Chase Brokerage Review
Chase bank's brokerage service, called J.P. Morgan Investing, offers low-cost brokerage
services that attempt to rival competing securities firms. Sometimes J.P. Morgan Investing succeeds
but other times it fails. Here’s the rundown:
JPM Investing Pricing and Minimum Deposit
| Investments | Commissions |
|---|
| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Options | $0.65 per contract |
| Mutual funds | $0 |
| U.S. treasury bills, notes and bonds | $0 |
|
New Issues (corporate bonds, municipal bonds, government agency bonds,
brokered CDS)
|
$0 |
|
Secondary Markets (corporate bonds, municipal bonds, government agency bonds, brokered CDS)
|
$10.00 / Trade + $1.00 / Bond Over
10 Bonds ($250 Maximum)
|
| Investments | stocks, mutual funds, options, bonds, ETFs |
| J.P. Morgan Chase minimum deposit to open account | $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin accounts |
| Fees | Chase brokerage fees |
Bulls Rave About
Zero commissions. It’s not just stocks and ETFs here. All mutual funds have no transaction fees.
Account linking. One login is all it takes.
Bears Rave About
Lack of cash management tools. Surprising, given the broker’s relationship with the J.P. Morgan family of companies.
No robo option. Robo-advisor service has been cancelled.
Elementary software. Definitely time for an upgrade.
Chase Brokerage Investmentss
The Chase brokerage accounts have no minimum deposit requirement and cost nothing. They also offer a lot more investment vehicles (with no conflict of interest). Besides exchange traded funds, there are mutual funds, stocks, options, and bonds.
Most trades inside a Chase brokerage account will have no commissions, although there are a few exceptions. Option trades have a per-contract fee of 65 cents, while some bonds on the secondary market will cost $1 per bond with a $10 minimum commission. All mutual funds available through J.P. Morgan Investing have no loads and no transaction fees.
There are no flat annual fees on either account system. A joint or individual account can be opened in either management mode.
J.P. Morgan Investing does not offer annuities, futures, forex, cryptocurrencies, or foreign assets.
Some account types are also missing, including trusts and custodial accounts.
Retirement Choices
Besides taxable accounts, J.P. Morgan also offers Individual Retirement Accounts. Currently, there are only two types available: Roth and traditional. There are no small business plans, like SEP or SIMPLE accounts. Minor IRAs and Inherited IRAs are missing in action as well.
Investors will find target-date mutual funds from several fund families, including Fidelity and T. Rowe Price. On the mutual fund screener page, there is a tile for target-date funds. During our research, we clicked on this tile and received a list of 202 target-date funds.
J.P. Morgan Investing charges $75 to close an IRA.
Margin Borrowing
J.P. Morgan Investing does offer margin accounts. Their margin rates are tiered:
|
Debit Balance
|
JP Morgan Margin Rates
|
|
$0.01 - $4,999
|
12.25%
|
|
$5,000 - $9,999
|
12.25%
|
|
$10,000 - $24,999
|
12.25%
|
|
$25,000 - $49,999
|
12%
|
|
$50,000 - $99,999
|
11.5%
|
|
$100,000 - $499,999
|
11.25%
|
|
$500,000 - $999,999
|
10.5%
|
|
$1,000,001 - $3,000,000
|
10%
|
Banking Tools
Another weak point for J.P. Morgan Investing is, quite surprisingly, in the realm of cash management. Although the financial conglomerate is well known for its banking products, a J.P. Morgan Investing account comes with no cash management tools at all. Neither checkwriting nor a debit card of any kind is available, and this puts J.P. Morgan Investing at a major disadvantage compared to what’s available from most brokerage houses today.
The J.P. Morgan Investing website, which is the same site that Chase Bank customers use, does have an ACH transfer tool. It can set up repeat transfers, one of the few highlights in this category.
Thanks to the relationship between Chase Bank and J.P. Morgan Investing, a checking or savings account with the banking arm can easily be linked on the website. In fact, this is done automatically, so there’s nothing for the account owner to do. The downside is that these deposit accounts aren’t overly competitive when compared to what some brokerage firms are offering today in the realm of cash management. The Chase Bank accounts, for example, have fees, which most brokerage houses have eliminated.
