Public

Public's fee structure is its defining advantage. Here's the full breakdown as of March 2026:

Stock & ETF Trading:

• $0 commissions on all stock and ETF trades during market hours
• $2.99 per trade for after-hours and OTC stocks (waived for Premium members)
• No payment for order flow on equity trades — orders route to exchanges

Options Trading:

• $0 commissions and $0 per-contract fees on stock and ETF options
• Rebates of $0.06–$0.18 per contract based on monthly volume:
  • Tier 1 (up to 999 contracts): $0.06 rebate
  • Tier 2 (1,000–4,999 contracts): $0.10 rebate
  • Tier 3 (5,000–9,999 contracts): $0.14 rebate
  • Tier 4 (10,000+ contracts): $0.18 rebate
• Index options (SPX, NDX, VIX, CBTX): $0.35–$0.50 per contract
• Adjusted rebates on QQQ, SPY, IWM: $0.06 for Tiers 1–3, $0.10 for Tier 4

The rebate program shares 50% of Public's payment-for-order-flow revenue with traders. That's the mechanism — not charity.

Margin Rates:

• 4.90% base (balances up to $50K)
• 4.75% ($50K–$100K)
• 4.50% ($100K–$1M)
• 4.25% ($1M–$10M)
• 3.95% ($50M+)

For context: Fidelity charges 11.83%, Schwab 11.83%, Vanguard 12.00%, E*TRADE 12.25%. Even Robinhood's 5.00% and Interactive Brokers Lite's 6.14% sit above Public's base rate.

Yield Products:

• Bond Account: 6.16% yield — a portfolio of investment-grade and high-yield corporate bonds
• High-Yield Cash Account: 3.3% APY, up to $5M FDIC insurance across 20 partner banks
• Treasury Account: 0.29% management fee (tiered down for larger balances), Treasury bill interest is state-tax-exempt
• Fractional bonds from $100 — no other broker offers this

Premium & Account Fees:

• Public Premium: $8/month or $96/year — free for accounts over $50,000. Adds Morningstar research, extended-hours trading, fee-free OTC trades, and priority support
• Concierge tier ($500K+): dedicated account manager, exclusive events
• Inactivity fee: $3.99/month for accounts under $70 after 6 months dormant
• Outgoing ACAT transfer: $100
• Wire transfer: $25
• Direct Indexing: 0.19% annual fee, $1,000 minimum
• Generated Assets: 0.49% annual fee
• Investment Plans: $0.49–$1.99 per trade for non-Premium users

Crypto:

• Spread-based fees through Zero Hash LLC
• Transaction fees start at $0.49 for orders under $10, scaling to 1.25% for orders above $500
• 1.25% on crypto in Investment Plans via Bakkt Crypto
• These fees apply even for Premium members — no waiver

Public started as a social-investing app. The asset menu now rivals brokers three decades older.

• Stocks — 9,000+ US-listed equities, fractional shares available
• ETFs — full range of exchange-traded funds
• Options — stock, ETF, and index options (SPX, NDX, VIX, CBTX). Strategies from basic calls/puts through iron condors, butterflies, and credit spreads
• Bonds — 40,000+ corporate, Treasury, and municipal bonds. Fractional bonds from $100
• Treasuries — custom Treasury ladders, maturities from 3 months to 30 years, minimum $1,000
• Crypto — 40+ cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP. 24/7 trading. Now available inside IRAs following Public's acquisition of Alto's CryptoIRA business in late 2025
• Direct Indexing — 100+ customizable indices with automated tax-loss harvesting, $1,000 minimum
• Generated Assets — AI-built custom indices from natural language prompts (0.49% annual fee)

Account Types:

• Individual brokerage (taxable)
• Traditional IRA
• Roth IRA
• Rollover IRA (via Capitalize partnership)

The IRA includes a 1% uncapped match on rollovers, transfers, and annual contributions. The match is treated as interest income, not a contribution. Matched funds must stay 5 years. Options trading inside the IRA earns the same rebate structure — unusual for retirement accounts.

Notably missing: no joint accounts, no SEP IRAs, no 529 plans, no custodial accounts, no mutual funds, no futures, no forex. Families, small business owners, and mutual fund investors need another broker.

