Fractional share investing allows low-asset investors to build diversified portfolios and take advantage of dollar-cost averaging – executing multiple share purchases over time to smooth out price volatility.
Both of these can improve returns and reduce risk over time. With shares in the most sought-after global and U.S. stocks routinely trading over $100 apiece — and sometimes far higher — fractional investing is no small thing.
If the opportunity to invest in fractional shares is high on your list of must-haves in an online broker or investing app, you’re in luck — plenty of reputable platforms have this capability. They include:
- Traditional full-service brokerage firms with a variety of taxable and tax-advantaged account types, like Charles Schwab
- Financial apps offering capabilities like cash management accounts, do-it-yourself, or managed investments, often with very low account minimums
- Leading robo-advisors with taxable accounts and IRA options
There are so many brokerages that allow fractional share investing to choose from, the only thing left to do is decide which one is right for you.
9 Best Brokers Offering Fractional Share Investing
These online stock brokerages all offer fractional share trading as well as traditional full share trading, usually with no monthly fee. Use them to trade stocks, mutual funds, and other market-traded instruments.
1. Robinhood
Robinhood was one of the first online brokerages to offer commission-free trading. Now that its innovation has spread across the investing world, Robinhood is setting its sights on another frontier: fractional shares of stock.
Though you can currently only join the waitlist, there’s no cost to join or obligation to participate once it’s rolled out. In the meantime, enjoy fantastic features like a high-yield cash management account and access to alternative investments like cryptocurrencies and precious metals.
- Plans and Pricing: Robinhood offers commission-free cash trading, but certain transaction types and account activities can incur fees, and standard regulatory fees apply. See Robinhood’s complete fee disclosure document for more details.
- Account Opening Bonus: For a limited time, apply for a new Robinhood brokerage account and get approved to get a free stock worth $2.50 to $150 (or more) per share.
- Minimum Required to Invest: There’s no minimum deposit required to open an account.
Read Our Review: Robinhood Review
2. Stash
Stash is a micro-investing platform built around the concept of fractional share investing. The most significant difference between Stash and a competitor such as Betterment is its self-directed approach that gives investors — even those just starting — total control over their portfolios’ composition.
With Stash, you can invest as little as $0.01 in individual stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and bonds and can entirely avoid fund expenses when your portfolio contains stocks and bonds alone.
All Stash plans come with a taxable investing account and a checking account with two great features: fractional stock rewards on all eligible transactions and an accelerated payday feature. If your employer qualifies for the payday feature, you could get your paycheck up to two days early each pay period.
Higher-priced Stash plans offer tax-advantaged retirement accounts and custodial investing accounts for up to two kids. Both types offer fractional investing as well.
Stash’s Auto-Stash feature is available at all price points. It offers three features that promote regular investing: recurring investment settings (usually weekly or monthly), a round-up-the-change feature that rounds every checking debit card purchase to the nearest dollar and invests the difference, and a smart investing tool that automatically moves excess funds from your checking account to your investing account.
- Plans and Pricing: Stash has three plans: Beginner ($1 per month), Growth ($3 per month), and Stash+ ($9 per month). Beginner comes with one taxable investing account, a checking account with early payday, fractional stock rewards on transactions (Stock-Back), and free financial education tools. Growth adds a tax-advantaged retirement account. Stash+ adds custodial investing accounts for up to two kids, a metal debit card with twice the Stock-Back rewards, and a monthly market insights report.
- Account Opening Bonus: $5.
- Minimum Required to Invest: The account opening minimum is just $1.
Read Our Review: Stash Review
3. Webull
Webull is another increasingly popular online brokerage with no stock trading commissions or management fees. It’s also one of the best places to buy and sell fractional shares of top stocks and ETFs.
Webull allows fractional share purchases for as little as $5 (minimum 0.00001 shares per order), making it easy to own smaller slices of stocks with higher share prices.
You can also buy options and cryptocurrencies here, enabling all-important portfolio diversification without opening yet another brokerage account.
