Is Ally Invest a Scam?
If you are asking if Ally Invest is a real broker, you are in the right place. We checked the facts, and here is what we found:
Is Ally Invest Safe?
Ally Invest is a member of FINRA. This group makes the rules for brokers and watches over them.
It checks how brokers act, looks into complaints, and can punish companies that break the rules. Ally Invest’s FINRA number is 136131. Ally Invest also has an advisory service with its own FINRA number, 170301.
According to BrokerCheck, the main Ally Invest branch (#136131) has been with FINRA since 2005. It started out as TradeKing.
Ally Invest is also regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the U.S. government’s main agency for stocks and bonds.
Ally Invest’s SEC number is 8-66982. The investment advisor’s number is 801-79305.
The SEC adds another level of safety by making rules and making sure broker-dealers follow them.
FINRA and the SEC only watch over securities trading. Ally Invest also offers forex trading, which is watched by the National Futures Association (NFA). Ally’s NFA membership ID is 0408077.
Ally Invest Clearing Firm
Ally Invest uses Apex Clearing Corporation as its clearing company for stock trades. Apex makes sure trades go through and clients have the right stocks and amounts in their accounts. Apex is well-known in the industry and works with many other brokers.
Apex’s FINRA number is 13071. Its SEC number is 8-23522.
Is Ally Invest SIPC/FDIC Insured?
On top of all the rules, Ally Invest has insurance for its securities accounts.
This insurance helps protect the shares in your Ally Invest account. The value of your investments is not guaranteed, but the number of shares is, up to certain limits. Forex accounts are not covered by this insurance.
The first level of insurance is through SIPC. This group, created by Congress, protects brokerage accounts up to $500,000. Up to half of that can be for cash in the account.
With Apex Clearing, Ally brokerage also has extra insurance, which can be used if SIPC coverage is not enough. This extra insurance covers up to $37.5 million per customer, with a $900,000 limit for cash. There is a total firm limit of $150 million. Lloyd’s of London provides this extra insurance.
Ally Invest Better Business Bureau
Ally Invest has a listing at the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Its parent company Ally Financial and its sister company Ally Bank also have BBB profiles.
Ally Invest’s profile shows a score of 1.13 stars out of 5, based on 38 reviews.
This low score is likely because only unhappy customers left reviews.
Ally Invest has a BBB rating of F, which is the lowest possible. BBB ratings depend on complaints, how a business deals with customers, how long the company has been around, government actions, and how open the business is.
Ally Invest is not accredited by the BBB. This can happen for different reasons. A company does not need to be accredited to have a BBB profile, and some do not try to get accredited.
Is Ally Invest a Safe and Legitimate Judgment
Ally Invest is a real and legal brokerage that operates in the United States.
It is not a scam.
Ally Bank Bonus
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Ally Invest Review
Now that we know Ally Invest is a real broker, let’s look at what the company offers its customers.
Investments Choices
Ally Invest lets you choose between managing your own account or using a managed portfolio. Managed accounts come in robo and traditional forms with different fees.
If you want to skip advice and pay no annual fees, you can open self-directed accounts. These can be for education, retirement, or as custodial accounts. You can invest in:
- Option contracts
- Stocks, including over-the-counter stocks
- Forex and precious metals (in a separate account)
- Bonds and other fixed-income securities
- Mutual funds
- Closed-end funds
- Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
Things you cannot trade at Ally Invest include futures, warrants, cryptocurrencies, and stocks from foreign exchanges.
Website Trading
The Ally Invest website doesn’t look very modern, but it does have some good trading tools. When we tested it, we found the trade bar at the bottom of the site to be helpful. You can place orders for stocks and options there. The types of orders you can use include:
- Market
- Market on close
- Limit
- Stop
- Stop limit
There’s also LIVE, which is Ally’s browser platform. You can use decent charting tools here. There are indicators and many drawing tools, such as:
- Speedline
- Timecycle
- Gannfan
LIVE has the same order ticket as the website, but you can’t trade option spreads. Still, it does have some useful tools for options, like profit-loss diagrams and a probability calculator.
Mobile Apps
Ally Invest customers can use one of three apps. One is for trading securities, and the other two are for forex trading.
