Ally Invest: More Than A Century Of Experience

Fees	9
Signup Process	7
Minimum Deposit	10
Ease of Use	9
Deposit & Withdrawal Options	9
Customer Support	10
Asset Classes	9
Referral Program	0
Demo Account & Educational Resources	3
Safety & Regulation	10
Total	76

What Is Ally Invest?

Ally Invest is an American broker that is part of Ally Financial Inc., a leading digital financial services company that has been operating in the market for more than 100 years and is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Also, Ally Invest is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

It is important that you take into account that only Americans or foreign citizens with a valid Social Security number who legally reside in the United States full-time, may open an Ally Invest account.

Pros

• Customer support 24/7.
• No commission fees on stocks and ETFs.
• No minimum deposit.
• The investment platform is intuitive and easy to use.
• High standards of regulation and customer protection.

Cons

• Only for US residents.
• Does not offer a demo account.
• It is not possible to use a credit/debit card or e-wallet to fund your account.
• No referral bonus.

Account Types

Ally Invest offers you two different approaches or modalities so that you can invest your capital:

Self-Directed Trading Account

It is a standard investment account with which you can trade on your own, so you can create your investment portfolios by yourself choosing all the financial assets that you want to include in your investment list.

Managed Portfolios Account

This type of account consists of portfolios managed by a team of investment specialists. That is, you only have to contribute the capital that you are willing to invest and the Ally Invest team will be in charge of generating profits. Below we will show you the different types of portfolios in which you can invest your money:

Core

Highly diversified across domestic, international, and fixed-income assets. You can choose the amount of risk you are comfortable with, from conservative to aggressive. If you’re more of a hands-off investor, consider this portfolio type.

Income Portfolio

This portfolio type offers higher dividend yields while maintaining a more conservative risk profile. Consider this portfolio type if you’re most focused on yield and income.

Tax Optimized Portfolio

If you make after-tax contributions to an investment account, this type of portfolio may help maximize your investments. Consider this portfolio type if you’re looking to invest using a diverse mix of tax-advantaged and low-cost ETFs.

Socially Responsible Portfolio

Shaped by companies with ethical track records, you’ll only invest in businesses that actively practice sustainability, energy efficiency, or other environmentally friendly initiatives. Consider this portfolio type if eco-friendly practices are important to you.

#1 Ally Invest Fees

The fee structure offered by Ally Invest will depend on the type of approach you want to give to your investments, be it self-managed or with investment portfolios managed by the qualified personnel of Ally Invest. Below we present the characteristics in each case:

Self-Directed Trading

• No commission fees on stocks and ETFs.
• No commissions on option trades and a competitive contract fee of just 50¢ per contract.
• $1 USD per bond.
• $9.95 USD per trade of mutual funds.

Managed Portfolios

• No advisory fees, annual charges or rebalancing fees, and 30% of your portfolio is set aside as an interest-earning cash buffer.
• Professionally designed portfolio based on your personal goals, timeframe and risk tolerance.
• Includes diversified ETFs.

Also, the broker does not charge inactivity fees. However, there are some fees when you fund or withdraw from your account. In particular, there is a commission of $150 USD in the case that you add funds from another broker and $5 USD in the case of making withdrawals with checks.

The broker offers a very good commission structure, but Ally Invest does not get the highest score in this category due to the fact that you will have to pay some fees when making funds and withdrawals with some methods.

Ally Invest Fees Score: 9/10

#2 Ally Invest Signup Process

Opening an account in Ally Invest is a totally online and very simple process that you can do for any of the accounts offered by the broker:

Self-Directed Trading Account

• Go to the Self-Directed Trading page and select Start Trading to go to the application.
• Enter your personal information and choose the account type and funding options you prefer.
• You’ll receive an email once Ally Invest approves your application.

Managed Portfolios Account

• Go to the Managed Portfolios page and select Create My Plan to get a personalized portfolio recommendation.
• Once you have your customized plan, select Open an Account to apply.
• Enter your personal information and choose the account type and funding options you prefer.
• You’ll receive an email once Ally Invest approves your application.

