Category: 2. Broker for Beginner

Square’s Cash App has seen its active user base more than triple over the past two years to 24 million people, and the payments platform recently rolled out to its clients the ability to buy and sell stocks. Cash App Investing is still a very new brokerage option, having launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, but has emerged as a suitable alternative to other low-frills ways to invest.

In this Cash App review, we’ll dive into the details of the platform, its pros and cons, whether it might be right for you, and if you would be better off with a more feature-packed brokerage platform.

Cash App Investing Review

Top perks

Easy to use: Cash App Investing is designed to be as easy to use as possible. One of the biggest obstacles non-investors complain about is they “don’t know how to get started.” With Cash App Investing, it’s easy. Simply open the Cash App, decide how much you want to invest in a particular stock, and make a purchase. The app needs to collect some legally required information such as your Social Security number, but it’s a quick and easy process.

No commissions: Like most brokerages, Cash App Investing doesn’t charge commissions for stock transactions.

Fractional shares: Cash App Investing is one of the few options for investors who want the ability to buy fractional shares of stock. For example, to buy one share of Amazon.com, you’ll need more than $1,800 as of mid-March 2020. With Cash App Investing, you can buy a piece of your favorite stocks for as little as $1.

Cash App integration: To trade stocks using Cash App Investing, you don’t need a separate app. You can trade stocks, send and receive money from other Cash App users, buy and sell bitcoin, and more.

TIP

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What could be improved

Nothing but stocks: Cash App Investing allows investors to buy and sell stocks (and bitcoin, elsewhere in the Cash App), but does not support mutual funds, stock options, or bonds. While these and other types of investments may eventually be offered, Cash App Investing is not an excellent option for people who want to invest in pretty much anything other than stocks and ETFs.

Tools and research: Cash App Investing offers some tools for beginning investors, such as its “my first stock” tutorial, but it doesn’t offer access to stock research or thorough educational tools. The platform is designed for beginning investors and those who just want to dip their toes into the stock market. Investors who want to learn more or take a more analytical approach to choosing stocks may be better served with another brokerage.

IRAs or other account types: The only account type offered by Cash App Investing is standard, taxable, self-directed brokerage accounts. You can’t open a joint account, and the platform doesn’t support IRAs, solo 401(k)s, trusts, educational accounts, UTMA accounts, or any other type offered by other brokerages.

No margin: To be clear, at The Ascent we generally discourage investors from trading on margin, which essentially means buying stocks with borrowed money. However, there are some cases where it can make sense, and many active investors like having margin access. At this point, Cash App Investing doesn’t support margin trading.

Commissions

Like most brokerages, Cash App Investing offers zero-commission stock trades. It doesn’t offer trading in options, mutual funds, and other products that generally still have commissions, so for the time being, Cash App Investing is a totally commission-free platform.

STOCKS AND ETFS	OPTIONS	MUTUAL FUNDS
$0	Not Available	Not Available

Buying mutual funds

At this time, Cash App Investing is only designed for buying and selling stocks. Mutual funds are not currently offered on the platform, although this could change as additional features are rolled out.

Fees

Since the only thing you can do with Cash App Investing is buy and sell stocks, there are no investment-related fees. Many brokerages charge for things like options trading and mutual fund purchases, but those aren’t offered on the Cash App Investing platform, so investors don’t need to worry about them.

There are some fees for other functions within the Cash App, such as for sending cash to someone with a credit card, or for having cash instantly deposited to a bank account.

Trading platform

The Cash App Investing trading platform is extremely simple. You choose a stock, enter a dollar amount, and hit the buy or sell button, all within the popular Cash App. There is not a desktop or web-based trading platform at this time.

The Cash App is known for user-friendliness, and is highly regarded for its security and speed. It’s currently rated 4.5 out of 5 in Apple’s App Store and 4.2 out of 5 in the Google Play store.

Margin rates

While it may be available in the future, Cash App Investing currently doesn’t support margin trading. In other words, if you want to buy $100 worth of a stock, you need to actually have $100 in your account.

Research offerings

Cash App Investing is designed for beginning investors who want to dip their toes into the stock market by investing small amounts of money in blue-chip (high-quality) stocks. It isn’t well-suited for investors who like to analyze stocks on their own, as it doesn’t have access to third-party stock research.

Alternatives to consider

To be fair, Square has hinted that it will add features to Cash App Investing over the coming months and years. After all, this is a very young investment platform. In its current state, Cash App Investing might not be an excellent fit for investors who want some of the more “traditional” features of other brokerages, such as the ability to open a tax-advantaged retirement account or access to stock research reports from major firms.

If you feel that Cash App Investing could be a bit too low-frills for your needs, we’d suggest taking a look at a feature-rich online brokerage like TD Ameritrade, which also offers zero-commission stock trading, but might check a lot more of your boxes.

This brokerage is right for you if:

• You’re a beginning investor. Cash App Investing is clearly designed with beginning investors in mind, particularly those who want to invest a small amount of money in stocks. It is not intended for experienced investors, or those who want tons of features.
• You already use Cash App. It can be very useful to keep your finances in as few different places as possible, and if you’re already a fan of Cash App’s other functions, it could be a good reason to invest through Cash App Investing rather than Robinhood or a competing brokerage.
• You don’t care about options, margin, or mutual funds. Cash App Investing allows you to trade stocks. That’s all. If you want any other type of investment vehicle (besides bitcoin), you should look elsewhere.
• You want a standard brokerage account. If you need to open an IRA or any investment account other than a standard taxable brokerage account, or if you want a joint account, you’ll need to open it somewhere else.

Top Takeaways for 2020

After spending five months testing 15 of the best online brokers for our 10th Annual Review, here are our top findings on Robinhood:

• Robinhood’s mobile app is intuitively designed and is our top pick for usability in 2020. Also, thanks to a thorough offering of new investor education, Robinhood made our list of recommended brokers for beginners.
• At $5/mo ($60 per year), Robinhood Gold is not a good deal unless you have a large account balance, frequently place trades, and consistently use margin. See “Robinhood Gold” under Commissions & Fees below.
• Robinhood provides a bare-bones trading experience, making it a poor choice for investors seeking the best trading platform. Also, Robinhood’s stock research tools are severely lacking when compared to $0 brokers such as TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity. Lastly, Robinhood offers no phone option for customer service.

Overall Summary

Feature	Robinhood
Overall	3 Stars
Commissions & Fees	4.5 Stars
Offering of Investments	2 Stars
Platforms & Tools	2 Stars
Research	2 Stars
Education	3 Stars
Mobile Trading	4 Stars
Customer Service	.1 Stars
Ease of Use	5 Stars

Commissions & Fees

Like many other $0 commission-free brokers, Robinhood charges no commission for trading stocks, ETFs, options, or cryptocurrency.

How Robinhood makes money: Facebook (FB) is a free service. To offset not charging a subscription fee, it generates revenue from collecting your user data and selling ads. In Robinhood’s case, it too is a free service. Instead of selling ads though, Robinhood is selling your order flow (the right to fill your order) to wholesale market makers. Thus, Robinhood is not really free. That said, in today’s world of $0 trades, nearly all brokers, less Fidelity, engage in the same practice of accepting payment for order flow (PFOF).

Robinhood Gold: In our testing, we found Robinhood Gold to be a bad deal. Robinhood Gold costs $5 per month to gain access to Morningstar reports, Level II streaming quotes, and margin trading (which charges 5% annual interest). Competitors TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, and Charles Schwab all charge higher margin rates, but offer measurably better stock research, trading tools, customer service, etc. for the same $0 per stock trade price.

Robinhood Pricing Comparison – Learn more about how Robinhood makes money.

Feature	Robinhood
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade)	$0.00
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options Base Fee	$0.00
Options Per Contract Fee	$0.00
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	N/A
Broker Assisted Trades Fee	N/A
Commission-Free ETFs	all

Offering of Investments

Rank: 15th (of 16)

Robinhood offers stocks ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency trading. Most online brokerages, with the exception being TradeStation, also do not offer cryptocurrency trading. However, mutual funds and bonds are not supported, nor is futures trading.

Cash management: With Robinhood Cash Management, any uninvested cash sitting in your brokerage account earns interest. The total yield is comparable to what you might find in a high-yield savings account, and it fluctuates alongside interest rates. This makes it convenient for customers to keep cash in their brokerage account that otherwise would need to be transferred out for a higher yield. Robinhood, alongside Fidelity, are the only two brokers who make interest sharing available to all customers, regardless of the account balance.

