A transaction on a stock exchange must be made between two members of the exchange — a typical person may not walk into the New York Stock Exchange (for example), and ask to trade stock. Such an exchange must be done through a stock broker.
There are three types of stockbroking service.
- Execution-only, which means that the broker will only carry out the client's instructions to buy or sell.
- Advisory dealing, where the broker advises the client on which shares to buy and sell, but leaves the final decision to the investor.
- Discretionary dealing, where the stockbroker ascertains the client's investment objectives and then makes all dealing decisions on the client's behalf.
In addition to actually trading stocks for their clients, stock brokers may also offer advice to their clients on which stocks, mutual funds, etc. to buy.