- Plans and Pricing: Webull charges no trading commissions or account management fees.
- Account Opening Bonus: Get up to 12 free stocks valued at up to $30,600 total when you open your account and complete other qualifying activities by the stated offer end date. See our list of the top brokerage account promotions for more details.
- Minimum Required to Invest: Webull allows fractional share investing with as little as $5, and there’s no ongoing minimum balance requirement.
Read Our Review: Webull Review
4. Public
Public is a social investing platform that puts fractional shares at the heart of its operations.
Users can invest directly (and commission-free) in “stock slices” worth as little as $5 apiece, regardless of the price of the underlying shares, and Public promotes socially responsible investing — both critical selling points for younger investors.
If you’d prefer not to invest in individual stocks, Public offers a range of low-cost index funds with no commissions. Once you’re up and running, use Public’s social messaging tool to stay in touch with your fellow investors and discuss your investments.
- Plans and Pricing: Public offers commission-free trading for all customers, but certain account actions can result in fees. Likewise, index funds can carry expenses and fees that Public can’t control. See Public’s account disclosures for a full list of possible fees.
- Account Opening Bonus: There’s currently no account opening bonus. Check back for the latest offers.
5. M1
M1 is a digital money management app with a high yield savings account, a low-cost borrowing solution, and an automated investing platform that’s free for base plan holders.
The investing solution, known as M1 Invest, offers dynamically rebalanced, fully customizable portfolios with built-in fractional share investing in more than 80 ETFs.
M1’s big selling point relative to other digital investing platforms is M1 Borrow, a portfolio lending tool that offers very low-cost financing secured by the value of the account holder’s investment portfolio.
When you upgrade to M1 Plus ($95 per year), you unlock M1 Borrow loans as low as 7.25% APR — a better deal than many home equity loans and lines of credit.
If you don’t own your own home or have yet to accumulate the equity necessary for home equity financing, M1 Borrow could be your best shot at unlocking substantial sums of low-cost capital.
- Plans and Pricing: M1 has two plans: a base plan (M1) and a premium plan (M1 Plus) that costs $95 per year. M1 Plus benefits include a second daily trading window (compared with one for the base plan) plus a 5.00% yield on eligible savings balances, crypto trades, and custodial accounts.
- Account Opening Bonus: Up to $15,000
- Minimum Required to Invest: $100 for brokerage accounts; $500 for retirement accounts
Read Our Review: M1 Review
6. Betterment
Founded during the depths of the late-2000s financial crisis, Betterment is the original robo-advisor and one of the first online investing platforms to offer fractional share investing to the masses. It remains a leader in the managed investing space, specializing in tax-optimized, custom-allocated portfolios for passive investors.
Betterment’s purpose-built portfolios contain low-cost ETFs that track specific indexes, sectors, and asset classes. Fractional share investing is built into its investing model thanks to unlimited portfolio rebalancing and automatic dividend reinvestment features that spread relatively small sums of cash among multiple securities.
Betterment keeps net costs low by waiving transfer and trading fees — the only fees you pay are its flat management fee calculated as an annualized percentage of assets under management (AUM) and fund expenses that Betterment can’t control.
Betterment also offers two daily money management tools: Betterment Checking, which has a potentially generous rewards program (Betterment Cash Back Rewards); and Betterment Cash Reserve, which has a high yield for a cash management account (though it’s variable with prevailing rates).
Both are FDIC-insured, basically fee-free, allow unlimited inbound and outbound transfers, and charge virtually no fees. You can transfer money from these accounts into your investing account at any time.
- Plans and Pricing: Betterment has two plans: digital (0.25% AUM on all balances) and premium (0.40% AUM on all balances, with a $100,000 minimum). Premium features include comprehensive guidance on non-Betterment investments (such as employer-sponsored retirement plans) and direct, unlimited access to Betterment’s certified financial planner professionals for advice on major life events, such as marriage and buying a house.
