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SoFi Invest Review

Sam Levine, CFA, CMT

Written by Sam Levine, CFA, CMT, Chris McKhann
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis

February 24, 2023

Do you want to be famous? Open a SoFi Invest account, make your profile public, and buy something or even just add it on your watch list. SoFi shares your activity (though not the amounts) on a Twitter-like stream. What’s that — you want information more than fame? Read on to see whether SoFi and its social investor stream stacks up well against more established brokers.

Sofi Invest
3.5/5 Stars Overall
  • Minimum Deposit: $5.00
  • Stock Trades: $0.00
  • Options (Per Contract): $0.00
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$0 stocks, 1.25% for cryptocurrencies

Pros & Cons

thumb_up_off_alt Pros

  • SoFi Invest clients can choose among popular investment options, including stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), crypto, IPOs, stock options and automated investing.
  • SoFi’s crypto game is strong. Crypto investors can now invest in 30 coins, nine more than in our last annual review of best online stockbrokers.
  • SoFi also placed among Best in Class for its investor community features in our annual review.

thumb_down_off_alt Cons

  • Open-end funds and individual bonds aren’t offered.
  • The charts are about as basic as charts can get.
  • Options trading capabilities are very limited.
  • We were disappointed by the limited and poorly organized educational content.

Overall Summary

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest
Overall 3.5/5 Stars
Investment Options 2.5/5 Stars
Commissions & Fees 4.5/5 Stars
Mobile Trading Apps 3/5 Stars
Platforms & Tools 2.5/5 Stars
Research 2/5 Stars
Customer Service 4/5 Stars
Education 4.5/5 Stars
Ease Of Use 3.5/5 Stars

Investment options

SoFi offers some of the most popular current investment choices, including fractional shares, a wide variety of cryptocurrencies and initial public offering (IPO) investing. Retirement accounts and robo-advising are also available. SoFi does not support open-end mutual funds and futures trading.

Cryptocurrency: SoFi offers 30 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, cardano and dogecoin. Retirement services: SoFi offers retirement services, including traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs. These can be self-directed or set up through its no-fee automated investing advisor.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest
Stock Trading Yes
Margin Trading 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) 0
Advisor Services No
Crypto Trading Yes
Crypto Trading - Total Coins 30
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Commissions and fees

Like the majority of the industry, SoFi offers $0 stock and ETF trades. Retirement accounts also have no annual 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 us that OTC stocks can only be sold on the desktop version. We were able to place a buy limit order on our iPhone and in our 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: Options trade commission-free.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 $0
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Mobile trading apps

SoFi’s mobile app is simple and colorful, but is very limited in functionality. A ton of the stock page screen 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 company news or stock research, as it is at most other brokers.

Ease of use: The mobile app gets high marks for ease of use. It is easy to move through from the homepage to a name on your watchlist to the simple trade ticket. There is very little of a learning curve, partly because there is not much to learn. My Irish Setter, a breed not particularly known for a high IQ, was able to place a stock trade with little difficulty.

Watchlists: Watchlists are upfront and easy to use, though features and information are limited. To add a stock to the watchlist, you need to search for the ticker and click a button. We’d appreciate being able to edit the watchlist 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 not be delighted with SoFi’s simplistic approach.

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 trading tools. SoFi does offer unique “collections,” 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 we found to do a more complete job.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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

SoFi Invest offers a bare-bones, basic trading experience that isn’t built for active traders. If you’re among the latter, see our reviews of Fidelity, E*TRADE, tastytrade, TD Ameritrade, and TradeStation.

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.

Charting: Charts are very basic line charts. There is no customization. You cannot add indicators and there are no other charting tools.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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
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Research

SoFi offers little to no research. Stock quote details offer the most basic of fundamental data, extending only as far as market cap, dividend yield and P/E ratio. For the same rate of $0 per stock trade, investors who value research materials can take advantage of significantly more robust offerings at market research leaders Fidelity, E*TRADE, Merrill Edge, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 has a basic learning center. Material covers a variety of subjects, like “What Is the IPO Process?” and “How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?” The presentation is dry, unlike the more engaging content on rival Robinhood. That’s a shame, because we found a well-produced SoFi video embedded in one – just one – article. We hope to see more videos like it in the future.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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
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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 full range of personal insurance products.

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 2023.

