SoFi Invest Review
Current SoFi customers with limited investing needs will find trading at SoFi Invest to be convenient and pleasant. It’s also reasonably priced. Armchair stock analysts and lunchtime day traders will want to keep looking.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- SoFi makes it convenient to save, invest, borrow, and insure.
- SoFi Invest clients can choose from a wide array of popular investment options.
- Plenty of retirement account options, including no-fee automated investing.
Cons
- Individual bonds aren’t offered.
- The charts are about as basic as charts can get.
- Options trading capabilities are very limited.
- Ended their crypto offering in 2023.
Overall Summary
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Overall | |
Investment Options | |
Commissions & Fees | |
Mobile Trading Apps | |
Platforms & Tools | |
Research | |
Customer Service | |
Education | |
Ease Of Use |
Investment options
SoFi offers some of the most popular current investment choices, including fractional shares and initial public offerings (IPOs). Retirement accounts and robo-advising are also available. SoFi recently started to offer mutual funds but still does not provide futures trading. One quirk: Joint accounts are only available with robo-advising, not with self-directed.
Cryptocurrency: SoFi ceased offering crypto trading in December 2023. You are still able to invest indirectly through a few different Bitcoin ETFs.
Retirement services: SoFi offers retirement services, including traditional, Roth, SEP, and traditional rollover IRAs. These can be self-directed or set up through its no-fee automated investing advisor.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Stock Trading | Yes |
Margin Trading | Yes |
Fractional Shares | Yes |
OTC Stocks | Yes |
Options Trading | Yes |
Complex Options Max Legs | 0 |
Bonds (US Treasury) | No |
Futures Trading | No |
Forex Trading | No |
Mutual Funds (Total) | 6000 |
Crypto Trading | No |
Crypto Trading - Total Coins | 0 |
Traditional IRAs | Yes |
Roth IRAs | Yes |
Advisor Services | Yes |
Commissions and fees
SoFi Invest’s fee schedule is hard to find on the website, so here it is. There’s no reason for it to be hidden; SoFi’s pricing is fine. Like the majority of the industry, SoFi offers $0 stock and ETF trades. Retirement accounts also have no annual fee, though there is a $20 IRA closing fee. Its margin rates are low compared to the other brokers we tested.
Penny stocks: SoFi doesn’t charge commission on penny stocks. However, someone needs to clue in SoFi’s chatbot that penny stocks are fully available — the bot told me that OTC stocks can only be sold on the desktop version. I was able to place a buy limit order on my iPhone and web browser with no issue.
Fractional shares: Investors can buy fractional shares, known at SoFi as Stock Bits, for as little as $5. Some firms don’t have a $5 minimum.
Options: SoFi gets a gold star for no-commission options trading, also referred to in the industry as “per contract trading fees.” There are $5.00 exercise and assignment fees, however.
Advisory fees: Wow. Bravo. SoFi’s robo investing service doesn’t incur management fees. Some firms charge 0.30%. You should still evaluate the funds’ annual expenses.
Inactivity fee: SoFi charges a $25 inactivity fee for each SoFi Invest account that hasn’t been active in the preceding 12 months. The fee is waived if you simply log in to your SoFi profile. No trading or other money movement is required.
This is one of the easiest-to-avoid inactivity fees out of all the brokers we cover, but it’s a nuisance charge, plain and simple. There are other, more transparent, ways for firms to earn revenue.
Close out fee: SoFi now charges a $100 fee for transferring out an account, which is unusually high for the industry.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Minimum Deposit | $5.00 |
Stock Trades | $0.00 |
Penny Stock Fees (OTC) | N/A |
ETF Trade Fee | $0.00 |
Options (Base Fee) | $0.00 |
Options (Per Contract) | $0.00 |
Options Exercise Fee | $5.00 |
Options Assignment Fee | $5.00 |
Futures (Per Contract) | $0.00 |
Mutual Fund Trade Fee | $0 |
Broker Assisted Trade Fee | N/A |
Mobile trading apps
SoFi’s mobile app is simple and colorful but it’s limited in functionality. A ton of the stock page’s real estate consists of a social feed about what other SoFi investors are doing with the stock. We’d prefer that space be used for more pressing information. Market and stock news pops up more readily on the app than the website.
