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Fidelity is one of the largest — and best — brokerage and robo-advisor platforms, offering a robust selection of trading tools, brokerage accounts, and advanced trading features.
Business Insider's personal finance team compared Fidelity to the best online brokerages and found it an industry leader for youth accounts and retirement planning.
Introduction to Fidelity
Fidelity Investments is one of the best investing apps for beginners for comprehensive robo-advice, mobile investing, and personalized wealth management services. All types of investors, including teenagers and beginners, can benefit from commission-free trading with Fidelity Investments.
Fidelity has you covered with access to investing with stocks, ETFs, and fee-free mutual funds. Or, you can invest in the Fidelity Basket Portfolios and choose the stocks and ETFs you want in your basket.
Fidelity Go, the brokerage's robo-advisor, is one of the best robo-advisors for beginners to access low-cost diversification strategies, online planning tools, and access to an advisor if your account balance exceeds $25,000.
That said, passive investors with high account balances may want to consider a different robo-advisor to avoid Fidelity's 0.35% annual fee Also, unlike a standard brokerage account, Fidelity Go doesn't offer tax loss harvesting.
In addition to its online platform and mobile apps, Fidelity offers a trading platform specifically for active traders: Active Trader Pro. Fidelity Active Trader Pro features include real-time trading alerts, investing insights, portfolio monitoring, customizable dashboard layouts, and options trading assistance — though it doesn't have a mobile option.
How Fidelity Works
Between all of the different accounts, the commission-free trades available for Fidelity include:
- US stocks and ETFs
- Options trades ($0.65 per contract)
- Zero expense ratio index mutual funds
Investment options with fees are:
- $1 bonds and CDs (free for US treasuries traded online)
- Cryptocurrency funds
Fidelity offers fractional share investing for US stocks and ETFs. You can also choose to invest in sustainable investing through Fidelity's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing options. If you want to diversify your portfolio globally, Fidelity offers international stock trading in over 25 countries and 16 currencies.
Fidelity Cash Management Accounts
Fidelity states that the purpose of a Fidelity Cash Management Account is to complement (not replace) an already existing brokerage account. The Cash Manager tool automatically moves funds between your Fidelity accounts to match your investment goals better.
- Fidelity Government Money Market Fund: 4.25% 7-day yield
- FDIC-Insured Deposit Sweep Program: 2.35% annual percentage yield
Account minimum: $0
Fees: $0
Self-Directed Fidelity Brokerage Accounts
Fidelity's self-directed brokerage account serves active traders who want complete control of their investments. This account's flexibility allows investors to invest in various assets, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. It offers commission-free trades, fractional shares, and smart trading technology.
This may appeal to advanced traders looking to hand-pick investments and accomplish goals on their own time.
Account minimum: $0
Fees: $0 commission for online US stock, ETF, and option trades
Margin rates: As low as 8.50%
Fidelity Go
Fidelity Go uses a combination of Fidelity Flex mutual funds in its Fidelity Go portfolios. According to Fidelity, these funds contain a mix of domestic stocks, foreign stocks, bonds, and other short-term investments.
It provides unlimited access to a certified financial planner (CFP) with an account balance of $25,000 or more. You can unlock one-on-one personalized advice and guidance for no additional charge.
A team of investment professionals handles Fidelity Go's day-to-day trading decisions. An existing Fidelity brokerage account can be converted to a Fidelity Go account. However, it doesn't offer ETFs or tax-loss harvesting and isn't a good choice for investors wanting to capitalize on short-term stock market trends.
Account minimum: $0 to open and $10 to start investing
Fees: 0.00% for accounts under $25,000, 0.35% for account with balances at or above $25,000
Managed Fidelity Accounts
Outside of Fidelity Go, there are two different managed accounts: Fidelity Wealth Services and Fidelity Strategic Disciplines. Both account options give investors access to human advisors.
- Fidelity Managed FidFolios: These portfolios of personalized stocks are professionally managed by a team of Fidelity experts using a tax-smart investment strategy. There's a $5,000 minimum and a 0.70% annual fee.
- Fidelity Private Wealth Management: If you're not interested in investing through a robo-advisor, Fidelity Wealth Services grants you immediate access to a financial advisor who solely provides personalized investment management. There's no automated management involved. There's a $2 million minimum and 0.20%-1.04% gross advisory fee.
- Fidelity Wealth Management: A Fidelity advisor offers financial planning and ongoing management. The minimum fee is $500,000, and the gross advisory fee is 0.50%- 1.50%.
Fidelity Retirement Accounts
Fidelity offers several retirement accounts, including:
- Traditional IRAs
- Roth IRAs
- Rollover IRAs
- Small business retirement plans
With a retirement account, you can access several retirement calculators and tools, including the guaranteed income estimator, IRA contribution calculator, retirement strategies tax estimator, savings planner, and the Fidelity retirement score.
