. The Account Information category saw significant updates this year to include both a broader range of
criteria, as well as more in-depth analysis of existing attributes. As in previous years, we analyze the
availability and depth of account balance figures, positions, transaction details, account alerts and
account history. We evaluate firms based on the freshness of their information (for example, whether
the positions page reflects new purchases or sales in real-time), the level of detail offered, the flexibility
provided to customers in terms of customizing the display of this content and the overall usability of
these features.
AccountInformation
Fidelity retained its gold medal by continuing to
provide a wealth of data on clients’ financials and
offering a detailed account aggregation tool (Full
View).

7. The Investor Education category reviews the presentation and range of educational content and
resources offered by brokerage firms. Our analysis focuses on the breadth and depth of topics related to
basic investing, personal finance and product education. We also focus on the types of resources
provided by firms, including articles, quizzes and gamification, as well as the location and accessibility of
these resources. Finally, we broadened this category to include a range of less common investment
products, such as futures, and deepened our focus on personal finance issues like saving for college,
estate planning, and family budgeting.
TD Ameritrade maintains its gold medal, as it remains
a clear innovator in this category with its use of
gamification, comprehensive and engaging video
courses and diverse skill-based resources. Fidelity and
E*TRADE also share the spotlight, in large part due to
their multiple content delivery channels and wide
array of investor and personal finance educational
resources.
InvestorEducation

8. The News & Research category focuses on private site offerings. In this expansive category, we review all
news and research content related to domestic and international markets, sectors and industries. We
look at available news resources, commentaries and research reports. We also analyze research content
for all major product offerings, and incorporated alert, screener and charting capabilities for each of
those products.
Charles Schwab extended its dominance in the News &
Research category by earning a gold medal for the
sixteenth consecutive year. This year, it was joined at the
top of the podium by TD Ameritrade and Fidelity. Over the
course of 2015, both firms made major improvements to
their research offerings and became the first two firms in
the e-Monitor coverage group to add social media metrics
into their research arsenals.
News& Research

9. In this category, we identify and grade all available online help features and tools, with special attention
paid to private site offerings. As in past years, we look at general search functions, section-specific help
and unified help centers, as well as at the format and accessibility of those options. We also investigated
other useful help features, including live chat tools and online message centers.
TD Ameritrade earned the gold largely due to its strong
message center, which allows clients to organize
messages into custom folders, and its exemplary site
search tool and help center.
OnlineHelp

10. This category focuses on the range of products that can be traded online, along with managed accounts
and cash management features. We look closely at all major tradable products – stocks, ETFs, options,
mutual funds – as well as fixed income investments, such as CDs and bonds. We also look at online
global, futures, forex trading and access to IPO offerings.
Charles Schwab’s massive splash in the robo-
advisor space allowed it to retain its place at the
top of the podium this year.
Product& ServicesRange

11. In this category we look at the quote details, functionality and related tools offered to clients, as well as
the actual online trade interface for most commonly traded products (i.e. stocks/ETFs, options, mutual
funds and fixed income). We look at accessibility to both streaming and detailed quotes, noting floating
quote bars or any ubiquitous tools throughout the private site. Though we examine quote pages for all
of the major product types, we primarily focus on stock quote pages. We also review watch list
functionality, and the various trade tickets and trading capabilities (e.g. advanced order types, extended
hours trading) available to investors.
In this new category, the two gold medalists –
E*TRADE and Fidelity – earned their high rank for
offering exemplary trading capabilities and providing
in-depth quotes with useful data for clients to
investigate securities. These firms also offer a plethora
of advanced trading options, including conditional
stock orders.
Quotes&Trading

12. In the Planning Tools & Calculators category, we review the full scope of investment and financial
planning tools, asset and portfolio analyzers, and financial calculators offered by e-Monitor firms to their
clients. We take into account the availability and accessibility of these tools, the range of topics covered,
account import capabilities, as well as the depth of input fields and provided results.
Fidelity finished as the sole gold medal winner this
year after the release of its comprehensive Planning
& Guidance Center in late 2015.
PlanningTools& Calculators

13. For retail brokerage firms, a good prospective client experience on the internet is a must. In this new
Prospect Experience category, we evaluate the different website features that firms use to promote their
offerings online and convert prospects into clients; this is the sole e-Monitor Awards category to focus
exclusively on the public site. We review a range of key prospective client-facing components, including
a firm’s public homepage, as well as its publically available commentary, news and education resources.
We also review additional features like advisor and branch locator tools.
In this new category, Charles Schwab and Fidelity
stand at the top, as both provide exceptional
information on their products and services and
offer visitors access to extensive educational and
research materials.
ProspectExperience

14. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, interest in mobile brokerage has steadily increased. With that in
mind, we are proud to introduce the newest e-Monitor Award category – Mobile Capabilities – to review
the mobile brokerage experience. In this category, we capture the full range of functionality available
from today's leading mobile investing platforms, including Account Information, Authentication &
Security, Cash Management, Design & Navigation, Devices & Platforms, Help & Customer Service, Order
Entry & Products and Research & Quotes. To assist our analysis of firms’ mobile apps, we draw heavily
from Corporate Insight’s Mobile Monitor and CI’s Brokerage Audit.
E*TRADE and Fidelity earned gold medals for
offering apps that provide elite mobile
research and trading capabilities, as well as
extensive account information.
MobileCapabilities

15. 2015Top GoldMedalWinners
2 3
Fidelity
2
7
In the 2015 e-Monitor Awards, Fidelity leads with seven
gold medals, followed by Charles Schwab, E*TRADE and
TD Ameritrade with three gold medals each.
33
Charles
Schwab
E*TRADE
Financial
TD
Ameritrade
3

16. 646-751-6961
Afiliaci@corporateinsight.com
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Alex Filiaci
Senior Analyst
E-Monitor and Broker Monitor
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