Is Fidelity a regulated broker?

Fidelity is the trading name of FIDELITY BROKERAGE SERVICES LLC, whose registration read active on FINRA BrokerCheck when we checked it on 28 August 2026 (CRD 7784, SEC 8-23292). It is a SIPC member, which protects the custody of assets up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash if the firm fails. That covers the firm failing, not an investment losing value.

How much does Fidelity charge to trade stocks?

Fidelity publishes $0 (online US stocks and ETFs) on stock and ETF trades, read from its own schedule on 28 August 2026. Regulatory pass-through fees are charged on top of the headline at every US broker, including this one.

What are Fidelity's options fees?

Fidelity publishes a base commission of $0 and $0.65 per contract. Read from its own schedule on 28 August 2026.

Does Fidelity charge a fee to transfer an account out?

Fidelity publishes $0 to move an account out (transfer of assets), read on 28 August 2026. Transfers in are free at every broker we track, so this charge applies in one direction only.

What is Fidelity's margin rate?

Fidelity publishes 7.50%–11.825%, read on 28 August 2026. Margin is tiered at almost every broker and the cheapest rate belongs to the largest balances, so a retail-sized loan normally sits in the most expensive band rather than the advertised one.

Is there a minimum to open an account with Fidelity?

No. Fidelity publishes no minimum deposit to open an account, read on 28 August 2026.

Does Fidelity offer retirement accounts?

Yes. Fidelity publishes 4 retirement account types, alongside joint and individual taxable accounts. A custodial account for a child is also available.

Broker review

Fidelity review

Item: Fidelity
Rating: 9

A full-service US brokerage with a zero-commission equity schedule and no account minimum.

Written by: Juan Manuel Gonzalez
Published: August 28, 2026
Data verified: August 28, 2026

In summary

Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC has been a FINRA member since January 1979 and is a SIPC member. Its published schedule is $0 for online US stock and ETF trades, $0 base plus $0.65 per contract for options, and $0 to transfer assets in. There is no account minimum and no published inactivity fee. It is the broadest account-type lineup in our set, including HSAs and solo 401(k)s.

Editorial score, based on our methodology

How this is calculated

Safety2.7
Cost2.7
Selection1.8
Accounts1.8
Headroom1.0

How the total is built · Segment width = sub-score × weight. Widths sum to the total.

Legal entity and regulation

Read from FINRA BrokerCheck on August 28, 2026. Check it yourself — the reference number below is all you need.

Legal name: FIDELITY BROKERAGE SERVICES LLC
CRD: 7784
SEC: 8-23292
Registration status: ACTIVE
Regulators: SEC, FINRA
Investor protection: SIPC member — up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash

Published fees

11 of 14 fields verified

Read from Fidelity’s own published schedule. Fields we could not find on the pages we read are marked not verified — we do not fill them with estimates, and a blank would read as zero.

Fidelity published fee schedule
US stocks and ETFs	$0Online US stocks and ETFs
Options base commission	$0
Options per contract	$0.65
Account minimum	$0No minimums to open an account
Mutual funds	$0Fidelity funds
Bonds	$1.00 per bondSecondary market
Futures	Not offered
Crypto	Not verified
Account service fee	None published
Inactivity fee	None published
Outgoing transfer fee	$0Transfer of assets
Broker-assisted trade	Not verified
Margin rate	7.50%–11.825%Tiered by debit balance
Currency conversion	Up to 3% of principalCharged on a foreign exchange wire, when converting USD to wire funds in another currency. We did not find a separate conversion rate for buying foreign shares

Where these costs sit

Against every other broker we publish that has a verified figure for the same field. Brokers whose figure we could not verify are left out rather than plotted at zero.

$0.65

$0cheapest$1most expensive

Options, per contract · 12 brokers with a verified figure

$0cheapest$2,000most expensive

Account minimum · 7 brokers with a verified figure

What you can hold

US stocksOffered
ETFsOffered
OptionsOffered
Mutual fundsOffered
BondsOffered
FuturesNot offered
Spot currenciesNot offered
CryptoNot verified
International listingsOffered
Fractional sharesOffered
OTC equitiesOffered

Account types

Individual taxable offered
Joint offered
Traditional IRA offered
Roth IRA offered
Rollover IRA offered
SEP / SIMPLE IRA offered
Custodial offered
Trust offered
Solo 401(k) offered
HSA offered
Margin offered
Managed portfolio offered

