Ally Invest review: Options for both active traders and hands-off investors

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• Ally Invest offers active trading accounts, automated portfolios, forex trading, and much more.
• The app has no minimum deposit and offers commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, and options.
• Ally Invest's managed portfolios provide automated investment management at no cost.
• Click here to open an account with Ally Invest.

Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky

Is Ally Invest right for you?

Ally Invest pros	Ally Invest cons
No account minimums or commissions for trading Automated portfolios free of advisory or management fees Options contracts only cost $0.50 per contract Bank accounts, mortgage refinancing, car loans, and personal loans available through Ally Bank	Thousands of mutual funds but no no-transaction-fee mutual funds No cryptocurrencies

Ally Invest is an online investment app offering self-directed trading, automated investing, forex trading, and retirement savings accounts. The company is a subsidiary of Ally Invest Group, Inc., which is in turn a subsidiary of Ally Financial, Inc.

Ally Financial, Inc. also owns Ally Bank. This is one of the things that gives the company a competitive advantage. You could also use Ally to open a checking or savings account, get mortgage refinancing or vehicle financing, or take out a personal loan.

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ally Financial has been in business since 1919. Ally Invest has about $13.4 billion in assets under management, and it manages roughly 406,000 customer accounts.

Editor's rating	4.7 out of 5
Fees	0% (bonds, mutual funds, and other investments have trading fees)
Account minimum	$0 ($100 for managed portfolios)
Promotion	Get up to $3,500 in bonus cash when you open a new investment account.
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Not sure if Ally Invest is right for you? Keep reading to see how the platform fares against similar automated advisors.

How does Ally invest compare?

Min. Investment $0 ($100 for automated advice)	Min. Investment $0 ($1,000 for robo-advice)	Min. Investment $0 ($500 for robo-advice)
Fees 0%	Fees 0% (0.45% to 0.85% for guided portfolios and robo-advice)	Fees 0% (0.35% for robo-advice)
Investment choices Stocks, ETFs, options, bonds, mutual funds, and forex	Investment choices Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, annuities, and bonds	Investment choices Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, treasury bills, bonds, notes, and CDs
Open an account	Open an account	Open an account

Ally Invest, Merrill Edge, and J.P. Morgan all have ties to larger banks. None of the brokerages have commission fees or a minimum requirement for self-directed accounts, and their fees vary when it comes to automated advice. For instance, Ally Invest's automated account has no advisory fees, and it only requires a minimum balance of $100.

Merrill Edge's automated platform, however, includes a $1,000 minimum requirement and 0.45% fee. And with J.P. Morgan, you'll need a minimum of $500 and a 0.35% advisory fee to maintain an automated account.

If you're leaning more toward Ally Invest, though, keep reading to see if it's right for you.

Ways to invest with Ally Invest

Brokerage accounts

Ally Invest is a good option for both active traders and passive investors looking to grow their money at low costs. You can set up a brokerage account for free at Ally Invest. The company's account types include individual, joint, custodial, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and rollover IRA accounts.

Ally's self-directed brokerage accounts also offer commission-free trading on stocks, ETFs, and options. And though you'll have to pay $0.50 for each options contract, this is about $0.15 less than what other brokerages – such as Fidelity and Merrill Edge – typically charge for options.

When it comes to bond investments, you'll need a minimum of $10, and you'll pay $1 per bond. Ally Invest offers more than 12,000 mutual funds, which cost $9.95 per trade. Stocks that are priced less than $2 cost $4.95 (plus $0.01 per share).

If you're looking for interest-bearing account perks, the company offers a Securities Income Program that pays investors interest when they loan out stocks to Ally for a short period of time.

Ally Invest's trading platform also allows you to access multiple stock charts, research and market data, ETF price and performance screeners, and options charts. If you'd like to learn more about your progress, you can use its profitability calculator to track your investment goals.

Automated investing accounts

If you'd rather practice passive investing, Ally Invest's automated portfolios can do all the work for you. Plus, Ally Invest sets aside 30% of your portfolio as cash to protect your investments against market volatility. You'll just need $100 to get started, and the app will regularly manage and monitor your investments.

Ally Invest's managed portfolios come with four portfolio options: core, income, tax optimized, and socially responsible. Core portfolios invest your money in a diversified blend of domestic, international, and fixed income assets. These portfolios also allow you to choose how much risk (e.g., conservative, moderate, or aggressive) you want to assign to your portfolio.

Ally Invest says its income portfolios stick to a more conservative risk level and offer higher dividend yields. Its tax optimized portfolios, however, invest your funds into a blend of low-cost ETFs.

With a socially responsible portfolio, you can ensure that your money is invested in companies with high ethical and environmental standards. Read more about Ally Invest's automated account here.

Retirement accounts

Ally Invest offers traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and rollover IRAs. Neither of its retirement accounts charge annual fees, monthly maintenance fees, transfer fees for rollovers, or commissions for US-listed stocks, ETFs, and options.

However, you'll have to pay certain fees for account transfers or closures. Ally Invest charges $25 for IRA account closures, $75 for full account outgoing transfers, and $50 for partial account outgoing transfers. And its market-focused managed portfolios cost 0.30% per year.

Is Ally Invest trustworthy?

Ally Invest Group, Inc. has received a D- rating with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB rates companies by using a grade scale range of A+ to F, so this indicates that Ally Invest falls behind when it comes to customer interaction.

However, the BBB notes that its ratings don't guarantee a business' reliability or performance, and it recommends that you take both its rating and any other company information into account before making a final decision.

Though Ally Invest recently experienced technical difficulties earlier in the year during a Reddit-influenced stock surge, the company's record is generally clear of any major scandals or lawsuits.

Rickie Houston is a wealth-building reporter at Personal Finance Insider who covers investing, cryptocurrency exchanges, brokerage, and wealth-building products.

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