Trading Platforms & Tools

Robinhood offers its downloadable mobile app as well as a web platform (its website) for customers to use. Both platforms have similar feature sets. Between the two, I prefer the mobile app.

Overall, Robinhood provides a minimalistic experience because it focuses on young investors attracted to the idea of free trades. However, it is important to note that today, all online brokers offer $0 stock and ETF trades. Thus, if you are looking for a trading platform with all the bells and whistles alongside $0 trades, take a look at TD Ameritrade or TradeStation.

Robinhood trading tools screenshots:

Mobile Trading

Robinhood’s mobile app is fast, simple, and my favorite for ease of use. For basic stock trading, Robinhood has the functionality required to be productive: basic watch lists, basic stock quotes with charts and analyst ratings, recent news, alongside simple trade entry.

Watch lists: Robinhood’s focus on simplicity also has several notable drawbacks. The watch list functionality is extremely basic and includes few optional columns beyond the last price and percentage change. Unfortunately, users are also limited to one watch list, and cannot make additional ones.

Stock charts: When pulling a stock quote, charts cannot be modified beyond six default date ranges. Also, no technical analysis can be conducted, and even landscape mode is not supported for horizontal viewing. Pulling stock quotes using the free Yahoo Finance or CNBC mobile app, for example, provides a superior charting experience.

Price alerts: Lastly, Robinhood currently only allows users to enable notifications for all of their positions or all of the stocks in their watch list. Basically, unless you hold shares in a stock, you cannot set price alerts for that symbol. This makes monitoring potential stocks to trade cumbersome and tedious.

Robinhood mobile app screenshots:

Research

Rank: 14th (of 16)

Robinhood’s overall research experience is severely lacking across the board and trails industry leaders TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab, who all also offer $0 trades.

Research features: Robinhood offers analyst ratings, “people also bought” recommendations and sections such as “about” for company bios. It’s a cut and dry experience focused on simplicity. To some investors, this is fine; to others, they will be left wanting more. Side note: To gain access to Morningstar research reports requires subscribing to Robinhood Gold for $5 per month ($60 / year).

Robinhood Snacks: If there is one highlight with Robinhood’s research, it is the Robinhood Snacks news blog. The Robinhood Snacks editorial team summarizes the market each day in an easy-to-understand, digestible format. I subscribed to the weekly update for this review over six months ago, and remain subscribed today. It’s good stuff.

Robinhood market research screenshots:

Final Thoughts

For investors looking to conduct the basics, Robinhood gets the job done well. Simplicity is the key advantage of using Robinhood over the competition. Beyond that, Robinhood will leave you wanting more, especially as $0 trades are now available everywhere.

About Robinhood

Founded in 2013, Robinhood is an online broker that has raised $539 million in venture capital funding. Robinhood, which appeals primarily to young Millennial do-it-yourself investors, is best known for offering $0 stock, ETF, options, and cryptocurrency trades alongside an easy-to-use website and mobile trading app.

Robinhood Q&A

Is Robinhood completely free? The short answer is yes, technically Robinhood is free and charges $0 for stock, options, and cryptocurrency trades. However, certain features require a $5/mo subscription to Robinhood Gold and Robinhood does accept payment for order flow (PFOF). Here’s Robinhood’s Fees disclosure PDF and here’s our full breakdown of how Robinhood makes money.

How do I get my money out of Robinhood without paying any fees? First, sell all your stocks and any other positions. Next, transfer all your cash via ACH to your bank account (ACH transfers are free). Finally, contact Robinhood to close your account. If you transfer stock holdings to another broker, Robinhood will charge you a $75 ACAT fee. Switching brokers? See our list of the best online stock brokers 2020.

Can I day trade stocks using Robinhood? You need at least $25,000 in your account to day trade with Robinhood (all brokers require at least $25,000 by law), otherwise your account is restricted to just three day trades every rolling five business days. That said, even if you had $25,000, I wouldn’t recommend Robinhood. Read our best day trading platforms guide.

Can I buy and sell Bitcoin with Robinhood? Yes. Robinhood currently offers seven tradeable cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Bitcoin SV (BSV). Ten additional cryptocurrencies can be added to any watch list.

Can you trade penny stocks with Robinhood? No. You cannot trade penny stocks on Robinhood. Over-the-counter (OTC) securities are not supported. However, Robinhood customers can trade company shares listed on the NASDAQ and NYSE whose stock price is currently below $1.00.

Can you trade international stocks with Robinhood? Yes. Robinhood offers customers the opportunity to buy and sell over 250 popular American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), including shares in companies such as Adidas (ADDYY), Tencent (TCEHY), and Nintendo (NTDOY).

Is Robinhood safe? Like its competitors, Robinhood is regulated by the SEC and is a registered member of the SIPC and FINRA (CRD #165998) in the United States. The company has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and has had no reported security breaches since its launch in 2013.

Do any of Robinhood’s competitors offer $0 trading? Yes. TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, TradeStation, and Charles Schwab, among others, all offer $0 stock trades. Compare Robinhood vs TD Ameritrade.

Can I trade immediately after opening my Robinhood account? When you open and fund an account with Robinhood, the broker is unique in that it provides you access to up to $1,000 in funds, available immediately for trading while your ACH transfer deposit processes. Under normal ACH transfers, the average processing time is two to three days.

How do I contact Robinhood customer support? Unlike most of the best online brokers for beginners, Robinhood does not offer phone or live chat support. Instead, users must email [email protected] or fill out a form on Robinhood’s website. Without any formal phone support, traders are unable to take advantage of features such as broker-assisted trades at Robinhood.

Founded in 1973, Charles Schwab is a full-service brokerage with over $3 trillion in total client assets. As a low-cost leader offering $0 stock trades, Charles Schwab provides investors excellent stock research, quality trade tools, and professional planning for the future.

Top Takeaways for 2020

After spending five months testing 15 of the best online brokers for our 10th Annual Review, here are our top findings on Charles Schwab:

• As a full-service brokerage, Schwab has a fantastic, diverse offering of investments that will satisfy any investor. In our nationwide testing, we found Schwab’s phone service to be terrific.
• Alongside retirement, where Schwab is our top pick for IRA accounts, Schwab’s shining star is its offering of stock market research. Combined with an easy to use website, Schwab is also a winner for beginners.
• Schwab trading platforms and tools are robust and will satisfy the majority of traders, making it a respectable choice for day trading and options trading. That said, Schwab’s mobile trading app lacks real-time streaming quotes.

Overall Summary

Feature	Charles Schwab
Overall	4.5 Stars
Commissions & Fees	4.5 Stars
Offering of Investments	4.5 Stars
Platforms & Tools	4.5 Stars
Research	5 Stars
Education	4.5 Stars
Mobile Trading	4 Stars
Customer Service	4.5 Stars
Ease of Use	5 Stars

Offering of Investments

Rank: 2nd (of 16)

Like other full-service brokers, Schwab delivers a complete suite of products and services. Charles Schwab provides everything from stocks (including fractional shares) and options trading to fixed income and retirement guidance. This includes every account type under the sun, including Individual, Joint, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, Inherited IRA, Custodial IRA, 529 plans, charitable accounts, and even estate and trust accounts. The list goes on and on.

Retirement: For retirement, account services go beyond offering IRA accounts for self-direct investors. Customers can also elect to have their assets managed through Schwab’s robo-advisor service, Intelligent Portfolios. For personal advice, Intelligent Portfolios Premium provides clients unlimited one on one guidance from a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) for $30/month, after a $300 one-time planning fee. No question, Schwab ranks as our top broker for IRA accounts.

Commissions & Fees

At Schwab, stock and ETF trades are $0, and options trades are just $0.65 per contract. Even better for investors, Schwab is the only broker alongside Fidelity to list the price improvement received on eligible orders, which is important transparency for order execution quality.

Penny stocks: Our research found no additional fees or charges for penny stock trading, which includes OTCBB companies and stocks priced under $1 per share ().

Mutual funds: All transaction fee mutual funds cost $49.95 per trade. Note, unlike most brokers, Charles Schwab alongside Fidelity only charge for the original purchase. There is no additional charge for selling. For investors seeking No Transaction Fee (NTF) funds, Schwab offers clients access to its OneSource Funds. OneSource funds are NTF, No Load (NL) funds selected based on a variety of factors, the biggest being past performance.

