Stockpile Review

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Stockpile is an online digital brokerage that provides you with a simple trading app for the buying and selling of fractional stock shares with low fees. It is one of the easiest ways for beginners to learn about stocks, invest in stocks or to gift stocks to others with a stock gift card. I think this can be a great gift for both youngsters and adults. It is something unique that I haven’t seen from many other brokers. I would say that Stockpile is probably more suited towards those who want to buy fractional shares and acquire assets over time, rather than those who are looking for a wider range of investment options for day trading.

Summary

Stockpile is a USA brokerage that offers a modern and sleek trading app for buying fractional shares of stock in companies like Apple, Amazon, Disney, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Nike, Tesla and thousands of other popular stocks as well as ETFs. I like how they aim to make the stock market more accessible for the younger generation through an easy to use platform with an intuitive interface that makes the buying and selling of stocks and ETFs a quick an easy process for all.

Founded in 2010, Stockpile was created by CEO & Co-founder Avi Lele to give those who are missing out on one of the best ways to grow wealth an easy way to learn about stocks and get started investing. They have some of the lowest fees in the online broker industry starting from just $0.99. Stockpile’s mission is to make it easy for beginners of any age, including children and millennials, to learn about stocks, get started investing in stocks or to gift stocks. Stockpile enables you to buy fractional shares with as little as $5 making it possible for anyone to own stock in their favourite companies.

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Regulation

When it comes to choosing a broker, regulation is one of the first things I look for. Using a regulated broker gives me the peace of mind that they will be operating in an honest and transparent manner. This is because they must comply with the rules and procedures that have been put in place to protect investors. All securities are offered to self-directed investors by Stockpile Investments, Inc., who are a registered broker-dealer and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) scheme in the United States. I am personally satisfied with this top-tier regulation and would therefore have no problem entrusting them with my funds.

Safety

FINRA enables investors and firms to participate in the market with confidence by safeguarding its integrity. It is a non-governmental organisation that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. The SIPC is an investor protection scheme established in order to protect clients against the loss of cash and securities in case the broker cannot fulfil their financial obligations. The SIPC protection is limited to $500,000 with a $250,000 limit for cash. I recommend going through the terms and conditions since they’re pretty specific on who is eligible for compensation.

Countries

It’s disappointing that Stockpile does not open or maintain accounts for traders located outside of the United States. You must have a social security number and be legally living in the USA to open an investment account with them. If your country is not accepted by Stockpile, I recommend checking out our broker comparison tool for alternatives.

Platforms

Stockpile has a very simple to use trading app that is beginner-friendly and great for new investors. You can conveniently access everything from there to setup your account, manage funds, research potential investments, buy and sell stocks, and manage your portfolio. Whilst the Stockpile app is modern and simplistic, it is very limited when it comes to conducting detailed analysis. That being said, Stockpile’s target market is primarily those who are new to trading rather than the more seasoned professional investor. It is also ideal for gifting stocks and learning more about safely investing online.

Stockpile Investing App

Tools

The Stockpile app has some handy tools to make it easy for you to track instruments and manage your account. However, you want find lots of tools for conducing in depth market analysis. If you are looking to conduct in-depth market analysis and trade on a daily basis, you may want to checkout IG instead. They have thousands of financial instruments and industry leading platforms. That being said, if you are a casual investor, you may enjoy the simplicity of the Stockpile platform.

Education

The Stockpile app has a series of fun and easy to digest mini lessons that can help improve the trading knowledge of beginners. Aspiring investors can learn the terms and navigate through the site quickly and efficiently. I like how they want to make sure that they can help guide customers towards smart investments with prolonged returns. It is always good to see a company put client interests before profits.