Ease of use: The mobile app gets high marks for ease of use. Navigating between the watch list, social feeds, option chains, and trade tickets is smooth sailing. There is very little climbing up the learning curve, partly because there is not much to learn. My Irish Setter, a dog breed not particularly known for a high IQ, would be able to place a Dogecoin trade, no problem.
Watch lists: Watch lists are upfront and easy to use, though features and information are limited. To add a stock to the watch list, you need to search for the ticker and click a button. We’d appreciate being able to edit the watch list directly. The watch list data is real-time but not streaming, as with the other quotes.
Charting: Charting consists of very basic line charts. Time frames can be adjusted, but there is no customization and no indicators. Intermediate and advanced traders will be frustrated, but they’re not really SoFi’s target customers anyway. If you’re a big chart user, see our reviews of Fidelity, E*TRADE, tastytrade and TradeStation. You’ll be happier with one of them.
Trading tools: You can trade stocks, options and ETFs on the mobile app, but beyond a very basic trade ticket and options chains, there are no advanced trading tools. SoFi does offer unique “collections” of stocks, shares activity of “Popular Investors,” and ranks high-performing investors on a leaderboard. If you enjoy following other investors, read our review of eToro, another social investing platform, which I think has a stronger investing community.
Tap for a demo of SoFi's mobile trading app.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
iPhone App | Yes |
Android App | Yes |
Apple Watch App | No |
Stock Alerts | No |
Charting - After-Hours | No |
Charting - Technical Studies | 0 |
Charting - Study Customizations | No |
Watch List (Streaming) | No |
Watch Lists - Create & Manage | No |
Watch Lists - Column Customization | No |
Other trading platforms and tools
Platforms overview: SoFi’s website allows trading of stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs — and that is practically all you can do. There are no real trading tools to speak of, other than reading what other SoFi investors are doing. There’s no desktop trading platform, but that’s not surprising.
Charting: Charts are very basic line charts. There is no customization. You can’t add indicators and there are no other charting tools. Novice-oriented brokers such as Robinhood and eToro have elevated their charting over the past few years. It would be great to see SoFi keep pace.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Active Trading Platform | N/A |
Desktop Trading Platform | No |
Desktop Platform (Mac) | No |
Web Trading Platform | Yes |
Paper Trading | No |
Trade Journal | No |
Watch Lists - Total Fields | 3 |
Charting - Indicators / Studies | 0 |
Charting - Drawing Tools | 0 |
Charting - Study Customizations | 0 |
Charting - Save Profiles | No |
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysis | No |
Streaming Time & Sales | No |
Trade Ideas - Backtesting | No |
Research
SoFi doesn’t provide too many specific investment ideas, but there’s a healthy helping of broad insights. Its head of investment strategy, Liz Young, pens approachable and insightful market commentary weekly. The On The Money blog covers macroeconomic themes, such as housing trends and oil prices.
Stock quotes list basic price data and P/E ratios. For the same rate of $0 per stock trade, investors seeking more insights will find significantly more robust offerings at market research leaders Fidelity, E*TRADE, Merrill Edge, and Charles Schwab.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Research - Stocks | No |
Stock Research - ESG | No |
Stock Research - PDF Reports | 0 |
Screener - Stocks | No |
Research - ETFs | No |
Screener - ETFs | No |
Research - Mutual Funds | No |
Screener - Mutual Funds | No |
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBB | No |
Research - Bonds | No |
Education
SoFi’s educational content covers a wide range of topics, but you need to scroll for it on the app and site. Go to the SoFi homepage and scroll down to SoFi Learn.
Learning center: SoFi’s learning center has 300 articles filed under investing. The library could be better categorized, but it does cover a broad swath of subjects, like “What Is the IPO Process?” and “Basics of the Time Value of Money.” My main gripe? The articles are as much fun to read as a medical bill. If you want more engaging writing, check out Robinhood. Its writers are superheroes.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Education (Stocks) | Yes |
Education (ETFs) | Yes |
Education (Options) | Yes |
Education (Mutual Funds) | Yes |
Education (Bonds) | Yes |
Education (Retirement) | Yes |
Paper Trading | No |
Videos | No |
Webinars | Yes |
Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
Progress Tracking | No |
Interactive Learning - Quizzes | No |
Customer service
To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research firm Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For this year's testing, 135 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks, with wait times logged for each call.