Schwab pricing summary:

Feature	Charles Schwab
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade)	$0.00
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options Base Fee	$0.00
Options Per Contract Fee	$0.65
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	$49.95
Broker Assisted Trades Fee	$25.00
Commission-Free ETFs	all

Research

Charles Schwab provides among the highest quality of research of all the brokers I’ve tested here at StockBrokers.com.

Market commentary: Schwab’s in-house research is terrific, thanks to its staff of experts, including Liz Ann Sonders, Randy Frederick, Lee Bohl, and Kathy Jones, among others. Additionally, market commentary found through the Schwab Insights portal is consistently fresh and engaging. As a cherry on top, Schwab delivers live daily broadcasting across 11 shows, a feat matched only by TD Ameritrade.

Stock research: Beyond offering traditional third-party ratings, Schwab’s proprietary equity ratings add value to the research experience.

ETFs and mutual funds research: Looking at researching ETFs and mutual funds with Charles Schwab, there is a lot to like. Thanks to third-party providers like Morningstar, Charles Schwab covers all the bases, including ratings, reports, and in-depth screening. Also unique to Schwab, using the new Beta Research experience, stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds can all be researched at the same time. Schwab’s new research portal quickly became one of my favorite new tools of 2019.

Schwab market research screenshots:

Trading Platforms & Tools

Alongside the Charles Schwab website, Schwab offers customers access to two primary platforms: StreetSmart Edge (desktop-based; active traders), and StreetSmart Central (web-based; futures trading). While each platform has its highlights and lowlights, all in all, Schwab will satisfy most traders.

StreetSmart Edge: Schwab’s flagship downloadable trading platform, StreetSmart Edge, provides most of the bells and whistles options traders and day traders need to succeed. I find the platform easier to learn than TD Ameritrade and TradeStation, although the latter two provide a richer experience overall. For options traders, Schwab’s All-in-one trade ticket, alongside the proprietary Walk Limit order type, are both excellent.

Trade Source: For casual investors seeking a simple tool that includes clean charting, streaming quotes, and purposely excludes all the bells and whistles desires by active traders, Trade Source is my recommendation. Trade Source is available to Schwab customers through the website and is essentially a standalone platform in its own right.

Futures trading: While futures trading is offered, trading must be conducted on the StreetSmart Central platform specifically. This means you cannot use the main Schwab website, nor StreetSmart Edge, to place futures trades.

Schwab trading platform screenshots:

Customer Service

To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research group Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For our 2020 Broker Review, 280 customer service tests were conducted over ten weeks.

Results

• Average Connection Time: <1 minute
• Average Net Promoter Score: 8.8 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 8.3 / 10
• Overall Score: 8.80 / 10
• Ranking: 5 ^th (14 brokers)

Mobile Trading

Charles Schwab provides a consistent and generally enjoyable experience for mobile trading, regardless of the device. That said, for active traders, Schwab’s mobile apps lack core functionality in two key areas: alerts and quotes.

Market research: Alongside offering full support for trading everything from stocks to mutual funds and complex options, Schwab does a great job with market research, which is thorough. For example, options traders will love the Idea Hub tool, which is unique to Schwab mobile and makes screening and then filtering through options trade ideas a breeze.

Active trading: Mobile app pros aside, the most significant area where Schwab needs to improve is with its use of market data. No stock price alerts can be set, stock quotes are in real-time but require manual refreshing, and watch lists auto refresh once every ten seconds. Comparatively speaking, Schwab’s competitors all offer real-time streaming quotes.

Schwab mobile app screenshots:

Banking

Among the bank and brokerage combinations in our annual review, Charles Schwab offers a full suite of services and competes with the best in the industry. With 357 service locations, Charles Schwab is a registered member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits up to $250,000.

Loyalty rewards: The downside to banking with Charles Schwab is that the online brokerage offers no loyalty rewards for using multiple products. Loyalty rewards are where Bank of America Merrill Edge reigns supreme.

Education

Rank: 4th (of 16)

Charles Schwab delivers a thorough educational experience that will satisfy beginners. Through Schwab’s Learning Center, all investing topics covered, from stock trading to retirement. At least 50 free webinars offered each month to current customers. Webinars are also archived for viewing on-demand. There is a lot to like.

That said, compared to education leader TD Ameritrade, the primary downside of the Schwab’s education offering is a lack of enhanced learning functionality. There is no progress tracking available to track what educational content you’ve completed or where you last left off. Also, no interactive learning tools, such as quizzes, are provided.

Final Thoughts

Charles Schwab is a respected worldwide brand with a terrific offering. Customers have access to a plethora of quality research and innovative trade tools, as well as $0 stock and ETF trades.

Beyond ranking as an industry leader for independent investing, investors interested in life planning and making the most of retirement will also find Schwab a great fit. In 2020, Schwab’s tagline holds true, “Own Your Tomorrow.”

About Charles Schwab

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Charles Schwab was founded in 1971 and is one of the largest brokerage firms in the United States (1). As of July 2019, Charles Schwab is home to 11.9 million active brokerage accounts and $3.53 trillion in total client assets (2). Charles Schwab is also a significant player in the retirement space, and as of year-end 2018, it was the largest provider of custodial services for independent investment advisors (3).

Charles Schwab’s focus is seeing the world “Through Clients’ Eyes,” which means delivering products and services customers want and leading industry trends, instead of following them.

Fidelity is a value-driven online broker offering $0 stock trades, industry-leading research, excellent trading tools, an easy-to-use mobile app, and comprehensive retirement services. Serving over 30 million customers, Fidelity is a winner for everyday investors.

Top Takeaways for 2020

After spending five months testing 15 of the best online brokers for our 10th Annual Review, here are our top findings on Fidelity Investments:

• Fidelity delivers value across its entire client experience. The Fidelity website and mobile app both breezed through our rigorous usability assessments, resulting in a perfect five-star rating for Ease of Use. Furthermore, thanks to a plethora of educational resources, Fidelity is a winner for Beginners.
• Whether viewing stock, ETF, and mutual fund quotes or running through a screener to find investment ideas, Fidelity takes our top recommendation for Research. Investors with IRA accounts with also be left impressed.
• Not built for just everyday investors, Fidelity finished Best in Class (top 5) for active trading thanks to its desktop trading platform, Active Trader Pro. However, Fidelity did place just outside of our top five for options trading.

Overall Summary

Rank: 2nd (of 16)

Feature	Fidelity
Overall	5 Stars
Commissions & Fees	4.5 Stars
Offering of Investments	4.5 Stars
Platforms & Tools	4.5 Stars
Research	5 Stars
Education	5 Stars
Mobile Trading	5 Stars
Customer Service	4.5 Stars
Ease of Use	5 Stars

Commissions & Fees

Rank: 2nd (of 16)

After factoring in order execution quality, where Fidelity reigns supreme, Fidelity’s $0 stock and ETF trades consistently yield additional value for customers. Also offered are fractional shares, and there are no additional charges for trading penny stocks.

No PFOF: Rare in the industry, Fidelity does not accept payment for order flow (PFOF), which results in cost savings for customers when placing stock trades. In fact, alongside Charles Schwab, Fidelity is the only broker to show customers the price improvement received on eligible orders.

Cash Management: Fidelity automatically sweeps any free cash in your portfolio into higher-yielding assets. Bottom line, instead of earning .01% interest on free cash with TD Ameritrade and E*TRADE, or .12% interest on free cash with Charles Schwab, Fidelity earns customers 1.58% interest as of October 10th, 2019. The actual yield varies depending on current interest rates.

Fidelity pricing summary:

Feature	Fidelity
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade)	$0.00
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options Base Fee	$0.00
Options Per Contract Fee	$0.65
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	$49.95
Broker Assisted Trades Fee	$32.95
Commission-Free ETFs	all

Research

Rank: 1st (of 16)

Fidelity’s shining star is research. The entire website experience is meticulously laid out, clients can access portfolio updates via Google Assistant, and the broker provides terrific in-house market commentary.

Screening for trade ideas: Fidelity’s stock, ETF, and mutual fund screeners are easy to use, rich in data, and set the benchmark for the industry. Thematic investing, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) data, Morningstar ratings, the list of unique features goes on and on.

Stock research: When pulling quotes, Fidelity provides 16 third-party research reports for stocks and five for ETFs, the largest of any broker. Is that information overload? Perhaps. But it illustrates how thorough Fidelity is when it comes to research. However, surprisingly, no third-party research reports are offered for mutual funds.

