Overview of SoFi Invest
Anyone who still thinks SoFi only handles student loans should take another look. This financial company has
created an investing platform with a variety of helpful products and features, making it a brokerage firm
that deserves consideration.
SoFi Invest Pricing
| Investments | Commissions |
|---|
| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Foreign securities | not offered |
| Options | $0 |
| Mutual funds | 0.2% per purchase, capped at $20 (interval funds: 2%) |
| Treasury bills, notes, municipal and agency bonds, zeros & strips | not offered |
| Investments | stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, and alternative funds |
| Minimum deposit to open an account | $0 |
Opening and Funding an Account
SoFi has a straightforward online application that allows customers to establish an account without much delay. At first, the form asks for
basic details, including a name, email address, and password. Selecting the "Invest" button on the SoFi Invest homepage opens a selection of available account choices.
When it is time to add money, you must supply standard personal details, including your Social Security Number and birth date. Connecting an outside bank account is fast and uncomplicated. We were able to place a trade on the same day that we made our deposit.
Investments and Accounts
SoFi Invest is an affordable brokerage firm, although its investment lineup is narrower than the selections available at certain full-service
brokers. Investors with self-directed accounts can buy and sell stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, and alternative funds, including eligible interval and tender-offer funds. The platform supports securities listed in the United States as well as certain over-the-counter investments, but some OTC and low-priced securities are unavailable. American Depositary Receipts can also be traded, although customers cannot place trades directly on foreign exchanges.
SoFi's robo-advisor uses professionally designed portfolios that invest mainly in ETFs. The specific investments are based on the chosen portfolio and the customer's financial objectives, investing period, and comfort with market risk.
SoFi also operates a separate cryptocurrency platform that currently supports trading in 28 cryptocurrencies. Digital assets are placed in a dedicated SoFi Crypto account instead of an ordinary SoFi Invest brokerage account.
Regarding available account registrations, SoFi provides individual accounts and, through Robo Investing, joint accounts with rights of survivorship, community-property accounts in qualifying states, and tenancy-by-the-entirety accounts in qualifying states, along with Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and Traditional Rollover IRAs. Customers can also speak with credentialed financial planners. Standard SoFi members are entitled to one free 30-minute meeting, while qualifying SoFi Plus members may arrange an unlimited number of meetings.
Website
SoFi Invest gives its customers access to a browser-based website. However, the trading platform is fairly limited in
the number and depth of features it provides.
Links near the top of the website let customers move between the company's different financial products, including loans, banking accounts, and investment services.
The tools inside the brokerage area are relatively basic. Investment profiles contain simple price charts without many extra functions, including technical studies or drawing features. The charts do not have a full-screen setting, and a line chart is the only available display style.
Each asset page includes a watchlist control that makes it easy to save an investment, although price alerts are unavailable. SoFi's stock trade ticket accepts market, limit, stop, stop-limit, market-on-open, and recurring orders. Eligibility for certain instructions depends on whether the order uses whole shares and when it is entered. Qualifying stocks and ETFs may also be purchased automatically on a recurring schedule.
Mobile App
Turning to the mobile application, SoFi provides account notifications, including sounds and icon badges for events such as transfers of money. Customers can also reach several financial areas, including credit scores, loans, cards, banking, and investing, by scrolling through the app and selecting the appropriate icons.
However, like the website, the brokerage section of the app lacks some advanced features. Charts in asset profiles display up to 5 years of price data, similar to the website. Strangely, horizontal rotation of the charts is not supported.
The mobile trade ticket closely resembles the website's version and includes the same main order instructions. Some brokerage tools are missing from the SoFi app, including streaming financial-video coverage and highly sophisticated charting. Nevertheless, qualifying SoFi Checking and Savings customers can deposit checks in the app by photographing the front and back.
Other Software
Customers can trade with SoFi Invest through the company's browser-based platform or its mobile application. SoFi does not currently provide a standalone downloadable desktop platform or an investing application for smartwatches.
Customer Support
SoFi's focus on making its products simple is also reflected in its customer-service options. The company has no public brokerage branches, so customers cannot receive assistance face to face. Phone and chat representatives are available from 5:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. PT Monday through Thursday and from 5:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. PT Friday through Sunday. Automated online and in-app help is available around the clock.
When live representatives are unavailable, SoFi Invest clients can search for information through the Help Center at support.SoFi.com. This resource contains an extensive collection of frequently asked questions arranged by subject, including personal loans, credit cards, and investment accounts. The secure part of the website, however, has few detailed self-service resources other than its tax center.
SoFi Invest Fees
SoFi Invest follows a generally inexpensive pricing model. Self-directed accounts carry no opening or annual fee, and online transactions in U.S.-listed and qualifying OTC stocks, ETFs, and options have $0 commissions. Customers may still be responsible for regulatory expenses, mutual-fund and alternative-fund transaction charges, margin interest, account-transfer costs, and other service fees. Accounts may be established without an initial deposit, although customers currently need at least $5 before they can start investing. The brokerage also regularly runs promotions tied to deposits and asset transfers.
Examples of current charges include $100 for an outgoing ACAT transfer, $25 for an outgoing wire, a possible $100 IRA closing charge when the remaining balance drops below $100, and $30 for a returned check, ACH, wire, recall, or insufficient-funds event.