Stockpile Education

Markets

Using the Stockpile app, you can buy fractional shares on a great selection of more than 1,000+ stocks and ETFs, for just $0.99 per trade. They have every stock in the S&P 500. You can browse stocks by category, company name, sector, brand, etc. They do not carry penny stocks, bulletin board securities, pink sheet stocks, foreign ordinaries, and stocks trading below $6.00 per share. Cryptocurrency trading is offered through an account with Apex Crypto. They are constantly adding stocks, including most popular companies that have recently gone public. But if you don’t see a stock that you’d like to buy, you can request the stock to be added and they will review your request and try to get it added.

Stockpile Instruments

When it comes to purchasing stocks with other brokers, things can get pricey. This can make it difficult for some aspiring traders to get started. For example, say Amazon starts at $1,000 a share. With Stockpile, instead of needing to buy an entire share, you can buy fractional shares and invest any amount that you want. You could buy $50 of Amazon and get 0.05 shares. If you were to buy 0.5 shares for $50 and the stock goes up 10%, your shares would then be worth $55. Your stocks will go up and down with the market, trading always carries an element of risk.

Accounts

Stockpile offers a standard account for trading and investing in stocks. All of the accounts are cash accounts, which means that all purchases must be paid for with settled funds, they do not provide credit or margin lending to traders. Aspiring stock traders can start trading with just $5 using Stockpile. It is completely free to sign up for a trading account and there is a low $0.99 fee per trade. Stockpile have no monthly fees or minimum requirements which is great. This makes them easily accessible even if you just wanted to give them a try with a minimal investment amount.

Stockpile Account

Stock Gift Cards

A Stockpile gift card is the quickest, easiest way to give someone a gift of stock. This is a very innovative feature where you can give anyone an amount in a specific company or let them choose a brand they want to own. It’s the gift that gets someone started on their path to investing. It’s also a way for existing investors to expand their portfolios. You can buy electronic gift cards for stock in any denomination from $1 to $500, for any brand of stock they offer, with just a few clicks like you would from most online stores. And you can do this securely from any browser or from within the Stockpile mobile app with a debit/credit card.

Stockpile Gift Card

Support

Stockpile customer support is available via online chat and email. They are usually online during US office hours. It would be beneficial if they had a direct telephone contact number in addition to this. They do however have a useful frequently asked question (FAQ) section where you can get some advice and answers from the Stockpile team. I would’ve also liked to see them offer 24/7 customer support.

Funding

Stockpile offers two ways to fund your trading account. You can link your bank account to move cash in and out of your Stockpile account. This is free to do although I don’t like how it can take up to 3 business days for the money to appear. You can also schedule automatic deposits from your bank if you wish. The alternative option is to fund your trading account via debit card which is instant but does incur a small charge. I found these funding options to be quite limited compared to some other online brokers like FXChoice which offers online payment processors and cryptos.

Conclusion

Stockpile is a basic online brokerage with a user-friendly trading app that has limited market analysis and research tools. This is because they are targeted more towards the novice trader, offering fractional shares and educational resources via the intuitive app. The broker fees are low and there is the unique option to buy stocks as gifts for others.

I think that Stockpile is likely to be more attractive to those who just want to test the waters or those who would like to gift stocks through the e-gift or physical gift card options they have that can be used to redeem stocks. An account is not required to gift stocks which is great. Stockpile also allows you to gift stock via purchase of e-gift cards or retail cards sold at major retail chains. A growing number of Fortune 500 companies are using Stockpile gift cards for employee rewards and customer loyalty programs.

Despite the positives, I found the number of tradable instruments to be limited compared to other brokers like Robinhood whilst the market research tools provided are minimal. The more experienced and savvier investor are likely to find the financial product range, platform capabilities and tools lacking. This is especially the case for those of you who are planning on day trading.

If you are a casual investor located in the USA and want to give them a try, you can open an account and in just minutes, you can be buying and trading stocks with relative ease.

$5

Stockpile provide an easy way to start investing in stocks and ETFs with zero commissions fees. You can buy and sell fractional shares and gift stocks to others. However, there are some limitations when it comes to day trading.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

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