Market commentary: Fidelity’s leadership in research also extends to market commentary with Fidelity Viewpoints. Only Schwab, with its Insights articles, can go toe to toe with Fidelity’s market analysis. As a regular reader myself, my favorite Viewpoint article is the annual sector outlook report, which highlights key trends to watch and includes detailed sector analysis.

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Platforms & Tools

Rank: 5th (of 16)

Fidelity’s website provides everything an everyday investor needs to manage a portfolio. For active traders, Active Trader Pro is Fidelity’s flagship desktop platform, which is loaded with trading tools.

Website watch lists: Fidelity’s website watch list tool is my personal favorite among all the brokers I’ve tested in our annual review. Streaming quotes are included as well as 48 total columns of data to choose from. Furthermore, the workflow is seamless, making it a breeze to transition into equity research or into the docked order ticket to place a trade.

Charting: In Active Trader Pro, charting is cleanly laid out and includes 22 different drawing tools, 166 optional studies, custom user profiles, chart trading, alerts, notes, and more. Recognia is also incorporated to automate the identification of common technical patterns.

Active Trading Features: Active Trader Pro includes several unique, in-house brewed tools, including Real-Time Analytics (streaming trade signals) and Trade Armor (real-time position analysis). Options trading with Active Trader Pro is also impressive and includes a variety of analysis tools. Overall, Fidelity competes among the best brokers for day trading.

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Customer Service

To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research group Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For our 2020 Broker Review, 280 customer service tests were conducted over ten weeks.

Results

• Average Connection Time: 1 – 2 minutes
• Average Net Promoter Score: 9.1 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 8.9 / 10
• Overall Score: 8.90 / 10
• Ranking: 4 ^th (14 brokers)

Mobile Trading

Fidelity’s mobile experience is cleanly designed, bug-free, and delivers a phenomenal experience for investors. While active traders may be left wanting more, for the majority, Fidelity delivers, winning our award, No. 1 Investor App, in 2020.

Customizable dashboard: Upon logging in, a unique, customizable dashboard experience, displayed as a personalized feed, greets you. In your personalized feed, market cards float on top of varying scenery images that rotate after each login, creating an experience found nowhere else. Cards cover everything, from market news to portfolio and watch list insights. As far as customizable dashboards go, Fidelity’s is my favorite.

Other unique features: Research is robust and exactly what one would expect to find after using the website. Among many other highlights of the mobile app is the note-taking functionality, which allows you to log personal thoughts on individual stocks and the broader markets.

Mobile app drawbacks: While Fidelity thrives in its offering of research on mobile, it struggles in the active trader department. For example, charting is clean and includes after-hours charts, which is nice; however, only seven indicators are available – well below the industry average of over 30. The app experience is also built primarily around investors. To better serve active traders, Fidelity should consider a separate dedicated app, a strategy employed by both TD Ameritrade and E*TRADE.

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Offering of Investments

Rank: 4th (of 16)

Fidelity provides all the benefits of what an investor would expect of a full-service brokerage, including the entire spectrum of investment services, from stock trading to retirement guidance.

While futures and forex trading are not offered, international trading is, which enables customers to trade in 25 countries and exchange between 16 currencies. In the international trading department, only Interactive Brokers, which is built for professionals, offers more global access.

Education

Looking at Fidelity’s educational offering as a whole, there’s something for everyone. Fidelity does a great job of organizing content into roadmaps with progress tracking, as well as sorting by experience level, category, and content type. Articles, videos, webinars, infographics, and courses are available to customers.

Retirement education: Fidelity really stands out with its retirement education. Over the years, I have compiled an entire folder of bookmarked Fidelity Viewpoint articles on money-related topics. Fidelity also offers a variety of in-house tools to provide you with a proper diagnosis of your financial position. The primary tool lineup, which all offer unique insights, includes Financial Checkup, Retirement Score, Income Strategy Evaluator, and Guided Portfolio Summary.

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Banking

When it comes to banking services, Fidelity truly embraces no-fee banking, offering 197 retail service centers and delivering a reliable experience. The Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature credit card offers 2% cashback on all purchases, with rewards deposited directly into any of your Fidelity accounts. That said, Fidelity offers no loyalty rewards for using multiple products, which is an area in which Bank of America Merrill Edge reigns supreme.

Final Thoughts

Having reviewed Fidelity Investments for the past ten years as a client myself, what impresses me most is the drive to provide the best possible customer experience year after year.

Overall, Fidelity delivers value for investors. While Fidelity shines across the board, the backbone of Fidelity’s success, research and retirement, will undoubtedly continue to be front and center for years to come.

About Fidelity

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Fidelity was founded in 1946 is one of the largest asset managers in the world (1). As of July 2019, Fidelity is home to over 30 million individual customers and $6.7 trillion in total customer assets

Founded in 1982 as one of the first online brokerages in the United States, E*TRADE understands what investors need to succeed in the market. E*TRADE highlights include $0 trades, two excellent mobile apps, and the Power E*TRADE platform, which is great for options trading.

Top Takeaways for 2020

After spending five months testing 15 of the best online brokers for our 10th Annual Review, here are our top findings on E*TRADE:

• In our testing, we found that E*TRADE shined most in two areas, mobile trading and options trading, finishing No. 1 overall in both categories.
• E*TRADE also finished Best in Class (top 5) for Research, Education, Active Trading, Futures Trading, and IRA accounts.
• Thanks to the sleek designs and overall usability of E*TRADE’s Mobile apps and the Power E*TRADE platform, which is our favorite web-based platform for 2020, E*TRADE is also a winner for beginners.

Overall Summary

Rank: 4th (of 16)

Feature	E*TRADE
Overall	4.5 Stars
Commissions & Fees	4.5 Stars
Offering of Investments	4.5 Stars
Platforms & Tools	4.5 Stars
Research	4.5 Stars
Education	4 Stars
Mobile Trading	5 Stars
Customer Service	4.5 Stars
Ease of Use	4.5 Stars

Commissions & Fees

Thanks to a pricing war in the beginning of October 2019, regular stock and ETF trades are now $0 (previously $6.95) and options trades run $0 + $.65 per contract (previously $6.95 + $0.75 per contract).

However, despite $0 trades, when trading during pre- and post-market hours, an ECN fee of $.005 per share is added to the regular commission rate. There is also still a $6.95 charge for trading penny stocks. As a result, we do not recommend E*TRADE for these two styles of trading.

E*TRADE pricing summary:

Feature	E*TRADE
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade)	$0.00
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options Base Fee	$0.00
Options Per Contract Fee	$0.65
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	$19.99
Broker Assisted Trades Fee	$25.00
Commission-Free ETFs	all

Platforms & Tools

Rank: 6th (of 16)

Built as a web-based platform, Power E*TRADE innovates and delivers speed, ease of use, and the tools needed for traders to succeed. Once again, in our 2020 Review, Power E*TRADE won our award, “Best Web-Based Platform.” E*TRADE also took our top spot for options trading.

Charting: Power E*TRADE’s charting engine is powered by Chart IQ, an excellent third-party provider of HTML 5 charts. Highlights include extremely smooth panning and zooming, integrated Recognia technical analysis, 119 optional technical indicators, and 32 drawing tools. To uncover flaws, we had to get picky. For example, running multiple charts at the same time can be a bit cumbersome, versus say the preset grid functionality offered by TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim platform.

Options trading: For casual and active options traders, Power E*TRADE offers the perfect blend of usability, excellent tools (screening via StrategySeek, scanning via LiveAction), and seamless position management (custom grouping, real-time streaming greeks, risk analysis, and more). And, for newer investors, there isn’t a better platform than Power E*TRADE on which to learn how to trade options. For example, using the Snapshot Analysis tool, not only is Risk/Reward translated with smiley faces, but key events to watch out for are also listed alongside a P&L chart. It’s a work of art.

Futures Trading: Like options trading, Power E*TRADE also provides a great experience for trading futures. Multiple futures ladders can be run at once, orders can be fired off with ease thanks to the Quick Trade widget, and like options, managing positions is a breeze.

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Research

Rank: 5th (of 16)

While E*TRADE’s research experience is thorough and provides investors with nearly everything they need to succeed, some aspects that left us wanting more.

Good stuff: For investors who value analysts’ recommendations, E*TRADE offers consensus ratings from multiple third-parties, including breakdowns from individual analysts via TipRanks. Also, charting on the website includes the Trefis price estimate right on the chart, with a quick link to view Trefis’s full analysis.

