SoFi Active Investing Review: A Clear Standout Broker

SoFi Active Investing packs in essential perks such as no trading commissions, no account minimums, and a high-quality mobile app experience. But if you're wanting to buy mutual funds, you'll want to look elsewhere. Learn more about this stock broker with our SoFi Active Investing review.

This stock broker is a good fit for: Beginner stock and ETF investors seeking a high-quality mobile experience and low commissions. Mutual fund investors will want to look elsewhere.

Top perks

No trading commissions

Most brokerages have scrapped trading commissions for online stock and ETF trades. SoFi is no different. However, SoFi also offers options trading with no per-contract fees, which is somewhat of a rarity in the brokerage industry.

No account minimums

You can open a SoFi account with no minimum amount.

Buy fractional shares

SoFi lets investors buy fractional shares of stock. In a nutshell, investors can buy a portion of a share of stock for as little as $5. This means that not only can investors open an account with a tiny deposit, but they can actually invest that tiny amount of money -- even in stocks whose share prices are relatively high.

All-in-one app

SoFi has an easy-to-use app that serves as the functional home base for its investing platform and other financial products. It is highly rated, with 4.8 out of five stars on the App Store and 4.1 out of five stars on Google Play.

Retirement accounts

Unlike some of the other low-frills brokerages, SoFi offers traditional, Roth, and SEP IRA accounts to its investors, both active and automated.

Lots of educational resources

SoFi does a great job of educating its customers about all of its financial products and accounts, and its brokerage is no exception. The platform offers extensive educational resources for investors who are just getting started or who want to advance their investing knowledge.

IPO investing

Most brokers reserve IPO investing for investors who either have a high net worth or are very active. SoFi allows all active investing members to participate in IPOs with no minimum account balance or investment amount.

Discounts on other SoFi products

If you use SoFi Active Investing, you'll become a SoFi member. This entitles you to discounts on other products offered by the company. For example, if you end up taking out a personal loan, you can get a discounted interest rate because of your relationship with the company.

What could be improved

Mutual funds

You can buy and sell ETFs on SoFi's platform, but not mutual funds. If you want to invest in mutual funds, you'll have to do it with another broker.

Account types

SoFi offers traditional brokerage accounts (both individual and joint), as well as traditional and Roth IRAs. It also offers SEP IRAs -- a favorite of self-employed individuals. However, it does not offer SIMPLE IRAs, solo 401(k) accounts, UGMA/UTMA accounts, trusts, and several other account types you might be interested in.

Trading platform

SoFi's desktop and app-based trading platforms are easy to use. However, they don't have as many features as some of the other top brokerages. Active investors and those who want features like stock research, charting tools, and other advanced features may want to look elsewhere.

Like most other brokerages, SoFi Active Investing doesn't charge commissions on stock trades. However, it doesn't offer mutual funds.

SoFi doesn't offer mutual funds at this time. The platform is designed to allow investors to buy and sell only stocks and ETFs. This could certainly change in the future. SoFi Active Investing is a very young platform and is likely to evolve rapidly over the coming years.

On all stock and ETF trades, investors will pay $0 in transaction fees. Options trading is also available, and has no per-contract charges or commissions. It doesn't offer the types of investment transactions (like broker-assisted trades) that typically incur fees.

Investors can buy and sell stocks and ETFs through SoFi's desktop platform. They can also use its highly-rated app, which also serves as the home base for all of SoFi's financial products.

The SoFi app is known for its ease of use. It's currently rated at a 4.8 out of 5 in the Apple App Store, and a 4.1 out of 5 in the Google Play Store.

SoFi Active Investing does offer margin at a flat rate of 9.5% for members. In the current interest rate environment, this is in line with what most other brokers offer.

SoFi Active Investing is designed as a low-frills platform. It's primarily targeted at beginning investors, and does not offer access to third-party stock research at this time. Investors who like to analyze stocks might prefer a full-featured brokerage.

• You're a beginning investor: SoFi is geared toward beginning investors. It isn't intended to be the best place for experienced investors who are analyzing stocks.
• You want to keep all of your finances in one place: SoFi is well known for its loan products, especially personal loans. It also offers the SoFi Money account, which combines the best features of checking and savings accounts. And SoFi has one of our top-rated robo-advisors, SoFi Automated Investing. With an all-in-one app and a wide range of financial products, SoFi can be a great choice for people who want to keep their investments in the same place as their other financial accounts.
• You don't care about mutual funds: SoFi Active Investing is a great place to buy and sell stocks. That's all. If you want to invest in mutual funds, or pretty much anything else, you'll have to do it elsewhere.
• You want low frills, but also want to invest for retirement: This is a big differentiator. Most other low-frills platforms don't offer IRAs. Robinhood and Cash App don't. SoFi gives investors an easy-to-use way to invest for retirement.