Ally Invest Review 2026: Pros, Cons and How It Compares

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• In this Ally Invest review

Costs: Ally Invest appeals to both the beginning investor and the experienced stock trader with $0 trading costs on eligible U.S. securities, no account minimum and low-cost options trading. Ally also offers thousands of funds with expense ratios under 0.50%.

Advanced features: Ally offers an automated portfolio management option and a suite of free tools for technical investors.

Cash management: Uninvested cash in an Ally Invest brokerage account earns no interest, but Ally invest offers instant money movement between Ally savings and brokerage accounts, letting investors take advantage of interest rates several times higher than the typical default sweep interest rates of most brokerages. This does, however, require opening an Ally savings account separately. Those savings accounts do offer buckets to help you organize your finances.

Beginners: Ally gives you everything you need and nothing that you don’t. If having too many options feels stressful, Ally’s pared down experience may be better than a full-tilt brokerage with all the bells and whistles.

Options traders: Options traders will have access to competitive pricing and surprisingly advanced tools through Ally.

Ally says you can sign up for an account in 5 minutes or less — but it took us a little longer than that. To open an account with Ally you’ll need your Social Security or tax identification number and a U.S. residential street address. You’ll also need to decide if you want to open a standard brokerage account or an IRA.

Like many online brokerages these days, Ally Invest has no account minimum, which is a great perk for someone who doesn’t have much to invest in the beginning.

Ally Invest has commission-free trades for eligible U.S. stocks, options and exchange-traded funds. This is typical of brokers these days — charging a commission for stock and ETF trades is relatively rare. There are a few instances in which you might pay a fee on a transaction using Ally. For stocks and ETFs priced under $2, Ally charges a $4.95 base commission plus $0.01 per share.

In addition to not charging a base commission for options trades, Ally Invest’s per-contract fee comes in lower than some other brokers at $0.50 per contract. Ally also offers over-the-counter trading.

As for fees, Ally Invest charges $50 for a full or partial transfer of your securities out of your account (called an ACAT transfer). Often brokers charge a reduced fee for a partial transfer, but in general, $50 isn’t as high as some other brokerages.

Ally Invest’s browser-based platform is basic but effective. It offers quick trading capabilities, real-time streaming quotes and data, a customizable dashboard, and access to all of the broker’s tools. Customers who frequently trade from various computers — home and work, for example — will appreciate this web-based platform, which doesn’t require any downloads. Ally also allows its customers to trade via mobile devices with Ally Mobile.

Other free tools include a profit-and-loss calculator, a probability calculator (that uses implied volatility to determine your likelihood of hitting your targets) and the Maxit Tax Manager, which identifies tax implications of trading decisions (e.g., short- and long-term gains and losses or wash sales) 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’s mobile app is a part of the larger Ally Bank app, and lets users access holdings, the trading platform, research, screeners, a stocks watchlist and more.

Ally Invest offers stocks, ETFs, options, bonds and nearly 5,500 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

Ally has a solid selection of bond products, including corporate, municipal, agency, Treasurys and bond ETFs.

Though there is a strong selection of tradable securities on offer, two fairly common securities are missing from that list: futures and cryptocurrency. And unlike some competitors, Ally doesn’t offer access to IPOs. Expert traders can still enjoy advanced trading in options and penny stocks, but for futures, crypto and fractional shares, they’ll have to turn elsewhere.

Ally only offers access to two third-party research providers: Morningstar and TipRanks. However, it does offer a suite of investing tools that exceed expectations for a deep-discount broker. Its options trading tools are particularly strong and include an options pricing calculator to compare current bid/ask prices to forecast theoretical values, as well as a strategy builder that identifies and executes option strategies based on criteria you choose. Ally Invest has also introduced a new ETF screener that makes it easier for users to find an ETF that meets their investing goals.

Ally Invest has good customer support via call, chat and email Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Saturdays 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Some brokers offer support 24/7, but having Saturday hours is a close second. And as a bonus, the customer support phone number is immediately visible within the app.

Ally offers traditional, Roth, rollover, beneficiary, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. This is a solid selection: Some brokers only offer traditional and Roth IRAs.

Not only does Ally offer a high-yield savings account, but it also offers buckets to help you organize your cash. These buckets make it easy to separate your emergency fund from your vacation fund.

Ally does accept payment for order flow (PFOF). Regulators have proposed potential reforms around PFOF; it involves market-making firms paying brokers to route customer orders through them^[1]. Although its effects are negligible for most investors, it’s possible PFOF brokers could execute orders slightly slower or at slightly worse prices than non-PFOF brokers.

Ally says its execution quality is approximately 99.55%, which is on the higher end of brokers that we review.

While you won’t earn interest by leaving cash in your Ally brokerage account, it’s pretty easy to move money into and out of Ally’s higher-yield savings accounts.

All investing comes with the risk of loss, but Ally is covered by insurance and is registered with all the appropriate governing bodies.

Ally has FDIC insurance to protect cash deposits in checking and savings accounts for up to $250,000. Ally is also covered by SIPC insurance, which protects brokerage accounts up to $500,000. SIPC insurance doesn’t apply to investment losses or price fluctuations. Ally is also regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure compliance with securities regulations, and by FINRA, which regulates broker-dealers.