- Account Opening Bonus: Get up to one year managed for free with a qualifying account opening deposit. Deposit $15,000 to $99,999 to get one month managed free, $100,000 to $249,999 to get six months managed free, or more than $250,000 to get the full year managed free.
- Minimum Required to Invest: There are no account opening minimums or ongoing minimums to invest.
Read Our Review: Betterment Review
7. Fidelity
Fidelity is a full-service online stock broker with commission-free stock and ETF trades with fractional share investing capabilities, a robo-advisor platform with relatively low fees and no minimums (and fractional shares), and a hands-on wealth management arm (also with fractional shares) for investors who can bring at least $50,000 in investable assets to the table.
Fidelity has a vast library of no-fee Fidelity ETFs for self-directed investors looking to skip out on fund fees and build truly fee-free portfolios. For hands-off investors, there’s the Fidelity Go robo-advisor and the Fidelity Personalized Planning & Advice hybrid platform instead.
Both offer semicustomized portfolios built around your specific objectives and risk tolerance. Both also offer some input from human advisors and dynamic rebalancing using fractional shares.
- Plans and Pricing: With no commissions on stock and ETF trades and a slew of no-fee Fidelity ETFs, Fidelity’s self-directed solution has virtually no fees. Fidelity Go (robo-advisor) charges a flat fee of 0.35% AUM on balances above $50,000, $3 per month on balances between $10,000 and $50,000, and no fee on balances below $10,000. Fidelity Personalized Planning & Advice (hybrid robo-advisor and human-aided coaching) charges a flat fee of 0.50% AUM. The wealth management arm charges advisory fees ranging from 0.50% AUM to 1.50% AUM, depending on the balance invested. The private wealth management arm, a white-glove service for high-asset investors, charges fees ranging from 0.20% AUM to 1.04% AUM, depending on the balance. All fees are subject to change.
- Account Opening Bonus: There’s presently no account opening bonus.
- Minimum Required to Invest: There’s no minimum deposit required to open a Fidelity self-directed account or Fidelity Go robo-advisor account. You need at least $25,000 across all enrolled accounts to open a hybrid robo-advisor and coaching account. Wealth management accounts require at least $50,000, with dedicated financial advisors available from $250,000. Private wealth management services start at $2 million.
8. SoFi Invest
SoFi Invest is a very low-cost investing app with a massive cache of fractional shares, known at SoFi as Stock Bits, in denominations starting at $1. New investors can easily build diversified self-directed (Active Invest) portfolios using only Stock Bits.
Stock Bits are also integral to SoFi Invest’s managed portfolio solution, which offers dynamic rebalancing and dividend reinvestment, both made possible with fractional shares.
Active Invest portfolios charge no commissions on stock or ETF transactions. SoFi’s managed portfolio’s solution is management fee-free, though the funds in which SoFi invests charge management fees over which SoFi has no control.
Although it doesn’t really intersect with the platform’s fractional share investing capabilities, SoFi Invest does have a significant advantage over more traditional brokerages: cryptocurrency investing. SoFi Invest remains one of the few SIPC-insured investing platforms to offer crypto access.
- Plans and Pricing: SoFi has self-directed (Active Invest) and managed portfolio options. Neither charges commissions or management fees, and both utilize fractional shares (Stock Bits). However, managed portfolios carry some third-party fund fees and expenses that SoFi can’t control.
- Account Opening Bonus: For a limited time, earn up to $1,000 when you download the SoFi Invest app and open a new Active Invest account, and up to $100 in Bitcoin with your first qualifying crypto trade.
- Minimum Required to Invest: The account opening minimum is just $1 for Active Invest and automated investing accounts.
Read Our Review: SoFi Review
9. Stockpile
Stockpile is a low-cost self-directed investing platform that offers direct access to fractional shares in more than 1,000 stocks and ETFs, with no fees or minimums.
