Technology is making it easier than ever to invest - which is awesome. However, some places still are charging outrageous fees and commissions to buy stocks and ETFs online, when it's possible to buy stocks online for free!
Even some of the firms that advertise "get started with just $5" can end up charging you huge fees as a percentage of what you invest. In fact, we've even seen some really dishonest financial advisors charging thousands!
We've talked about our favorite places to invest for free before, but most of those companies only allow you to invest in mutual funds and ETFs for free. While they have no minimum investment amount (which is awesome), they don't allow you to invest in individual stocks.
For 95% of people, that's fine. We don't recommend most people invest in individual stocks anyway. They should be building a low cost ETF portfolio for the long run. But for those that do what to buy individual stocks, there are still places that allow you to buy stocks online for free. Check it out:
Where To Buy Stocks Online For Free
Right now, there are only a few ways to buy stocks online for free (i.e. commission-free). However, technology is continuing to make investing cheaper, and more companies are fighting each other with lower prices. We should continue to see the cost of buying stocks online drop at most companies over the next few years.
Note: The investing offers that appear on this site are from companies from which The College Investor receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The College Investor does not include all investing companies or all investing offers available in the marketplace.
1. M1 Finance
M1 Finance is an awesome new platform that recently unveiled commission free pricing to invest. What that means for you is that you can invest in stocks and ETFs for free - yes $0.
But the great thing about M1 Finance is that they allow you to invest in fractional shares as well - so you don't have to have the price of a full share to invest. This is revolutionary and makes M1 Finance our top choice for places to invest for free.
What makes M1 unique is that you create a "pie", and you invest into this pie. This pie of investments could contain a single stock, or a basket of 100 stocks. When you add money, your money is deposited into your pie to balance it out. This is great for building a long term portfolio - and it's free.
Plus, right now, M1 Finance is running a promotion where you can get up $2,500 if you deposit new money!
Check out our full review of M1 Finance to learn more.
Get up to a $2,500 bonus!
2. Robinhood
Robinhood is an app for your phone (both Android and iPhone) that allows you to trade stocks for free. We like Robinhood because it really does allow for free trades - and that's awesome. However, the extent of why we like Robinhood really ends there.
The platform is pretty "no-frills" in what you get. There are limited tools and resources, there is no desktop version, the amount of investments available on the platform are incredibly limited, and even doing basic things like getting you tax form at the end of the year is a challenge. You can read our full Robinhood review here.
However, free is free. According to a TD Ameritrade study, the average "active trader" now trades almost 18 times per year. If you trade 18 times per year at a place that charges a $4.95 commission each time, you're spending $89.10 more per year than someone who invests on Robinhood.
If you're investing a low amount of money, that can add up to a really big savings as a part of your portfolio expenses.
Plus, you get a free stock when you open an account at Robinhood!
Get a free share of stock!
3. Fidelity
Fidelity is our favorite pick for an online broker for a lot of reasons. Beyond the fact that it's a full service brokerage, allows you to open and use every type of account, every type of investment, and has excellent customer service, they also offer commission free stock, ETF, and options trading.
They also make it easy to do just about everything, both on mobile and online. They have a lot of locations around the United States as well, should you need professional help. Check out our full Fidelity review here.
So, if you're looking for a brokerage to invest with for the long run, we strongly recommend Fidelity.
4. Vanguard
Vanguard has been a long time favorite of the investing community because they have some of the "best" mutual funds and ETFs at extremely low expense ratios. What this means for you is that you pay a low amount of ongoing fees.
And just recently, Vanguard announced they are commission free on stock, ETF, and options trades as well (matching just about every other broker out there).
Now, if you don't want to simply own a Vanguard fund but want other alternatives, you can invest in those for free. Check out our full Vanguard review to learn more.
5. Webull
Webull is one of the newest players in the US free stock trading space, but they have been playing in the space worldwide for a few years.
Unlike Robinhood, which frowns on trading, Webull has a lot of tools and resources to help active traders use their platform.
One of the things that sets them apart is their strong technical charts and tools. However, Webull currently doesn't support options trading, which is one area that Robinhood does.
Check out our full WeBull review to learn more.
Plus, if you open an account at Webull, you get a free share of stock!
Get a free share of stock!
Other Free Investing Alternatives
While the options we discussed above are almost truly free ways to invest and buy stocks online, here are some other alternatives that have recently joined the commission-free investing game.
Ally Invest
Ally Invest is an alternative broker that also offers commission-free investing for stocks, ETFs, and options. They also have a large selection of commission-free and no load mutual funds.
