The 10 we chose were consistently the most popular among the experts. (Though some important discount brokers, such as Fidelity, National Discount Brokers and Scottrade, ranked in the top 10 in a single study, we excluded them on the basis that their composite scores fell outside the Top 10 overall.) We then examined the qualifying discount broker sites ourselves, looking at limit-order commissions, fees, trade screens, breadth of security offerings, products and services, research, customer support, interface design and performance. Finally, we evaluated the sites with regard to investor types.

Here's how they rate:

DLJdirect
www.dljdirect.com
RATING 9.3
RECOMMENDED FOR fundamentalist, long viewer, all-in-one
DETAILS At $20 per trade on limit orders, this site remains too expensive for hard-cores, but it's the most complete package overall. It logged near perfect scores in five of our eight categories, with numerous research tools, products, services and securities (including precious metals), as well as tight interface design and around-the-clock customer service. While its trade screen will shine for any investor, DLJdirect gives special attention to investors with more than $100,000 in their accounts, including access to IPOs.

Quick&Reilly
www.quickwaynet.com
RATING 9.1
RECOMMENDED FOR long viewer, all-in-one
DETAILS Quick & Reilly's QuickWayNet offers extensive research, award-winning customer support, well-integrated design and performance. Its fees (limit orders cost $19.95 per trade) are generally lower than those from DLJdirect, but it also offers fewer services and a slightly less sophisticated trading screen.

Web Street Securities
www.webstreetsecurities.com
RATING 9.0
RECOMMENDED FOR hard-core day trader
DETAILS Web Street's Trading Pit lets you monitor stock, fund and option activity; check balances and positions; and execute trades, all from a single screen geared toward hard-cores. At $14.95 for each limit order, though, the site costs a little more than others in its competitive set. A clean design, solid customer support and free monitoring of as many as 10 different watch lists may make up for it.

Discover Brokerage
www.discoverbrokerage.com
RATING 8.8
RECOMMENDED FOR fundamentalist, long viewer
DETAILS Heavily advertised and highly rated, this discount broker comes as this year's most significant surprise. It offers an excellent trading screen that rivals DLJdirect ($19.95 per trade on limit orders.) It also delivers solid support and other first-rate benefits, including sophisticated planning tools, technology integration and research. However, we found the site's design somewhat awkward. And we knocked it down a few important points for access times that were routinely and frustratingly slow.

Charles Schwab
www.charlesschwab.com
RATING 8.7
RECOMMENDED FOR fundamentalist, long viewer, all-in-one
DETAILS The most expensive of the lot, at $29.95 per limit-order trade (for trades of as many as 1,000 shares), Schwab isn't going to lure many hard-cores. It's one of the most well-rounded sites, though, featuring an enormous number of research and planning tools, attractive charts and graphs and an intuitive design. Schwab's customizable home page lets you put your account information in one place for easy scanning at log-in. IPOs, solid customer support and online bill payment will cause less-frequent traders to consider this site, despite its more hefty commissions.