I am setting up a new forum for a group of people (>30) who came out of big investing forum. Though I am experienced in setting up a web server, WP blog/web, still I am not experienced in setting up a forum. In this forum people will discuss about stocks and relevant stuffs.

What I am looking for is the more secured forum with advanced features like user class, force user to view a news thread, like/reputation button, etc.

What I found is phpbb is one of the oldest one with more users but people opt for mybb since it is modernized and user friendly.

Could you please share your view on this, thanks

You can accomplish everything you're looking for using MyBB. Their plugin API is great and it is as secure as you make it.

Personally I prefer MyBB. I've used phpBB and it seems to lack features in comparison to MyBB.

MyBB is love
MyBB is life

Personally, vBulletin is my favorite but since its not open-source then MyBB is probably your best bet.