If you don't want to do-it-yourself, Ally Invest also has a solid option for robo-investing. Check out our full Ally Invest review.
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade offers commission-free investing for stocks, ETFs, and options. They also have a large selection of commission-free and no load mutual funds.
TD Ameritrade is great about allowing you to build a great portfolio at a low cost. Plus, TD Ameritrade consistently has some of the best sign up bonuses around. Check out our full TD Ameritrade review.
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab is another broker that has joined the commission-free investing arena - with commission free stock, ETF, and options trades.
Schwab also consistently has a great sign up bonus, with lower minimums to get the same bonus as other brokers. Check out our full Charles Schwab review.
E*Trade
E*Trade is another major broker that has comission-free stocks, ETFs, and options. E*Trade is the only company, outside of Vanguard itself, that allows it's customers to invest in Vanguard funds at no cost (a select group of them).
E*Trade is also one of our top picks for people looking to open a Solo 401k.
Check out our full E*Trade review and see if E*Trade might make sense for you.
Is There Free Options Trading?
There are a couple different platforms that allow options trading. First, Robinhood, which we talked about above, does allow options trading for free.
Robinhood allows Level 2 self-directed options strategies (buying calls and puts, selling covered calls and puts) as well as Level 3 self-directed options strategies such as fixed-risk spreads (credit spreads, iron condors).
Historically, options trading can get expensive - especially since it catered to more advanced traders willing to pay for a platform and easy to use tools. However, with options trading moving to free, it has allowed more people to get in on the advanced tactics that can work well for some savvy investors.
Check out our full list of the best options trading platforms here >>
Why Investing For Free Matters
The number one factor that eats away at investment returns is fees. There are a few types of fees:
1. The fees to buy and sell (commission - which we're talking about in this article)
2. The fees to own an investment (expense ratios - which you want to minimize)
3. The fees you pay an advisor
Commissions can play a big role in how profitable your investing can be, especially if you're only trading on a little bit of money. This is why commissions matter in investing. For example, if you're investing $100, and pay a $7 commission - that's the equivalent of losing 7% of your investment on day 1. Given that the stock market returns about 7% on average - you're literally going to be lucky to break even for the entire year!
Even if you're going to be investing $100,000 or more, paying commissions still eats away at your returns. Especially given the fact that there are free options available to invest, why are you still paying?
All that money that you spend on commissions just is tossed away from your own returns. Then, when you combine that with the potential for other, ongoing fees, like the expense ratio on your funds, you can really start losing a lot of money in expenses. That's not good.
In order to maximize your potential profits from investing, you need to minimize expenses like commissions!
How Do These Companies Make Money If They Don't Charge Anything?
This is the first question skeptics ask about these companies that offer commission free investing! How can they possibly continue to exist if they don't charge any money. Even if they have huge venture capital backed investors, the money will eventually run out, right?
I was actually very concerned about this when Robinhood first launched. I spoke with the founder and asked him how he planned to make money - and what if he ran out of funding before he reached scale.
Well, there are more ways for these companies to make money. Here are some of the most popular ways:
- Lending user-owned securities
- Lending user-held cash
- They are paid for transactions in the market
- Interest on margin loans
- Interest on other loans and lending products
- Fees charged for ancillary products and services
The model of these companies is usually run lead, leverage technology, and earn money through other avenues besides charging commissions.
In fact, you can even earn money doing some of these things yourself. For example, lending securities is a common way that stock brokers make money. These securities are what the short sellers borrow when they sell short. Companies like E*Trade allow you to split the lending profits they would earn with them if you allow them to sell your securities. It's an added bonus that you can make some extra money investing with.
Want to make money lending your cash? Check out using a platform like LendingClub that allows you to provide micro-loans to people. You can lend as little as $25 per loan, and get paid back interest and principal each month. It's a great way for you to personally make money lending.
The bottom line is that there are lots of ways for these companies to make money. The names on this list have simply chosen to focus on making money other ways, and not charge commissions directly to their customers.
Final Thoughts
It's important to remember that fees and expenses is one of the leading reason why investors don't outperform the market over time (after, of course, investment selection).
If you're going to be investing in individual stocks, or mutual funds and ETFs that aren't commission-free, you need to find a broker that allows you to trade for free. Both M1 Finance and Robinhood are potential options. Robinhood is no-frills, but free. M1 Finance is closer to full-service, but doesn't have all the options of a major broker does.
If you're looking for a major broker, we recommend Fidelity or Vanguard. You can also check out our list of the best online stock brokers to find one that meets your criteria.
Let us know your favorite in the comments below!
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Claire Tak