Customer service representatives were asked for assistance or details for prospective customers in several areas of broker services, including account opening, trading tools, apps, rollovers, active trading, and more. Here are the results for SoFi Invest.
- Average Connection Time: <1 minute
- Average Net Promoter Score: 8.6 / 10
- Average Professionalism Score: 8.4 / 10
- Overall Score: 8.56 / 10
- Ranking: 5th of 13 brokers
Banking services
SoFi offers a broad range of banking services, and placed among Best in Class for this category in our 2024 Annual Awards. Products available include personal loans, home loans and the company’s flagship student loans, as well as credit cards and a cash management account that can be linked to a SoFi Invest account for funding. SoFi also offers a range of personal insurance products.
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Bank (Member FDIC) | Yes |
Checking Accounts | Yes |
Savings Accounts | Yes |
Credit Cards | Yes |
Debit Cards | Yes |
Mortgage Loans | Yes |
Final thoughts
SoFi Invest is a relatively new entrant to the field. Here are our top takeaways for the broker for 2024.
- If you already have other assets or loans with SoFi, then SoFi Invest offers a convenient, inexpensive, and friendly way to put some of your stacks into stocks.
- SoFi Invest isn’t designed for advanced investors and active traders, but it can still step it up with more detailed stock quotes and charts.
- For those who are entering the workforce, starting a family, and beginning to save for retirement, SoFi is a fine firm to partner with.
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About SoFi Invest
SoFi traces its roots back to 2011 and Social Finance, Inc, which was founded by Stanford business school students and used an alumni-funded lending model to connect grads with alumni in their communities. In 2012, SoFi became the first company to offer refinancing of student loans. SoFi Invest launched in January 2019.
SoFi Invest 2024 Results
For the StockBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards, announced on Jan. 23, 2024, all U.S. equity brokers we reviewed were assessed on over 200 different variables across eight areas: Commissions & Fees, Investment Options, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education, Ease of Use, and Overall.
StockBrokers.com also presented “Best in Class” awards to brokers for additional categories Beginners, Options Trading, Futures Trading, Active Trading, IRA Accounts, Investor Community, Penny Stock Trading, Banking Services and Customer Service. A “Best in Class” designation means finishing in the top five brokers for that category.
For more information, see how we test. New to investing? Check out the 5 step guide on how to invest on our sister site, investor.com.
Category awards
SoFi Invest | Commissions & Fees | Bank Brokerage | Customer Service | Investor Community |
Rank #1 | ||||
Streak #1 | ||||
Best in Class | ||||
Best in Class Streak | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Is SoFi a good company for investing?
SoFi Invest is competitively priced and is adequate for people who want a quick and easy way to buy stocks and exchange-traded funds that they are already familiar with.
Is SoFi Invest safe?
Yes, SoFi Invest is considered safe. It’s a highly regulated broker and carries insurance coverage of up to $500,000 total and $250,000 in cash per customer from the industry standard Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). SIPC coverage insures against loss due to broker insolvency and not against investment losses. It’s very unusual for a broker to become insolvent, but it has happened. If your investment assets exceed the $250,000 cash and $500,000 account owner coverage, you might consider selecting a broker that provides additional coverage.
What is so great about SoFi?
SoFi’s strengths are:
- Its vast menu of financial services, allowing members to manage most of their finances with one app or on one site.
- Generally reasonable fees and rates.
- A tech-savvy and pleasant user experience.
What is the downside to using SoFi?
SoFi Invest’s focus on simplicity means that SoFi members will miss out on many features common to the largest brokers, specifically PDF research reports, ESG ratings, earnings estimates, analyst ratings, and comprehensive charting and trading.
Is SoFi Invest really free?
SoFi does not charge trading commissions or a monthly charge to keep an account and its margin rate is very low, only 5.25% in October 2022. SoFi, like almost all brokers except for Fidelity, makes money from payments for order flow from exchanges and market makers, which can slightly affect how much you pay to buy or sell a stock or ETF. For most investors, it’s a negligible amount per trade.
Like other brokers, SoFi does have incidental fees. Some examples include closing an IRA account, transferring assets out, and selling an IPO within 120 days of buying it. The incidental fees are generally low compared to other firms. You can find them here.
Can you make money with SoFi?
Yes, you can make money with SoFi, but whether you’ll make money investing has less to do with SoFi and more to do with your investing knowledge and how disciplined you are. Online brokers in the United States are tightly regulated, and the heavy competition keeps prices low.
