Ally Invest: A Smart Choice For Your Money?

Ally Invest is a good low-cost broker for beginner and intermediate investors. It offers commission-free trades on stocks, bonds, ETFs, and options, with a $0.50 per contract fee for options. It also has a $0 account minimum, and integration with Ally Bank, with easy transfers to a high-yield savings account.

However, it does not support the trading of futures, forex, or cryptocurrencies. It also has limited third-party research providers and does not offer tax-loss harvesting features.

Ally Invest's fees and commissions

Ally Invest offers commission-free trades for eligible US stocks, options and exchange-traded funds. However, there are a few instances where you might pay a fee on a transaction. For stocks and ETFs priced under $2, Ally charges a base commission of $4.95 plus $0.01 per share.

Ally Invest's per-contract fee for options trades is $0.50, which is lower than some other brokers. The company also offers over-the-counter trading.

Ally Invest charges $50 for a full or partial transfer of your securities out of your account (an ACAT transfer). This fee is generally not as high as some other brokerages.

• $4 per paper account statement
• $10 plus interest to settlement date for margin Reg T extension
• $30 for paper statements over 2 years old
• $60 per year, charged monthly, for tax document requests by fax and regular mail
• $30 for processing a worthless security/penny for the lot form
• $20 plus the regular commission for phone-assisted orders
• $4.95 base commission plus $0.01 per share for low-priced securities (any equity below $2)
• $10 minimum and $250 maximum per transaction for bonds and treasuries
• $24.95 per transaction for certificates of deposit (CDs)
• $50 per position plus any transfer agent fees up to $150 for ACAT transfer out (full or partial)

The platform's trading tools and features

Ally Invest's browser-based platform is basic but effective. It offers quick trading capabilities, real-time streaming quotes and data, a customisable dashboard, and access to all of the broker's tools. The platform is well-suited to customers who frequently trade from different computers.

Ally also allows its customers to trade via mobile devices with the Ally Mobile app. The app lets users access holdings, the trading platform, research, screeners, a stocks watchlist and more. However, the app only provides streaming stock quotes, updating prices every three to five seconds rather than in real-time.

Ally Invest's trading experience is sufficient for most traders, but it has basic functionality for orders, with none of the platforms allowing users to enter contingent orders for stop losses and/or take profits. The platform also doesn't support trailing stops or contingent orders.

Ally Invest's primary website is well-designed and responsive, with intuitive menus. The website provides the most access to screeners, trading products, and education. Investors with funded accounts can automatically view real-time quotes and an updated portfolio value based on current market prices.

Ally Invest's Live platform has user customisation options for the look and feel. The Live platform has more modern website functionality than the primary website, but it doesn't have all the features of the primary website.

Ally Invest's mobile app works well but has less overall functionality. Only trading in stocks, ETFs, and options is available on the mobile app; fixed-income and mutual fund trades need to be done on the website. The functionality includes the ability to see recent activity and transfer assets between Ally platform accounts, such as between the Ally Invest account and an interest-bearing Ally Bank savings account.

Ally Invest provides trading in U.S.-listed equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, mutual funds, and fixed-income products including U.S. Treasuries; CDs; and corporate, municipal, and agency bonds.

Ally Invest offers several free tools, including a profit-and-loss calculator, a probability calculator (that uses implied volatility to determine the likelihood of hitting targets), and the Maxit Tax Manager, which identifies the tax implications of trading decisions and generates on-demand 1099 forms.

Ally scores well for its extended trading hours, which run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

Ally Invest has good customer support, with phone, chat and email assistance available Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern, and Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Ally Invest offers a dividend reinvestment program. There is an account-wide default on dividend investment, but users can also specify this at the time of trade via phone or live help. Any amounts unable to purchase a full share will result in fractional shares rather than idle cash being returned to the account.

Ally Invest has a stock screener available on both the desktop and mobile account dashboards. The screener works well and provides many criteria users might want, including fundamentals, sectors, exchanges, price performance, and valuation. There is also fundamental information such as accounting ratios, earnings per share (EPS), dividends, and consensus analyst ratings from FactSet.

Ally also has ETF screeners available for both desktop and mobile investors. The ETF screener's basic functionality is also utilised for the mutual fund screener on the primary website, with some adjustments as appropriate for the different asset types.

Ally Invest offers streaming charts for desktop and mobile users. Investors can choose from a variety of charting options, including candle, bar, mountain, line, hollow candle, volume candle, and baseline charts, and over 100 chart studies.

