Investing Fees Keep Falling

JPMorgan Chase drops some stock and ETF commissions.

JP Morgan building is seen in Central banking district, Hong Kong.
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With the launch of its new mobile trading platform, JPMorgan Chase became the most recent entrant in the investing world's battle to offer the lowest fees. The investing service, called You Invest, comes with no investment minimum and gives users 100 commission-free stock and exchange-traded fund trades in the year after opening an account. Investors can earn more free trading if they hold sufficient assets in certain Chase accounts.

The rollout comes shortly after Fidelity slashed its fees and began introducing mutual funds with a 0% expense ratio and online brokerage Firstrade announced that it will offer free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options. The brokerage firms' goal is to attract new customers, says Michael Venuto of investing firm Toroso Asset Management. Once you're a customer, firms will likely try to sell you more-expensive products, he says.

Cathy Seifert, an analyst at investment research firm CFRA, expects more firms to slash commissions. Beyond costs, investors should consider the tools and resources a brokerage platform offers. (see The Best Online Brokers, 2018.) "JPMorgan has a great reputation, but they're a late entrant" in the mobile brokerage business, Seifert says.

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Ryan Ermey
Former Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

Ryan joined Kiplinger in the fall of 2013. He wrote and fact-checked stories that appeared in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and on Kiplinger.com. He previously interned for the CBS Evening News investigative team and worked as a copy editor and features columnist at the GW Hatchet. He holds a BA in English and creative writing from George Washington University.