Ally Invest is one of the newer broker platform on the market and kind of appeared overnight. However, this should not put you off the platform as it has some incredible features, including its trading price. This platform is going to be excellent for beginners who want to get their feet wet without spending too much money before they’ve even started. This is because Ally Invest is well-known for being one of the most competitively priced brokers on the market.
The platform was actually born through TradeKing after it was acquired in 2016. Since then, Ally Invest has been a main competitor against its higher priced competition. Ally also has a lot of features that make it a go-to source for many investors. These features include their educational materials to help beginners and their live responsive interface. Despite the lower price, they also have a lot of research options, allowing traders to know the market before getting involved.
This Ally Invest review will go through the platform and will look at all of its features. If you’re interested in Ally Invest and want to know more, continue to read this article.
Commissions and Fees
As I have previously stated above, Ally Invest is one of the cheapest platforms on the market. It can safely hold the title of a “discount broker” as it allows beginner investors to come in and get started on a budget. One of the featured that I loved it that, despite having a low fee, an account doesn’t require any deposit and can be opened for free.
Coming back to the fees, for a standard stock trade, you will be charged a mere $4.95. If you plan on trading options, you will be charged with an additional contract fee of $0.65, which is still very cheap when compared to the competition. Ally Invest used to be pitched against Options House but this has been acquired by ETrade (a more expensive broker). However, if you plan on trading stocks lower than $2, you will be charged an extra $0.01 per share. Unfortunately, Ally doesn’t offer any commission-free EFTs.
Research and Tools
Despite the lower price, Ally Invest offers an adequate array of research tools that make investing a breeze. They have a simple interface that allows you to see everything you need when evaluating a stock. You can check up the earning reports and there is even a column that will show you the trends associated with your stock of choice. They even offer a peers comparison chart for equities that is not seen often enough amongst other platforms. The one area that they do full short on is third-party data. Most platforms will offer at least 4-6 different third-party sources but Ally Invest only offers 1 – Standard and Poor’s. However, with the price of the platform, I can see why they only have one source.
Customer Service
Ally Invest is pretty good when it comes to customer support, especially over email and live chat. They were quick to response and seemed very knowledge with my questions and queries. In fact, out of all the platforms I have tried, they were one of the best. However, where they lack is in their phone support. Although I was connected very quickly, they didn’t seem very attentive to my needs and didn’t give an overall great impression. They were very knowledge but didn’t give me that “wow” factor I like to look for.
Conclusion
Ally Invest may have appeared overnight but has made a great impression in the discount broker scene. They can safely hold the discount title with their crazily low prices and beginner friendly software. I would say they are better for frequently traders because they’re cheap but don’t provide a lot of research. If you are thinking about buying and holding, we recommend you go with a platform with better research tools. However, overall, Ally Invest is a great platform that you should definitely consider.
