Fidelity lets clients now trade fractional shares of stocks and ETFs

[mighty72]

It got enabled for me too but says that fractional orders can be placed only during market hours. I will try tomorrow

I was able to execute the trade. $100 worth of ITOT. It was a limit order. Now, if I could figure out how to do this every month automatically.

[TheTimeLord]

I can see using this to do a stock version of Draft Kings in my portfolio. Yep, this will lead to nothing good on my end, but probably quite fun.

[MotoTrojan]

I can see using this to do a stock version of Draft Kings in my portfolio. Yep, this will lead to nothing good on my end, but probably quite fun.

M1 Finance has allowed a super seamless way of doing just this for quite some time.

[ElJefeDelQueso]

It got enabled for me too but says that fractional orders can be placed only during market hours. I will try tomorrow

I was able to execute the trade. $100 worth of ITOT. It was a limit order. Now, if I could figure out how to do this every month automatically.

Just showed up in my app in the past hour.
Agree auto/scheduled trades would be a major step forward. I use ETFs and am not a fan of manual trades during market hours.

[TheTimeLord]

I can see using this to do a stock version of Draft Kings in my portfolio. Yep, this will lead to nothing good on my end, but probably quite fun.

M1 Finance has allowed a super seamless way of doing just this for quite some time.

I think there have been lots of way I could have gotten into this kind of trouble/fun in recent years, but never with anyone I was using before.

[dollar_elbow]

It was enabled on my account today and it works for buying Vanguard etfs. It seems there is little reason to bother with mutual funds anymore.

I should note that you have to view the yellow info panel that appears just before you place your first fractional purchase (usually you can ignore them as it’s just prospectus info), otherwise the trade won’t go through.

[1789]

Worked today. Bought some VTI.

[ChrisBenn]

I put in a market order denominated in us dollars which mapped out to 235.251 shares of an etf with a ~$0.06 bid/ask spread. One lot at 100 filled at $.003 over the midpoint and another lot of 135 filled at $0.002 over the midpoint. The .251 fractional shares filled exactly at the ask.

The midpoint fills are consistent with what I got with previous share denominated market orders.

I'm totally fine with this, since the fractional share price higher cost only impacted the fractional portion -- just found it interesting.

[bck63]

Still waiting.

[jhfenton]

I put in a market order denominated in us dollars which mapped out to 235.251 shares of an etf with a ~$0.06 bid/ask spread. One lot at 100 filled at $.003 over the midpoint and another lot of 135 filled at $0.002 over the midpoint. The .251 fractional shares filled exactly at the ask.

The midpoint fills are consistent with what I got with previous share denominated market orders.

I'm totally fine with this, since the fractional share price higher cost only impacted the fractional portion -- just found it interesting.

Thanks for the detail. I've been curious about execution, but not many folks have shared the details yet.

[bogledogle87]

Placed my first fractional order for VT in my HSA yesterday with no problem. I’m pretty excited about this. With the ability to trade fractional shares, there is also no reason not to automatically reinvest dividends at Fidelity, either. Previously it was quite difficult to sell fractional shares.

Now, You can essentially turn any stock or etf into a mutual fund under these circumstances, which is a game changer. All they need now is to enable automatic investment of dollar amounts into ETF’s which I hope may be a future enhancement. I’m very curious If the other brokers will follow suit.

[1789]

Only thing left is automated ETF investing. Are we going to see that soon?

[jhfenton]

Only thing left is automated ETF investing. Are we going to see that soon?

I think I asked earlier in the thread, but how would folks expect this to work? Would they limit it to Market or Limit on Open (MOO or LOO) or Market or Limit on Close (MOC or LOC) orders? Would they give you a choice between the two? Or would you be able to specify a time for your order? Would they limit automatic investment to the most liquid ETFs where there would never be a risk of a failed opening or closing auction or where they could pool purchases (as with dividend reinvestments)?

There are enough complications to consider with automatic ETF investments to make me believe it will be a while. I certainly wouldn't expect to see it from a major brokerage this year.

[1789]

I really don’t know how it will work. I look at it from a business perspective and so believe that someone over their is thinking the details on how to make it work.

[UpperNwGuy]

I’m very curious If the other brokers will follow suit.

If Vanguard is really serious about wanting its customers to transition from mutual fund accounts to brokerage accounts, they should implement this fractional ETF share strategy quickly.

[bogledogle87]

I’m very curious If the other brokers will follow suit.

