SoFi Invest
Best for beginner to intermediate investors who want zero-cost trading (especially options), an IRA match, and IPO access in a simple, app-first experience
www.sofi.com/investFees
Stock/ETF Commission
$0 online stock, ETF, and options trades
Options Fee
$0 per contract (no commissions, no contract fees, no exercise/assignment fees)
Account Fee
$0 account maintenance; $25/year inactivity fee (waived by logging in every 6 months); $100 IRA closing fee
Margin Rate
10.5% annual base rate; $2,000 minimum for margin accounts
Pros
- +Truly zero-cost options trading — no commissions, no per-contract fees, no exercise/assignment fees
- +1% IRA contribution match (2% for SoFi Plus members during promos)
- +IPO access with no account minimums
- +Fractional shares starting at $5 on 4,000+ securities
- +Free access to certified financial planners
Cons
- –0.01% cash sweep rate on uninvested cash — far below industry standard
- –No tax-loss harvesting on the robo-advisor
- –High margin rate at 10.5% annually
- –$100 ACAT outgoing transfer fee and $100 IRA closing fee
- –Limited research tools and no futures, forex, or bond trading
Account Types
Key Features
SoFi Invest Review: Zero Commissions, Zero Contract Fees
SoFi Invest charges $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options — including no per-contract fees on options. That last part is genuinely rare. Schwab charges $0.65 per contract. Fidelity charges $0.65. SoFi charges nothing. For anyone running covered calls or learning options on small positions, that savings compounds fast.
The brokerage sits inside SoFi's broader fintech ecosystem — banking, loans, credit cards, insurance — and the integration creates real perks. A 1% IRA match (2% during promotional periods for SoFi Plus members), fractional shares from $5, IPO access, and free consultations with Certified Financial Planners. SoFi Technologies ($SOFI) itself has turned profitable, posting $173.5 million in net income on $1.34 billion in Q4 2025 revenue, with 13.7 million members and 20.2 million financial products on the platform. This isn't a startup hoping to find a business model — it's a profitable fintech bank with $19.4 billion in market cap.
But SoFi isn't competing with Schwab or Fidelity on depth. No tax-loss harvesting, no futures, no forex, thin research tools, and a 0.01% cash sweep rate that borders on insulting in a world where money market funds still yield north of 4%. The platform is built for simplicity, not sophistication. If that trade-off works for you, this review covers every fee, feature, and gap you need to know about. SoFi Securities LLC is a FINRA member (CRD# 151717) and SIPC-protected with standard $500,000 coverage.
Fees
SoFi's fee structure is dead simple and genuinely cheap for most investors.
Trading Commissions
- Stocks & ETFs: $0 per trade
- Options: $0 commissions AND $0 per contract — most brokers charge $0.50–$0.65 per contract
- Options exercise/assignment: $0
- Mutual funds: $0 for most of the 6,800+ no-transaction-fee funds. Interval fund purchases carry a 2% transaction fee; other mutual fund purchases may incur 0.2%, capped at $20
- Fractional shares: $0
- Crypto: 1% spread on all buys and sells across 27 available cryptocurrencies
Account Fees
- Account maintenance: $0
- Annual fee: $0
- Inactivity fee: $25/year — avoided by logging into the app once every six months
- IRA closing fee: $100 — steep versus Fidelity ($0) or Schwab ($0)
- Paper confirmations: $2 each
- Paper statements: $5 each
Transfer & Withdrawal Fees
- ACH transfers: Free
- Outgoing wire transfer: $25
- Outgoing ACAT transfer: $100 — high compared to Fidelity and Schwab ($0–$75)
- Reversed ACH transfer: $30
- Early IPO sale (within 120 days): $50 first sale, $5 per sale after
Margin Rates (Tiered)
SoFi overhauled its margin pricing to a tiered structure pegged to the Federal Funds Rate (currently 3.64% effective rate as of February 2026):
- Under $50K: Fed Funds + 5.75% (≈9.39%)
- $50K–$100K: Fed Funds + 5.00% (≈8.64%)
- $100K–$200K: Fed Funds + 4.50% (≈8.14%)
- $200K–$500K: Fed Funds + 3.50% (≈7.14%)
- $500K–$1M: Fed Funds + 3.00% (≈6.64%)
- $1M–$10M: Fed Funds + 2.00% (≈5.64%)
- $10M+: Fed Funds + 1.00% (≈4.64%)
These rates are better than the old flat 10.5%, but still above Interactive Brokers for most balance tiers. The tiered structure at least rewards larger balances.
