Fidelity Pricing and Minimum Deposit
| Investments | Commissions |
|---|
| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Stocks and ETFs broker assisted | $32.95 |
| Options | $0.65 per contract |
| Mutual funds | $49.95 to buy. $49.95 to sell if sold within 2 months, $0 otherwise |
| Bonds and CDs (new issues) | on a net yield basis |
| Bonds and CDs (secondary issues) | $1.00 per bond ($250 maximum) |
| Investments | stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, commercial paper, UITs, ETFs |
| Fidelity minimum deposit to open account | $0 |
| Fees | Fidelity fees |
| Promotion link | Fidelity promotions |
Fidelity Brokerage Review
Fidelity customers get more than just $0 equity commissions. The brokerage firm also provides a long list of trading services that could make the company one of the best in the industry. Here’s the scoop:
Bulls Point to...
Very good commission schedule. Fidelity has been advertising “Trade Zero” for good reason.
Outstanding banking tools. Brokerage customers get better features than many old-school banks provide.
International equities can be traded. Fidelity clients can trade on global exchanges.
Bears Point to...
A few asset classes aren’t available.
Robo-advisory services aren’t free. Some brokers are offering their robo services at
0.00% of assets under management.
Some website trading tools are missing. We do like the broker’s other software platforms, though.
Only one mobile app. Some of Fidelity’s rivals have more than one.
Tradable Assets
Fidelity customers can buy and sell bonds (including investments like commercial paper, CD’s, and U.S. Treasuries), closed-end funds, mutual funds, ETF’s, precious metals, option contracts, and of course stocks. The broker’s website also lists upcoming Initial Public Offerings that customers can sign up for.
Although it’s a pretty impressive list, there are a few things missing: currencies,
cryptocurrencies, warrants, contracts for difference, futures (including cryptocurrency futures), and options on futures.
Customer Support
A Fidelity representative can be reached on the phone day and night, weekday or weekend. While this round-the-clock service is impressive, the company’s online chat service is closed some hours of the night. There is an AI chat service that of course operates perpetually.
Over a hundred brick-and-mortar Fidelity offices are scattered throughout the United States. Customers who aren’t within driving distance of one can nevertheless perform a lot of functions via the broker’s website. In the self-help section, there are links to download old statements, update an e-mail address, submit a bank wire, and more.
Commissions and Fees
In response to everyone else going to $0, Fidelity lowered its stock and ETF commission to zero. Option trades have the same base charge; although Fidelity does have a 65¢ per-contract commission. A buy-to-close order is free if the premium is less than 65¢.
Transaction-fee mutual funds cost $49.95 to buy. There is no charge on the sell side. No-transaction-fee mutual funds cost $49.95 to sell if they’re held less than 60 days.
Fixed-income securities cost $1 each on the secondary market. There is a $50 maximum for short-term bonds, and a $250 max for other maturities. Treasuries are always free to trade.
Margin rates at Fidelity range from 12.575% to 8.275%. Paper documents sent through the mail are free, a rarity nowadays.
Mutual Funds
Fidelity has a very good mutual fund center on its website. It can be found by clicking on “News & Research” in the top menu. There is a fund screener, a link to learn about the basics of mutual funds, and a search field to look for funds by keyword. When we typed in Facebook, we received 375 results of mutual funds that have Facebook as a holding.
Fidelity offers Fund Picks for its customers. These are mutual funds that have been selected by the broker’s investment advisors for their upside potential. The list is refreshed every quarter, and there is no charge to access it. All of the funds on the list are no-transaction-fee funds. It’s possible to sort through them by category, such as large blend or taxable bond.
Using Fidelity’s fund screener, we located 10,062 mutual funds open to new investors. Slightly more than 3,500 have no transaction fee. Our biggest gripe with the scanner is that there is no way to search by load status. Other variables are available, including socially-responsible funds, analyst rating, Fund Picks, and 3-year Sharpe ratio.
ETF’s
Another excellent fund section on the Fidelity website is located at “News & Research > ETFs.” The front page has a grid of ETF categories (real estate, utilities, energy, etc.), a search field for exchange-traded products, and a comparison tool. A heat map shows color-coded performance, volume, and net flows by industry. Links to commentary by ETF.com are displayed as well.
Fidelity’s ETF screener has many more search criteria than its mutual fund cousin. Some of the variables include market price, legal structure, investment philosophy, option status, institutional ownership....and we could go on.