If Vanguard is really serious about wanting its customers to transition from mutual fund accounts to brokerage accounts, they should implement this fractional ETF share strategy quickly.

I would love to see this. I might actually consider switching to fidelity down the line if they do not. What is interesting is that fractional share ETF trading at vanguard could almost negate the need for their mutual funds entirely for a retail investor, especially if they allowed automatic dollar purchasing. Why would you need a mutual fund anymore? If implemented, I could see the MF customer base shifting exclusively toward institutional and retirement plans

[jhfenton]

I would love to see this. I might actually consider switching to fidelity down the line if they do not. What is interesting is that fractional share ETF trading at vanguard could almost negate the need for their mutual funds entirely for a retail investor, especially if they allowed automatic dollar purchasing. Why would you need a mutual fund anymore? If implemented, I could see the MF customer base shifting exclusively toward institutional and retirement plans

It's definitely a major plus for Fidelity. I was talking to our 17-year-old last night, and we're going to open a Roth IRA for him now that he has a job (hardware store). He started after Thanksgiving and only made $300+ dollars in 2019, so his 2019 contribution will be small. (He plans to contribute half of his earnings. ) The ability to buy fractional shares will be a major plus, whatever he decides to buy.

[JamesSFO]

It's now available to me in mobile only when I did "quick trade".

[ftobin]

I think I asked earlier in the thread, but how would folks expect this to work? Would they limit it to Market or Limit on Open (MOO or LOO) or Market or Limit on Close (MOC or LOC) orders? Would they give you a choice between the two? Or would you be able to specify a time for your order? Would they limit automatic investment to the most liquid ETFs where there would never be a risk of a failed opening or closing auction or where they could pool purchases (as with dividend reinvestments)?

There are enough complications to consider with automatic ETF investments to make me believe it will be a while. I certainly wouldn't expect to see it from a major brokerage this year.

I can pretty much guarantee they'd be MOC or VWAP orders, for a slew of reasons, including that it would be easier for Fidelity to hedge. My former employer 401k had dollar-denominated transactions for company stock, probably done has MOC (never really bothered to find out).

[Texanbybirth]

Very satisfying to put all cash to work today in our Roth IRA @ Fidelity. I bought fractional shares for this month's contribution with no problem. A welcome improvement!

[ChrisBenn]

I think I asked earlier in the thread, but how would folks expect this to work? Would they limit it to Market or Limit on Open (MOO or LOO) or Market or Limit on Close (MOC or LOC) orders? Would they give you a choice between the two? Or would you be able to specify a time for your order? Would they limit automatic investment to the most liquid ETFs where there would never be a risk of a failed opening or closing auction or where they could pool purchases (as with dividend reinvestments)?

There are enough complications to consider with automatic ETF investments to make me believe it will be a while. I certainly wouldn't expect to see it from a major brokerage this year.

I can pretty much guarantee they'd be MOC or VWAP orders, for a slew of reasons, including that it would be easier for Fidelity to hedge. My former employer 401k had dollar-denominated transactions for company stock, probably done has MOC (never really bothered to find out).

I find M1's implementation pretty reasonable - a trade at a target time window - after open. I think it was 10:30 central?.

[ftobin]

I find M1's implementation pretty reasonable - a trade at a target time window - after open. I think it was 10:30 central?.

That's great if brokers can keep cost down and provide that functionality. Generally there is much more liquidity near at EOD, so there's more liquidity to hedge with during that time (fractional shares necessitate that the broker act as the counterparty, and they'll hedge it away).

[Mario2222]

[merged into existing thread - moderator prudent]

https://thefinancebuff.com/etf-orders-d ... hares.html

[Mario2222]

I like M1 finance for the auto rebalancing.

[MAI]

From https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060 ... mation.pdf under the "Fractional Share Trading" section:

Orders to buy or sell may be entered using either a fractional share quantity (e.g., 2.525 shares) or a dollar value (e.g., $250.00). Share quantities can be specified to three decimal places (.001). Dollar-value orders will be converted into share quantities for execution, again, to three decimal places. In all cases, when converting dollar-value orders into share quantities, the share quantities will be rounded down.

If I'm reading that correctly, the number of shares is rounded down whether buying or selling. Can people check that that is what actually happens? If so, that works to one's advantage when selling, and to one's disadvantage when buying.

