Who are brokers?

A stock broker (or just broker) is a person that buys and sells stocks on behalf of a client. That client could be another person or company. If an individual investor wants to buy or sell some stocks, he cannot do that directly on the stock exchange. The only way investor can trade stocks is through a broker.

A transaction on stock exchange must be made by between two brokers (registered members of the stock exchange). A broker charges the client a commission for completed transaction. The commission could be flat rate, or percentage based, or both.

How to find a stock broker? Every stock exchange has its listing of registered brokers. For example, on New York Stock Exchange you can find members here: http://www.nyse.com/about/members/1089312755132.html

There are basically two kinds of brokers: full service broker and discount broker. Discount brokers provide only buying and selling stocks, while full service brokers apart from buying and selling stocks provide additional consulting, research, etc. Therefore, full service broker is more expensive. Usually, there is a spectrum of services that broker can provide so a broker can position itself somewhere between discount broker and full service broker.

It should be noted that there are similar professions: investment adviser, financial adviser, Certified Financial Planner, money manager, etc.