Bad stuff: When it comes to usability and modern design, E*TRADE’s screening and quote experiences do not stack up to the hand-crafted designs of Fidelity and Charles Schwab. Also, while E*TRADE provides in-house market commentary and analysis (articles), it trails its closest competitors in quality, depth, and quantity. Finally, live broadcasting is absent, which is an area both TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab excel.

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Customer Service

To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research group Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For our 2020 Broker Review, 280 customer service tests were conducted over ten weeks.

Results

• Average Connection Time: 1 – 2 minutes
• Average Net Promoter Score: 8.9 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 8.4 / 10
• Overall Score: 8.62 / 10
• Ranking: 6 ^th (14 brokers)

Mobile Trading

In our 2020 Review, E*TRADE once again placed first because its apps, E*TRADE Mobile and Power E*TRADE Mobile, are easy to use and feature-rich. My recommendation: use E*TRADE mobile for stock trading and Power E*TRADE Mobile for options trading.

Mobile features: Both apps are supported in iOS and Android, while E*TRADE Mobile also supports the Apple Watch. Furthermore, E*TRADE Mobile has a handful of features few other brokers offer. Unique features include streaming live Bloomberg TV, customized stock screening, third-party research ratings, and a customizable dashboard, among others. In our testing, the modern designs of both apps, which are built for speed, shine.

Mobile charting: Charting is a clean experience on Power E*TRADE, thanks to the fact that ChartIQ, the same engine that runs the charting experience on web-based Power E*TRADE, is used. That said, depth varies by app. While Power E*TRADE Mobile provides 40 indicators, E*TRADE Mobile offers ten. Indicator differences aside, panning, zooming, and conducting high-level analysis are all extremely user-friendly.

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Offering of Investments

Rank: 6th (of 16)

E*TRADE provides everything an investor would come to expect from a full-service brokerage. All investment vehicles offered, from stocks and options to bonds, banking products, and financial-planning services.

The only notable offerings E*TRADE lacks include international trading and forex trading, both of which are uncommon among US-based brokerages.

Education

Rank: 5th (of 16)

Relying mostly on third-party content providers, E*TRADE provides a thorough selection of educational content. All investing topics are covered, from stock trading to retirement, and at least 12 free webinars offered each month.

However, overall, E*TRADE’s learning experience left us disappointed and wanting more for beginner investors. As part of E*TRADE’s website overhaul, all educational content is now organized by topic in a “Library.” Once you select a topic, there are no preset flows or progress tracking. Yes, there is a lot of content, but if you easily can’t find what you’re looking for and it isn’t engaging, then it won’t get used.

Banking

Besides trading, E*TRADE also offers essential banking services with 30 branch office locations across the US. Banking services include checking accounts with no ATM fees, high-yield savings accounts, and debit cards. E*TRADE Bank is a registered member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits up to $250,000.

Compared to leaders Bank of America Merrill Edge and Chase You Invest Trade, E*TRADE doesn’t come close to competing. That said, FDIC-insured banking is rare in the online brokerage industry.

Final Thoughts

E*TRADE is an industry leader in its mobile and options trading (thanks to Power E*TRADE) offerings and continues to innovate each year. Overall, E*TRADE provides a well-rounded offering.

Regardless of your investing style, E*TRADE is a reliable, full-service broker that gives its competitors a run for their money.

About E*TRADE

Headquartered in New York City, E*TRADE was founded in 1982 and, like its closest competitors, was also one of the first online brokerages in the United States (1). E*TRADE acquired online broker OptionsHouse in September 2016 for $725 million, paving the way for what is now branded as the Power E*TRADE platform (2). As of December 31st, 2018, E*TRADE had 4.9 million brokerage accounts and processed over 280,000 online trades per trading day

TD Ameritrade delivers the ultimate package for investors, including $0 trades, fantastic trading platforms, excellent market research, industry-leading education for beginners, and reliable customer service. This outstanding all-round experience makes TD Ameritrade our top overall broker in 2020.

Top Takeaways for 2020

After spending five months testing 15 of the best online brokers for our 10th Annual Review, here are our top findings on TD Ameritrade:

• Once again, TD Ameritrade bested its competitors in our rigorous testing and came out on top as our #1 Overall broker. Alongside placing first Overall, TD Ameritrade finished first in four other categories: Platforms and Tools, Customer Service, Education, and Beginners.
• TD Ameritrade’s desktop trading platform, thinkorswim, is our top recommendation for traders in 2020. The mobile app companion to thinkorswim, Mobile Trader, also won our award for the No. 1 Trader App. Needless to say, TD Ameritrade delivers for all trader types, including day traders, options traders, and futures traders.
• Thanks to technology and artificial intelligence (AI), customers can access TD Ameritrade’s quote and basic account functionality everywhere, from Alexa to Facebook, Twitter, Apple Messages, Android Auto, and Apple CarPlay. TD Ameritrade also runs its own media network, where it broadcasts market commentary, interviews, and educational segments every trading day. Oh, and yes, stock and ETF trades are $0.

Overall Summary

Feature	TD Ameritrade
Overall	5 Stars
Commissions & Fees	4.5 Stars
Offering of Investments	4.5 Stars
Platforms & Tools	5 Stars
Research	5 Stars
Education	5 Stars
Mobile Trading	5 Stars
Customer Service	4.5 Stars
Ease of Use	5 Stars

Commissions & Fees

Rank: 7th (of 16)

Thanks to a pricing war in late 2019, on October 3rd, 2019, TD Ameritrade slashed its $6.95 stock trades (including ETFs) rate down to $0, with options trades now costing just $0.65 per contract.

However, despite $0 stock and ETF trades, there is still a $6.95 flat-rate fee for trading penny stocks.

TD Ameritrade pricing summary:

Feature	TD Ameritrade
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade)	$0.00
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options Base Fee	$0.00
Options Per Contract Fee	$0.65
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	$49.99
Broker Assisted Trades Fee	$44.99
Commission-Free ETFs	all

Platforms & Tools

Rank: 1st (of 16)

Once again, for the ninth consecutive year, TD Ameritrade is number one for trading platforms and tools, thanks to desktop-based thinkorswim. Whether day trading, options trading, futures trading, or you are just a casual investor, thinkorswim is a winner.

Charting: As far as charting goes, thinkorswim is so advanced it is rivaled only by TradeStation. A few clicks of the mouse will have dozens of charts streaming real-time data. Even the pickiest trader will be satisfied with the 400+ technical studies available for each chart (the highest in the industry). Better yet, each study can be customized using thinkscript, thinkorswim’s proprietary coding language.

Trading tools: TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim is home to an impressive array of tools. Highlights include virtual trading with fake money, performing advanced earnings analysis, plotting economic (FRED) data, charting social sentiment, backtesting, and even replaying historical markets tick-by-tick. TD Ameritrade also enables traders to create and conduct real-time stock scans, share charts and workspace layouts, and perform advanced options analysis. The rabbit hole goes as far as any trader’s imagination will take them. It’s a dazzling offering of choices that will set your mind spinning – in a good way.

Earnings Analysis: The thinkorswim Earnings Analysis tool is my favorite for planning ahead for earnings releases and assessing each company’s results afterwards. The tool plots price action and volatility before and after previous releases. It also pulls data from Wall Street analysts and crowd-sourced ratings from Estimize to plot EPS estimate ranges alongside actual results. The whole experience brings clarity with much less noise. It’s awesome.

No web platform: TD Ameritrade used to offer a browser-based trading platform, Trade Architect. Trade Architect was beneficial for casual investors because onboarding required less of a learning curve than thinkorswim. It was shut down in 2018 because it was flash-based and unsupported by modern browsers. As of early 2020, a new platform has not been launched yet to take its place.

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Research

Rank: 3rd (of 16)

Thanks to the TD Ameritrade Network and a unique line-up of tools, TD Ameritrade provides investors a substantial research offering.

TV network: The TD Ameritrade Network, TD Ameritrade’s live streaming financial network, broadcasts live every day from 8:00 ET to 5:00 ET, and includes an excellent mix of market analysis as well as trader education. Schwab is the only other online broker to offer live broadcasting during market hours.

Market commentary: TD Ameritrade also provides written daily market commentary and analysis through The Ticker Tape. Content is widespread, covering day-to-day markets as well as general finance, savings, retirement, and trader education. Together with The Ticker Tape, TD Ameritrade publishes thinkMoney, a quarterly print (and digital) magazine, which focuses entirely on education. Bottom line, for stock and options trading, TD Ameritrade is great. For long-term investing and retirement-related content, I prefer Fidelity Viewpoints and Schwab Insights.