I had a Fidelity fund which had a distribution automatically reinvested this month, and I noticed that although the distribution itself was rounded to the nearest penny as usual (not specifically up or down), the number of resulting shares was rounded down. As of last December it would have just been rounded, not rounded down. I don't have a mobile device, but have been using automatic reinvestment for years. It appears they changed the behavior to be consistent with that for manual dollar-based trading.

[MAI]

The page https://www.fidelity.com/trading/fractional-shares now has additional information and says "Fractional share trading is available through the Fidelity mobile app, only" (the word "only" added) so they're doubling down on only making it available by mobile app (4 1/2 months after initial availability).

[statefan03]

The page https://www.fidelity.com/trading/fractional-shares now has additional information and says "Fractional share trading is available through the Fidelity mobile app, only" (the word "only" added) so they're doubling down on only making it available by mobile app (4 1/2 months after initial availability).

I wonder why they don't allow it from their website.

[MAI]

I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that the number of shares is rounded down for both buying and selling, meaning that Fidelity makes money on buys and loses on sells. People on mobile devices tend to be young buyers with an affinity for FAANG stocks like Amazon and Alphabet with high share prices, meaning the rounding error is larger.

[jhfenton]

I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that the number of shares is rounded down for both buying and selling, meaning that Fidelity makes money on buys and loses on sells. People on mobile devices tend to be young buyers with an affinity for FAANG stocks like Amazon and Alphabet with high share prices, meaning the rounding error is larger.

I'm not sure how they make money on the rounding error on buys, since they put unneeded pennies back after rounding. Let's use an example from my account:

Cash $21.53
Order, buy $21.53 of EYLD at market
Execution, 0.769 shares at 27.9644, amount $21.50

$21.53 / $27.9644 = 0.7699 shares, rounded down to 0.769
0.769 * $27.9644 = $21.5046, rounded down to $21.50

Result, $0.03 remained in account (which I used to place another order in which I bought 0.001 shares, nominally at $28.07)

Except for these two trades, every previous fractional shares order I've placed ended up with $0.01 left over.

[MAI]

My statement was based on my experience with Fidelity's automatic reinvestment. In December and earlier, they were always rounding to the nearest thousandth of a share. By March, they were rounding down instead, sometimes resulting in a smaller number of reinvested shares. So they apparently changed the automatic reinvestment rules at around the same time. When applied to automatic reinvestment, the change can only cause a loss. I don't know how dollar-based trading works on a mobile device since I don't have access.

Edit: BTW, with automatic reinvestment, when the dollar amount of the distribution is calculated, that's still rounded to the nearest cent, as usual. It's only when they compute the corresponding number of shares that they now round down. And the entire dollar amount is still used, there's nothing left over.

[jhfenton]

My statement was based on my experience with Fidelity's automatic reinvestment. In December and earlier, they were always rounding to the nearest thousandth of a share. By March, they were rounding down instead, sometimes resulting in a smaller number of reinvested shares. So they apparently changed the automatic reinvestment rules at around the same time. When applied to automatic reinvestment, the change can only cause a loss. I don't know how dollar-based trading works on a mobile device since I don't have access.

Edit: BTW, with automatic reinvestment, when the dollar amount of the distribution is calculated, that's still rounded to the nearest cent, as usual. It's only when they compute the corresponding number of shares that they now round down. And the entire dollar amount is still used, there's nothing left over.

Going back to February, I see that you were talking about dividend reinvestment. Apparently they do not follow the exact same procedures for manual trades: they do round down, but then they refund excess cash. I have had at least $0.01 left over on all of my fractional trades, starting in February, except the most recent $0.03 trade.

[MAI]

I was finally able to create an Android virtual machine (using Genymotion), and install and use the Fidelity app in that, so as to avoid having to buy an actual mobile device (which I have no use for, and is harder to keep secure, since it may not get regular updates). The Fidelity app apparently contains ARM native code, so as described in the Genymotion documentation, I had to first install ARM translation before installing OpenGApps, after which I was able to install the Fidelity app from the Google Play Store. It seems to work fine. I noticed that it has no refresh button for the bid, ask, and last prices, unlike the web-based app. The quickest way to "refresh" is to reload the ticker symbol by clicking on it and then selecting the same symbol from the drop-down menu. Then you have to scroll down to actually submit the order, which is clumsy. I'll probably log in twice, once on the website to do the refresh, and once in the app to actually submit the order. Also, a dollar-based trade results in two transactions, one for the whole share part, and one for the fractional share part. Presumably a fractional share trade would do the same. Of the few trades I've done, the trade for the fractional share part always had a worse price (higher for a buy and lower for a sell) than the price for the whole share part.