An account that goes 6 months without a customer login may be charged a $25 inactivity fee. SoFi's current standard pricing document does not show a $5 charge for exercising or being assigned an option, although options-related regulatory charges can apply.
Robo portfolios have a 0.25% yearly advisory charge and will not begin investing until the account contains at least $50. Investors must also pay any internal expenses imposed by the ETFs and other funds included in the automated portfolio.
Security Research and Financial Education
SoFi now permits margin investing and applies different interest rates according to the account's settled margin debit balance. The broker also publishes educational articles and videos. Since SoFi began as a student-loan company, much of its material focuses on general personal finance, which may be especially helpful to young people and investors with limited experience.
Its written and video content addresses subjects such as "How Do Student Loans Affect Your Credit Score?", "How Does a Balloon Mortgage Work?", and "Do Student Loans Count as Income?"
Resources devoted specifically to securities trading are much less extensive. SoFi Invest does not provide dedicated stock or fund screeners on its website, which is a notable limitation.
SoFi organizes securities into categories such as Trending, Recent Searches, and SoFi ETFs, giving customers a basic way to discover investments. Stocks and digital assets are shown with recognizable icons that make browsing easier, although cryptocurrency trading is now found in the separate SoFi Crypto area.
Unfortunately, opening a stock or ETF page reveals only a modest amount of trading and company information. Figures such as trading volume, dividend yield, and the P/E ratio are shown, but the overall research is limited, and company summaries are usually no longer than a short paragraph.
One useful feature is the availability of news stories for widely followed companies. As an example, we located roughly 30 Tesla articles from the prior day, with content supplied by sources including The Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, and Fool.com.
Customers can save securities to a watchlist that is synchronized with the mobile application, making the saved investments accessible on both platforms. The mobile app also includes certain information that does not appear on the website.
The app features popular SoFi investors and displays their account positions. Users have the option to follow these traders and view their recent transactions.
Miscellaneous Services
Initial Public Offerings: SoFi Invest gives customers early access to certain upcoming IPOs and
advertises the program through its website. The first sale of shares received from an IPO within 120 days can result in a $50 fee, and every additional sale during the same period may carry a $5 charge. A sale during the first 30 days can also limit the customer's ability to participate in later IPOs.
DRIP Availability: SoFi provides free dividend reinvestment for qualifying securities held in eligible self-directed brokerage accounts and IRAs. Robo accounts cannot enroll.
Fractional Shares: Qualifying stocks and ETFs may be bought or sold as whole shares or purchased in whole-dollar amounts beginning at $5.
Extended Hours Trading: SoFi permits trading for 90 minutes before the regular opening bell
from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. ET and for four hours following the close from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET. Customers may enter stop and limit orders in these sessions, while market orders submitted outside the normal session are converted into market-on-open orders.
Security Lending: Customers with qualifying accounts and investments can participate in SoFi's optional share-lending program.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Available retirement accounts include Roth, Traditional, SEP, and Traditional Rollover IRAs. A Roth IRA held at another company can be transferred into a SoFi Roth IRA, while an outside Traditional IRA can be moved into the corresponding SoFi Traditional account. Qualifying assets from an employer retirement plan may also be rolled into a Traditional or Roth IRA, depending on whether the assets are pretax or Roth assets.
Recommendations
Retirement Savers and Long-Term Investors: SoFi's website contains several potentially useful resources
for people making long-range financial plans. Available products and tools include mortgages, a life insurance calculator, a home-loan
calculator, retirement-plan rollover help, IRAs, automated investing, and educational content covering a wide variety of personal-finance subjects.
Even so, SoFi does not provide certain products, including employer-sponsored 401(k) accounts, annuities, or a large selection of target-date
mutual funds.
Charles Schwab offers these investments along with more retirement-planning tools.
Beginning Investors: New investors may find SoFi Invest to be a practical place to get started. Its services include an automated-investing
program, personal money-management features, educational content, free access to financial planning, and straightforward self-directed
brokerage accounts.
Small Accounts: SoFi Invest may appeal to people beginning with limited funds because it offers low costs, no opening deposit requirement, fractional investing, and commission-free trading for many securities. Customers should still keep in mind the $5 amount needed before investing can begin and the $25 inactivity charge that may apply after every 6 months without a login.
Mutual Funds: Mutual funds are now available through SoFi, but customers should examine the related charges before buying. Most mutual-fund purchases carry a fee equal to 0.2% of the amount invested, with a maximum of $20, while purchases of interval and tender-offer funds carry a 2% transaction charge.
ETF and Stock Trading: SoFi Invest's trading technology is still quite limited when measured against the software provided by brokers that focus heavily on active trading.
Webull
offers stronger charting and trading features and also supports fractional-share transactions.
SoFi Invest Review Summary
SoFi has successfully created a wide-ranging financial platform that combines many different products.
Its strongest features include banking services, automated portfolio management, retirement accounts, fractional investing, and access to credentialed financial planners. The
brokerage business has also expanded to include margin investing, mutual funds, alternative funds, options, IPO participation, extended-hours trading, and a separate cryptocurrency platform. Still,
SoFi continues to lack some of the professional-grade trading technology and research resources supplied by more trading-oriented brokers.
Updated on 9/20/2026.
Chad Morris has been analyzing investment firms for Brokerage-Review.com since 2015. Backed by FINRA Series 65, 66, and SIE credentials, his work reflects a deep knowledge of the retail brokerage industry and digital trading tools.
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