Social trading: TD Ameritrade’s website includes a handful of unique tools. For example, the Social Signals tool displays both a real-time streaming feed of algorithmically filtered brand-relevant tweets and a summary chart of the most-tweeted brands. Social sentiment can even be plotted on charts with thinkorswim. Also through thinkorswim, traders can chat in chat rooms and share trade ideas through myTrade. All in all, TD Ameritrade offers the ultimate trader community.

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Customer Service

To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research group Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For our 2020 Broker Review, 280 customer service tests were conducted over ten weeks.

Results

• Average Connection Time: <1 minute
• Average Net Promoter Score: 9.5 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 9.1 / 10
• Overall Score: 9.43 / 10
• Ranking: 1 ^st (14 brokers)

Mobile Trading

With mobile, TD Ameritrade took a different approach by offering not one, but two smartphone apps: TD Ameritrade Mobile and TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader. TD Ameritrade Mobile is designed for casual investors. Meanwhile, TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader is designed for the feature-hungry active trader. Both apps are fantastic.

TD Ameritrade Mobile: TD Ameritrade Mobile welcomes everyday investors with a customizable dashboard. Navigating the app is seamless and includes all the features any investor could want. Watch lists are streaming and fully customizable. Meanwhile, stock quotes include price alerts, news, clean (and fully-featured) charting, and third-party ratings are accompanied by PDF research reports. Placing trades is a breeze; the list goes on and on.

TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader: Looking at mobile apps specifically, Mobile Trader is my top pick for traders in 2020. Upon login, you are taken straight into your watch lists, which sync with thinkorswim. In fact, the app mirrors thinkorswim throughout. Charting includes all 400+ indicators from the desktop platform, and chart preferences sync in the cloud. Orders and alerts management is fluid, and I really love the easy access to Trader TV, which includes not only the TD Ameritrade Network, but CNBC as well.

AI and tech innovation: TD Ameritrade was one of the first brokers to offer an Alexa Skill, and in August 2017, it became the first broker to integrate with Facebook Messenger, embracing the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with its own chatbot. Next, in 2018, Apple Business Chat, which I am using more and more frequently to grab quick stock quotes. Then, in 2019, TD Ameritrade for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto both rolled out. All in all, TD Ameritrade is the undisputed leader in mobile and can be found everywhere you are.

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Offering of Investments

Rank: 3rd (of 16)

TD Ameritrade provides everything one might expect of a full-service brokerage, from stock trading to retirement guidance. All account types are supporting. Also offered are both futures and forex trading. If there is one drawback, it is with international trading; TD Ameritrade customers can only trade US and Canadian-listed securities.

Education

Rank: 1st (of 16)

Excellent education makes TD Ameritrade an easy winner for beginners. Organized into courses with quizzes, over 200 videos are available, which all include progress tracking. Also provided each month are hundreds of webinars and educational sessions, and the website gamifies learning by awarding points alongside badges to encourage further education.

If that wasn’t enough, TD Ameritrade even publishes its own magazine, called thinkMoney, and blog, The Ticker Tape. Education is also broadcasted through the TD Ameritrade Network. There is no better broker in which to learn the basics of the stock market than TD Ameritrade.

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Banking

TD Ameritrade provides essential banking services to customers through 284 retail service centers across the United States. Like its closest competitors, TD Ameritrade offers mobile check deposit, online bill pay, and ATM fee reimbursement. TD Ameritrade also offers cash management accounts with FDIC-insurance protection. For investors who maintain high amounts of uninvested cash in their brokerage accounts, however, TD Ameritrade does not share the interest it earns.

Final Thoughts

TD Ameritrade is a technology-focused company that understands its customers and delivers a high-quality client experience.

Any investor or trader, new or seasoned, will find TD Ameritrade a great fit for their needs. The main gripe with TD Ameritrade used to be cost, but with TD Ameritrade now offering $0 stock trades, TD Ameritrade is undoubtedly on top in 2020.

About TD Ameritrade

Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, TD Ameritrade was founded in 1975 as one of the first online brokerages in the United States (1). As of September 2018, TD Ameritrade is home to over 11 million funded broker accounts and $1 trillion in total client assets (2). Each day the market is open, TD Ameritrade clients place approximately 860,000 trades, on average

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Two platforms with no minimum or fees.
• Above-average mobile app.
• Extensive research.
• Large fund selection.
• Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.

Cons

• Low default cash sweep rate.

Compare to Other Advisors

NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating
OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT
FEES$0per trade	FEES$0per trade	FEES$0.01per share
ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$2,500
PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time	PROMOTIONFreecareer counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit	PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time

Full Review

Charles Schwab caters to investors of all stripes: Beginner investors will appreciate the company’s $0 account minimum, while the $0 commission for stock, options and exchange-traded funds will appeal to active traders. Schwab also receives high marks for its research offerings, a large selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds and sophisticated tools and trading platforms.

Charles Schwab is best for:

• Beginner investors.
• Advanced traders.
• Investors seeking commission-free trades.
• Investors seeking no-minimum index funds.
• Investors who rely on premium research.

Charles Schwab at a glance

Account minimum	$0
Stock trading costs	$0
Options trades	No base commission; $0.65 per contract
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity)	No annual or inactivity fee; $50 for full transfer out of assets; $25 for partial transfer of assets
Commission-free ETFs	All ETFs trade commission-free.
Mutual funds	Over 3,500 no-transaction-fee mutual funds
Tradable securities	• Stocks. • Bonds. • Mutual funds. • ETFs. • Options. • Futures.
Trading platform	Three platforms offered with no trade minimums or fees: StreetSmart Edge (desktop platform), Schwab.com and StreetSmart Central.
Mobile app	Two mobile apps with above-average capabilities: Schwab Mobile and StreetSmart Mobile.
Research and data	Free and extensive
Customer support options (includes website transparency)	24/7 phone support; live chat and email support; more than 300 local branches; some information is difficult to locate on website
Promotion	Referral award for first-time clients

Where Charles Schwab shines

No commissions: Schwab is one of several brokers that now offer commission-free trades of stocks, options and ETFs. Options carry a competitive contract fee of $0.65 per contract, which is in line with other brokers.

Mutual fund selection and expenses: Schwab delivers access to over 3,500 no-transaction fee mutual funds, and within its own proprietary lineup of index funds and ETFs, Schwab now offers some of the lowest expense ratios available. All told, over 600 funds on Schwab’s platform have expense ratios of 0.50% or below.

The selection is also easy to navigate. Schwab’s ETF Select List helps narrow the choices, featuring picks for the best fund in selected categories (more on this below). You can sort the list by feature, including expense ratio, Morningstar category and benchmark index. There’s also the Personalized Portfolio Builder tool, designed to help you create a diversified portfolio based on your financial goals, risk tolerance and time horizon.

Research: Schwab’s research offerings are hard to beat, perhaps one of the best available from an online broker. The company provides its own equity ratings, along with reports from Morningstar, Credit Suisse, Market Edge, Ned Davis and others. In addition to real-time news and earnings reports, the broker offers a variety of research reports and market commentary authored by in-house experts, as well as a quarterly magazine free of charge.

Schwab’s investment screeners are easy to use and let you save your screens. Select Lists, like the previously mentioned one for ETFs, are compiled by the company’s experts and released quarterly to give you a pre-screened selection of mutual funds and ETFs. The funds on the list are divided by category, so you can easily see the company’s picks for, say, large-cap stock mutual funds.

The company is also integrated with Google assistant — you can ask Google for stock quotes, general market updates and more — and has an Amazon Alexa skill that provides similar information, including the ability to create and get updates on a watch list.

Account and investment minimums: Schwab has no account minimum, and offers access to over 4,000 funds with minimum investment requirements of $100 or less.

Trading platforms: In addition to the basic trading capabilities on Schwab’s website, the broker offers several robust trading platforms, all of which are free and available to all trading services clients.

Its premier offering is StreetSmart Edge, a customizable platform available with downloadable software or via cloud-based technology online. It also has a suite of programs called StreetSmart Central for options trading. Finally, the broker offers mobile trading, available on either the Schwab or StreetSmart Mobile apps.

Both StreetSmart and Schwab.com provide access to research and robust tools catering to various types of traders. Basic trades can be placed on Schwab’s website, while the other platforms offer more sophisticated features.

