Self-Directed Trading

Stock and ETF trades for ^$4.95 with no account minimums.

Photo of Walter. Ally Employee Since 2013

Intelligent Investing for the Independent Type

We give you the tools. You take it from there.

Trade anywhere.

Connect to the market from any device. Research investments, analyze your portfolio, place trades and make the most of any opportunity at home or on the move.

24/7 support.

When it comes to your investments, we know you want answers fast. If you have a question about your accounts you can call, chat or email us and one of our knowledgeable specialists will help get you back on track. You may be investing yourself, but you’re not all alone.

Up to a $150 transfer fee credit.

If you’re already trading somewhere else, move your account to us and we’ll reimburse up to $150 in transfer fees if you make a one-time transfer of $2,500 or more. You’ll need to complete the Automated Customer Account Transfer (ACAT) form, and we must receive it within 15 days of opening the new account. Account owners who complete a first-time ACAT transfer of $2,500 or more are eligible to receive a transfer fee credit of up to $150 to cover the outgoing transfer fee from the current brokerage firm. This credit will be deposited into the new account within 30 days of receiving proof of charge. Keep in mind, this credit can’t be applied to termination or maintenance fees.

Investment Choices

Keep costs low and create an approach you're comfortable with.

An investment strategy with competitive edge starts here. Whether you’re in it for the long term, short term or somewhere in between, we offer a broad range of products so you can diversify your portfolio as you see fit.

Stocks and ETFs Options Bonds Mutual Funds Margin Account

Stocks

The most common type of security, stocks let you own a piece of a company. Investors usually buy stocks because of their potential for growth. We have thousands of stocks to choose from and multiple ways to invest.

ETFs

This is a more diversified investment that trades like stock but pools the money of many investors to purchase a group of assets such as stocks, bonds, foreign currency or commodities. Some of the most popular ETFs offer a type of index investment, where the manager tracks the performance of a specific index such as the Dow Jones or S&P 500. There are some types of ETFs, such as leveraged or inverse, which are short-term, higher-risk investments that should only be considered by experienced traders. Learn about ETFs

Standard Pricing

^$4.95

No account minimums

Ally Invest Select Pricing

^$3.95

30+ trades per quarter or daily balance of $100,000 or more.

How we compare on stocks and ETFs

	Ally Invest	E*Trade	Schwab	TD Ameritrade	Wells Trade
Standard Pricing No account minimum.	$4.95	$6.95	$4.95	$6.95	$5.95
Ally Invest Select Pricing 30+ trades per quarter or daily balance of $100,000 or more.	$3.95	$4.95	n/a	n/a	n/a

Ally Invest

E*Trade

Schwab

TD Ameritrade

Wells Trade

Standard Pricing

No account
minimum.

$4.95

$6.95

$4.95

$6.95

$5.95

Ally Invest Select Pricing

30+ trades per
quarter or daily
balance of $100,000 or
more.

$3.95

$4.95

n/a

About Our Commissions

Options

These are contracts that gives the owner the right to buy or sell an asset at a fixed price, called the strike price, for a specific period of time. The “asset” may be several kinds of underlying securities. Some of the most common ones are stocks, indexes, or ETFs. That period of time could be as short as a day or as long as a couple of years, depending on the option. The seller of the option contract receives the payment from the buyer and then takes on an obligation to take the opposite side of the trade if the owner chooses to buy or sell the asset. Keep in mind, we don’t charge a fee for closing options positions that are 5¢ or below. Take a closer look at options trading

About Our Commissions

Standard Pricing

^$4.95

+ 65¢ per contract
No account minimums.

Ally Invest Select Pricing

^$3.95

+ 50¢ per contract
30+ trades per quarter or daily balance of $100,000 or more.

How we compare

	Ally Invest	E*Trade	Schwab	TD Ameritrade	Wells Trade
10 Contracts Standard Pricing No account minimum.	$11.45	$14.45	$11.45	$14.45	$19.95
10 Contracts Ally Invest Select Pricing 30+ trades per quarter or daily balance of $100,000 or more.	$8.95	$9.95	n/a	n/a	n/a

Ally Invest

E*Trade

Schwab

TD Ameritrade

Wells Trade

10 Contracts Standard Pricing

No account minimum.

$11.45

$14.45

$11.45

$14.45

$19.95

10 Contracts Ally Invest Select Pricing

30+ trades per quarter or daily balance of $100,000 or more.

$8.95

$9.95

n/a

Learn About Options Trading

Bonds

Essentially a loan to a corporation or government, it’s a form of debt security where an investor lends money to an entity in return for interest. The bond acts as an IOU, so once it matures the bond issuer pays you back in full plus interest. Make sure to take a moment to learn about each bond’s unique characteristics before you purchase. Generally the higher the interest rate, the riskier the investment.

Standard Pricing and Ally Invest Select Pricing

^$1

per bond
(Minimum $10)

Mutual Funds

An easy way to diversify a portfolio, a mutual fund includes money from multiple investors to purchase a group of securities. Because the investments are diversified across a number of securities, they’re often considered lower risk than many other investments. With us, you can choose from more than 12,000 funds, some of which may charge a fee.

