Best brokers for buying fractional shares

As competition among stock brokers has heated up, online players have rushed to provide new features to their clients, including being able to invest in fractions of a share. This feature allows investors to purchase a stock or ETF with almost any amount of money rather than needing to have enough cash to buy a full share. It’s perfect for high-priced bellwether stocks such as Alphabet and Amazon.

The ability to buy fractional shares is attractive, especially for investors just starting out. You can invest with a much more modest amount of money, and with some stocks selling for thousands of dollars per share, you can buy what you can afford. With this feature it’s much easier to use dollar-cost averaging, especially now that major online brokers have slashed their transaction fees to zero.

But while some brokers have just begun allowing investors to buy fractional shares, others have allowed them to do so indirectly as part of dividend reinvestment plans for many years. That’s the case even if the brokers didn’t offer trading of fractional shares. This divide still exists today, with some brokers offering fractional shares via dividend reinvestment but not otherwise.

With dividend reinvestment plans you’re able to purchase only the stock that made the payout, and no other. Of course, now with no trading commissions at all the major online brokerages you can reinvest the cash yourself with no extra cost, except a little bit of your time.

Below Bankrate highlights online stock brokers that allow fractional shares to be traded and describes key details of each broker’s program and offering.

Best online brokers for buying fractional shares:

• Charles Schwab
• Fidelity Investments
• Interactive Brokers
• Robinhood
• E-Trade
• Merrill Edge
• Vanguard
• Tastytrade
• SoFi Active Investing
• WellsTrade

Top online brokers for buying fractional shares

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab has long been an investor-focused outfit, and allows investors to buy a fractional share of any stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Called Stock Slices, Schwab’s program allows you to buy a slice of these stocks with as little as $5 and you can buy up to 30 slices at a time. And like trades for regular shares, you’ll be able to place your trades without a commission. You’ll continue to be able to reinvest any dividends from your stocks into fractional shares of the same stock.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: ~500, including all stocks in the S&P 500

Fidelity Investments

Fidelity is routinely a top contender among brokerages, and not surprisingly features a way to buy fractional shares, which it calls Stocks by the Slice. You can start with just $1 and buy shares of more than 7,000 stocks and ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges. You’ll still be able to purchase stocks with zero trading commissions for online US stock and ETF trades, and you’ll also be able to reinvest your dividends in more shares, even fractional shares, whether they’re stocks or ETFs.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: More than 7,000 stocks and ETFs

Interactive Brokers

Long known as a high-powered alternative for professional and active traders, Interactive Brokers also offers fractional shares, which is a boon to investors without those deep pockets. You can purchase fractional shares on the broker’s Pro platform (cost: $1 or at the broker’s tiered rate) or on its Lite platform, where trading is free. The downside here is that dividend reinvestment costs the standard commission on the Pro tier, though it’s free on the Lite tier. However, stocks with lower daily volumes and market caps may not be available. Also eligible: ETFs, foreign stocks trading as American depositary receipts (ADRs), Canadian stocks and ETFs, and European stocks.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: More than 11,000 stocks, ETFs and ADRs

Robinhood

Robinhood has long been known for its commission-free trading (which extends to options, too) but it also allows you to buy the tiniest fraction of a share. Yes, you can buy as little as one-millionth of a share of your favorite stocks, and you can buy a huge variety of stocks as well. Stocks trading over $1 per share and with a market capitalization greater than $25 million are eligible for the program, and ETFs are available for fractional shares, too. You can also reinvest dividends into fractional shares, but must enable the fractional feature first.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: Thousands of ETFs and stocks above the volume and size thresholds

E-Trade

E-Trade doesn’t offer fractional purchases of stock, but it does allow investors to reinvest their dividends into fractional shares. E-Trade will reinvest dividends only in a stock or ETF that is trading above $5 per share.

• Fractional purchases: No
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: Thousands of stocks and ETFs

Merrill Edge

Merrill Edge is another broker that allows dividend reinvestment in fractional shares but does not allow clients to purchase fractional shares directly. Merrill lets investors reinvest dividends from stocks and ETFs as well as mutual funds. You can quickly set up whether you want each security in your portfolio to reinvest with an online selection, and if you change your mind, you can flip your choice later on just as easily.

• Fractional purchases: No
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: Thousands of stocks, ETFs and mutual funds

Vanguard

Vanguard is well known for its mutual funds and ETFs, and while you can buy fractional shares when you’re placing an order of these types of securities, that’s the only kind of fractional purchase that you’ll be able to do. Vanguard does not offer fractional-share investing in stocks or non-Vanguard ETFs, though the broker does allow you to reinvest dividends in stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. However, the broker will not reinvest in certain low-volume stocks, some U.S. stocks and all foreign stocks.

• Fractional purchases: Only Vanguard in mutual funds and ETFs
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: Stocks, ETFs and mutual funds

Tastytrade

Tastytrade is one of the best brokers for short-term traders, but with the addition of fractional shares for both purchases and dividend reinvestment, it’s now a more interesting option for long-term investors, too. You’ll have to place a minimum order of $5, and you’re able to use only market orders, not limit orders, meaning you’ll have to accept the prevailing price at the time you place your order.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: Thousands of stocks and ETFs

SoFi Active Investing

SoFi Active Investing is one of the best brokers for low costs, and it extends that leadership to fractional shares, too. At SoFi, you’ll be able to buy fractional shares directly for a minimum of $5 and reinvest your dividends into fractional shares, a combo that is not always available at brokers offering partial shares. To reinvest dividends, the stock price must be greater than $4 per share, which includes most U.S. stocks and foreign stocks trading on U.S. exchanges.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: Yes
• Securities in the program: More than 4,000 stocks and ETFs

WellsTrade

WellsTrade entered the fractional share game in late 2023 with the launch of Stock Fractions, its program allowing the purchase of partial shares of stock. You’ll be able to purchase 500 stocks through the program, with a minimum of $10 per order. As for dividend reinvestment, while WellsTrade lets you buy new shares with your dividend, you won’t be able to buy partial shares automatically with it. That’s a small detail in the age of no-commission trades.

• Fractional purchases: Yes
• Fractional dividend reinvestment: No
• Securities in the program: 500 stocks

Fractional shares FAQs

• What are fractional shares?

  Fractional shares are a way for investors to purchase stocks or ETFs even when they don’t have enough money to purchase a whole number of shares. For example, if a stock trades for $250 per share, but you only have $100 to invest, you can purchase 0.40 shares.

• What are the benefits of fractional shares?

  Fractional shares give investors the opportunity to invest small amounts of money even when they can’t purchase entire shares. Fractional shares also ensure that your entire investment can be invested, rather than there being a leftover cash balance because you couldn’t purchase another whole share.
  
  You’ll also receive dividends on fractional shares in proportion to your investment. For example, if a company pays a dividend of $1.00 per share and you own 0.50 shares, you’ll receive a $0.50 dividend.

• What are the downsides of fractional shares?

  There are few negatives when it comes to using fractional shares to invest. One thing to be aware of is if you want to transfer shares to a different broker, fractional shares may need to be sold before the transfer can take place. Otherwise, fractional shares are a great way for those starting with small sums to participate in the stock market.