Is Fidelity Investments Safe?
Fidelity Investments is a household name in the brokerage industry. We have analyzed Fidelity so you can decide whether you believe Fidelity is a trustworthy company and whether you should choose it as your broker.
Fidelity Company Overview
Fidelity is one of the longest-standing brokers still around today, as it has been in business for over 75 years. It is one of the largest privately held businesses in the U.S. Fidelity’s business spans the entire globe, employing over 50,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 9 countries.
When analyzing the numbers that Fidelity’s business does, they are staggering. Fidelity services
over 53 million+ individual clients. They have over
$7.1 trillion of assets under management and over
$18 trillion assets under administration.
Fidelity Better Business Bureau (BBB)
The first place that most people start when trying to determine if a business is legitimate is
the BBB. Fidelity has an A+ rating with the BBB. It is not BBB accredited. The customer rating there is low, although that should be taken with a grain of salt because
people filing reviews or comments with the BBB are often angry or are in the
minority that had one especially bad experience. Fidelity also has many closed complaints on the BBB website, but when you consider the fact that it has
over 53 million+ clients, that is a microscopic percentage.
Fidelity Regulators and Oversight
Fidelity operates in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world – the financial industry. Not only that, but being a broker/dealer, it is in a sub-category of the financial industry that makes it subject to extremely stringent regulations.
Dozens of state securities regulators, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) are just some of the watchdogs that oversee Fidelity’s business. Fidelity is subject to strict reporting requirements by these authorities on a regular basis.
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Fidelity FINRA & SEC Registrations
As mentioned, Fidelity is registered and regulated by both the SEC and FINRA. Fidelity’s CRD# with FINRA is 7784 and its SEC# is 8-23292, if you would like to look them up. Fidelity is registered in U.S. states and territories through its brokerage entity. Fidelity has numerous disclosures with FINRA, all of which are available to the public for review on FINRA’s website.
FDIC & SIPC Insurance
One way to inspect the legitimacy of a broker is to look at what type of protection it offers you and
your money. Fidelity has both SIPC and FDIC insurance, depending on the kind of cash holding you have. If you use Fidelity’s FDIC Insured Deposit Sweep Program to hold your cash, you can be covered by FDIC insurance through multiple banks, subject to program limits. For Fidelity Cash Management and IRA accounts, a customer could have up to $4 million of uninvested cash covered by FDIC insurance, assuming all program banks have available capacity.
If you hold your cash in money market funds, that cash is not FDIC insured. Brokerage accounts instead receive SIPC protection up to $500,000, including up to $250,000 for cash claims. For further safety, Fidelity also provides excess of SIPC coverage for brokerage customers.
Fidelity Alternative Account Protections
If Fidelity’s insurance protections don’t give you enough peace of mind, then its Customer Protection
Guarantee should help ease your nerves. Fidelity’s Customer Protection Guarantee says it will
cover losses from unauthorized activity in eligible accounts as long as it is due to no fault of
your own. All clients are automatically covered by this guarantee for eligible cash and securities accounts.
Fidelity Account Security
Fidelity has an impressive amount of security measures in place to protect investors’ accounts from scams and hackers. For the Fidelity mobile app, you can set up biometric login using either your fingerprint or face, depending on your phone. If you ever have to call Fidelity customer service, you can choose to enroll in its Fidelity MyVoice system, which verifies your identity based on your unique voiceprint.
Fidelity allows you to set up optional 2-factor authentication for logging in to the website or mobile app. You can also set up security text alerts for different types of triggers on your account, such as any time a new bank account is linked to your Fidelity account. Lastly, Fidelity offers a feature called Money Transfer Lockdown, which is an optional feature that you can turn on and off yourself and that blocks money from electronically leaving your account when it is turned on.
Is Fidelity a Scam or Legitimate? The Verdict.
Fidelity is not a scam, and it is completely legitimate. The sheer size of Fidelity’s worldwide business and the scope of its operations alone are strong evidence that it is running a clean operation. Plus, when you take into consideration the amount of regulation and scrutiny that Fidelity’s business undergoes every single day, the clear verdict is that Fidelity is legitimate.
Fidelity Review: Investing
Fidelity customers can open brokerage and investment-advisory accounts. With either investment strategy, Fidelity has a standard lineup of asset classes:
- Stocks, including over-the-counter and foreign issues
- Bonds, brokered CDs, and other fixed-income securities
- Funds (including mutual, exchange-traded, and closed-end)
- Annuities
- Cryptocurrencies
- Options
Not all accounts will have access to all products. For example, the company’s budget advisory account, Fidelity Go, only has access to Fidelity Flex mutual funds. These have no expense ratios, and the program is fully automated. Fidelity Go has no advisory fee under $25,000 and charges 0.35% annually at $25,000 and above.
For a more thorough investment experience, Fidelity operates a wealth-management program that comes with an actual human advisor located at one of Fidelity’s many branch locations. Through a wealth-management relationship, a wide range of financial services can be obtained, including retirement planning, life insurance, and help with charitable giving.
Cash Features
Fidelity offers a hybrid bank-brokerage account called the Cash Management Account, which comes with a Visa debit card, a checkbook, and an FDIC-insured sweep option. The account sweeps uninvested cash to partner banks, and balances above the program-bank capacity may be placed in a non-FDIC-insured money market fund.
The debit card offers unlimited ATM fee refunds worldwide, and the account includes free online bill pay.
Fees and Minimums
Fidelity charges very little for its accounts and has minimal requirements. Brokerage and robo accounts have no minimums, while advisory and wealth-management accounts have varying requirements. The cash account has no minimum and no recurring fees.
Most trades are commission-free. Fidelity Crypto trading carries a 1% spread on buy and sell transactions.
Margin
Margin trading is available at Fidelity. Here is the current margin interest rate schedule:
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Debit Balance
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Fidelity Margin Rates
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above $1,000,000
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7.5%
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$500,000 – $999,999
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7.8%
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$250,000 – $499,999
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10.075%
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$100,000 – $249,999
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10.325%
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$50,000 – $99,999
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10.375%
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$25,000 – $49,999
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11.325%
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$10,000 – $24,999
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11.825%
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$0 – $9,999
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11.825%
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A cash account can easily upgrade to margin trading on Fidelity’s website. Downgrading from margin to cash requires a phone call.
Website
Fidelity’s website provides many tools, including:
- Full-screen charting with technical studies and drawing tools
- Extensive stock research with free analyst reports
- Pop-up order ticket with short-selling option
- Conditional orders (OCO and OTO)
- Advanced options tools with a strategy builder
Mobile App
The Fidelity mobile app offers:
- Charting in vertical and horizontal mode
- Multiple trade tickets for stocks, options, and mutual funds
- Option spreads
- CD yield matrix
- Price and technical alerts
- Market news and video content
Our Recommendations
Active Stock Trading: Fractional shares, foreign stocks, and Active Trader Pro
make Fidelity a top choice.
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: Fidelity’s tools and advisory services
make it a great option.
Beginners: Fidelity’s managed accounts, including those with human advisors, are
ideal.
Small Investors: No account minimums and fractional shares make Fidelity
unbeatable.
Mutual-Fund Trading: Fidelity offers an extensive mutual-fund lineup.
Fidelity Review Verdict
Fidelity is one of the best investment firms in the industry. However, futures and forex traders will need to look elsewhere.
Updated on 3/23/2026.
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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