SoFi Invest Review

Current SoFi customers with limited investing needs will find investing at SoFi’s brokerage arm to be convenient and pleasant. It’s also reasonably priced. Armchair stock analysts and lunchtime day traders will want to keep looking.

Pros & Cons

Overall Summary

Investment options

SoFi offers some of the most popular current investment choices, including fractional shares, a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, and initial public offerings (IPOs). Retirement accounts and robo-advising are also available. SoFi does not support open-end mutual funds and futures trading. One quirk: Joint accounts are only available with robo-advising, not with self-directed.

Cryptocurrency: SoFi offers 22 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Basic Attention Token, which is my favorite name for a crypto coin.

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.

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.

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, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies 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.

Other trading platforms and tools

Platforms overview: SoFi’s website allows trading of stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies — 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.

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.

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.

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 our 2023 Broker Review, 168 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks, with wait times logged for each call.

Customer service representatives were asked for assistance or details 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: 1-2 minutes
• Average Net Promoter Score: 8.3 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 8.4 / 10
• Overall Score: 8.2 / 10
• Ranking: 6th of 14 brokers

Banking services

SoFi offers a broad range of banking services, and placed among Best in Class for this category in our 2023 Annual Review. 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.

Final thoughts

SoFi Invest is a relatively new entrant to the field. Here are our top takeaways for the broker for 2023.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. For those who are entering the workforce, starting a family, and beginning to save for retirement, SoFi is a fine firm to partner with.

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.

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, exchange-traded funds, or cryptocurrencies 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.

SoFi’s crypto trading carries some high costs. SoFi charges markups and markdowns of 1.25%, meaning that if you buy and sell a coin at the same price, you’ll be down by close to 2.5%. Active crypto traders would do well to shop around.

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.

2023 Review methodology

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For the StockBrokers.com 13th Annual Review published in January 2023, a total of 3,332 data points were collected over three months and used to score 17 top brokers. This makes StockBrokers.com home to the largest independent database on the web covering the online broker industry. 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 annual review process, all brokers had the 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

Account fees

Margin rates

Investment options

Order types

Beginners

Stock trading apps

Stock app features

Stock app charting

Trading platforms overview

Trading platform stock chart features

Day trading features

Investment research overview

Stock research features

ETF research features

Mutual fund research features

Options trading overview

Banking features

Customer service options

About the Editorial Team