Let’s say you’re angry with Robinhood after they unexpectedly restricted the trading of “memestocks” last week, or maybe the app is too gamified for your comfort, or perhaps you’re simply looking for an brokerage platform offering more features or research information—here’s a look at some stock trading app alternatives with $0 account minimums and zero stock trading fees.
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab offers a wide array of tradable securities that some of the other apps don’t offer, like mutual funds, fractional shares (say, if you’re looking to get a piece of a single Berkshire Hathaway share, which costs $351,500), CDs, options ($0.65 per contract), and futures. Schwab offers two decent mobile apps, Schwab Mobile and StreetSmart Mobile, the latter of which offers more customization. The product has some of the best research tools on the market, too.
E*Trade
The E*Trade mobile app allows you to easily place trades on stocks, options, and mutual funds, and also features ETF screeners, along with extensive research information—which makes it great for beginners. A more advanced version of the app, the Power E*TRADE app, allows for trading complex strategies and allows for futures trading.
SoFi Invest
The SoFi Invest platform is pretty straightforward, as its features are limited to stock tracking, quotes, and trading. Tradable securities include stocks, ETFs, and more uniquely, fractional shares and cryptocurrencies—all of which are tradable on the app. SoFi is unique as they were one of the first brokerages to offer fractional shares, dubbed “Stock Bits,” but note that it’s limited to 150 big stocks like Alphabet, Starbucks, and Apple, as well as fractional shares of ETFs. SoFi Invest is ideal if you’re interested in crypto and fractional shares for select, marquee companies.
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade features a full slate of tradable securities, including: stocks, bonds, fractional shares, ETFs, mutual funds, options, futures, foreign exchange, foreign ADRs, and IPOs. Like Schwab, E*Trade, or Fidelity, the brokerage has comprehensive yet noob-friendly educational tools and research. As for the app, TD Ameritrade Mobile has much of the trading functionality of the web-based platform and includes a long list of alert options and stock tracking tools.
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity’s platform is easy to use and it allows you to trade stocks, fractional shares, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and options. Fidelity’s specialty is mutual funds, and they offer a large selection of them with low or no minimums. The platform allows for advanced trading capabilities, has in-depth news and research (its ETF research is particularly strong), as well as customizable charting. Its mobile app has many of the same features and is well regarded.
Vanguard
Vanguard’s platform allows you to trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, options, and CDs. The platform and app is pretty basic, however, and it more suitable for long-term investors rather than active traders, and the education content skews towards topics relating to retirement. Like Charles Schwab or TD Ameritrade, there’s a robust selection of mutual funds, 3,400 of which can be traded without a transaction fee.