Robo-Advisor (Automated Investing)
- Management fee: 0.25% annually — matches Wealthfront and Betterment
- Minimum investment: $50
Uninvested Cash
- Sweep rate: 0.01% — the single worst feature of SoFi Invest. Fidelity's default SPAXX money market yields around 4%. Schwab's money market options are similarly competitive. Leaving cash in a SoFi brokerage account earns essentially nothing.
Payment for Order Flow: Yes. SoFi's execution quality runs around 98.13% for orders of 100–499 shares, above the industry average of 97.51% per NerdWallet's tracking. PFOF is standard among zero-commission brokers.
Account Types and What You Can Trade
SoFi covers the standard account types most investors need:
Retirement Accounts
- Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, Rollover IRA
- 1% contribution match on all IRA types (2% for SoFi Plus members during promotional periods — the current promo runs through April 15, 2026)
Taxable Accounts
- Individual brokerage
- Joint accounts (JTWROS)
- Community Property accounts (select states)
- Tenants by Entirety (select states)
Each account comes in two modes: Active Investing (self-directed) and Automated Investing (robo-advisor). You can run both simultaneously.
What You Can Trade
- Stocks (fractional shares on 4,000+ securities, starting at $5)
- ETFs (including fractional shares)
- Options (Levels 1 and 2 — covered calls, cash-secured puts, standard strategies)
- Mutual funds (~6,800 no-transaction-fee funds, including liquid alternatives: commodities, private credit, real estate)
- Crypto (27 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana — 1% spread per trade, no staking, no crypto-to-crypto pairs)
- IPOs — participate before shares hit the open market. One IPO at a time, $50 early-sale fee within 120 days
- ADRs — American Depository Receipts for foreign company exposure
What You Can't Trade
- Futures
- Forex
- Bonds or fixed income directly
The IPO access remains a genuine differentiator. Robinhood offers it too, but among traditional-style brokers, this is unusual at zero cost.
SoFi Plus and the Ecosystem Play
SoFi's real competitive moat isn't any single feature — it's the ecosystem. SoFi Plus membership unlocks perks across banking, investing, and lending. You qualify automatically by having a SoFi checking & savings account with direct deposit enabled, or you can pay $10/month.
SoFi Plus perks relevant to investors:
- 2% IRA contribution match (during promotional periods, vs 1% for standard members)
- Unlimited appointments with Certified Financial Planners (standard members get one free 30-minute session)
- Higher APY on SoFi checking/savings balances
- Rewards points on SoFi products
The CFP access is genuinely valuable. Most zero-commission brokers offer nothing comparable. Schwab has branch advisors but typically for larger accounts. Fidelity offers planning but with asset minimums for comprehensive services. SoFi gives you a real CFP consultation just for having direct deposit.
One caveat: the free CFP access for non-Plus members who had direct deposit is ending. Going forward, unlimited advisor access requires SoFi Plus (either via direct deposit or $10/month). If you value the advisor perk, make sure your direct deposit is set up.
The ecosystem creates genuine switching costs. If you bank with SoFi, have a credit card with SoFi, and invest with SoFi, the convenience of a single login and unified dashboard is real. Whether that convenience is worth the research tool gap versus Fidelity or Schwab depends entirely on how much you actually use research tools.
Where SoFi Falls Short
The 0.01% cash sweep is unacceptable. In March 2026, with the Fed funds rate at 3.64%, money market funds yield roughly 4%+. Every dollar sitting in your SoFi brokerage account is losing roughly 4% annually to opportunity cost. If you keep $10,000 in cash between trades, that's $400/year you're giving up. You must manually move idle cash into a higher-yielding SoFi savings account or external money market — the platform won't do it for you.