Investment Education
During our fact finding, we discovered a treasure trove of instructive materials on Fidelity’s website. General investment education takes the form of articles, infographics, videos, webinars, courses, and in-person events. Links to all of these resources can be found under “News & Research > Learning Center.” Customers who are logged in can track their progress; and guests can create a dummy account to do the same.
Security profiles on Fidelity.com offer a lot of great information. Stock profiles display an equity summary score that is composed of multiple analyst ratings. Detailed trade information shows the exact exchanges where bids and asks are coming in. Comparisons are made to major rivals in columns. Other securities besides stocks have lots of information, too.
Account Types
The Fidelity Account® is Fidelity’s regular taxable brokerage account. There’s also a Cash Management Account, which we’ll discuss shortly. Custodial accounts and a 529 plan are available for education savers; and businesses have their own accounts. Several managed accounts are available, and we’ll discuss those shortly, too.
For health care savers, Fidelity offers ABLE accounts and Health Savings Accounts. Trusts and estates have account options as well.
For retirement, our brokerage firm offers a very large selection of choices, including annuities, a solo 401(k), and several IRA types.
Cash Management Tools
The Cash Management Account mentioned in the previous section is Fidelity’s answer to its customers’ banking needs. The account provides checkwriting and a Visa debit card at no cost. Even better, the brokerage house charges no ATM fees; and even better than that, it reimburses ATM fees that are charged by cash machines located in the United States.
There are several money market funds that can be used as the account’s core position. Alternatively, Fidelity will sweep free cash balances to participating FDIC-insured banks, creating a very impressive $1,250,000 in insurance. That’s five times the normal amount.
Managed Account Services
Fidelity customers who fail to achieve the investment results they’re looking for can instead open one of the broker’s managed accounts. For a small fee, Fidelity will make trading decisions, hopefully with better results.
At the bottom of the price range is a robo program. It costs 35 basis points per annum. While a robo account can be opened with any deposit or no deposit at all, Fidelity won’t start its investment service until the account reaches $10. Mutual funds (not exchange-traded funds) are the investment vehicle of choice.
Old-fashioned human management is available for higher fees and minimums. Customers can work with one
advisor or a team of advisors. Fees go as high as 1.50% with minimums at $50,000 or ten times as much.
You can compare these rates to what the best priced
financial advisors in your area charge.
Website
During our appraisal, we found a user-friendly website inside Fidelity.com. We were able to navigate the site quite swiftly using the top menu (there are actually 2 rows) and a search field in the upper-right corner.
On the downside, there is no trade bar on the broker’s website; and we looked for, but couldn’t find, a browser platform. Nevertheless, trading is very straightforward with Fidelity’s pop-up trade ticket, generated after clicking on a sell or buy icon. It offers several order types and time-in-force choices. Bonds must be traded on web pages, and these offer another good trading experience.
Notes can be added to the website, and these are kept in a note list. Fidelity’s software offers the ability to create multiple watchlists. And alerts can be set according to many triggers and sent to email, to a cell phone as a text message, or to the broker’s trading platforms, discussed next.
Mobile App
Fidelity has one mobile app. It does offer some very good trading resources, including the ability to buy and sell options and mutual funds. To log into the app, Face ID and Touch ID are available for Apple phones and tablets; although on the day we did our probing, Touch ID wouldn’t work even though we had it enabled. Kindle Fire and Android have apps as well.
We were impressed with the platform’s charting. A graph can be displayed horizontally, and there are many tools, such as technical studies and comparisons.
Besides charting, we also liked mobile check deposit, a funds transfer tool, streaming financial news in high definition, bill pay, and a PayPal transfer tool. Features we wanted to see on the app but didn’t find include Level II quotes and direct-access routing.
Desktop Trading
Fidelity customers who aren’t impressed with either the website or mobile app can download and install Active Trader Pro. The software is free for all customers, which wasn’t always the case.
ATP has a lot of great features advanced traders will want to take note of. First is professional-level option trading. There are P&L graphs, a probability calculator, an implied volatility index, and a list of the largest trades during the day. Multi-leg derivative trades are already programmed into the platform, which makes entering complex trades faster and easier.
Charting on Active Trader Pro offers full-screen mode so users can zoom in and drill down on minute-by-minute price action. Graph styles include candlestick (hollow and filled), mountain, line, and point & figure.