The process of opening accounts is simple and easy to do. However, the broker could take between 1 and 2 days to complete the process of opening your account. For this reason, the broker loses a few points in this category.

Ally Invest Signup Process Score: 7/10

#3 Minimum Initial Deposit

When you invest in Ally Invest you can freely choose the amount you want to invest for the first time because the broker does not impose any type of minimum initial deposit for the Self-Directed Trading account.

But, if you are interested in investing in a portfolio, you should consider that Managed Portfolio Accounts needs a $100 USD initial minimum deposit, one of the lowest amounts on the market when investing in managed portfolios.

These characteristics are important if you are an investor who is starting in the world of stock investments. You can choose the amount that is in line with the level of risk you want to assume and if the amount you decide to invest for the first time is low you will not have any problem. For this reason, the broker is well-rated in this category.

Ally Invest Minimum Initial Deposit Score: 10/10

#4 Ease Of Use

The investment platform offered by Ally Invest has a very friendly interface. The broker offers web-based trading on a streaming HTML 5 platform.

Additionally, you can view eight chart types (including candlestick, bar, and line) with 117 chart studies and 36 drawing tools that analyze the performance of stocks, ETFs and indices. Also, you can customize settings and use interactive charts for prices.

The investment platform will also allow you to get market stats, news and detailed metrics on companies you’re interested in. You can also find company quotes, charts, high/low prices, dividend dates, news, and peer performance comparisons.

Ally Invest App

With the Ally Invest mobile application you connect to the market anytime, anywhere you are. You’ll have everything you need to explore opportunities because the app replicates the characteristics of the web version. Also, the mobile application is highly rated in mobile stores with a rating of 4.7/5 in the Apple App Store and 4/5 in the Google Play Store.

Ally Invest offers a very good investment platform and an app that has an excellent rating on the different download pages. It is important that the broker you choose helps you complement your investment strategies so that you can find those extra profits you need to get to the next level. Since Ally Invest offers you all these features, the broker only loses one point because the app could be better on the Google download page.

Ally Invest Ease of Use Score: 9/10

#5 Deposit & Withdrawal Options

Ally Invest charges commissions for some of the funding methods. In this sense, you must take into account that there is a commission of $150 USD in the case that you add funds from another broker and $5 USD in the case of making withdrawals with checks. Here are the alternatives to fund or withdraw money offered by Ally Invest:

• ACH Transfer
• Wire Transfer
• Transfer from Another Broker
• Check

Ally Invest loses some points due to the fact that you will have to pay a high fee in the event that you transfer funds from other brokers. In addition, the broker could offer other popular deposit and withdrawal methods such as e-wallets or credit/debit cards. If you are looking for a broker that offers you many more alternatives when admitting your funds to the investment platform, we recommend you read Capital.com, “TD Ameritrade” and “Interactive Brokers“.

Ally Invest Deposit & Withdrawal Options Score: 9/10

#6 Customer Support

Ally Invest offers 24/7 customer service. In this way you can be assisted at any time through the following alternatives:

• Live chat
• Email: support@invest.ally.com
• Phone
  • Inside the U.S.: 1-855-880-2559
  • Outside the U.S.: 1-818-459-4591

The broker has an excellent score in this category because it offers 24/7 support and you will have several alternatives to communicate with the technical staff.

Ally Invest Customer Support Score: 10/10

#7 Asset Classes

Stocks

You can negotiate all the US stocks that you find in the market.

Currency Pairs

You can buy 50+ currency pairs.

Gold

You can buy gold through investment funds.

Bonds

You can buy corporate bonds and government bonds.

ETFs

You can trade with more than 2,000 different ETFs. For example:

• SPDR S&P 500 ETF
• Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF
• Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF
• iShares Gold

Unfortunately, Ally Invest does not offer you the possibility of investing in cryptocurrencies. Although this type of investment is associated with volatility, it is also true that the greater the volatility, the greater the possibility of obtaining large profits. In this way, it is possible that your investment strategies are limited in the event that you want to handle cryptocurrencies within your investment portfolio. For this reason, Ally Invest loses one point in this category.