Website
Speaking of the website, we found it easy to use, although there are no significant trading tools to report on.
The Accounts tab is a good place to start if you have multiple accounts with the company. Deposit accounts, credit cards, and brokerage accounts will be listed here. On this tab, we found all sorts of information, like accumulated credit card rewards points and COVID-19 protocols with the company.
The Investments tab is where all the brokerage action is at. Clicking on the tab will produce a drop-down window with lots of choices. Underneath the Trade section, there are several order tickets.
The order ticket for equities offers just 4 trade types (market, limit, stop, and stop limit). Limit orders have 5 duration choices, including on the open or close.
Charts on the J.P. Morgan Investing site are pretty simple. On a security’s profile, a chart has only one format (line) and no tools at all. Thirty years of price history can be displayed, though.
On a chart next to the timeframe choices, there is an expand icon. Clicking on this generates a new page with several widgets. These include technical indicators (about 50), drawing tools (about 10), and exactly 8 plot styles. Dot is the most unusual.
The website has a watchlist, but alerts are missing in action.
Mobile App
As with the website, J.P. Morgan Investing uses the same mobile app that Chase Bank customers use. This creates a great convenience because multiple accounts can be accessed with a single login. Touch ID is available on Apple devices.
After logging into the app, there are two tabs: one for business and the other for personal. Business accounts, if any, will obviously be found on the business side, and personal accounts will be on the personal side. Since all J.P. Morgan Investing accounts are personal, that’s where we need to go.
On the personal side, there are lots of useful tools. Zelle transfers are available (from bank accounts only). There is also a mobile check deposit tool. It, too, is restricted to just bank accounts with Chase.
On to actual investment tools, the order form is the exact same one that appears on the website with the same duration options and order types. Asset profiles have the same information from the website profiles with the same format, graphics, etc.
A chart cannot be displayed horizontally, which we consider a major blunder. Nevertheless, charting tools can still be used on a mobile graph.
The watchlist from the website will also be found on the mobile app, synced with the same positions. It’s possible to edit the watchlist on the mobile app and change the view.
Other Software
J.P. Morgan Investing does not have a desktop platform, smartwatch app (not even for Chase Bank
customers), or a browser-based trading platform.
Options Trading
Call and put contracts can fairly easily be traded either on the website or the mobile app. We do emphasize calls and puts. Multi-leg strategies are not integrated on either platform, and it’s not possible to build custom trades. J.P. Morgan Investing’s software only permits single-leg orders.
J.P. Morgan Investing also does not have any advanced derivative tools. During our investigation, we did not find profit-loss diagrams, an options screener, a volatility calculator, Greek values, or any other professional-level option widgets.
To trade a call or put contract on the website, click on the Investments tab in the top menu and then select Options underneath the Trade section. This will pull up the options trade ticket. Enter the ticker symbol and then fill in the parameters, such as buy to open or sell to open, depending on which side you want to be on.
On the website, it’s also possible to pull up option chains on a security’s profile. Just click on the Options chain link (it appears in the upper-right portion of the screen). Clicking on a bid, ask, or mid price will produce a drop-down menu for order entry or exit.
On the mobile app, there is no Investments tab, so the second method just described is the way contracts are traded. Tap instead of click. The format is the same.
Chase Brokerage Commissions and Fees
Every new account with JP Morgan Chase comes with $0 commissions on stocks, mutual funds, and ETF’s. Options are
$0.65 per contract.
JP Morgan Chase charges nothing for U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. For primary issues of corporate bonds, munis, brokered CD’s, and government agency debt, there is a markup/markdown, but no commissions. On the secondary market, it’s $1 per bond with a $10 minimum and $250 maximum.
JP Morgan charges $75 to transfer an
account or to close a retirement account. There are no annual fees.
Customer Support
Chase brokerage clients can reach a customer service associate over the phone during the week from 8:00 am until 9:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. The phone number is (800) 392-5749.
