Fidelity Review 2021 – Is It Safe?

Launched in 1946 and trusted by over 32 million investors, Fidelity is one of the best-established brokers in the scene. With attractive fees and a robust platform, it’s no wonder fidelity has been attracting so many users from over 24 countries.

But whether you’re a beginner or an expert in trading, you should take into consideration every aspect of the broker you wish to trade on, and if the broker you have in mind is Fidelity, you’re just in the right place.

In this review, we’re not only reviewing how great Fidelity is in terms of its platform, research, fees or security, but also we’re going to tackle the aspects in which Fidelity falls short. After that, you as an investor can decide if Fidelity is the right option for you.

Summary

Fidelity is a great broker in many regards; it offers users an easy-to-use platform and mobile app, a great source of educational content (especially for beginners), extensive research, and Active Trader Pro desktop platform that is splendid for active trading and day trading. It also provides its clients with a robust customer service. All in all, it’s a great broker, but it can be slow in verification and features higher broker-assisted trade fees.

Overview

Here is an Fidelity overview with some of the basic information.

Broker	Fidelity
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Account minimum	$0
Fees	Varies
Inactivity Fees	$0
Withdrawal Fee	$0
Tradable Securities	Stocks, ETFs, Fractional shares, Bonds ,Options, Mutual funds
Regulation	(FINRA), (SEC), and (FDIC)
Tradable Securities	Stocks, ETFs, Mutual funds, Bonds, Options, Foreign ADRs, IPOs for qualified accounts, Futures, Forex
Mobile App	Yes
US-Accepted	Yes
Currencies	U.S. dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), British pound (GBP), Australian dollar (AUD), Canadian dollar (CAD), New Zealand dollar (NZD), Danish krone (DKK), Hong Kong dollar (HKD), Japanese yen (JPY), Mexican peso (MXN), Norwegian krone (NOK), Polish zloty (PLN), Singapore dollar (SGD), South African rand (ZAR), Swiss franc (CHF), Swedish krona (SEK)
Customer Support	Phone, email, live chat, texting, social media, and in-person support at branches
Number of Accepted Countries	24+
Our Score	4.6/5

Best Alternative to Fidelity is eToro

#1 Copy Trading Platform
Regulated by Top Tier Regulations
Safe & Secure
0% Commission on Stocks*

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments that come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Make sure you understand how CFDs work and if you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

*on selected US stocks

Make sure to read our guide on trading platforms and reviews of eToro, Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, and AvaTrade.

Pros & Cons

It’s not surprising that such an old broker in the industry like Fidelity has this much to offer, but it’s also worth noting what it does not offer or what it falls short in. Below is a table that compares the good side of Fidelity to its bad side to help you decide whether this broker is right for you or not.

Pros	Cons
Wide selection of research providers	Slow account verification
Commission-free stock, options trades and ETF	High broker-assisted trade fee
Outstanding trading platforms and research	Live chat
Expense-ratio-free index funds
Responsive customer service
Powerful mobile app
US and international stocks
Rich educational content

Fidelity Compared

See below to compare Fidelity to similar brokers.

Broker	Fidelity	eToro	Charles Schwab	Trading212	Interactive Brokers
Founded	1946	2007	1971	2006	1978
Minimum Deposit	$0	$50	$0	$1	$0
Commissions	No	Zero commissions on U.S. stocks	No	No	Zero commissions on U.S. stocks and ETFs
Inactivity fee	No	Yes	No	No	No

Offerings

Fidelity offers all of the benefits that a full-service brokerage does. Below is a list of the tradable securities it offers:

Stocks
ETFs
Fractional shares
Bonds
Options
Mutual funds

Fractional shares trading allows investors to purchase a fraction of a share rather than the entire share. And Fidelity provides investors with fairly low cost executions.

Although futures, FX, and cryptocurrency (e.g. bitcoin) trading are not available, there’s still international trading, which allows customers to trade in 25 countries and 16 currencies. It’s worth noting that only Interactive Brokers, which is geared to professionals, gives broader global access in the international trading area.

Platform

Fidelity’s main desktop product, Active Trader Pro, is packed with trading tools for active traders. In the website watch lists, for example, there are 48 total columns of data to pick from, as well as streaming quotes. Additionally, you’ll find it easy and seamless to transition into equity research or into the docked order ticket in order to place a trade.

Charting in Active Trader Pro is well-organized, with 166 optional studies, 22 different drawing tools, personalised user profiles, alerts, chart trading, notes, and other features.

Real-Time Analytics and Trade Armor are two unique, in-house features included in Active Trader Pro. Active Trader Pro’s options trading offers a good range of analysis tools.

Mobile Trading

Fidelity boasts highly rated apps that offer multi-leg options trading, real-time quotes, a notebook where users can save ideas and articles from their mobile browser, and a consolidated version of the research offerings of the company.

Recently, Fidelity made some updates to its apps to simplify the trading process, as well as to make portfolio monitoring and research more efficient. Users can also book a meeting with their existing Fidelity advisor via the app. The mobile software includes live TV streaming from Bloomberg, which matches the Active Trader Pro desktop platform.

Once you log in, you’ll find a customizable dashboard right away displayed as a personalized feed. There are market cards floating on top of varying scenery pictures that rotate every time you login in your personalized feed, making it an experience unlike any other.

Fidelity’s research is powerful and meets the expectations of most traders. The note-taking feature, which allows you to enter your views on stocks and the broader markets, is one of the several features of the mobile app.

Fidelity also released Fidelity Spire, a new mobile app aimed towards young adults. More contextual explainers on trading terminology and topics, such as “dividends” and “bid price” are included in the app. This app also helps you financially plan and set your goals.

While Fidelity gives us a wonderful mobile research experience, it falls short in the active trader department. The charting, for example, is nice and clean and includes after-hours charts, but there are only 7 indicators accessible with two in Android, which…