Ally Invest vs Firstrade Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

Ally Invest and Firstrade are two leading discount brokerages offering commission-free stock and ETF trading. Use this head-to-head comparison table to evaluate fees, features, trading tools, and account options to help you decide which broker is right for you in 2025.

Head-to-Head Comparison: Ally Invest vs Firstrade (2025)
Feature Ally Invest Firstrade
Website https://www.ally.com/invest/ https://www.firstrade.com/
Broker Type Discount Discount
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No No
Percent Allocations? No No
Crypto Trading? No No
Crypto Fees not applicable not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 50 cents No fee
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? No No
API Trading? Yes; Ally Invest API No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 12,000 Over 4,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 8,000 Over 700
Non-NTF Fund Fee $9.95 $19.95
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 30 days 90 days
Early Redemption Fee $9.95 $19.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? No No
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes No
Robo-Advisor Service Ally Invest Managed Portfolios none
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.00% to 0.30% not applicable
Basics: Headquarters Charlotte, NC Flushing, NY
Year Founded 2005 1985
Clearing Firm Apex Clearing Apex Clearing
Local Branches? No No
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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