Can I Buy Penny Stocks on Ally Invest?
Yes, Ally Invest allows its customers to buy and sell OTC and penny stocks.
More than 51,000 stocks are available for purchase at Ally Invest. Unfortunately, the broker’s screener doesn’t have the ability to search specifically
for securities that trade in the over-the-counter marketplace. But penny stocks are available; you’ll have to search through the results if you’re
interested.
Ally Invest Penny Stock Fees
| Ally Invest OTC/penny stock fee | $0 on stocks $2.00 and higher
$4.95 + $0.01 per share on stocks priced below $2.00 |
| Ally Invest large order surcharge | $0 |
| Ally Invest ECN surcharge | $0 |
Ally Invest imposes a $100 minimum trade amount for all OTC securities.
The maximum penny stock fee at Ally Invest is 5% of trade value.
This means that an order with 5,000 shares of under $2.00 Pink Sheets/OTCBB/penny stock will cost
you $55 or 5% of trade value (whichever is lower). We like Ally Invest, but this rate is very
expensive, and we don't recommend Ally Invest for this purpose.
As an alternative, Firstrade
has $0 commission on penny stocks, but only stocks priced above 10 cents are allowed to trade. There are over
15,000 OTC stocks available at Firstrade.
Learn more...
Open Firstrade Account
Get up to $4,000 cash bonus + $200 in ACAT rebate!
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OTC Stocks at Ally Invest
There are several thousand stocks with the broker that trade under a dollar. One example is Jaguar Mining, Inc. Its ticker symbol is JAGGF, and it currently trades at 45¢. The stock’s average daily volume is 34,000, which is pretty large for an OTC stock. Its market cap is slightly larger than $50 million. Although the Ally Invest website doesn’t show any news for the company, there is some commentary on it.
Another over-the-counter stock Ally Invest clients can buy is Zoned Properties, Inc. It has a recent trade price of $1.54 under the ticker ZDPY. It has an average volume of 21,000 shares traded daily. It does not pay a dividend, and there is incomplete financial information on Ally Invest’s website. There are no option contracts currently available for the stock.
How To Buy Penny Stocks on Ally Invest
When you find a stock that’s too difficult to resist, it’s time to place a trade. Buying a penny stock at Ally Invest is no
different then purchasing a regular equity. Orders can be placed on the broker’s website, desktop platform, or mobile app.
Although placing a trade for an OTC security is just as easy as with a normal stock, paying for the trade is not. Ally Invest assesses a surcharge on any stock priced
below $2.
Comparison
Ally Invest’s failure to include the ability to search by exchange makes it more difficult to locate OTC stocks. Other brokers do offer this capability
in their screeners. Charles Schwab does, for example.
Ally Invest Overview
Ally Invest customers typically choose the broker for its $0 commissions on stocks and ETFs and good value on mutual funds and options. In other categories, is the firm as attractive?
Let's take a look at four specific areas and see how the broker performs.
Is Ally Invest Good Company For Beginners?
Novice traders need good educational resources and support from customer service. There are some learning materials on Ally Invest's website. For
example, articles cover issues such as buying and selling mutual funds, ETF strategies, and fixed-income products. A pdf document entitled
"Top Ten Mistakes New Option Traders Make" is available for download. Resources can be sorted by experience level, a feature that would benefit
new investors.
Ally Invest is one of the very few stock brokers offering online investor community. There, beginner investors could learn the ropes, ask questions,
follow successful, advanced traders and investors, and even get investing ideas. This is probably the most valuable feature novice investors
could ask from a brokerage house and Ally Invest provides it.
Unlike most other brokers, Ally Invest doesn't charge additional commission if new investor calls a broker and places a trade with his or her help.
Is Ally Invest Good Company for Long-Term Investors?
Because buy-and-hold investors don't trade very often, commissions aren't as important to them. While Ally Invest does have a very low $0 charge for stock and ETF transactions, long-term traders don't have the opportunity to really benefit from it. Instead, they will prefer access to customer service and educational materials.
Fidelity has much more educational and research material on its website, compared to Ally Invest. Ally Invest also doesn't have 24/7 service, which
Merrill Edge does have. There are no brick-and-mortar Ally Invest locations, which long-term customers may want. Schwab, by comparison, has over
300 offices across the United States. However, there is an extremely helpful Ally Invest customer forum on the broker's website. Most firms lack
this very useful feature.
Long-term investors may also be interested in financial planning and retirement assistance. Ally Invest offers portfolio management services
at some of the lowest rates on the market. Account management costs 0.25% annually, although
the service only includes investment in passively-managed ETFs.
Long-term investors often invest in mutual funds. Ally Invest doesn't offer any no-load, no-transaction-fee products. Instead, the broker charges
rock-bottom $0 to buy and sell funds without a load, while load funds are always free to trade. The mutual fund screener on Ally Invest's site returns 8,337 products that are available for purchase, while Capital One Investing has just one thousand.
Overall, Ally Invest is a good broker for long-term investing.
Is Ally Invest Good Company for IRAs?
Several IRA types are available at Ally Invest. These include Traditional, Roth, SIMPLE, SEP, and Rollover. By comparison, E*Trade clients can choose from ten different types, while WellsTrade offers only four.
There are some articles and videos on the Ally Invest website, but most of them aren't devoted to retirement topics. There is a small IRA FAQ that covers questions such as how to add a beneficiary to a retirement account. There are no retirement calculators on the broker's website. Vanguard and Fidelity, by contrast, have several.
A Ally Invest IRA does come with some notable fees. There is a $50 charge for closing an IRA or for transferring one. If you do a full transfer to
another broker, Ally Invest will assess two $50 charges.
Overall, Ally Invest does well for IRAs.
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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