No tax-loss harvesting on the robo-advisor. Wealthfront and Betterment both offer this automatically. For taxable accounts with meaningful balances, tax-loss harvesting can save hundreds or thousands annually. SoFi charging the same 0.25% management fee without this feature makes the robo-advisor harder to justify for taxable accounts.
Research tools are minimal. Data comes from Morningstar, TipRanks, Xignite, and Benzinga — but there are no advanced charting tools, no financial statements to dig through, no custom screeners. Schwab and Fidelity are leagues ahead. If you need to analyze a stock beyond reading a headline, you'll need a separate tool.
Exit costs are high. $100 ACAT transfer fee and $100 IRA closing fee. Some brokers reimburse incoming ACAT transfers, but SoFi's outgoing fee is above average. This creates real lock-in — opening a SoFi IRA means you're paying $100 if you ever decide to move to Fidelity or Schwab.
Crypto limitations. The 1% spread is expensive compared to dedicated crypto exchanges. No crypto-to-crypto trading pairs, no staking, and you can deposit crypto but can't withdraw it. Fine for casual Bitcoin exposure, but serious crypto investors should look elsewhere.
How It Compares
NerdWallet rates SoFi Active Investing 4.6/5, just below Schwab (4.8) and Fidelity (5.0), above E*TRADE (4.5).
vs. Fidelity: The default choice for most investors. Zero-expense-ratio index funds (FZROX, FZILX), far better research, higher cash sweep rates, no transfer fees. Fidelity doesn't match IRA contributions or offer IPO access to retail clients. For most people, Fidelity wins on substance. SoFi wins on options pricing ($0 vs $0.65/contract) and the IRA match.
vs. Robinhood: Both target mobile-first younger investors. Robinhood offers better crypto trading, a slicker interface, and Gold subscription ($5/month) with higher cash sweep and lower margin rates. SoFi offers IPO access, the IRA match, and CFP consultations. Robinhood is the better trading app. SoFi is the better financial platform if you want banking + investing together.
vs. Schwab: Not a fair fight on features. Schwab has thinkorswim for active trading, superior research, better margin rates, and a deep product bench. SoFi's only edges: $0 options contract fees (vs $0.65) and the IRA match. If you're beyond the beginner stage, Schwab is the better home.
vs. Wealthfront (robo only): Both charge 0.25%. Wealthfront offers tax-loss harvesting, direct indexing, and better portfolio customization. SoFi offers CFP access and the broader ecosystem. For pure automated investing in taxable accounts, Wealthfront is stronger. For IRAs where tax-loss harvesting matters less, SoFi's 1% match tips the balance.
SoFi competes on simplicity and zero-cost trading, not on depth. It's a specific tool, not a Swiss Army knife.
The Verdict
SoFi Invest earns a recommendation for two specific use cases: IRA investing (where the 1% match is free money on a buy-and-hold strategy) and options trading for smaller accounts (where $0 per-contract fees save real money versus $0.65/contract at Schwab or Fidelity).
For a primary taxable brokerage account, the math is harder. That 0.01% cash sweep rate, the absence of tax-loss harvesting, thin research tools, and $100 exit fees all weigh against it. Fidelity and Schwab offer more for the same $0 commissions on stocks and ETFs. If you're a SoFi banking customer who values the unified ecosystem and plans to stay invested rather than hold cash, the convenience is genuine. If you're choosing a broker purely on investing merit, Fidelity remains the stronger all-around platform.
The bottom line: open a SoFi IRA for the match, use it for options if contract fees matter to your strategy, and consider it as your primary brokerage only if you're already embedded in SoFi's banking ecosystem. Keep idle cash elsewhere.
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Disclaimer:This review is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Fees, features, and account offerings may change. Verify all details on the broker's website before opening an account. SIPC protects against broker failure, not investment losses.