StreetSmart Edge is designed for efficiency, with simple navigation and customization that’s designed to match your trading style. The many advanced features include robust charting tools, the ability to trade multiple securities in the same order window (and with a variety of order types), tools to monitor your market exposure and a commercial-free live stream of CNBC. The customizable features of this platform are notable, including the Balance Bar, which gives you a quick overview of your account and buying power, along with the ability to create and edit multiple trading layout. Finally, you can quickly research a symbol, view streaming market data and enter an order.

Schwab.com lets traders monitor their portfolio and the markets, access research and view technical data. It features an intuitive trade ticket for stock, ETF and options orders that incorporates current market information.

Fractional shares: Schwab Stock Slices offers fractional shares for all S&P 500 stocks, so investors can buy a small slice of a stock rather than paying the full share price. For example, if a stock costs $100 a share, and you buy a $10 slice, you’d own 10% of a share. Single slices are available for as little as $5, and investors can buy up to 10 slices at a time.

» Need some guidance? Read about how to buy stocks

Where Charles Schwab falls short

Low cash sweep rate: Uninvested cash in Schwab brokerage accounts is swept into an account paying less than 0.50%. Investors can opt into the Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund (SWVXX) instead, which pays considerably more and has no minimum, but that is not the default option.

The bottom line

Schwab checks the boxes of every type of investor: Stock traders will appreciate $0 trading commissions and sophisticated platforms, research and tools; beginner and fund investors will benefit from the wide selection of inexpensive and low-minimum mutual funds and index funds. For those who want investment management, Schwab has a robo-advisor offering, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Commission-free trades on eligible U.S. stocks, options and ETFs.
• No account minimum.
• Strong web-based platform.
• Robust research and tools.

Cons

• No no-transaction-fee mutual funds.
• No branches.

Compare to Other Advisors

NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating
OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT
FEES$0per trade	FEES$0per trade	FEES$0.01per share
ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$2,500
PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time	PROMOTIONFreecareer counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit	PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time

Full Review

Ally Invest appeals to both the beginning investor and the experienced stock trader with $0 trading costs on eligible U.S. securities and a $0 account minimum, earning its reputation as one of the best low-cost brokers.

But Ally doesn’t merely compete with the major online brokers on costs: It also offers bells and whistles like forex trading, an automated portfolio management option and a suite of free tools for technical investors.

Ally Invest is best for:

• Active traders.
• Options traders.
• Forex traders.
• Commission-free trades on eligible U.S. securities.

Ally Invest at a glance

Account minimum	$0.
Stock trading costs	$0 (on eligible US securities).
Options trades	No base commission; $0.50 per contract.
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity)	No inactivity fees; $50 full outgoing transfer fee.
Commission-free ETFs	All eligible U.S. ETFs are commission-free.
No-transaction-fee mutual funds	No transaction-fee-free mutual funds; $9.95 per trade for no-load funds. Fees vary for funds with a sales load.
Tradable securities	• Stocks. • Bonds. • Mutual funds. • ETFs. • Options. • Forex.
Trading platform	Browser-based platform with free screening tools, customizable charting, research and real-time data.
Mobile app	Access to core account functions including tracking, quotes and trading. Available on iOS and Android.
Research and data	Free.
Customer support options (includes website transparency)	Chat, email and phone support 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET, 7 days a week. No branches.
Promotions	$100 to $2,500 cash credit with a qualifying deposit.

Where Ally Invest shines

Free trading: Ally Invest has dropped its commissions to $0 for eligible U.S. stock, options and ETF trades. The price for options trades also has dropped from $0.65 to $0.50 per contract, a price previously available only to investors who made 30 or more trades per quarter or had a balance of $100,000 or more. These moves, made last fall, are a boon to active stock and options traders.

Account minimum: Ally Invest’s $0 account balance minimum means there’s no roadblock to start trading, especially for investors at the beginning of their retirement savings journey.

Trading platform: Ally Invest’s browser-based platform offers quick trading capabilities, real-time streaming quotes and data, a customizable dashboard, and access to all of the broker’s tools. Customers who frequently trade from various computers — home and work, for example — will appreciate this web-based platform, which doesn’t require any downloads. Ally has also advanced the ability for customers to trade via mobile devices with Ally Mobile or Ally Forex, the brokerage’s app dedicated to forex trading.

Investing research and tools: Ally Invest offers a suite of investing tools that exceed expectations for a deep-discount broker. Its options trading tools are particularly strong and include an options pricing calculator to compare current bid/ask prices to forecast theoretical values, as well as a strategy scanner that identifies and executes option strategies based on criteria you choose. (Just getting into options trading? Here’s our 101 guide.)

Technical traders can dive into a suite of free tools powered by Recognia. Other free tools include a profit-and-loss calculator, a probability calculator (that uses implied volatility to determine your likelihood of hitting your targets) and the Maxit Tax Manager, which identifies tax implications of trading decisions (e.g., short- and long-term gains and losses or wash sales) and generates on-demand 1099 forms.

Side note about data: Standard quotes are free to all customers but free, real-time streaming data is available only to investors who trade more than 10 times per month.

Where Ally Invest falls short

Mutual funds: The company offers more than 8,000 mutual funds, but unfortunately they all incur transaction fees. Ally Invest’s commission for no-load funds is $9.95 (one of the lowest among brokerage firms), but investors would be better off using one of the other deep-discount online brokers — such as E-Trade, Merrill Edge or Interactive Brokers — which offer thousands of funds with no transaction fees. (Mutual fund-focused retirement savers: Check out our roundup of best IRA account providers for other no-minimum account options.)

The bottom line

Ally Invest has competitive pricing, helpful trading tools and an easy-to-use trading platform. With no account minimum, it’s easy for beginners to get started, while active investors will appreciate Ally’s commission-free trades on eligible U.S. securities. Those looking to buy no-transaction-fee mutual funds, however, may find a better home at another broker.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Large mutual fund selection.
• Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
• Leader in low-cost funds.
• Helpful customer support.

Cons

• Basic trading platform only.
• Limited research and data.

Compare to Other Advisors

NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating
OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT
FEES$0per trade	FEES$0per trade	FEES$0.01per share
ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$2,500
PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time	PROMOTIONFreecareer counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit	PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time

Full Review

Vanguard is synonymous with low-cost investing: The company has a solid reputation for the well-below-average expense ratios on its index funds and exchange-traded funds. For long-term investors looking to pair a buy-and-hold strategy with the lowest-cost offerings, it’s hard to beat the service and selection found with Vanguard. Notable features include commission-free ETF trades, more than 3,100 no-transaction-fee mutual funds, and an expanded lineup of proprietary, low-cost, socially responsible mutual funds and ETFs.

In January, Vanguard joined in the broker price revolution that started in late 2019, dropping its stock trading costs to $0, down from as high as $7 before. Still, active traders will likely be disappointed by this stock broker. Vanguard’s trading platform is suitable for placing orders but not much more. Given its longtime focus on buy-and-hold investors rather than active traders, the bulk of our evaluation is based on Vanguard’s retirement offerings. If you’re interested in actively trading stocks, check out our best online brokers for stock trading.

Vanguard is best for:

• Long-term or retirement investors.
• Those who prefer low-cost investments.
• Index fund and ETF investors.

Vanguard at a glance

Account minimum	$0; however, fund minimums start at $1,000
Stock trading costs	$0
Options trades	$0 + $1 per contractAccount balances with $1 million+ get 25 trades for free each year; accounts of $5 million+ get 100 free trades per year.
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity)	No closing, inactivity or transfer fees. $20 annual account service fee for all brokerage accounts and IRAs. Waived for clients who sign up for statement e-delivery.
Number of commission-free ETFs	All available ETFs trade commission-free.
Number of no-transaction-fee mutual funds	More than 3,100
Tradable securities	• Stocks. • Bonds. • Mutual funds. • ETFs. • Options. • CDs.
Trading platform	Basic trading platform
Mobile app	Trade mutual funds, ETFs and stocks; monitor account activity and analyze performance; follow market news and research investments
Research and data	Average quality but free
Customer support options (includes website transparency)	Phone support Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. Eastern; email support
Promotion	None

Where Vanguard shines

Low costs: Vanguard pioneered low-cost funds — founder Jack Bogle actually invented the index fund — so if those are your game, you’re in excellent hands with this brokerage. Of course, competitors have taken note, and Charles Schwab and Fidelity both have drastically slashed costs (in some cases lower than Vanguard) to attract cost-conscious investors. Still, Vanguard remains the standard bearer; many automated portfolio management services, such as robo-advisors, use its ETFs to keep expenses low. Vanguard also offers two mutual funds and two ETFs for socially conscious investors.