Although there are some branch locations that service J.P. Morgan Wealth Management accounts, these offices do not work with J.P. Morgan Investing accounts. They could answer general questions about investing with the financial conglomerate, but that would be the extent of the service.
On the J.P. Morgan Investing website, there is an internal messaging widget, which obviously creates a method to reach out to the broker 24 hours a day. The mobile app has the same tool. There is no chat feature, however, on either platform.
Find a Financial Advisor
If you are looking for a professional money management service in your area, you can
find a Financial Advisor on the Wiser Advisor
(or read
Wiser Advisor review).
Visit Wiser Advisor
Mutual and Exchange Traded Funds
Both the website and the mobile app have screeners for ETFs and mutual funds. The search criteria are the same. Examples include:
- Morningstar style boxes and ratings
- Fees and management
- Return history
- 30-day SEC yield
- Fund family
- Socially-responsible fund
Scrolling through the results is easy on either platform. Results can be sorted by the original criteria chosen and by several other pre-installed choices. These include net expense ratio and fund category.
Profiles for funds have a decent amount of information on them. Mutual fund profiles have graphs that can be toggled between NAV history and growth of $10,000.
Morningstar style boxes and ratings are both shown. There are no other ratings, however, from groups like Lipper. And we found no research reports, either.
Return histories, both unadjusted and load-adjusted, are shown in bar-chart format. And other details, like expense ratio and dividend yield, are displayed.
Portfolio composition is broken down into a pie chart with details on geography and top 10 holdings.
J.P. Morgan customers have access to 3,043 mutual funds, all of which have zero load and zero
transaction fee.
Research and Education
Although security profiles don’t have as much information on them as we would like to see, J.P. Morgan Investing does have a noticeable emphasis on investment education. Both the website and mobile app have lots of articles and market news on a variety of topics. These materials will be found on the website underneath the Research section of the Investments tab. On the mobile app, there is a Research tab at the top, near the Portfolio tab.
Articles we found during our investigation include:
- What can investors do about rising inflation?
- The Fed has spoken – but what did investors hear?
- A recession in the near-term is possible, but not probable. Here’s why.
- How to think about market volatility
- Is it better for married couples to file taxes jointly or separately?
There are also videos (with transcripts) on a variety of topics. These include issues like retirement and how to avoid financial fraud. There are also videos on general education, like:
- How to diversify
- What are IRAs and 401(k)s?
- What's the stock market?
J.P. Morgan Investing sends out several e-newsletters. It’s easy to sign up on the enrollment page.
Miscellaneous Services
Fractional Shares: Securities (excluding mutual funds) can only be traded in whole shares.
DRIP Availability: Dividend reinvesting is available free of charge.
Initial Public Offerings: IPOs will not be found at J.P. Morgan Investing.
Extended Hours Trading: Only the regular market hours are available.
Periodic Mutual Fund Investing: Recurring purchases of mutual fund shares can be set up on autopilot.
Our Recommendations
Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: J.P. Morgan Investing has a decent selection of
target-date mutual funds. But with only two IRA options, it seems to fall flat. We would go with
Charles Schwab, who has
all of the Chase has and much more.
Beginning Investors: There are several other options out there that we think
would be better, including
Robinhood.
Small Accounts: J.P. Morgan Investing is attractive due to the lack of fees.
Mutual Funds: With roughly 3,000 mutual funds, Chase brokerage underperforms
Firstrade, who has over
11,000 total funds, most have no load and all have no transaction fee.
Active ETF and Stock Trading: Without a decent trading platform, J.P. Morgan Investing doesn’t
quite seem up to the task. We like Webull
much better, who has an advanced desktop program and fractional-share trading (plus no-fee option
trades).
JP Morgan Chase Brokerage Review Recap
J.P. Morgan Investing has done a decent job rolling out low-cost brokerage accounts. Nevertheless, we
expect much more from such a large financial conglomerate, who underperforms smaller companies by a large margin in many areas.
Updated on 10/29/2024.
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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