Ally Invest Asset Classes Score: 9/10

#8 Referral Program

At the moment, Ally Invest does not have any referral bonus. Therefore, it is not possible to rate the broker in this category.

Ally Invest Referral Program Score: 0/10

#9 Demo Account & Educational Resources

Demo Account

The broker does not offer the possibility of opening a demo account. But, as there is no minimum initial deposit, you can check the operation of the platform and see the fees before committing any money.

Educational Resources

Ally Invest offers you very useful educational content with which you can complement your strategies and get new knowledge so that you are always updated to make the most of all the opportunities that arise. You will find:

• Videos
• Analysis
• Discussion articles
• Webinars
• Tutorials

Although the Ally Invest investment platform offers very useful educational content with which you can complement your strategies, the broker loses many points because it does not give you the possibility of opening a demo account. This factor is very important in our scoring system because, thanks to a demo account, not only can you test the investment platform but you can also test strategies and hypotheses to apply them in your real money account.

Ally Invest Demo Account & Educational Resources Score: 3/10

#10 Safety & Regulation

Ally Invest is a safe broker since it is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Also, the broker is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which covers customer claims up to $500,000 USD, including a maximum of $250,000 USD for cash claims. Take into account that SIPC protects your funds in the case that Ally Invest fails, it does not protect against investment losses from the market.

The broker obtains the highest score in this category because not only is it regulated by the institution with the highest standards in the financial world, but it also offers protection for your capital.

Ally Invest Safety & Regulation Score: 10/10

Ally Invest vs. Capital.com

Selecting the broker that best suits your investment strategies and plans is one of the decisions you must make with the greatest amount of information available so that you can operate without distractions and focus on making money. Moreover, it should also allow you to be confident when investing your money by letting you do the best analysis possible at the same time offering you the lowest rates. Taking into account the most relevant aspects for an investor, we prefer Capital.com over Ally Invest for the following reasons:

It Offers An Unlimited Demo Account

One factor that is essential when testing an investment platform is being able to access a demo account, in this aspect Ally Invest falls short because it does not offer demo accounts. With Capital.com you can truly test the platform since you will be able to use a demo account to test each one of the tools and features of the investment portal for as long as you want.

Quick And Easy Account Opening

If you want to trade now without having to wait for days struggling to verify your trading account, we recommend you visit Capital.com. You can open your account and trade in less than 20 minutes.

Capital.com Has Referral Program

Ally Invest does not have a Referral Program that allows you to earn bonuses so that you can gradually increase your capital. In contrast, Capital.com offers you a Referral Program that will allow you to earn $25 USD for each person you invite to invest in this wonderful investment platform.

In Summary

• Ally Invest is a broker with an excellent track record that offers self-directed and managed investment products with which you can invest in stocks, Forex, precious metals, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds and options.
• The broker is regulated by SEC, FINRA, and is a member of SIPC.
• The fee structure offered by Ally Invest will depend on the type of approach you want to give to your investments, be it self-managed or with investment portfolios managed by the qualified personnel of Ally Invest.
• Opening an account in Ally Invest is a totally online and very simple process.
• The broker does not impose any type of minimum initial deposit for the Self-Directed Trading account.
• The investment platform offered by Ally Invest has a very friendly interface.
• Ally Invest offers 24/7 customer service.

If you are interested in a broker that does not require minimum investment amounts and that offers you managed portfolios with a very good fee structure and excellent investment alternatives, Ally Invest can be a good decision because it is also a broker regulated by internationally recognized institutions.

However, we suggest that you take into account the broker that has obtained the highest score in our search for the best broker on the market. We are talking about Capital.com, which has obtained 91/100 points because it offers a large number of features that will allow you to exploit your profits to the maximum.