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Fidelity Review
With global assets worth 2,346.2 billion under management, Fidelity Investments is already a popular name in the field of investment. However, only few in the market know of its extensive brokerage operation. Fidelity not only offers an array of tools and products, it also offers a reasonable commission schedule focused offering only 4.95$ charge for all types of trading options the broker provides. For those looking for additional value for your buck Fidelity charges no commission on diverse range of trading options, no load funds and inexpensive index funds to choose from.
Devoted stock traders can take advantage of the superior charting and research via the Active Trader Pro programme or the Wealth Lab Pro programme (the traders have to meet certain accounts minimum to avail this software). In addition to the former, Fidelity Investments offers various other superior and specialized trading software. Read our full Fidelity Review to find out whether or not this brokerage meets your investment objectives.
PROS
Comprehensive Research
- Free market research on a variety of instruments such as stocks, funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, sectors, and income products by in-house and third party experts
Economical Cost
- A basic $4.95 fee on most trades – quite competitive, given the research and analysis tools the programme provides
Superior Customer Support and Education
- Round the clock customer support, also provides chat and messaging support; a vast video library; one-on-one education; and trading workshops
Comprehensive Research & Education
- Enables traders to make informed investment decisions with Research and Education portals Fidelity provides
Vast Selections of Securities
- Fidelity provides an array of instruments such as, open-end and closed-end mutual funds, low-cost index funds, and ETFs, as well as stocks, bonds, options, and annuities
CONS
Basic Version Does Not Include Active Trader Pro
At $6.95, the basic commission is above the industry average
Mobile Apps
Does not offer a demo trading account
Restricted Asset Classes
Does not support trading in forex, futures, and more exotic asset classes like spread betting which are popular in Europe.
Fidelity fees and products
The low commission of $4.95 is charged on all trades of the US stock market regardless of the amount of shares traded. Competitive fee schedule is available for all option trades as well. Fidelity also offers thousands of mutual funds with no transaction fees for the benefit of its diversified traders.
Trust
Being a member of SPIC Fidelity ranks high on trust; certain cash accounts under its portfolio are eligible for FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)coverage, the broker does one better by providing guarantees over and above the SIPC and FIDC protections.
Special Features
Both trading platforms, Active Trader Pro and Wealth-Lab Pro offer advanced dynamic charting and exportable data. Active Trader Pro also enables access to live news feed by Bloomberg. Fidelity also hosts a wide range of technical indicators that the traders can overlay on their charts and a wide selection of educational material. Traders who are tax-sensitive may take additional advantage of the feature that allows them to access tax lot information in real time on the advanced trading platforms.
Desktop Experience
The most basic web-based set-up of Fidelity comes packed with a variety of features such as extensive screening capabilities, a superior research and online educational centre. The more sophisticated Active Trader Pro programme works seamlessly on both Mac and Window machines; one also has an option to download the specialised software version that Fidelity provides.
Mobile Experience
Fidelity offers an easy- to –use mobile applications which lets you access your portfolio and execute trades from anywhere in the world. The app has a user-friendly interface and is easy to navigate through. It offers alerts and push notifications for the traders to stay on top of their game. It facilitates easy cash management via easy fund transfers and bill payments. Fidelity direct deposit via a cheque into any Fidelity trading account can be made by taking a photograph of it and uploading it to their mobile device.
Customer Support
Fidelity has a 24/7 available customer support which can be contacted via phone, live chat or an email. The traders can also visit any of Fidelity’s brand location across the United States.
Research & Insights
One of the key USP of Fidelity is the extensive research and analytic information it makes available even to its basic –level users. It provides data on performance figures, main metrics, options etc.
Education
Fidelity is beginner friendly as it provides a variety of free education tools to the traders in the form of articles, tutorials and videos of a vast variety of topics such as stock and option trading, college saving funds, retirement planning, tax saving options, debt and budgeting, charity funds, estate tax planning, life insurance and need analysis and dozen other topics. In addition to the above, Fidelity experts routinely conduct seminars to educate their traders across their 180 local offices in the US. The focal point of this offering is Fidelity’s Online Learning Centre, where the traders have an access to a wide range of educational material covering topics from basic personal finance to advanced trading methods.
Banking
Fidelity via its Cash Management Solutions provides a variety of banking –type services. If the trader holds a Fidelity Brokerage account or Fidelity Investment account, he can keep up to $1,250,000 in cash with FDIC protection. Most modern banking services such as mobile check deposit, free bill payment, free debit card that allows access to cash management account from any ATM (Visa, Plus and Star service providers) is provided by Fidelity. Bank fees from third –party ATMs are also reimbursed by Fidelity.
Bottom Line
With competitive pricing structure, user-friendly software, extensive research and a array of educational materials, Fidelity is a great starting point for beginner traders and traders who like access to a lot of third –party research material while making their own trading decisions. It is also a good option for mutual fund fans as it provides an extensive array of no-transaction fee Fidelity finds, other fund and ETFs. Primarily Fidelity is an active management host, its index funds and ETFs are reasonably priced, coupled with its solid execution reduces investor costs even lower. This feature should appeal to the budget-friendly and the indexing fans. Fidelity gains brownie points by providing a strong cash management program, which is eligible for FDIC insurance and further adds to it by providing partial banking services like ATM access, debit and credit cards.
Fidelity does have a host of benefits however, for those looking to trader in forex and futures have to look elsewhere as Fidelity does not provide these options. Same goes for the traders looking for hard-core technical analysis and hot key capabilities. Fidelity also does not support high-frequency trading which makes it unsuitable for traders who execute hundreds of trades a day. We have covered all the traders need to know about this highly respected brokerage in our Fidelity Review and hope the information provided here will assist you in making right decision,