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

No account minimum and no published account service or inactivity fee
$0 to transfer assets in, per the published schedule
The broadest set of account types we recorded, including HSA and solo 401(k)
Single long-standing legal entity — no recent custody or entity migration for clients to track

Limitations

No futures trading
$0.65 per options contract is higher than the cheapest US options schedules we recorded
Crypto pricing not read from a primary source at this revision

Check these yourself

Buying foreign ordinary stock that is not DTC eligible carries a $50 foreign settlement fee per trade, and foreign dividends and reorganisations carry 1% of principal — neither appears in the headline commission schedule
Margin rates are tiered from 7.50% to 11.825% — check the tier that matches your likely debit balance
Mutual funds outside Fidelity's own range may carry transaction fees not covered above

How Fidelity scores

Under our default weights. Individual rankings re-weight these same sub-scores, which is why Fidelity sits in different positions on different pages.

Safety and regulationweight 30%
9/10
Fees and total costweight 30%
9/10
Investment selectionweight 22%
8/10
Account types and featuresweight 18%
10/10

Sub-scores by pillar · Each pillar scored 0–10 from published evidence

Safety and regulation9/10 · weighted 30%: Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-23292), FINRA member since 1979, SIPC member. Long operating history under a single entity, with no headline retail enforcement matter identified in our sourced review.
Fees and total cost9/10 · weighted 30%: $0 equity and ETF commissions, $0.65 per options contract, no account minimum, no published account service or inactivity fee, and $0 to transfer assets. Options pricing is mid-pack rather than lowest.
Investment selection8/10 · weighted 22%: Stocks, ETFs, options, bonds, mutual funds, international equities and fractional shares are all offered. No futures, which caps the score below the multi-asset firms.
Account types and features10/10 · weighted 18%: Widest published lineup in our set: taxable, joint, all IRA variants, custodial, trust, solo 401(k) and HSA.

Not scored

Access and eligibility — Not scored in v1.0. Requires per-country eligibility confirmed against each firm's own onboarding terms, which we have not completed.
Platform and usability — Not scored in v1.0. Requires hands-on use of a funded account, which we have not done.
Research and education — Not scored in v1.0. Requires logged-in access to the research suite, which we have not had.
Customer service — Not scored in v1.0. Requires timed contact tests across channels, which we have not run.
Execution quality — Not scored in v1.0. Requires analysis of Rule 605/606 order-execution reports, which is scheduled for a later release.

Common questions about Fidelity

Answered from the figures above, each read from a published source on August 28, 2026.

Is Fidelity a regulated broker?: Fidelity is the trading name of FIDELITY BROKERAGE SERVICES LLC, whose registration read active on FINRA BrokerCheck when we checked it on 28 August 2026 (CRD 7784, SEC 8-23292). It is a SIPC member, which protects the custody of assets up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash if the firm fails. That covers the firm failing, not an investment losing value.
How much does Fidelity charge to trade stocks?: Fidelity publishes $0 (online US stocks and ETFs) on stock and ETF trades, read from its own schedule on 28 August 2026. Regulatory pass-through fees are charged on top of the headline at every US broker, including this one.
What are Fidelity's options fees?: Fidelity publishes a base commission of $0 and $0.65 per contract. Read from its own schedule on 28 August 2026.
Does Fidelity charge a fee to transfer an account out?: Fidelity publishes $0 to move an account out (transfer of assets), read on 28 August 2026. Transfers in are free at every broker we track, so this charge applies in one direction only.
What is Fidelity's margin rate?: Fidelity publishes 7.50%–11.825%, read on 28 August 2026. Margin is tiered at almost every broker and the cheapest rate belongs to the largest balances, so a retail-sized loan normally sits in the most expensive band rather than the advertised one.
Is there a minimum to open an account with Fidelity?: No. Fidelity publishes no minimum deposit to open an account, read on 28 August 2026.
Does Fidelity offer retirement accounts?: Yes. Fidelity publishes 4 retirement account types, alongside joint and individual taxable accounts. A custodial account for a child is also available.

Fidelity compared

Sources

[1]Fidelity — Commissions and margin ratesRead August 28, 2026
[2]FINRA BrokerCheck — Fidelity Brokerage Services LLCRead August 28, 2026

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Risk warning

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Nothing on this site is personalized investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation. Figures are read from public sources on the dates shown and can change without notice — verify anything you intend to act on with the provider directly. Read the full risk disclosure.