ATP’s order form includes the same trade types available on the website. These include four trailing orders. Features missing on the website and mobile platform, such as Level II data and direct access to market makers, are available on Active Trader Pro.
Fidelity offers its desktop program with a demo mode for both guests and account holders.
Other Tools
Fidelity realizes the importance of technology for its customers in the 21st century; so it hasn’t stopped with Active Trader Pro. It also offers a smartwatch platform for Apple Watch. Alerts are displayed on it along with market indexes.
iMessage is an integrated feature for iPhone users. Amazon Echo users get a skill that can deliver market updates, stock quotes, podcasts, market movers, and even provide information about an account’s tax documents. Apple TV users get much more with Fidelity’s app.
Foreign Stocks
Fidelity hits another home run with its global stock trading program. The company provides trading on 25 foreign exchanges, including Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, and Singapore. Trades are placed in the local currencies; there are 16 total. Real-time quotes are free. The one downside is that Fidelity’s $0 commission schedule doesn’t apply to foreign trades.
Other Services
Fidelity customers can sign up for a free DRIP program to convert cash dividends into more shares of securities. They can also enroll in recurring deposits into mutual funds free of charge.
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
Comparison
With $0 commission schedules, Charles Schwab, E*Trade, IBKR Lite, Firstrade, and TradeStation are
Fidelity’s major competitors. Firstrade
has $0 option per-contract charges and charges $0 on all mutual funds.
Charles Schwab's desktop platform is
on a higher level than Active Trader Pro; and Schwab has a browser platform.
Recommendations
Mutual Fund Investors:
Charles Schwab’s mutual fund screener has the ability to look for no-load funds. The broker also offers more funds than Fidelity does.
Individual Retirement Accounts: We can recommend Fidelity for its large list of IRA’s.
Beginners: Fidelity would be an excellent brokerage firm for new traders, not just for its educational materials, but also for its outstanding customer service.
Active ETF and Stock Trading: We also endorse Fidelity for frequent trading of equities.
Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: Once again, Fidelity would be a great pick.
Small Accounts: With no minimums or fees, Fidelity is an excellent place to start investing with a small balance.
Fidelity Review Summary
With many strengths and few weaknesses, Fidelity is hard to beat.
Fidelity Investments Questions and Answers
What investments can clients make through Fidelity?
Fidelity Investments customers can trade the following asset types: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, commercial paper, UITs, and ETFs.
What are Fidelity Investments's fees?
A list of all the fees Fidelity Investments is charging is under this link.
What are Fidelity Investments IRA charges?
There are no IRA setup, annual or closing fees.
What interest does Fidelity Investments pay on cash?
Fidelity Investments interest rates on uninvested cash are in Fidelity Investments cash sweep article.
What are Fidelity Investments margin interest rates?
Current Fidelity Investments margin interest rates could be found here.
What is Fidelity Investments account minimum?
Fidelity Investments does not have minimum requirements for brokerage accounts.
What minimum deposit is required to open a Fidelity account?
Fidelity Investments minimum deposit is $0 ($0 for Rollover IRA; $2,500 or $200 per month for ROTH and Traditional IRA).
What is Fidelity Investments clearing company?
Fidelity Investments is self clearing.
How to close Fidelity Investments account?
You could learn how to close or transfer your Fidelity Investments account under this link.
Fidelity Investments Margin Rates
|
Debit Balance
|
Fidelity Margin Rates
|
|
above $1,000,000
|
8.25%
|
|
$500,000 – $999,999
|
8.55%
|
|
$250,000 – $499,999
|
10.825%
|
|
$100,000 – $249,999
|
11.075%
|
|
$50,000 – $99,999
|
11.125%
|
|
$25,000 – $49,999
|
12.075%
|
|
$10,000 – $24,999
|
12.575%
|
|
$0 – $9,999
|
12.575%
|
Fidelity Investments IRA Fees
| Fee |
Amount |
| Fidelity IRA setup fee |
$0 |
| Fidelity annual IRA fee |
$25 for Simple IRA |
| Fidelity IRA termination fee |
$0 |
| Fidelity account maintenance fee |
$0 |
| Fidelity account inactivity fee |
$0 |
| Fidelity outbound full account transfer (ACAT) fee |
$0 |
| Fidelity outbound partial account transfer fee |
$0 |
Visit Fidelity Website
Updated on 12/22/2024.
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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