Vanguard’s mutual funds and ETFs aren’t just low cost; they’re significantly less expensive than the industry average. Vanguard’s average expense ratio is 0.10%. The average expense ratio across all mutual funds and ETFs is 1.05%, according to data from investment researcher Morningstar.

Expenses can make or break your long-term savings. If you invested $100,000 and made a 6% annual return, you’d have nearly $39,000 more after 30 years if you paid a 0.25% expense ratio than if you paid 0.50%.

Number of mutual funds and ETFs: In case you haven’t noticed yet, Vanguard’s bread and butter is low-cost funds. A solid portfolio can be constructed from just a handful of mutual funds or ETFs (such as these simple portfolio strategies), but Vanguard makes sure you’re not left wanting for options. It boasts an impressive collection of 3,100-plus no-transaction-fee mutual funds, though that’s lower than the 4,400-plus at E-Trade and 4,100-plus at TD Ameritrade. Vanguard also offers commission-free online trades of ETFs.

Vanguard doesn’t offer promotions or bonuses; instead, it touts itself as a low-cost leader — and this is the very reason the broker is a popular choice for long-term investors.

Admiral Shares: What do you do when you’re already low? Go lower. Admiral Shares are a class of Vanguard mutual funds that boast super low expense ratios — as in 35% lower than the company’s standard fund share class — and used to be the broker’s way of passing along savings to larger account holders. But in 2018, Vanguard lowered the minimum investment threshold for many of those index funds to $3,000 from $10,000. That said, higher minimums persist for other funds ($50,000 for most actively managed funds and $100,000 for certain sector-specific index funds).

To some degree, Vanguard caters to higher-net-worth investors; for example, its robo-advisory arm, Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, has an investment minimum of $50,000. And the $3,000 minimum for many Admiral Shares funds, even though much more accessible than $10,000, still may be out of reach for lower-net-worth or beginner investors. That said, a handful of Vanguard’s mutual funds have $1,000 minimums, including all of their target-date retirement funds. (Looking for help managing your investments? Here are our top picks for robo-advisors.)

Investor education: Like other retirement-oriented brokers, Vanguard offers a wealth of retirement planning tools and resources on its website. Investors can learn about investment options and prioritizing their goals, predict when they’ll be able to retire with high-quality calculators and tools, estimate their retirement expenses and weigh the benefits of converting a traditional IRA to a Roth.

Where Vanguard falls short

Platform: Vanguard’s trading platform is basic, and lacks the analytical tools typically offered by brokers that support stock trading.

Fund minimums: Mutual fund minimums are common, don’t get us wrong. But some competitors waive them on select funds if investors agree to monthly auto-deposits. Most Vanguard retirement funds and the Vanguard STAR Fund have investment minimums of $1,000, and other Vanguard funds carry minimums of $3,000. That initial minimum purchase amount of $1,000 to $3,000 will be too high for many beginner investors.

Account service fee: You can avoid this easily by signing up for email delivery of account statements and fund prospectuses. Otherwise, you’ll pay a $20 annual fee.

Is Vanguard right for you?

Ask yourself this question: Are you part of Vanguard’s target audience of retirement investors with a relatively high account balance? If so, you’ll likely find no better home. You really can’t beat the company’s robust array of low-cost funds.

Investors who fall outside of that audience — those who can’t meet the fund minimums or want a powerful platform to regularly trade stocks — should look for a broker that better caters to those needs. (Need help figuring out what you want in a broker? Visit our guide to brokerage accounts.)

Arielle O’Shea also contributed to this review. 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Easy-to-use platform.
• $0 commissions.
• App connects all Chase accounts.
• No account minimum.

Cons

• Limited tools and research.
• Portfolio Builder tool requires $2,500 balance.

Compare to Similar Brokers

NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating	NerdWallet rating
OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT	OPEN ACCOUNT
FEES$0per trade	FEES$0per trade	FEES$0.01per share
ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$0	ACCOUNT MINIMUM$2,500
PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time	PROMOTIONFreecareer counseling plus loan discounts with qualifying deposit	PROMOTIONNoneno promotion available at this time

Full Review

You Invest Trade by J.P. Morgan offers a do-it-yourself trading platform that integrates with Chase’s existing mobile banking app. You Invest Trade helps even beginner investors build a diversified portfolio with ease and trade on their own with $0 commissions.

You Invest Trade’s counterpart, You Invest Portfolios, offers an alternative for investors who want their portfolio managed for them.

You Invest Trade is best for:

• Mobile users.
• New investors.
• Free trading.
• Existing Chase customers.

You Invest Trade at a glance

Account minimum	$0.
Stock trading costs	$0.
Options trades	$0 per trade + $0.65 per-contract fee.
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity)	No annual or inactivity fees; $75 account transfer fee.
Tradable securities	• Stocks. • ETFs. • Options. • Fixed income. • Mutual funds.
Number of commission-free ETFs	All available ETFs trade commission-free.
Number of no-transaction-fee mutual funds	Over 3,300.
Trading platform	Web trading platform meets basic investor needs.
Mobile app	Mobile app seamlessly integrates platform with all Chase products (including credit cards and bank accounts).
Research and data	Free access to J.P. Morgan equity research.
Customer support options (includes website transparency)	Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern.
Promotion	Up to $725 cash bonus when you open and fund a new account with $25,000 or more in new money.

Where You Invest Trade shines

No commissions. You Invest Trade offers unlimited commission-free U.S.-listed online stock and exchange-traded fund trades. Options trades are also commission-free and charge a competitive $0.65 fee per contract. You Invest Trade also charges no fee to purchase fixed-income investments (like bonds) and mutual funds. Online brokers across the industry have eliminated commissions, so You Invest Trade’s $0 commission is no longer a unique offering. But for newer investors who want to buy and sell investments, eliminating commissions can help save money.

» Want more options? Explore other $0 commission brokers.

Account minimum. You Invest Trade has a $0 account minimum, making any amount of money you’ve saved enough to start investing. According to J.P. Morgan, you can invest as little as $1 in no-load mutual funds with no transaction fees.

Integrated app. Existing Chase customers will be happy to know that they don’t need to download another app to access You Invest Trade accounts. All of You Invest Trade’s offerings are available on the Chase mobile app, where users can research, trade and manage investments in addition to accessing any other Chase accounts, such as credit cards or bank accounts.

If you’re not an existing Chase bank customer, you can still open a You Invest Trade account.

Ease of use. For some new investors, the prospect of building an entire portfolio from scratch may be overwhelming enough to turn them off from investing altogether. The You Invest Trade Portfolio Builder tool makes the process less intimidating and easy to do.

To use the Portfolio Builder tool, you take a quiz that determines how your assets should be allocated based on your risk tolerance and goals. You can then use that asset allocation as a framework when you search, compare and choose investments. While You Invest Trade accounts give investors access to other investment types, including bonds and mutual funds, the Portfolio Builder tool allows you to choose and trade only ETFs and stocks.

Where You Invest Trade falls short

Investment selection. While You Invest Trade may be an excellent choice for the beginner investor, more advanced investors may find its offerings limited. You Invest Trade doesn’t support investing in futures, forex or alternative investments like cryptocurrency.

High minimum for Portfolio Builder tool. The Portfolio Builder tool is one of You Invest Trade’s bigger selling points. Unfortunately, you will need to have at least $2,500 in your account to use it.

Limited tools and access to research. The Portfolio Builder tool is exactly what a beginner investor needs, but those with more experience may miss having access to a thorough suite of robust tools that can assist with investing strategy, analysis and research. Investors do have access to J.P. Morgan equity research, and the Chase learning and insights center offers topical articles and pieces on beginner investing topics.

Customer support availability. You Invest Trade account holders can only get assistance over the phone Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m Eastern. Many other brokers offer 24-hour customer support. Chase has almost 4,900 branches, but none of them offer in-person assistance for brokerage accounts.

Is You Invest Trade right for you?

If you’re looking for a basic brokerage account that will help you learn how to build a portfolio and trade investments yourself, You Invest Trade is an affordable and comprehensive option. You’ll get the assistance and support you need and nothing to clutter your learning experience.

If you want to explore similar options, check out our review of the best brokers for beginners.

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT A DEPOSIT • NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE