Ally Invest USA is an online broker in the U.S. that’s regulated by the FINRA and SEC. From our Ally Invest review, Ally Financial Inc., the parent company, was established in 1911, which was a former company of GMAC.
Ally Bank is a subsidiary of Ally Invest and Ally Financial Inc., is part of the New York Stock Exchange list. From the Ally Invest review, the brokerage is proven safe because of the excellent track record and its regulation by top financial authorities.
The Ally Invest USA brokerage is suitable for online traders and investors searching for low fees, who want to concentrate on the financial market in the U.S. Only U.S. citizens can trade with Ally Invest USA.
Ally Invest USA is not a scam. It’s a brokerage firm that has SIPC insurance. That means when you create an account with the firm, the SIPC will protect your account up to $500,000, with $250,000 being cash. Also, Ally Invest is a legitimate firm that’s a member of SEC (with I.D. no. 8-66982) and FINRA (with I.D. no. 136131).
The registration has nothing to do with you being profitable in your trade. It only means that recognized regulatory authorities are responsible for any misconduct of Ally Invest and ensure that they operate ethically and legally.
Ally Invest USA has Apex Clearing Corp. as their clearing firm. They are also registered with SEC, FINRA, and other numerous exchanges such as the NYSE and CBOE. Besides, other brokers use Apex to clear their brokerages.
When we take a look at the financial capabilities of Ally Invest USA, a recent yearly report shows that their revenue is more than $1 billion from a booming auto insurance sector. Their client assets are more than $170 billion. $100 billion is from the banking sector. And the numbers keep growing, which means the brokerage firm is expanding.
Is there an Ally Invest promotion for new users? Let’s take a look.
Payment Provider | Safety |
---|---|
very high | |
high | |
high |
5 Stars |
|
0% |
4 Stars |
|
0% |
3 Stars |
|
0% |
2 Stars |
|
0% |
1 Star |
|
0% |
Ally Invest USA is not a scam. It’s a brokerage firm that has SIPC insurance. That means when you create an account with the firm, the SIPC will protect your account up to $500,000, with $250,000 being cash. In addition, Ally Invest is a legitimate firm that’s a member of SEC (with I.D. no. 8-66982) and FINRA (with I.D. no. 136131).
The registration has nothing to do with you being profitable in your trade. It only means that recognized regulatory authorities are responsible for any misconduct of Ally Invest and ensure that they operate ethically and legally.
Ally Invest USA has Apex Clearing Corp. as their clearing firm. They are also registered with SEC, FINRA, and a number of other exchanges such as the NYSE and CBOE. In addition, other brokers use Apex to clear their brokerages.
When we take a look at the financial capabilities of Ally Invest USA, a recent yearly report shows that their revenue is more than $1 billion from a booming auto insurance sector. Their client assets are more than $170 billion. $100 billion is from the banking sector. And the numbers keep growing, which means the Ally Invest broker firm is expanding.
Most online brokerages provide lucrative offers when you sign up with them. The new customer offers or bonuses give you free money to trade with. An online broker usually offers it as a way to attract new traders with various incentives. However, there are various kinds of bonus offers, and each of them comes with terms and conditions before you can get the bonus money paid to your account. Unfortunately, Ally Invest did away with their cash bonus incentives. However, they believe that their competitive rates and features are good enough to draw you to their platform.
There are times when you may want to switch online brokerages for various reasons: for example, you may want a new trading experience. Whatever your reason, you can change your account to Ally Invest with no issues.
Here’s how the process works:
Please remember that Ally Invest USA holds the sole right to terminate any offer within any period without prior notice or prolong the offer according to their discretion. For alternative providers, take a look at our AutoShares review and Betterment review.
From our Ally Invest USA review, the website is appropriately designed and easy to use. There is basic customization which you can use on your dashboard. It’s not possible to change the size of the tabs, but changing their positions is possible.
Ally Invest only offers a one-step sign-in authentication, even though a two-step is more secure. Before you sign in on a new device, there are security questions you need to answer, according to our Ally Invest USA review. When you are done with your account registration, you can sign in with your password and I.D.
The search functions are better and come with auto-suggestion, which can be useful. It also shows relevant results. From our Ally Invest review USA, the brokerage provides different types of orders: limit, stop limit, stop loss, market, trailing stop, and Market-On-Close (MOC).
There’s a nice feature that can display calls, and it’s easy to search for stocks when the ticker symbol is entered. When you click on the trade button, it shows a pop-up window in which you can submit an order. There is also a technical analysis that comes as a free tool from Recognia.