Is SoFi similar to Robinhood?
SoFi and Robinhood share some characteristics, but they differ in breadth and depth. Both brokers make placing a first stock trade easy. They’re both easy to use. They don’t charge for listed stock, ETF, and options trades. There’s a ton of educational material at both brokers.
The differences stem from their origins. Robinhood is primarily a broker that has added a few additional non-brokerage services, like a debit card. SoFi is mostly a bank that has a captive brokerage. Robinhood has more investing features. SoFi has a broader palette of financial services, including mortgages, credit cards, student loans, and insurance.
Compare SoFi Invest Competitors
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Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools for U.S. investors, collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process; this makes StockBrokers.com home to the largest independent database on the web covering the online broker industry. We test all available trading platforms for each broker and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables. All research, writing and data collection at StockBrokers.com is done by humans, for humans. Read our generative AI policy here.
As part of our process, all brokers had the annual opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy. Brokers also were offered the opportunity to provide executive time for an annual update meeting.
Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.
SoFi Invest fees and features data
The data collection efforts at StockBrokers.com are unmatched in the industry. The following tables show a deeper dive into the offerings available at this broker. You can also compare its offerings side-by-side with those of other brokers using our Comparison Tool.
In addition to meticulous annual data collection by our in-house analyst, every broker that participates in our review is afforded the opportunity to complete an in-depth data profile. We then audit each data point to ensure its accuracy.
Trading fees
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Minimum Deposit | $5.00 |
Stock Trades | $0.00 |
Mutual Fund Trade Fee | $0 |
Options (Base Fee) | $0.00 |
Options (Per Contract) | $0.00 |
Futures (Per Contract) | $0.00 |
Broker Assisted Trade Fee | N/A |
Account fees
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
IRA Annual Fee | $0.00 |
IRA Closure Fee | $20.00 |
Account Transfer Out (Partial) | $100.00 |
Account Transfer Out (Full) | $100.00 |
Options Exercise Fee | $5.00 |
Options Assignment Fee | $5.00 |
Margin rates
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Margin Rate Under $25,000 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate $25,000 to $49,999.99 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate $50,000 to $99,999.99 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate $100,000 to $249,999.99 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate $250,000 to $499,999.99 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate $500,000 to $999,999.99 | 9.5% |
Margin Rate Above $1,000,000 | 9.5% |
Investment options
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Stock Trading | Yes |
Margin Trading | Yes |
Fractional Shares | Yes |
OTC Stocks | Yes |
Options Trading | Yes |
Complex Options Max Legs | 0 |
Futures Trading | No |
Forex Trading | No |
Crypto Trading | No |
Crypto Trading - Total Coins | 0 |
Mutual Funds (No Load) | 0 |
Mutual Funds (Total) | 6000 |
Bonds (US Treasury) | No |
Bonds (Corporate) | No |
Bonds (Municipal) | No |
Advisor Services | Yes |
International Countries (Stocks) | 0 |
Order types
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Order Type - Market | Yes |
Order Type - Limit | Yes |
Order Type - After Hours | Yes |
Order Type - Stop | No |
Order Type - Trailing Stop | No |
Order Type - OCO | No |
Order Type - OTO | No |
Order Type - Broker Assisted | No |
Beginners
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Education (Stocks) | Yes |
Education (ETFs) | Yes |
Education (Options) | Yes |
Education (Mutual Funds) | Yes |
Education (Bonds) | Yes |
Education (Retirement) | Yes |
Retirement Calculator | No |
Investor Dictionary | Yes |
Paper Trading | No |
Videos | No |
Webinars | Yes |
Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
Progress Tracking | No |
Interactive Learning - Quizzes | No |
Stock trading apps
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
iPhone App | Yes |
Android App | Yes |
Apple Watch App | No |
Trading - Stocks | Yes |
Trading - After-Hours | Yes |
Trading - Simple Options | No |
Trading - Complex Options | No |