Account minimum: $0 and $1 to invest
Fees: $0
Fidelity Youth Account
Fidelity was one of the first brokerages to offer a DIY investing account for minors (aka a teen brokerage account). It's free to set up and designed for children aged 13 to 17 with a parent or guardian with an existing Fidelity account.
You can invest in a limited selection of US stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, and Fidelity mutual funds.
Moreover, Fidelity now offers Basket Portfolios for Teens, a subset of the Fidelity Youth Baskets. Parents can monitor account activity with the Fidelity mobile app. Investments in cryptocurrencies, penny stocks, international stocks, foreign currencies, and IPOs are currently prohibited.
Once you turn 18, you must transition the account to Fidelity's standard brokerage account. According to Fidelity, the debit card issued will still be valid until it expires, at which point it will issue a new debit card.
Account minimum: $0
Fees: $0
Fidelity Custodial Accounts
If you're a parent or guardian with a child/dependent under 18, you might be interested in Fidelity's selection of savings and investment accounts for minors to learn how to manage money responsibly.
- Fidelity custodial account (UGMA/UTMA): With the best custodial accounts, parents and guardians can invest money in various assets on behalf of a child or dependent.
- Roth IRA for Kids: This account operates much like a regular Roth IRA account with the same tax advantages and annual max contributions (up to $7,000 per child in 2024). Funds are managed by a parent/guardian but must be transferred to the child at ages 18 to 25 (varies by state). This account offers stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, fractional shares, and CDs.
- Fidelity's 529 plans: Save toward future education expenses with Fidelity's 529 accounts for tax-free withdrawals, no account minimums, and no account fees. Fidelity's Age-Based Strategies rely on portfolios with asset allocations tailored toward your beneficiary's current age. With Age-Based Strategies, you'll choose the following three investment strategies: Fidelity Funds, Fidelity Blend Funds, and Fidelity Index Funds.
Fidelity Disability Savings Accounts
Fidelity Attainable Savings Plan is an ABLE account for investors already receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), including children and dependents. It grows tax-deferred funds and can become federal income tax-free if used for eligible disability expenses.
The account aims to provide an accessible way for disabled individuals to save for qualified disability expenses. Qualified expenses include education, housing, employment, transportation, personal support services, training and support, assistive technologies (and related services), and basic health and living expenses.
Fidelity Crypto Accounts
A Fidelity Crypto account offers commission-free trades to buy and sell bitcoin, ether, and litecoin. Although the cryptocurrency selection is limited, it may suit beginners or causal crypto investors.
Outside of Fidelity Crypto, Fidelity also offers crypto ETPs following the SEC's approval in 2024. They are called the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the Fidelity Ethereum FUnd (FETH). These funds aim to track the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Account minimum: $1 to start investing
Fees: Spread of 1% on Fidelity Crypto purchases and trades
Check out Business Insider's guide to the best cryptocurrency exchanges »
Fidelity Fees
Fidelity has a huge selection of account types. Therefore, fees, minimums, and rates can greatly vary. Most Fidelity accounts — like Fidelity Go, custodial and Youth accounts, and IRA accounts — cost $0 to open and don't require account minimums.
Fidelity Go accounts have no account minimums, require at least $10 to start investing, and generally have low fees. But you'll pay slightly more for higher account balances. Fidelity Go accounts with balances under $25,000 don't charge an annual advisory fee. Accounts with $25,000 or more balances charge an annual 0.35% advisory fee.
One of the biggest assets of investing through a Fidelity account is the 0% expense ratio when you invest in Fidelity ZERO index funds. However, depending on your investment portfolio, you may still pay a low expense ratio.
Fidelity Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of investing in Fidelity Investment Accounts.
Fidelity Pros
- Low account minimum and fees
- Commission-free stocks, ETFs, options, and fractional shares
- Large range of investing tools and trading platforms
- Fee-free mutual funds
- Fidelity basket and youth basket portfolios
Fidelity Cons
- Robo-advisor requires a higher minimum to access unlimited CFP access
- Newer investors may be overwhelmed by the number of options
- Fidelity Go doesn't offer tax-loss harvesting
Fidelity Trustworthiness and Security
Fidelity is a secure brokerage firm with a long trustworthiness history, including a Fidelity Customer Protection Guarantee that reimburses customers for unauthorized activity in their accounts.
Additional protection features include encryption software, intrusion protection systems, proxy servers, firewalls, 24/7 system surveillance, advanced anti-malware, and security alerts via text or email.
Fidelity encourages users to increase security by equipping multi-factor authentication, money transfer lockdown, and biometrics.
The brokerage ensures security protocols are up to date by regularly training associates on the latest security policies and data protection to ensure awareness and compliance. However, two pending lawsuits have been filed against Fidelity.
Despite its history and reputation as a secure and reliable brokerage, Fidelity is being investigated by Stueve Sigel Hanson after allegations of inadequate security measures and negligence with customer data in November 2023. Over 77,000 clients' financial data was breached in a cyber security attack. This case is still pending.