Ally Invest does not offer a wide range of tools and calculators, such as a profit/loss calculator. There are, however, helpful calculators related to options trading available on the primary website, including a probability calculator and an options tool showing profitability graphs that can be adjusted to see how a strategy might perform over time.

Ally Invest makes basic news headlines and fundamental information available when a specific security on the platform is selected. This offering is generic and lacks filtering or search functionality, but it is still likely to be sufficient for most investors.

Ally Invest does not offer any proprietary research and relies solely on third-party research from TipRanks, Morningstar, and CFRA.

Ally Invest provides a unique feature for rating stocks: Smart Score. Investors can view the "Smart Score" of a stock to help determine if it is likely to be a good investment. TipRanks' Smart Score takes eight data points, analyses them, and comes up with a number ranging from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating a stock that is predicted to outperform the market.

Ally Invest uses Maxit Tax Manager, a third-party service, to allow investors to run different scenarios to see the potential tax implications on their investments.

The app and website functionality

Ally Invest has a mobile app called "Ally Mobile" available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app provides functionality for all of the company's accounts and activities. You can see all your accounts in one place, including checking, savings, CDs, credit cards, and brokerage accounts. This can be great for customers who want to keep their financial life consolidated within one institution, as it's convenient for transfers between accounts and reduces delays on cash moves.

On the app's investing side, you can check your portfolio with streaming quotes and trade stocks as well as multi-leg options. Customers can perform technical analysis with charting tools and access the latest market news. While it doesn't have all the features of the trading platform, it performs well when you can't be at your desk.

Ally also has a dedicated app for currency trading called Ally Forex, which allows you to enter multiple order types, access streaming headlines from Reuters and weekly reports, chart market trends, get alerts, and generally manage your account.

The primary website is well-designed and responsive, with intuitive menus. It provides the most access to screeners, trading products, and education. Investors with funded accounts can automatically view real-time quotes and an updated portfolio value based on current market prices. However, the app only provides streaming stock quotes, updating prices every three to five seconds rather than in real-time.

Ally Invest Live is another platform with streaming quotes and more modern website functionality. It has user customisation options for the look and feel. However, neither of these platforms has all the functionality features of the primary website.

The trading experience on Ally Invest is sufficient for most traders, but it has basic functionality for orders, and none of the platforms allow you to enter contingent orders for stop losses and/or take profits. The primary website, even if a bit dated, still works well and is responsive. It shows at least two levels of submenus for the topic chosen.

The trading platforms and apps are rated well for their extended trading hours, which run from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern.

Customer service and support

Ally Invest offers customer support via phone, email, and live chat. Its customer service team is available Monday to Friday, 7 am – 10 pm ET, and Saturday, 8 am – 8 pm ET. The phone number for customer support is 1-855-880-2559.

Ally Invest also has an extensive Help Center with FAQs and other resources to assist customers with their queries. The Help Center covers a range of topics, including opening an account, deposits, withdrawals, taxes, trading, and security.

In addition, the Ally website provides detailed contact information for different departments, such as billing and account questions, new home loan applications, existing home loans and servicing, and payment disputes.

Ally Invest also has a presence on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, which can be used as alternative channels for customer support.

While the company provides various support options, there have been some customer complaints regarding the quality of their customer service. Some customers have reported issues with account access, mixed-up records, and unhelpful responses from customer support representatives. However, it is important to note that these complaints may not be representative of the overall customer experience, as there are also positive reviews highlighting the helpfulness of Ally Invest's support team.

The types of accounts available

Ally Invest offers a variety of accounts to suit different needs and circumstances.

Self-Directed Trading Account

This account is for those who want to be hands-on with their investments. It offers a wide range of investment options, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, margin accounts, and more. There is no minimum deposit required to open this type of account, and no commission fees on most U.S.-listed securities.

Robo Portfolio

Robo Portfolios are automated investment accounts. To get started, users fill out a questionnaire to guide the selection of investments for their portfolio. There is a $100 minimum deposit required for this type of account.

Personal Advice Account

This account pairs users with a dedicated advisor who helps to create a personalized financial plan. To open this type of account, users must have at least $100,000 in assets under care, which includes investments and money that will be held in the Personal Advice account.

IRAs

Ally offers traditional, Roth, and rollover IRAs, and beneficiaries can also open Roth IRAs.

Frequently asked questions