Fidelity vs Wells Fargo (2025)

Wells Fargo Advisors versus Fidelity Investments—which brokerage is better? Compare IRA/Roth accounts, online investing fees, stock broker mutual fund rates, and differences.

WellsTrade vs. Fidelity Introduction

WellsTrade isn’t as popular as Fidelity Investments. Could Fidelity clients be missing a better experience somewhere else? Let’s take a look.

Pricing

Broker Fees	Stock/ETF Commission	Mutual Fund Commission	Options Commission	Maintenance Fee	Annual IRA Fee
Fidelity	$0	$49.95	$0.65 per contract	$0	$0
Wellstrade	$0	$35	$0.65 per contract	$0	$0

Services

Broker Review	Cost	Investment Products	Trading Tools	Customer Service	Research	Overall Rating
Fidelity
Wellstrade

Investment Lineups

WellsTrade customers can trade:

ETFs
Stocks (including OTC shares)
Bonds
Mutual funds
Closed-end funds
Options

Fidelity offers all of these, plus foreign stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Both brokers also have investment-advisory services through related companies, featuring both traditional and automated portfolios. Fidelity Go is Fidelity’s robo plan, free on balances under $25,000, then 0.35% yearly above that.

Wells Fargo’s robo product is Intuitive Investor. It costs 0.35% with no small-account fee break (though certain Wells Fargo Bank customers get discounts). Both programs invest in ETFs or mutual funds only.

Winner: Fidelity edges out

Website Trading

Fidelity’s website has a user-friendly layout with multiple security screeners and a handy search bar.

Fidelity or Wells Fargo

A security’s page has icons for alerts, watchlists, buying and selling, and option chains. The options page includes a probability tool, profit-loss diagrams, and integrated spreads.

Selecting the buy or sell button generates the order form, which allows 8 regular order types (4 trailing). A conditional mode adds advanced orders like multi-contingent and OCO. There’s also an account drop-down (a special account is needed for crypto).

WellsTrade’s site isn’t as sophisticated. Its order form has just 4 order types, and the option chain page lacks spreads and advanced tools.

Wells Fargo vs Fidelity

WellsTrade does have a search bar and some screeners (under Research), but charting can’t be viewed full-screen (Fidelity does allow that).

Winner: Fidelity

Other Software

Beyond websites, both firms have mobile apps. WellsTrade’s app doesn’t offer much in terms of charting—there are no tools, and rotating the screen horizontally cuts off the chart’s top.

Wellstrade vs Fidelity

Fidelity’s mobile app has charting tools, two modes (classic and Beta, the latter for crypto), and plenty of features.

Fidelity vs Wellstrade

Fidelity also has a desktop platform called Active Trader Pro, which is quite advanced and free to use.

Winner: Fidelity

Margin

Both offer margin and cash accounts for self-directed traders. On both sites, the order ticket can be set to margin or cash, but neither shows security-specific margin details online.

WellsTrade’s margin rates go from 13.25% to 9.25%. Fidelity’s scale is slightly cheaper, ranging from 12.575% down to 8.575%.

Winner: Fidelity

Extra Services

Auto Mutual Fund Investing: Offered by both.

Initial Public Offerings: Fidelity does them; WellsTrade doesn’t.

Fractional Shares: Fidelity and Wells Fargo customers can buy stocks, ETFs, and crypto in whole dollars.

Individual Retirement Accounts: Both have robo or self-directed IRAs. WellsTrade charges $49.95 to close an IRA, but Fidelity doesn’t.

Extended-hours Trading: Fidelity offers pre-market (7:00–9:28 am) and after-hours (4:00–8:00 pm). WellsTrade does not offer pre-market; its after-hours session is 4:01–6:30 pm.

Cash Management Tools: Both companies have a strong banking side, with account linking. They also offer credit cards.

DRIP: Both reinvest dividends as extra shares of the security that paid them.

Winner: Fidelity

Recommendations

Equity Trading: Fidelity, with Active Trader Pro and fractional shares, is the clear choice.

Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: Fidelity has IRAs with no special fees.

Beginners: Either firm’s advisory services can help. Both offer conversations with human financial advisors for their robo clients.

Mutual Fund Trading: Fidelity has 9,000+ funds vs. WellsTrade’s <3,000. Easy pick.

Small Accounts: Self-directed trading has no minimum at either firm. WellsTrade’s robo needs $500, Fidelity’s needs only $10 (and is free on small balances).

Find a Financial Advisor

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Fidelity vs Wells Fargo Summary

No, Fidelity investors aren’t missing out on much by not using WellsTrade.

Anyone looking for the top-rated brokerage firm in the market ().

Updated on 1/26/2025.

About the Author

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.