Overview of JP Morgan Chase and Fidelity
Fidelity and JP Morgan Chase’s new discount broker You Invest Trade both offer trading in securities through online platforms. Besides this similarity, these
two firms don’t have much else in common. This article will compare and contrast the two in essential categories, and then we’ll try to make a recommendation on which one to use.
Cost
| 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
|
|
Chase
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Firstrade
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
|
Fidelity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chase
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Firstrade
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Customer Support
Chase You Invest Trade customers can reach a company representative anytime from 8 o’clock in the morning until 9 o’clock in the evening, EST, Monday through Friday. There is also a Saturday session, which lasts from 9 till 5. The broker-dealer is closed all day Sunday.
During our research, we found no chat service on You Invest’s website. We did find a messaging system inside the website, which is available after you log in. Obviously, you’ll need an account for this. While Chase operates a very large network of brick-and-mortar locations, it doesn’t yet provide a single You Invest office.
When we started looking at Fidelity, we found several upgrades. The broker offers customer support over the phone 24/7. Moreover, the Fidelity website has an online chat function, although it’s up less than 24 hours. A robo chat service is available all hours of the day and night. Unlike You Invest, Fidelity provides many branch locations throughout the U.S.
Trading Software
Active traders will definitely want to know how the two brokerage firms compare in this category. In fact, what we found is that it’s more of a contrast—actually, a pretty big contrast as it turns out.
The You Invest website doesn’t offer very much at this point in terms of technology. Maybe this is because it’s a new broker or perhaps Chase wants to keep it this way to hold down costs. In any event, there is no trade bar, no browser-based platform, and no desktop software, either.
So how do You Invest customers submit orders? They do it with very simple web pages. The order forms aren’t very complicated. They don’t offer direct-access routing, and the number of order types and time-in-force options are pretty low.
When we looked for charting tools on Chase’s new site, all we found was a small graph with three options for timescales. The broker’s charting has no drawing tools, technical indicators, comparisons, or company events. A chart is not customizable and it can’t be expanded full screen.
Coming to Fidelity, we find a major improvement. The brokerage firm’s website is much better than You Invest’s. A trade ticket pops open in the left-hand side of the screen. It can be used to place trades for stocks, ETF’s, and mutual funds. Options and bonds need to be traded on web pages.
A step up from the website is Active Trader Pro, Fidelity’s
flagship desktop program. It offers a lot of great tools that sophisticated traders will appreciate. Direct-access routing is available along
with some really nice option tools. We especially liked the software’s multi-order trade ticket, which can send several orders to the
exchanges with one click.
Charting on both the website and Active Trader Pro is very good. We found technical studies, comparisons, full-screen view, print mode, customization of colors, and right-click trading.
Mobile Platforms
Both investment firms offer mobile trading, but their apps differ significantly. We found very few tools on the You Invest platform. It is the same app as Chase Bank uses, but the internals are different when you log into a brokerage account. For example, we found no funds transfer, bill pay, or check deposit.
Besides the lack of cash management tools, charting on the You Invest app is just as rudimentary as on the website. There are no tools to speak of. The amount of security information is very limited. One feature we did like was the ability to trade mutual funds.
Fidelity’s app is much better than You Invest’s. We found Bloomberg News streaming in HD. Equity ratings from third-party analysts were shown at no cost. The cash management tools missing on the You Invest app were all available on Fidelity’s platform.
Besides better mobile charting, Fidelity also provides a skill for Amazon’s Echo devices plus an app for Apple Watch.
Mutual Funds and ETF’s
You Invest customers have just 3,500 mutual funds that are open to new investors. The broker-dealer
only offers no-load, no-transaction-fee funds; so these are free to trade. We did like Chase’s mutual fund screener, but its fund list is just too short for our standards.
Every US-listed ETF is available commission-free through Chase You Invest Trade and Fidelity Investments.
Fidelity beats You Invest once again by offering over 12,000 funds, more than four times the number
that You Invest offers. Fidelity’s mutual fund screener unfortunately doesn’t have the ability to
search by load status. We estimate that it has about 1,800 funds with zero load and zero transaction
fee. So it’s actually a little weaker here than You Invest.
Promotions
Ally Invest:
Up to $3,500 cash bonus + $0 commission trades.
Fidelity: Get 500 free trades with $100,000+ deposit.
Chase:
Commission-free online stock, ETF, and options trades.
Recommendation
If you plan to trade mostly no-load, no-transaction-fee mutual funds, we would suggest You Invest
because it has a larger list. If you occasionally trade funds with a load or transaction fee, go
with Fidelity instead.
If you’re looking for the lowest costs and best value, we suggest You Invest. The broker would also
be a wise choice for the conglomerate’s banking clients, as they can get good deals on commissions.
We can recommend Fidelity for active traders who need good trading tools. Although You Invest has
lower commissions, it doesn’t provide passable software that frequent traders need. We also would
propose Fidelity for beginning investors who need research and educational materials. It far
surpasses You Invest in this area.
JP Morgan Chase vs Fidelity - Results
JP Morgan Chase brokerage has tried to become a major competitor in the cut-throat world of online
discount broking. It fails in many areas, however, and better alternatives can easily be found.
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