Many penny stock brokers have hidden fees or tacked-on surge charges that go unnoticed to most consumers. The following is a list of the top five highly rated penny stock brokers. In general, these brokers offer free trades, minimal transaction fees, offer little or no monthly account fees if those accounts maintain a minimum balance each month.

The Cream of the Crop

These sites offer excellent customer service, provide little or no commission on a large number of trades and have scored positively in many reviews across the web:

Zecco.com: Many sites will tell you, Zecco.com is the way to go. They offer many free monthly trades and small transaction fees  (as little as $4.50 per transaction) once the freebies are gone. With a lot of their profits wrapped up in web advertising, its easy for Zecco to offer such low rates, however they do require each account to keep a minimum monthly balance.

TradeKing: At just $4.95 per trade, TradeKing is becoming very popular. They have an innovative software program designed to with many profit and probability calculators. They are also insured by Lloyd's of London (something many internet sites fail to claim).

Second Tier

These brokers offer a relatively low commission on all trades and have a lot of interesting online services associate with their accounts:

Sharebuilder: No account minimums or inactivity fees, ShareBuilder's commission is a healthy $9.95 per trade.

Scottrade: Scottrade offers a relatively cheap commission, but a complicated structure. They offer $7 per trade plus an additional .05% of the value of the stock purchased.

tradeMonster: Like ShareBuilder, tradeMonster offers no minimums or inactivity fees. They have real-time streaming, but a limited online community for support.

Whatever brokerage you choose, it's important to seek out the hidden fees. Look at our number one recommended site, Zecco. They have a lot of free trade commissions, but require a minimum account balance.