Critical Success Factors for Stock Brokerage over the Internet: An Exploratory Study in the Brazilian Market under the Perspective of the Investor

The aim of this study is to investigate, using the perspective of the investor, the determinant factors for the success of the stock brokerage process over the Web, using financial portals on the Brazilian Internet. A framework of the online stock trading process is presented in order to compare the traditional form of stock brokerage with that made possible by the Internet and to discuss some of the issues regarding the intermediation and desintermediation that occurs during the process. The conclusions were obtained from a survey, conducted with Brazilian investors that operate using Internet stockbrokers for the intermediation of their stock operations. The findings showed that the Critical Success Factors for online stock trading in the Brazilian market relate more to fundamental issues, like ease of use, security and brokerage costs, than with more sophisticated services, like active monitoring of stock prices. At the same time, areas for further research will be identified and proposed.