The forex apps have a lot of trading and research features. You’ll find charts with technical studies, dealing boxes with colored trade buttons, watchlists, and news about currencies. One of these apps is made by Ally, and the other is MetaTrader. Ally’s app is only for phones, while MetaTrader 4 also works on tablets.
For stock and options trading, customers use the Ally Bank app. It has some good trading tools. The trade ticket has four order types (market on close is missing), and there’s an options ticket that lets you trade spreads. The chart can be turned sideways, and there are some tools for comparisons and indicators.
Because it’s the Ally Bank app, there are also cash management tools like Zelle transfers, mobile check deposit, an ATM finder, and bill pay.
Desktop Software
If self-directed traders want more features than what’s in the mobile app or browser, they can use Quotestream. This is a more advanced desktop platform with many tools that you won’t find anywhere else at Ally. Some highlights are:
- Earnings calendar
- Waterfall ticker
- Heatmap
- Time & sales numbers
You need to make at least 30 trades per quarter to use Quotestream. This is the main downside.
Customer Support
Ally Invest has customer service available by phone 24/7. There is a second phone number for customers who are outside the United States.
If your problem isn’t urgent, you can use the service e-mail (support@invest.ally.com). The browser platform also has live chat with a person. There are no chatbots on any platform.
On the downside, Ally Invest has no branch offices, which may make its wealth management services less appealing. The website does not have a way to send internal messages either.
Pricing Schedule
Self-directed Ally Invest accounts have no ongoing fees and pay no commissions on trades of stocks, closed-end funds, and ETFs if the price is $2.00 or more. Stocks under that price have a $4.95 commission plus a one-cent fee per share.
Option trades have a fee of 50 cents per contract, but there are no fees for assignments or exercises.
All mutual funds at Ally Invest are no-transaction-fee.
The robo-advisor is free if you keep a large cash balance, or 0.30% per year with a small cash balance. The regular wealth management service costs between 0.75% and 0.85% each year and comes with a personal advisor.
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Margin Borrowing
Ally Invest offers both cash and margin accounts. You can upgrade a cash account to margin online (go to the My Accounts tab and pick Margin/Option Level under Settings).
To downgrade a margin account, you must call or email support. If your account is marked as a pattern-day trading account, it cannot be downgraded.
Ally Invest mostly follows the usual rules for margin. You cannot short stocks priced below $5.
Margin rates start at 11.5% for small balances and go down to 7% for debits over $1 million.
Security Research
The Ally Invest website has tools for learning and researching investments. There are screeners for options, stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs in the Quotes & Research tab.
When we tested the stock screener, it was easy to use. There are about 30 extra filters you can add. Some examples are:
- 5-year dividend yield average
- Current payout ratio
- Bollinger Band Bandwidth
- Industry
Stock profiles have free PDF reports from CFRA, which include trade ideas and price targets. There are also trade ideas from other analysts (Factset), but not full reports.
Miscellaneous Services
Extended Hours Trading: Ally Invest lets you trade before the market opens and after it closes, with no extra cost.
DRIP Availability: You can sign up for dividend reinvestment for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, for free.
Fractional Shares: Only mutual funds can be bought in partial shares at Ally Invest.
Recurring Mutual Fund Purchases: This feature is not available.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Only Roth and Traditional IRAs are available. There is a $25 fee to close an IRA.
Cash Management Features: You can link an Ally Bank account to your Ally Invest account with no fees.
Recommendations
Mutual Funds: All mutual funds at Ally Invest have either a load or a transaction fee, which is a negative. Schwab has many funds without these fees.
Retirement Savers and Long-Term Investors: Ally Invest’s fees on mutual funds and the IRA closing fee make it less attractive. Fidelity does better here, with fewer fees and more retirement resources.
Beginning Investors: The free robo account at Ally Invest is a good choice.
Small Accounts: Ally Invest’s wealth management service needs $100,000 to join, so it’s not good for small accounts. The robo service needs $100 to start. Self-directed accounts have no minimum and no fees.
ETF and Stock Trading: Ally Invest is a good broker for stock and ETF trading with LIVE or Quotestream. Webull is a step up, with a better desktop platform and fractional share trading.
Ally Invest Review Final Judgement
Ally Invest is a real brokerage and does well in most areas.
It’s a good choice for forex traders and robo investing.
Updated on 6/20/2025.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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