Additionally, in October 2024, Fidelity received a proposed class action lawsuit that claimed customers were charged unnecessary high expenses for holding the fund's retail share class (SPAXX) when they were eligible for lower expenses. The lawsuit claimed this was a breach of fiduciary duty. Fidelity denies these claims.
The Better Business Bureau has given Fidelity Investments an A+ rating. The BBB assigns its ratings using a grade scale of A+ to F.
Google Play rating: 4.6/5
Apple Store rating: 4.8/5
Fidelity vs. Other Online Brokerages
Let's see how Fidelity compares to other online brokerages.
Fidelity vs. Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab automated investing is an investing and wealth management powerhouse catering to individuals and institutional investors. Charles Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade in 2019. Like Fidelity, Charles Schwab offers many brokerage account options, including automated accounts and professionally managed portfolios.
Self-directed accounts require no minimum investment and no fees with either platform. Moreover, both Fidelity and Charles Schwab offer thousands of no-transaction-fee mutual funds. However, Charles Schwab doesn't offer crypto-trading options, whereas, with Fidelity, you can trade cryptocurrencies and stocks in a Fidelity Crypto account starting at $1.
Fidelity also has a one-of-a-kind Fidelity Youth account: a teen-owned brokerage account offering beginner-friendly trades and learning tools. Schwab does offer custodial account options, such as a custodial IRA and 529 plans, but not a teen brokerage account.
Schwab is best for folks interested in a Personal Choice Retirement Account for investing in a wider range of securities or a Trust and Estate Accounts. Socially responsible investors may also prefer Schwab over Fidelity since Schwab offers a donor-advised fund account that allows you to structure charitable contributions with tax advantages.
Read our Charles Schwab review and our in-depth Fidelity vs. Charles Schwab comparison.
Fidelity vs. Vanguard
Vanguard is another large online brokerage offering competitive financial planning and investment services with low fees and a robust robo-advisor. Like Fidelity, Vanguard brokerage services include self-directed, automated, retirement, and education savings account options. However, Fidelity has a much larger selection of account options.
If you want to invest in Vanguard's renowned ETFs and funds, you can open a Vanguard brokerage account for no minimum and no annual account fee. Vanguard is the stronger platform for financial professionals, retirement-focused individuals, and goal-based investing. Pre-retirees can invest in Vanguard's All-In-One retirement funds in their IRA or 401(k). But there's a $1,000 minimum.
Vanguard does not offer cryptocurrencies, so crypto investors are better off with Fidelity. In addition, Fidelity's robo-advisor (Fidelity Go) is better for people with balances below $25,000 and is the overall cheaper option.
Read our Vanguard review and our Vanguard vs. Fidelity investing comparison.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Fidelity
Fidelity was examined using Business Insider's rating methodology for investing platforms to compare account flexibility, security, and overall customer experience when reviewing investing platforms. Investment platforms are given a rating between 1 and 5.
Fidelity was evaluated based on fees, investment selection, access, ethics, and customer support compared to other top brokerage accounts and investment platforms.
Business Insider's Overall Fidelity Rating
| Feature | Insider rating (out of 5) |
| Fees | 5.00 |
| Investment selection | 4.75 |
| Access | 4.53 |
| Ethics | 5.00 |
| Customer service | 5.00 |
| Overall score | 4.86 |
Fidelity FAQs
Fidelity Investments is one of the largest financial service corporations, offering competitive pricing for its various banking and brokerage services, including wealth management, life insurance, retirement planning, education savings, and disability. You can trade a wide range of investible securities through the platform's robo-advisor or advanced trading platforms like Active Trader Pro.
Fidelity Investments supports beginner investors with its user-friendly trading platform, beginner-friendly investment strategies, and commission-free trades. For no minimum, you can open a Fidelity Go brokerage account for comprehensive robo-advice and access to tools like personalized portfolios and retirement planning calculators. There are also educational resources for investors by Fidelity specifically designed for beginners.
Fidelity's Active Trader Pro platform makes Fidelity Investments a good choice for advanced traders who want to access customizable charting features, real-time analytics, complex options strategies, and premium market data. Fidelity's advanced trading is best for sophisticated traders who want access to more complex strategies and tools. You can even subscribe to Fidelity Basket Portfolios to create a hand-picked mutual fund.
Fidelity Investments offers a transparent fee structure that rivals its competitors. The online brokerage has no account minimum and no fees for its regular brokerage services and its robo-advisor. In addition, there are commission-free trades for U.S. stocks, ETFs, and options. However, there is still a $0.65 per contract fee for options. Managed accounts require much higher minimums and fees in exchange for comprehensive financial management services and advanced features.
Fidelity Investments rates highly for customer service, with various support features to help clients navigate their financial journey. Fidelity offers support through live chats, phone calls, in-person consultations, and CFP guidance.
