Overview of Vanguard and J.P. Morgan Chase
Vanguard and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offer a lot of trading services, but they do it in very different ways. This article will compare and contrast these two
brokerage firms and then make some recommendations based on our research.
Cost
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Vanguard
|
$0
|
$20
|
$1.00 per contract
|
$20*
|
$20*
|
|
Chase
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Ally Invest
|
$0
|
$9.95
|
$0.50 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
|
Vanguard
|
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|
Chase
|
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Ally Invest
|
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Promotions
Ally Invest:
Up to $3,000 cash bonus + $0 commission trades.
Vanguard: does not offer promotions.
Chase:
Get up to $625 when you fund a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account.
Range of Investments
Vanguard traders have access to equities, fixed-income securities, ETF’s, closed-end funds, mutual funds, and options. Over-the-counter and penny stocks are available as well.
At J.P. Morgan Chase, we found the same range of investment vehicles except options and OTC and penny stocks. Perhaps worst of all is the absence of margin, which Vanguard does offer.
Vanguard looks like the better choice in the first category.
Trading Software
Vanguard clients are able to trade securities on the broker’s website. There is no browser platform or desktop software available. Furthermore, the broker fails to deliver a trade bar on its website; so orders are placed on simple web pages.
Vanguard’s trade form provides limit, market, and stop orders. There are no complex types such as OCO (order cancels other). There are only two duration choices (day and a 60-day GTC). Direct-access routing? Forget about it.
While the order ticket is sub-par, we did like the conversion calculator on the order ticket, which is able to convert a dollar amount to number of shares.
Charting on the Vanguard site offers less than ten technical studies, four chart styles (mountain line, OHLC, and candlestick), and three company events, (splits, earnings, and dividends).
Like Vanguard, J.P. Morgan Chase offers its clients no browser trading system or desktop platform. Moreover, the J.P. Morgan Chase site doesn’t have a trade bar. J.P. Morgan Chase customers place trades on the broker’s very simple website.
The order ticket has the same order types as Vanguard’s. Time-in-force choices are day and on-close. There isn’t a GTC type available, which is rather unusual.
As for charting, J.P. Morgan Chase’s website provides 17 technical studies, four graph styles, comparisons, and four events (dividends, splits, earnings, and 52-week high and low prices). The maximum time scale is ten years.
We’ll call this one a tie.
Mobile Platforms
J.P. Morgan Chase’s mobile app offers trading of securities, but not much else. There is no check deposit tool for brokerage accounts, a major failure nowadays. This is a strange oversight given that Chase Bank customers do have this feature. Charting on the J.P. Morgan Chase app is about as disappointing, with no tools and no horizontal mode.
The trade ticket provides the same choices as the website’s ticket. One highlight of the J.P. Morgan Chase app is the ability to buy and sell mutual funds.
Vanguard’s app delivers a mobile check deposit feature, its first strength over J.P. Morgan Chase in this category. Like J.P. Morgan Chase’s platform, Vanguard’s app offers mutual fund trading, but only in Vanguard funds.
Charting is completely absent for some strange reason, and there is no derivative trading. On the positive side, there is a Twitter feed from Vanguard’s social media page. There is a watch list on Vanguard’s app, and we liked the ability to download statements in pdf format.
Both Vanguard and Chase offer Touch ID for easier log in.
Overall, it’s too close to call here.
DRIP Service
Investment accounts at Vanguard are automatically signed up for dividend reinvestments. The brokerage firm’s service converts cash dividends into additional shares of stocks and ETF’s. J.P. Morgan Chase customers have the same type of DRIP system, except securities priced below $5 aren’t eligible because these types of investments can’t be traded at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing.
Vanguard wins this one.
Fund Resources
Vanguard customers have access to 16,000+ funds that are open to new investments. On this list,
there are 3,373 with zero load and zero transaction fee. The broker’s screener offers many search
criteria, and profile pages offer a decent level of information on individual funds. For example,
minimum investment amounts are shown, along with performance history, expense ratio, and portfolio
composition. On the bearish side, there isn’t a prospectus linked to a fund’s profile page.
ETF traders have better resources. A prospectus is linked to an ETF’s profile, for example.
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing also has an effective fund screener. But we found far fewer mutual funds on it (about
3,500 in total). On the ETF side, J.P. Morgan Chase also offers these products commission-free.
Vanguard is obviously the better pick in this category.
Investment Research
At J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, we found materials on investment education, such as market timing and volatility. There are also news articles available. Besides articles covering news and financial topics, the site also hosts brief videos courtesy of Chase Private Client.
Stock profiles offer important trade data, such as 52-week range, market cap, volume, and so forth. We did not see financial statements for a company, however; and this is a major oversight.
Vanguard’s site offers more educational materials, although finding them is a little more difficult than on J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing’s site. The Vanguard site hosts ten retirement calculators. We didn’t find a single one at J.P. Morgan Chase.
Security profile pages are more detailed at Vanguard. Analyst ratings are available (we found 34 for Facebook, with pdf reports from MarketGrader and Argus). Earnings history is shown for each stock along with SEC-filed financial statements.
We’ll choose Vanguard here.
Recommendation
Retirement or education savers should go with Vanguard. The company has a
greater emphasis on these types of investing than J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing.
ETF traders can go with either
broker. We suggest Vanguard over J.P. Morgan Chase for mutual fund investors.
For option trading, we recommend J.P. Morgan Chase over its rival. For stock trading, the two brokers
are about equal.
For small accounts, we
suggest J.P. Morgan Chase. With no annual fees, it's a better choice.
Promotions
TD Ameritrade: $0 commissions + transfer fee reimbursement.
Chase:
Get up to $625 when you fund a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account.
Vanguard:
Open a Vanguard investment account.
Broker Reviews
Go to JP Morgan Review
or to Vanguard Review
JP Morgan vs Vanguard: Results
Vanguard was the winner overall. However, J.P. Morgan is a very good choice for current
Chase's banking services customers.
Anyone looking for the top-rated brokerage firm on the market
should go with TD Ameritrade
or read TD Ameritrade review.
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Disclaimer
INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS ARE: NOT A DEPOSIT • NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
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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