Public's interface is polished — dark mode, clean typography, responsive design. The mobile app and web platform offer the same feature set, and both make buying or selling straightforward.

AI-Powered Research:

• Alpha — GPT-4-powered investment analysis. Ask any question about any stock, get sourced answers with cross-referenced data
• Key Moments — AI-generated explanations of major price movements, embedded in performance charts
• Earnings Hub — AI recaps of earnings calls, company KPIs, actual call audio and transcripts, up to 4 years of history
• Income Hub — monthly breakdown of earnings from every income-generating asset, with forward projections
• Bulls Say / Bears Say — AI-generated bull and bear cases for any stock (Premium)

Trading Tools:

• Options Hub — real-time monitoring of heavily traded contracts
• Strategy Builder — translates market outlook into multi-leg options trades
• Rolling Options — adjust expiration dates or strike prices without closing positions
• Queue — batch trades, edit with live prices, execute multiple orders at once
• Bond Screener — filter 40,000+ bonds by yield, risk, duration
• API — programmatic trading with real-time market data, same fee schedule as manual trades including rebates

Up to $250,000 in instant buying power — no waiting for settlement.

The execution quality caveat. Public's stock order execution quality sits at 94%, several points below the industry average of ~97.5%. For small retail orders this difference is negligible. For large block trades, the price improvement gap matters more. Public doesn't accept PFOF on equities (good), but its execution routing isn't best-in-class.

Security gap. NerdWallet flagged that Public's app lacks a passcode system or automatic logout after inactivity. If your phone is stolen while unlocked, your account is exposed. Fidelity and Robinhood both force re-authentication. This is a genuine weakness for a platform holding real money.

Public makes sense for:

• Active options traders — the rebate is structurally unique. At Tier 4, you earn $0.18 per contract instead of paying $0.84 at Fidelity. That's a $1.02 per-contract swing on every trade
• Yield-seekers — Bond Account (6.16%), High-Yield Cash (3.3% APY), Treasury ladders, and the 1% IRA match create multiple income streams. The Bond Account yield exceeds the current Fed funds rate of 3.64%
• Bond investors with modest capital — $100 fractional bonds exist nowhere else. Schwab and Fidelity require $1,000+ per bond
• Margin traders — 4.90% is the lowest base rate among major US brokerages. At $100K borrowed, you save $6,930/year versus Fidelity's 11.83%
• Crypto-in-IRA investors — following the Alto acquisition, Public is one of few brokers offering crypto trading inside retirement accounts

Skip Public if you need:

• Joint accounts, custodial accounts, or 529 plans — not available
• SEP IRAs or SIMPLE plans for your business
• Mutual funds — none offered
• Phone support — email and chat only, weekdays 9am–5pm ET
• Best-in-class execution quality — 94% vs. 97.5% industry average
• Transparent crypto pricing — spread-based model obscures your actual cost
• A broker with a multi-decade track record — Public launched in 2019

vs. Robinhood: Both offer $0 stock/ETF commissions. Robinhood charges $0.05/contract for options; Public pays you $0.06–$0.18. Public's margin rate (4.90%) edges Robinhood's (5.00%). Public has bonds and Treasuries; Robinhood doesn't. Robinhood Gold ($5/month) includes a higher cash yield. For options volume, Public wins on cost.

vs. Fidelity: Fidelity charges $0.84/contract for options and 11.83% on margin. It offers mutual funds, joint accounts, custodial accounts, phone support, and decades of institutional stability. Fidelity's execution quality (99%+) is best in class. Fidelity wins on breadth and trust; Public wins on options cost, margin, and bond accessibility.

vs. Schwab: Similar to Fidelity — broader product set, thinkorswim for advanced charting, full banking integration. Options at $0.69/contract and 11.83% margin rates make it substantially more expensive for active traders. Schwab's advantage is the all-in-one financial ecosystem.

vs. Interactive Brokers: IBKR Lite starts at 6.14% margin. IBKR Pro offers tighter spreads for high-volume traders and access to futures, forex, and international markets. IBKR's interface is complex; Public is simpler. For pure options cost, Public's rebate program still wins.

Public occupies a specific niche: the cheapest options broker that also offers bonds, competitive margin, and modern AI tools. Outside that niche, the established brokers cover more ground.