  1. The firm’s youth shows through in its focus on hot trends like cryptocurrencies and IPO investing, which will appeal to some traders.
  2. Unfortunately, it also shows in a narrow roster of investing choices and tools, which will make its functionality inadequate for more active or advanced traders.
  3. SoFi’s breadth of banking and other financial services does make it an adequate choice for beginner investors interested in stocks, ETFs and crypto who are looking for one place to manage most of their financial needs.

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 will prove adequate for people who want to keep all or most of their finances at SoFi and simply want to buy stocks, exchange-traded funds, or cryptocurrencies that they are already familiar with. With so many brokers competing for your business, however, we don’t believe investors need to settle for “adequate.”

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.

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 very high hidden fees. 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%. Other brokers take less of a haircut on crypto trades.

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.

Compare Sofi Invest Competitors

Select one or more of these brokers to compare against Sofi Invest.

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2023 Review methodology

Our mission at StockBrokers.com is simple: provide thorough and unbiased reviews of online brokers, based on an extraordinary level of hands-on testing and data collection. Our ratings and awards are based on this data and our experts’ deep authority in the field; brokers cannot pay for preferential treatment. Here’s more about trustworthiness at StockBrokers.com.

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.

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 2023 results

For the StockBrokers.com 2023 Annual Awards, published on Jan. 24, 2023, all U.S. equity brokers we reviewed were assessed on 196 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.

Primary categories

Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest Overall Commissions & Fees Research Platforms & Tools Mobile Trading Apps Investment Options Education Ease of Use
Rating 3.5/5 Stars 4.5/5 Stars 2/5 Stars 2.5/5 Stars 3/5 Stars 2.5/5 Stars 4.5/5 Stars 3.5/5 Stars
Rank #1
Streak #1
Best in Class
Best in Class Streak

Secondary categories

Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest Active Trading Banking Services Beginners Customer Service Futures Trading Investor Community IRA Accounts Options Trading Penny Stocks
Rank #1
Streak #1
Best in Class check check
Best in Class Streak

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 logoSofi 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 $0

Account fees

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest
IRA Annual Fee $0.00
IRA Closure Fee $20.00
Account Transfer Out (Partial) $75.00
Account Transfer Out (Full) $75.00
Options Exercise Fee $5.00
Options Assignment Fee $5.00

Margin rates

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi Invest
Margin Rate Under $25,000 8.50%
Margin Rate $25,000 to $49,999.99 8.50%
Margin Rate $50,000 to $99,999.99 8.50%
Margin Rate $100,000 to $249,999.99 8.50%
Margin Rate $250,000 to $499,999.99 8.50%
Margin Rate $500,000 to $999,999.99 8.50%
Margin Rate Above $1,000,000 8.50%

Investment options

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 Yes
Crypto Trading - Total Coins 30
Mutual Funds (No Load) 0
Mutual Funds (Total) 0
Bonds (US Treasury) No
Bonds (Corporate) No
Bonds (Municipal) No
Advisor Services No
International Countries (Stocks) 0
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Order types

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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
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Stock trading apps

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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
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Day trading features

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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
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Mutual fund research features

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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
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Options trading overview

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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
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Banking features

Feature Sofi Invest logoSofi 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 logoSofi 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

About the Editorial Team

Sam Levine, CFA, CMT
Sam Levine, CFA, CMT

Sam Levine has over 30 years of experience in the investing field as a portfolio manager, financial consultant, investment strategist and writer. He also taught investing as an adjunct professor of finance at Wayne State University. Sam holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Market Technician designations and is pursuing a master's in personal financial planning at the College for Financial Planning. Previously, he was a contributing editor at BetterInvesting Magazine and a contributor to The Penny Hoarder and other media outlets.


Chris McKhann
Chris McKhann

Chris McKhann has been in the industry for more than 20 years. He has worked for many of the top names in the online trading space, including TD Ameritrade and optionMONSTER, which later became part of E*TRADE. His work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Financial Times, Forbes, CNBC, Nasdaq.com and Nikkei. He has also been an advisor and outside trader for several hedge funds. He was one of the first traders to delve into the VIX tradable products and to write about them (back in 2006). Chris is also an educator who teaches high school statistics, finance and computer science.


Carolyn Kimball
Carolyn Kimball

Carolyn Kimball is managing editor for Reink Media and the lead editor for the StockBrokers.com Annual Review. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.


Steven Hatzakis
Steven Hatzakis

Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.


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