Ally Invest is an excellent choice for investors at just about every level. For self-directed investors, they offer commission-free trades on stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and options. But they charge lower fees than most competitors on per contract option fees at $0.50 per contract, and much lower commissions on no-load mutual funds, at $9.95 per trade.
Ally Invest also offers a robo-advisor if you want some or all your portfolio professionally managed at a low-cost. And for investors with portfolios of $250,000 and up, they provide wealth management at lower advisory fees than many competitors. The fee ranges between 0.75% and 0.85% per year.
We also like that Ally Invest offers 24/7 customer service by both phone and live chat.
However, small investors may have a bit of difficulty investing with Ally Invest, particularly those with account balances under $1,000. Ally Invest does not offer fractional share investing, forcing investors to purchase shares at full price. While that won’t necessarily make it impossible to invest, it will make it extremely difficult to diversify within small portfolios.