Order Ticket RT Quotes | Yes |
Order Ticket SRT Quotes | No |
Stock app features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Market Movers (Top Gainers) | Yes |
Stream Live TV | No |
Videos on Demand | No |
Stock Alerts | No |
Option Chains Viewable | No |
Watch List (Real-time) | Yes |
Watch List (Streaming) | No |
Watch Lists - Create & Manage | No |
Watch Lists - Column Customization | No |
Watch Lists - Total Fields | 3 |
Stock app charting
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Charting - After-Hours | No |
Charting - Can Turn Horizontally | No |
Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes |
Charting - Technical Studies | 0 |
Charting - Study Customizations | No |
Charting - Stock Comparisons | No |
Trading platforms overview
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Active Trading Platform | N/A |
Desktop Trading Platform | No |
Desktop Platform (Mac) | No |
Web Trading Platform | Yes |
Paper Trading | No |
Trade Journal | No |
Watch Lists - Total Fields | 3 |
Trading platform stock chart features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Charting - Adjust Trades on Chart | No |
Charting - Indicators / Studies | 0 |
Charting - Drawing Tools | 0 |
Charting - Notes | No |
Charting - Index Overlays | No |
Charting - Historical Trades | No |
Charting - Corporate Events | No |
Charting - Custom Date Range | No |
Charting - Custom Time Bars | No |
Charting - Automated Analysis | No |
Charting - Save Profiles | No |
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysis | No |
Charting - Study Customizations | 0 |
Charting - Custom Studies | No |
Day trading features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Streaming Time & Sales | No |
Streaming TV | No |
Direct Market Routing - Stocks | No |
Ladder Trading | No |
Trade Hot Keys | No |
Level 2 Quotes - Stocks | No |
Trade Ideas - Backtesting | No |
Trade Ideas - Backtesting Adv | No |
Short Locator | No |
Order Liquidity Rebates | No |
Investment research overview
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Research - Stocks | No |
Research - ETFs | No |
Research - Mutual Funds | No |
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBB | No |
Research - Bonds | No |
Screener - Stocks | No |
Screener - ETFs | No |
Screener - Mutual Funds | No |
Screener - Bonds | No |
Misc - Portfolio Allocation | Yes |
Stock research features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Stock Research - PDF Reports | 0 |
Stock Research - Earnings | No |
Stock Research - Insiders | No |
Stock Research - Social | No |
Stock Research - News | Yes |
Stock Research - ESG | No |
Stock Research - SEC Filings | No |
ETF research features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
ETFs - Strategy Overview | Yes |
ETF Fund Facts - Inception Date | No |
ETF Fund Facts - Expense Ratio | Yes |
ETF Fund Facts - Net Assets | No |
ETF Fund Facts - Total Holdings | No |
ETFs - Top 10 Holdings | Yes |
ETFs - Sector Exposure | No |
ETFs - Risk Analysis | No |
ETFs - Ratings | No |
ETFs - Morningstar StyleMap | No |
ETFs - PDF Reports | No |
Mutual fund research features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Mutual Funds - Strategy Overview | No |
Mutual Funds - Performance Chart | No |
Mutual Funds - Performance Analysis | No |
Mutual Funds - Prospectus | No |
Mutual Funds - 3rd Party Ratings | No |
Mutual Funds - Fees Breakdown | No |
Mutual Funds - Top 10 Holdings | No |
Mutual Funds - Asset Allocation | No |
Mutual Funds - Sector Allocation | No |
Mutual Funds - Country Allocation | No |
Mutual Funds - StyleMap | No |
Options trading overview
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Option Chains - Basic View | Yes |
Option Chains - Strategy View | No |
Option Chains - Streaming | No |
Option Chains - Total Columns | 0 |
Option Chains - Greeks | 0 |
Option Chains - Quick Analysis | No |
Option Analysis - P&L Charts | No |
Option Probability Analysis | No |
Option Probability Analysis Adv | No |
Option Positions - Greeks | No |
Option Positions - Greeks Streaming | No |
Option Positions - Adv Analysis | No |
Option Positions - Rolling | No |
Option Positions - Grouping | No |
Banking features
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Bank (Member FDIC) | Yes |
Checking Accounts | Yes |
Savings Accounts | Yes |
Credit Cards | Yes |
Debit Cards | Yes |
Mortgage Loans | Yes |
Customer service options
Feature | SoFi Invest |
---|---|
Phone Support (Prospect Customers) | Yes |
Phone Support (Current Customers) | Yes |
Email Support | No |
Live Chat (Prospect Customers) | Yes |
Live Chat (Current Customers) | Yes |
24/7 Support | No |