What we also found out from our Ally Invest review USA is that it comes with diverse investment calculators on the site. There’s an API you can use and also a watchlist. However, some links on the site are outdated, and the overall website looks underdeveloped.
For the occasional trader looking for alternative options, check out our Robinhood review, to see how Ally Invest compares.
Opening an account with Ally Invest USA is straightforward, simple to navigate, and entirely digital. You don’t need a minimum deposit to open an account. That is a plus, as it can allow you to trade with small amounts as you start out. However, from our Ally invest review, it will take you three business days to open the account due to verification processes. Compared to other online brokers, as discussed in our Charles Schwab review, Ellevest review, and Gain Capital review, you may feel that it is slow.
Also, the Ally Invest open account is only accessible to U.S. citizens, which means you can’t open an account if you’re outside the USA. Ally Invest has many types of accounts:
The simplest way to deposit your account is through your debit card, because the funds will get to your account faster than through other means. For example, it takes two business days for the funds to arrive when you use wire transfers. You can use Yen, Francs, Pounds, U.S. Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, and Australian Dollars to send the money to your account.
Other methods for funding are far slower. An ACH account takes up to five working days, and using a check can take up to ten business days. It is advisable to use a U.S. bank to draw the check.
With Ally Invest open account, you’ll have access to automated Robo portfolios. These portfolios are split into four categories, core, income, tax optimized and socially responsible. A Robo-advisor provides an integrated algorithm to help manage your investments. It’s similar to the Robo-advisors that Betterment or Wealthfront offers. You can check out the Betterment USA review to learn more about their Robo-advisors and many more.
To start using the Robo portfolio, customers will need to tell Ally Invest about their financial goals to help them discover which ETFs are best to invest in. You’ll only need to deposit $100 to open this account, and you’ll be given trading recommendations by the Robo-advisors to enhance your portfolio. These recommendations are monitored regularly, so you can check how your performance is doing 24/7 on the platform.
Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios don’t come with advisory fees, rebalancing fees, or annual costs and 30% of your portfolio is used as a buffer against the markets’ high volatility.
According to our Ally Invest Review, the trading platform is user-friendly and comes with a suitable search function. Ally Invest has three trading platforms and comes with different tradable products. The three trading platforms are the website, mobile app, and desktop.
The web platform provides fast trading capabilities, live streaming data and quotes, and a dashboard you can customize. You can also access all the brokerage’s tools. However, if you don’t enjoy using the website, you can try other avenues such as Quotestream.
Quotestream is an advanced desktop platform that offers level II quotes, security research, and superior charting. However, you’ll need 30 trades for each quarter to be able to access it. The second platform is the forex trading system.
The system can develop trading strategies automatically. It’s simple to use, and the dealing boxes make overseeing the currency rate simple. There are more than eighty technical studies which come with numerous drawing tools on the charting system on the platform.
The final platform is Ally Invest LIVE, which is a browser system from the site. There are no conditions for trading, unlike Quostream. It comes with the same order types from the website. The arrangement of the home screen is made through tiles, which may help you understand the different details of the market, such as indexes, quotes from stocks, and news articles.
Finally, we come to the mobile app. There’s only one platform on the mobile app, and it works on both Apple and Android tablets and phones. Ally Invest uses the same app for their daily activities. When you log into your account, any financial report will show. Clicking on the securities account will launch the apps brokerage.
The apps charts include a few indicators, comparisons, horizontal mode, and a timeframe that goes back as far as 30 years, minimum.
Before we dive deeper into the trading fees and payment methods, you need to know the difference between trading charges and non-trading charges.
Trading charges are the costs incurred when you trade. It could be spreads, conversion fees, or one of many more possibilities. On the other hand, non-trading charges are the costs incurred that are not directly connected to your trading, for example inactivity fees and withdrawal fees.
From our Ally Invest review, all the trading charges of Ally Invest USA are low. We determined the fee level as low based on comparison with all reviewed brokers. The structure of the trading charge is simple to understand and transparent.
All ETF and stock with prices more than $2 come with no commission charge. If the ETF or stocks are below $2, there is a flat cost of $4.95 and $0.1 for each stock charge. Ally Invest also has low bond charges, particularly when you compare them with European stockbrokers where the cost for trading in bonds is $50 to $70 for each trade.
The non-trading fees for Ally Invest are low. There are no charges for inactivity and account fees. However, when you withdraw to other banks through wire transfer, you can incur a cost of $30.
When it comes to the payment method, you can use eCheck, wire transfer, check deposit, and debit card. You can also use Western Union and MoneyGram to make payments, but you can’t use PayPal. One great feature of Ally Invest is that, if you have an account with Ally Bank, all withdrawals come with no charge.