The platform is for novice investors looking to invest in companies they patronize or care about. Its innovative stock search feature is smart enough to serve up parent companies of popular brands (for instance, a search for “ESPN” pulls up Disney).
Stockpile has some other features worth noting, including custodial investment accounts for kids and teens and the ability to give stock to others via electronic or physical gift cards.
- Plans and Pricing: Stockpile has a single plan for self-directed investors. Trades cost $0.99 apiece, with no additional fees or minimums required by Stockpile. ETFs generally charge fees and expenses that Stockpile can’t control, however.
- Account Opening Bonus: There’s presently no account opening bonus. Check back for the latest offers.
- Minimum Required to Invest: The account opening minimum is $5, but there’s no ongoing investment minimum.
Methodology
How can you be sure you’re working with the best stock brokers for fractional share investing? We consider several important metrics when evaluating the options — narrowing down dozens of possibilities to a much smaller, more manageable list.
Minimum Transaction Value
You’re interested in fractional share investing because you don’t want to spend too much trading stocks, right? Or maybe you want to build a diversified portfolio without draining your life savings.
Either way, you want a low minimum transaction value for your fractional share pickups. So do we, which is why we focus on brokers with very low minimums — often just $1 per stock.
Commissions
Commission-free online trading is basically the norm these days, but you’ll occasionally find high-quality brokers that charge commissions for certain types of transactions. While not ruling out these options entirely, we strongly prefer brokers that, at minimum, offer commission-free stock trades.
Available Asset Types
When we talk about fractional shares, we’re mainly talking about stock and ETF trading. But a few online brokerages offer innovative ways to pick up other types of assets on the cheap. And many more offer more traditional access to bonds, mutual funds, forex, and crypto.
Managed Investing Options
They don’t talk about it as much as DIY investors, but investment managers (including automated investing platforms) rely heavily on fractional shares of stocks and ETFs. So while the smaller fractional share brokerages focus on DIY investing and trading, which costs less for them to offer, many larger brokerages offer both DIY and managed investing these days.
Other Financial Products & Services
It’s nice to satisfy all your financial needs in the same place. The best fractional share brokerages also tend to be comprehensive — if not quite one-stop — money management destinations, with spending and savings accounts (and sometimes lending departments too) in addition to investment platforms.
FAQs
What Is a Fractional Share?
A fractional share is an amount of stock that’s less than one whole share. It costs proportionately less. For example, if one share of XYZ Corp costs $50, a half share (0.5 share, if you prefer) would cost $25.
What’s the Minimum to Invest in Fractional Shares?
It depends on where you buy it. The best fractional share brokerages allow you to buy stocks in increments of as little as $1 to $5.
Can You Make Money Buying Fractional Shares?
Yes, the same laws of investing apply to fractional and whole shares. That is, you can make or lose money with fractional shares, just as you can with whole shares. Just remember that your gain or loss is proportional to what you own so that your upside and/or downside with 0.5 share is half what it would be with one share.
Can You Buy Fractional Shares of Any Stock?
Not quite. DIY-friendly brokerages typically limit fractional share purchases to a menu of highly liquid stocks. There may be hundreds of different names available at any given brokerage, but you’ll notice that many thinly traded or low-value stocks are absent.
At more traditional brokerages, you may be able to purchase fractional shares of any stock that has a dividend reinvestment program (DRIP). The number of stocks offering DRIPs here may be larger than the number of stocks available for a la carte fractional purchases at DIY-friendly brokerages, but every brokerage is different. As with any investing decision, always do your own research.
Final Word
Fractional share investing is a vital tool for any investor, particularly novices and those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. It’s much easier to build and grow a diversified portfolio when you’re not bound to purchase at least one whole share of a high-flying stock or fund.
Fractional share investing also removes the temptation to pick stocks — often an unwise strategy for nonexperts — when your investable assets aren’t sufficient to create a balanced portfolio.
Each of these brokerages and investing apps get it. Perhaps it’s time you opened an account with one.
