Winners Summary
Best overall - Merrill Edge/Bank of America
| Company |
Minimum Deposit |
Stock Trades |
Options (Per Contract) |
Offers
|
Visit Site |
 Merrill Edge
|
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.65 |
|
Read Review
|
Merrill Edge, a business unit of Bank of America, is my numero uno fave for brokerages with banking services for 2024, thanks to $0 trades, thousands of retail locations, seamless universal account management and a compelling Preferred Rewards program. Read review.
Bank of America Preferred Rewards tiers
Merrill Edge broker research
Best financial planning tool - J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing/Chase Bank
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing’s all-in-one platform makes money and asset management simple and straightforward for customers of Chase Bank, the largest bank in the U.S. Multi-account benefits include instant transfers, mobile check deposit, universal login and high-quality proprietary J.P. Morgan research. It also won our 2024 Best New Tool for its Wealth Plan feature, which helps clients prioritize financial goals and put together a budget and investing plan to achieve them. I took a deep dive into Wealth Plan’s underlying assumptions and am impressed with the care put into building it. Read review.
J.P. Morgan broker research
Best for starting out - Ally Invest/Ally Bank
| Company |
Minimum Deposit |
Stock Trades |
Options (Per Contract) |
Offers
|
Visit Site |
 Ally Invest
|
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.50 |
|
Read Review
|
Among the bank and brokerage combinations, Ally shines and competes with the best in the industry. As with Merrill Edge, bank and brokerage accounts are managed under one login, and transferring money between accounts is a breeze. Ally's high-yield savings account is a historically strong one, too, with clever tools to encourage saving. Read review.
Ally Invest broker research
Bank Broker Pricing and Features Comparison
FAQs
Is a brokerage account the same as a bank account?
No. A brokerage account is used to buy and sell securities (stocks, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, and other assets) and is SIPC insured, protecting up to $500,000 per customer, of which $250,000 can be cash. Many brokers offer “bank-like” services in their brokerage accounts, such as checking, bill pay, and debit cards, but assets in those accounts are not FDIC insured.
Some brokers can automatically roll your cash balances into several banks to provide more FDIC insurance coverage beyond the individual bank limit of $250,000.
StockBrokers.com co-founder Blain Reinkensmeyer breaks down how a bank-brokerage works.
What is a brokerage account at a bank?
A brokerage account at a bank allows you to invest where you take care of traditional banking transactions, like taking out a car loan or paying bills. Financial services holding companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America can own both FDIC-insured banks and security brokers, which have different rules and different regulators than banks. Bank-owned brokers usually make it very simple to bank and invest at the same firm.
What is a brokerage checking account?
A brokerage checking account typically allows you to write and deposit checks. There are a number of banks with brokerage accounts that provide check writing and/or debit cards. Check to see if there are fees associated with how you intend to use the account.
If you decide to write checks or charge from your brokerage account, be sure to monitor your account balance to maintain a proper cash allocation. Some brokers can link your check writing to borrowing on margin. The good news is that you can access cash very quickly if you need it and, because your investments are collateral for the loan, the interest rates can be much lower than credit cards.
The bad news is that margin is a loan that has to be repaid. Just as it can be easy to max out a credit card, it can also be easy to spend down your investment account. Always monitor your spending.
What are the best banks with brokerage accounts?
Our testing and long personal experience puts Merrill Edge, a part of Bank of America, as the best broker/bank combo for clients who have roughly equal banking and brokerage needs. Chase, along with its J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, is another fine choice. Chase has an innovative financial planning tool, Wealth Plan, that earned our Best New Tool award in 2024. Ally and its broker arm, Ally Invest, offer services and content that will appeal to savers and investors who are just getting started.
What is the difference between a brokerage account and a cash management account?
Think of a cash management account as a brokerage account with a debit card and other bank-like features. The cash management feature enables you to use a debit card to spend any uninvested cash in your brokerage account. Your debit card can be used for everyday purchases such as groceries, dining, entertainment, and leisure. As always, be careful not to spend money you don’t have.
Is a brokerage account safer than a bank account?
Both your brokerage account and your bank account typically carry insurance, the former through the SIPC and the latter through the FDIC. In that sense, both are safe, but FDIC insurance is considered a stronger guarantee than the industry-backed SIPC. Banks do not offer the ability to buy and sell stocks in checking or savings accounts, so, if you want to invest, you’ll have to open a broker account.
Can you buy stocks with a debit card?
No, you cannot use a debit card to buy stocks, at least not directly. Some brokers will allow you to use a debit card to fund your account with cash; then you can buy stock within the account. We don’t recommend choosing a broker based on whether it accepts debit card funds, because brokers accept ACH deposits, which is just as easy, and a few brokers give instant credit once the deposit is entered. Banks do not offer the ability to buy and sell stocks in checking or savings accounts.
Our Research
Why you should trust us
Sam Levine, CFA, CMT, formerly a lead writer for StockBrokers.com, has over 30 years of investing experience and actively trades stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and options on futures. He's held roles as a portfolio manager, financial consultant, investment strategist and journalist. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designations and served on the board of directors of the CMT Association.
Blain Reinkensmeyer, head of research at StockBrokers.com, has been investing and trading for over 25 years. After having placed over 2,000 trades in his late teens and early 20s, he became one of the first in digital media to review online brokerages. Blain created the original scoring rubric for StockBrokers.com and oversees all testing and rating methodologies.
For this guide:
- Whenever possible, we used our own brokerage accounts for testing. For several brokers, we used a test account that was provided to us.
- Whenever possible, we used our own brokerage accounts for testing. For several brokers, we used a test account that was provided to us.
- We evaluated the availability of bank-like features in brokerage accounts.
- We considered the size and services of banks associated with brokers that we actively test.
- We considered firsthand experience with banks and their associated brokers.
How we tested
As a rapidly expanding area of brokerage services, banking features have grown in importance to investors who value ease of money transfer and keeping their investing and banking under one roof. Our research team evaluates each broker’s offerings, such as cash management tools, debit cards and credit cards, traditional bank accounts, mobile deposits, no-fee banking and branch accessibility. Additionally, we evaluate the commissions and fees charged by the brokerage for many popular features. In total, we evaluate more than 200 variables for each broker.
StockBrokers.com uses a variety of computing devices to evaluate trading platforms. Our reviews were conducted using the following devices: iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, MacBook Pro M1 with 8 GB RAM running the current MacOS, and a Dell Vostro 5402 laptop i5 with 8 GB RAM running Windows 11 Pro. In testing platforms and apps, our reviewers place actual trades for a variety of instruments.
As part of our data check process, we sent a data profile link to each broker summarizing the data we had on file and the data they provided us last year, with a field for entering any data that had since changed. For the brokers that filled out these profiles, we audited the information for any discrepancies between our data and the broker’s data to ensure accuracy.
As part of our review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones in a live meeting that took place in the fall. Meetings with broker teams also took place throughout the year as new products rolled out. Insights gathered from these calls helped steer our testing efforts to ensure every feature and tool was assessed.
Trading platforms tested
We tested 17 online trading platforms for this guide:
Fidelity
Merrill Edge
E*TRADE
TradeStation
Interactive Brokers
Charles Schwab
tastytrade
eToro