About Our Commissions

Buy and sell no-load mutual funds

^$9.95

per trade
Learn About Mutual Funds

Margin Account

A margin account allows you to borrow funds which can be used for increased purchasing power or to withdraw funds from your account. We lend you the money you need using the securities in your account as collateral, and like any loan, you pay us interest on the amount you borrow. Margin Account Details

Margin Balance	Ally Invest	E*Trade	TD Ameritrade	Wells Trade
$1,000,000+	5.00%	6.75%	7.25%	7.50%
$500,000 - $999,999	5.75%	7.75%	8.00%	8.00%
$250,000 - $499,999	6.25%	8.25%	8.00%	8.50%
$100,000 - $249,999	7.25%	8.75%	8.25%	9.00%
$50,000 - $99,999	8.50%	9.25%	8.50%	9.50%
$25,000 - $49,999	9.25%	9.75%	9.50%	10.00%
$10,000 - $24,999	9.50%	10.00%	9.75%	10.50%
$.01 - $9,999	9.50%	10.25%	10.00%	10.50%

An account with (tax) benefits.

Take steps to secure your financial future and open your invest account as an IRA. Learn about Ally Invest IRAs

Before you decide, know every aspect of investing with us.

View Details and Disclosures | Straight Talk Fees Guide

A Powerful Platform for Traders

Everything you need. All in one place.

Our award-winning experience is customized for online traders and designed to help you make more informed investing decisions. You have everything you need to explore opportunities, gain insight, take action or build your portfolio whenever the mood strikes.

Streaming charts

View six chart types with 90 chart studies and drawing tools to analyze the performance of stocks, ETFs and indices.

Nerdwallet 5 stars for Stock Trading Costs 2017

Stockbrokers.com 4 stars Best in class "offering of investments" 2016 and Best in Class "Commissions & Fees" 2016

About Our Awards

Let us do the work for you.

A professionally managed portfolio keeps you on track so you can focus on other goals.

Explore Managed Portfolios

FAQs

We have answers

What kinds of securities can I trade?

When you open and fund an Ally Invest account, you can trade online the following securities:

Stocks
ETFs
Options (equity and index)
ByRDs (Binary Return Derivatives)
Mutual Funds
Fixed Income (corporate, agency, treasuries, municipals, strips & zeros, CDs, and new issues)

Forex and futures trading information is available through Ally Invest Forex.

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How do I transfer an account from another broker?

You can transfer an account into your Ally Invest account by submitting the Brokerage Account Transfer (ACAT) (PDF). You'll also need to submit a recent statement of the account that you want to transfer in. You can fax these documents to us at 1-866-699-0563. You can also mail them to us.

Account transfers normally complete in 5 to 7 business days. Also, it is necessary that the account at the other broker and the account at Ally Invest are of the same kind (for example, individual, joint, IRA).

Please note that after an account transfer has been processed, it can happen that some assets have remained in the account at the carrying firm. This is quite common, for example, with interests that were not yet in the account at the carrying firm when the transfer completed. For this purpose, our clearing firm performs automatic residual sweeps every 2 weeks to catch what might have not transferred the first time around.

We do not charge for incoming ACAT transfers. Incoming DRS and DWAC transfers are subject to a $30 transfer fee per position and up to a $150 transfer agent fee per position.

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How are my accounts protected?

Ally Invest Securities, LLC, is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which provides protection for accounts up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims of cash) per client as defined by SIPC rules. Visit http://www.sipc.org/for-investors/what-sipc-protects for more information or call 1-202-371-8300.

Our clearing firm, Apex Clearing, has also purchased an additional insurance policy through a group of London Underwriters (with Lloyd's of London Syndicates as the Lead Underwriter) to supplement SIPC protection. This additional insurance policy becomes available to customers in the event that SIPC limits are exhausted and provides protection for securities and cash up to an aggregate of $150 million. This insurance is provided to pay amounts in addition to those returned in a SIPC liquidation proceeding. This additional insurance policy is limited to a combined return to any customer from a Trustee, SIPC and London Underwriters of $37.5 million, including cash of up to $900,000. Like SIPC protection, this additional insurance does not protect against a loss in the market value of securities.

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Still have questions? Visit our Help Center.

You can find background on Ally Invest Securities at FINRA's BrokerCheck. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.

Review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options brochure (17.8 MB PDF) before you begin trading options. Options investors may lose the entire amount of their investment in a relatively short period of time.

Product screenshots are provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered as advice to buy or sell any particular security.

Self-Directed Trading

Intelligent Investing for the Independent Type

We give you the tools. You take it from there.

Trade anywhere.

24/7 support.

Up to a $150 transfer fee credit.

Investment Choices

Keep costs low and create an approach you're comfortable with.

Stocks

ETFs

How we compare on stocks and ETFs

An account with (tax) benefits.

A Powerful Platform for Traders

Everything you need. All in one place.

Streaming charts

Let us do the work for you.

FAQs

We have answers

About Our Awards

Barron's

Stockbrokers.com

Straight Talk Fees Guide

About Our Commissions

Ally Invest Select Pricing

More details

Commissions for Mutual Funds

Commissions for Bonds and CDs

Margin Account Details

Margin Requirements

Options Trading