For investors that want to have a brokerage account opened, but not necessarily always have it funded, we have researched the top brokerage firms in the United States to find the best online stock broker with no minimum deposit required to open an account.
Among the five brokers listed below with no minimum deposit, if we had to only choose one broker, we’d choose Ally Invest every time. As shown in the table below, Ally has the lowest fees, and among every other broker with low fees, Ally is the only one with 24/7 customer service.
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Best Online Stock Broker with no Minimum Deposit
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Stock Broker |
Minimum Deposit |
Trade Commission Per Stock |
|---|---|---|
Ally Invest is our favorite stock broker for 2018, because they have the lowest per-trade commission, no minimum deposit, no inactivity or maintenance fees, free real-time market data, and 24/7 customer service.
Bottom Line
Without a doubt, Ally Invest is the best online broker in terms of pricing, trading tools, and customer service. $3.95 commissions are with high-volume or high-balance trading, regular commission is $4.95. See the full Ally Invest review.
Up to $3,500 cash bonus + commission free trades for new accounts
Commissions
Account minimum
Promotion
Bottom Line
TradeStation offers access to advanced trading products at competitive pricing. Full TradeStation Review.
Bottom Line
Although it comes at a price of hefty commissions, TD Ameritrade offers great trading tools and 24/7 customer service that will active traders will appreciate.
See the full TD Ameritrade review.
Commissions
Account minimum
Promotion
Bottom Line
E-trade is an online stock broker that has decent trading software but expensive per-trade commissions.
Signing up for an account with any one of these brokers will not require funding. Lots of other online brokers, like Schwab and Interactive Brokers require a minimum deposit just to open an account.
As a general rule, we avoid using accounts with strict minimum deposit requirements, because we feel it compels us to invest when we otherwise may not want to. Opening an account with a broker that requires a minimum deposit won’t hurt you monetarily if you don’t fund it. Most likely, the broker will close the account after a period of time if it has not been funded from the time it was opened.
With a $0.00 minimum brokerage account, the account will never be closed out if opened and not funded. Similarly, it will never be closed if you use it, and then withdraw all of your money, leaving the balance at zero. Essentially, if you open an account with a broker that has no minimum deposit, it gives you the freedom to invest only when or if you want to.