Ally Invest provides 24/7 customer support and offers relevant solutions to any issues related to Ally Invest. However, in terms of our Ally Invest opinions, the quick response from live chat and phone support was only average. You can get in touch with Ally Invest through email, live chat, and phone.
When we tested the phone support, they gave us helpful answers. The delivery speed is relatively average. Using the email, we got a reply back in a few days. However, at other times, we got the response within 24 hours when we sent a query. The live chat could be better, as although the response was average in terms of speed, the answers we got were mediocre.
When it comes to securing your funds, Ally Invest is under the SIPC. It means, when something happens to Ally Invest, your funds are saved with SIPC.
The SIPC can cover a total of $500,000 of clients’ claims, with a maximum of $250,000 cash. Ally Invest offers an additional cover of $37.5 million maximum, with $900,000 in cash and a cap of $150 million.
However, the SIPC can’t shield you from losing your investment from the trading market. Find out more if you want a further explanation from the SIPC. From 2006 to 2020, Ally Invest has received numerous awards each year.
In January 2020, they received the best online bank and savings bank from G.O. Banking Rates. In May 2020, they received another award from the American Business Awards. They have recognized regulatory bodies such as FINRA and SEC monitoring their activities.
Looking for an Ally Invest promotion? With an Ally Invest open account, you can have access to numerous platform videos and educational resources to help you understand the trading market and make informed decisions. However, they don’t offer a demo account unless you are taking part in forex trading, which is a different platform on its own.
You can use the following additional offers from Ally Invest for learning and training:
The educational resources encompass a broad range of topics, and the video and informative articles have quality content which is excellent for beginner traders. The webinars concentrate on diverse topics that are also suitable for beginners. The training materials are found on another site called Ally Wallet Wise.
While there’s no Ally Invest promotion as such, the wealth of tools available to new account holders are more than enough to keep their users returning.
With Ally Invest open account, you can also trade in forex. With currency experts and excellent trading tools, online forex traders can find helpful resources with Ally Invest to help them make suitable trading choices in forex.
There are a few forex education courses found on the site of Ally Invest. You’ll find articles on fundamental and technical analysis. You’ll also find a lot of forex FAQs that cover broad topics such as risk management, funding account, and margin. Unfortunately, you’ll not find any videos dedicated to forex trading education. They used to offer a premium forex education, but they have since stopped the service.
With Ally Invest open account, you can trade with over 50 currency pairs. There are live quotes accessible to 37 out of those 50 pairs. When it comes to trading in forex, there are no commissions. For every currency pair, there’s a bid-ask spread compensation for the broker. The standard trading pairs have competitive spreads.
If you have a currency account with no activity for three months or more, it will attract a $15 charge every month. If you want to avoid any cost, you can deactivate the forex account. You’ll not be charged when you activate and deactivate your forex account.
When you open a small account, the demand for an opening margin for currency trading is $500 with a size of trade of $10,000. When you have a regular account, the initial fees are $2,500 with a size of trade of $100,000.
Ally Invest has a maximum leverage of 50:1. You can also have either of the leverage when you place a request. The margin required for minimum maintenance is 2% for high currency pairs, while minor ones require 5%.
You can’t get margin calls with Ally forex. If you open the position of the currency, Ally can automatically close it if the required margin for the account is not met because of a price change. Ally Invest regulates every margin electronically and closes the positions automatically if they don’t meet the minimum requirements for the margin.
In terms of our Ally Invest opinions, Ally Invest USA offers more to their customers than just providing securities. Traders who don’t require forex educational resources can fully take advantage of the free trading technology. And also, you can benefit from the competitive spreads on every huge currency pair.
You can compare Ally Invest with other trading accounts such as Autoshares USA reviews to come up with a well-informed decision.
Ally Invest USA offers a useful ETF anatomy to help you in your trading journey. You can check the entire list of ETFs that Ally offers to help you choose the one that suits your investing goals. Ally Invest offers zero commissions for trading in ETFs.
Ally offers an ETF screener assist in developing a personalized screen. There are numerous preset screens established by Lipper, and you can filter the ETFs by a unique symbol or keyword.
Other decent alternatives such as Eoption USA review provide plenty of competition to Ally Invest USA, but both brands offer a decent ETF service.
With Ally Invest open account, you can have experts manage your portfolios, giving you an automated Robo portfolio experience. These portfolios use Robo advisors who monitor your funds and make changes to help your accounts grow without charging customers advisory fees and keeping 30% of your portfolio aside to earn interest.
