Ally Invest offers a myriad of investing options, from more active trading to handing your cash off to their robo-advisor. It prides itself on offering low to no fees, commission-free ETFs, and robust trading tools.
With their Robo Portfolios offering (that’s Ally Invest’s robo-advisor product), it’s a great overall company to invest with.
Ally Invest is the brokerage arm of Ally Bank and stands out in its offerings due to its low investing minimum amounts, low fees, and a decent trading platform. This brokerage offers something for most investors, whether you’re looking to DIY your investment strategy or use Ally’s robo-advisor offering.
Most stocks and ETFs have no commission fees, and options trades are $0.50 per contract. When opening an account, you’ll find that even if there is a minimum opening balance, it’s much lower compared to other brokerages — their robo-advisor, for instance, only requires $100 to get started.
More advanced traders will be able to log into their accounts and use tools many other brokerages offer, but you’ll find there are specialized options analysis tools such as dynamic profitability graphs.
Ally Invest at a Glance
There are plenty of tools for traders who are looking for more advanced research tools. Ally Invest offers some that are pretty robust, especially for a discount brokerage.
If you’re a technical trader, you can use tools such as a profit and loss calculator, probability calculator, and ones powered by Recognia. There’s also the Maxit Tax Manager, where you can look at what the potential tax implications are if you make a certain trading decision. Plus it helps you create 1099 forms on demand.
Options traders will like the range of tools available, such as an options pricing calculator (compare current bid/ask prices), strategy builder (spots and executes option strategies based on set criteria.
Even if you’re that far yet into your investing journey, Ally Invest has an ETF screener which can make it easier for you to find one that’ll fit your investing goals.
As for real-time life streaming quotes, you can get it for free with the Ally Invest LIVE feature, but Level II advanced quotes from Quotestream are only available to those who conducted more than 10 monthly trades.
Investors can take advantage of Ally Invest’s browser-based live trading platform. Features include broker tools, customizable dashboard, quick tradition capabilities, and real-time streaming quotes. For those who trade at home or on the go can use this platform without needing to download any programs.
Trades can also use Ally Invest’s mobile apps — Ally Forex which is only for Forex trading or Ally Mobile, for all other types of available trades.
Ally Invest doesn’t charge any advisory fees for their Robo Portfolios, and plenty of commission-free ETF, options, and US stocks. Their other fees are competitive, at $0.50 per options contract and $9.95 per transaction for no-load mutual funds. Even though it’s lower compared to competitors, you’ll be charged a $50 fee for a full or partial transfer.
There is a $0 minimum to open an Ally Invest account and a $100 minimum for Ally’s Robo Portfolios.
Ally Invest offers many securities — stocks, bonds, options, ETFs, mutual funds, crypto, forex, and even penny stocks. Meaning, all types of investors will find something that suits their trading goals, whether it’s investing in more passive ETFs, hands-off with a robo-advisor, or more active reading with penny stocks.
Robo Portfolios (formerly called Managed Portfolios) is Ally Invest’s robo-advisor offering. While the portfolio management process is automated, the brokers use human investing experts to create their managed portfolios. Like other robo-advisors, you won’t be able to access a human advisor.
Unlike their self-directed trading where you decide how to allocate your portfolio among various securities offerings, Ally Invest’s Robo Portfolios helps you invest based on goals. As in, they’re specifically designed to be geared towards the reasons you want to invest.
Investors can choose from four types of portfolios:
Ally Invest offers some of the best customer service, with 24/7 access via phone, email, and live chat.
Ally Invest offers low pricing, a useful trading platform and tools for novice and advanced traders alike. It’s a great fit for those who don’t have a lot of money to invest — $100 for their Robo Portfolios is one of the lowest minimum requirements we’ve seen. More active investors will love the commission-free trades and low options contract fee.
One big downside is you won’t find tax loss harvesting with Ally Invest’s Robo Portfolios, a major downside if you want to ensure your investments are tax-optimized automatically, However, Ally Invest offers a tax optimized option, which invests in asset classes such as municipal bonds and low-cost ETFs which offer tax advantages. So if you’re investing in other types of managed portfolios, you’re out of luck.
Still, Ally Invest has something for almost everyone. Those looking to invest with a robo-advisor will find the brokerage’s no-frills features appealing, and active traders will appreciate the various research tools. However, if you want futures and fractional shares, you won’t find that here.
Ally Invest may be a good fit depending on what features are important to you. These pros and cons should help you decide.
We’ve rounded up the answers to several common questions about Ally Invest.
Contributor Sarah Li-Cain is a personal finance writer based in Jacksonville, Florida, specializing in real estate, insurance, banking, loans and credit. She is the host of the Buzzsprout and Beyond the Dollar podcasts.
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Ally Invest Review 2021: How It Works, Pros & Cons
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