It’s similar to the robo-advisors that Betterment or Wealthfront offers. You can check out the Betterment USA review to find out more about their robo-advisors and many more.
Ally Invest also offers Self-Directed Trading, allowing you to trade commission-free across the market 24/7. Unlike the Robo portfolio, which requires a minimum deposit of $100, you don’t need to worry about that with a Self-Directed Trading account, as customers can deposit when they’re ready. You can check out the market to discover the best investment options and commission-free ETFs to enhance your portfolio.
There are six portfolio options you can choose from:
The type of portfolio that will be used for your account will depend on the answers you give on your questionnaire. It’s mostly about your tolerance for risk. One advantage is that you can change your portfolio as your risk profile changes.
So if you have a Growth portfolio, you can change to Moderate Growth, Aggressive Growth, etc. However, some robo-advisors make it impossible to change your portfolio yourself once your risk tolerance is finalized.
Every portfolio consists of a mixture of international stocks, U.S. bonds, U.S. stocks, cash, and international bonds. Ideally, if you want to be an aggressive investor, your portfolio will be high in stocks because the Aggressive Growth portfolio holds 93% of stocks, 2% in cash, and 5% in bonds. If you want to be conservative, you’ll get high bonds and cash.
Unfortunately, Ally Invest Canada is not possible unless you’re a full-time resident in the United States. From our Ally Invest opinions, there are other alternatives you can use such as finding other similar brokerage firms, for example, Charles Schwab USA review, to decide on which broker to choose. So the Ally Invest Canada shouldn’t stop you from trading.
Ally Invest has currently stopped its futures trading. For review purposes, we will take a look at their futures trading in detail.
Even though Ally Financial Inc is popularly known, there’s less information on the brokerage’s futures trading services.
In terms of security and safety, Ally Invest is registered under the NFA. As a member, they follow the rigorous policies of NFA, and the association monitors their operation to make sure they are following the rules and regulations.
With Ally Invest open account, there is a contract fee of 85¢, and that is for each contract. The company will charge the cost to a maximum of 250 contracts each month. If you trade more but fall below 2,000, you’ll pay 65¢ from your Ally Invest USA account. For those above 2,000, you’ll pay 45¢.
The minimum requirement for depositing is $500 with the Ally Invest USA account. It includes both non-taxable and taxable Ally Invest USA accounts.
With futures trading discontinued, there are other alternative reviews for other options for trading such as Ellevest USA review.
Should you be looking for a broker that can provide you with an exceptional range of trading markets, then Ally Invest is a great place to start. Ally Invest uses a web based trading platform that is notably easy to use and even easier to find the markets you would like to trade. The overall feel of Ally Invest is that it is predominantly aiming at investors with simpler requirements. This means that it may not be the stand out option for your more active trader.
The pricing of stocks at Ally Invest is really where the broker shines, as there is currently a 0% commission fee on all of your stock trading. They have complemented this change on their platform by also having no account minimum.
Ally Invest also gives their users the ability to analyse the performance of their stocks with 8 different streaming charts. More than this, they give you the option to create your own custom watchlists that help you to stay on top of your stocks and securities. Moreover, you can calculate your stocks profitability with All Invest’s profit/loss calculator to better understand the potential of your stocks and trades. Ally Invest is always finding new ways to make your experience simple and more intuitive.
By way of a comparison. we’d suggest a look at our popular Wealthfront review, a competing broker platform offering low fees and accessible Robo-advisor support.
From our Ally Invest review, Ally is one of the major U.S. online brokerages available today which is regulated by recognized financial authorities. That means, your tradings are secured since they follow strict rules and guidelines.
Ally Invest offers no charges for trading inactivity and offers a quality product range for U.S. investors and traders. In our Ally Invest opinion, creating an Ally Invest USA account straightforward, and it’s totally digital. We were also impressed with their quality educational resources.
However, they also have some disadvantages. Only U.S residents can trade with Ally Invest. There’s also a high margin rate, and you can trade in forex only by creating a separate forex account offered by GAIN capital or forex.com.
Since Ally Invest has low trading fees and zero inactivity fees, feel free to trade with Ally Invest. You can use their Managed Portfolios to your advantage, especially if you want to start with a managed option and work your way up the trading journey. For more brokerage reviews, take a look at both our eOption review and Ellevest review.
Trading financial products carries a high risk to your capital, especially trading leverage products such as CFDs. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
This site is using Cloudflare and adheres to the Google Safe Browsing Program. We adapted Google's Privacy Guidelines to keep your data safe at all times.