[Tc99]

It looks like Fidelity is now offering fractional shares on their website for those interested.

[arf30]

It looks like Fidelity is now offering fractional shares on their website for those interested.

I'm not seeing that, maybe it's a slow rollout. What account types are you seeing it in?

[MAI]

I'm not seeing it either. When I enter a decimal point in the "Quantity" entry box, I get the error message "Quantity must be a positive whole number."

[Ferdinand2014]

I'm not seeing it either. When I enter a decimal point in the "Quantity" entry box, I get the error message "Quantity must be a positive whole number."

Duplicate

[Tc99]

It looks like Fidelity is now offering fractional shares on their website for those interested.

I'm not seeing that, maybe it's a slow rollout. What account types are you seeing it in?

Taxable account.

Under Accounts and Trade, I selected Trade and it brought up a new window which says "Fractional shares trading is now available. To get started, switch to the Simplified Ticket."

[sycamore]

It looks like Fidelity is now offering fractional shares on their website for those interested.

I'm not seeing that, maybe it's a slow rollout. What account types are you seeing it in?

Taxable account.

Under Accounts and Trade, I selected Trade and it brought up a new window which says "Fractional shares trading is now available. To get started, switch to the Simplified Ticket."

I see something like that in my HSA with Fidelity.

Under Accounts and Trade > Trade, I don't see a new window but it shows a message "Fractional shares trading is now available in our new trading experience. Get started." Clicking on "Get started" takes me to a trading page, from there I see "Fractional shares trading is now available. To get started, switch to the Simplified Ticket." Clicking "Simplified Ticket" updates the UI to allow entry in dollar amounts.

[HenryPorter]

Is it only during market hours that you can see the fractional trading window? I logged into my Fidelity account and can not see a fractional trade option as of 10pm.

[jason2459]

Is it only during market hours that you can see the fractional trading window? I logged into my Fidelity account and can not see a fractional trade option as of 10pm.

Has to be done through the app, fewer trade selections selected (link under order type), and you then should see the dollar or shares option.

[MAI]

Is it only during market hours that you can see the fractional trading window? I logged into my Fidelity account and can not see a fractional trade option as of 10pm.

Has to be done through the app, fewer trade selections selected (link under order type), and you then should see the dollar or shares option.

See above posts. Apparently there's a slow rollout on the website (not the mobile app), I'm still not seeing it.

[jason2459]

Is it only during market hours that you can see the fractional trading window? I logged into my Fidelity account and can not see a fractional trade option as of 10pm.

Has to be done through the app, fewer trade selections selected (link under order type), and you then should see the dollar or shares option.

See above posts. Apparently there's a slow rollout on the website (not the mobile app), I'm still not seeing it.

Oh nice, I missed that. I'd rather they put the effort into allowing automatic investing by the dollar into ETFs now.

[BogleFan510]

Schwab is also doing this, maybe before Fidelity. A non issue IMHO, but not horrible.

[ChrisBenn]

Schwab is also doing this, maybe before Fidelity. A non issue IMHO, but not horrible.

Schwab is limited to S&P 500 stocks though, right? Meh.

Fidelity works for ETF's, which I think is much more useful. Not financially meaningful, but definitely a nice quality of life convenience.

[BogleFan510]

Schwab is also doing this, maybe before Fidelity. A non issue IMHO, but not horrible.

Schwab is limited to S&P 500 stocks though, right? Meh.

Fidelity works for ETF's, which I think is much more useful. Not financially meaningful, but definitely a nice quality of life convenience.

Ok. I think they said working on expanding and supporting dollar based buy orders for most stuff one can auto dividend reinvest. Accounting audit records for settlement of fractional stuff not always trivial, but tracking and reporting systems once tested, should be able to do it. A good industry customer friendly trend.

[bck63]

Announcement: Here

BOSTON, Jan. 29, 2020 – Fidelity Investments®, the largest online brokerage firm with more than 23 million retail brokerage accounts, today announced availability of real-time fractional shares trading of stocks and ETFs (also known as dollar-based investing). This simplified way of investing, which is being rolled out to Fidelity’s retail customers beginning today and will continue over the next several weeks, allows investors to trade as little as 0.001 of a share...Fractional share or dollar-based trades, which must be market or limit order types and are good for the day only, are available in eligible Fidelity retail accounts, including brokerage, HSAs, IRAs, and self-directed brokerage accounts via a workplace retirement plan.

I use it at Fidelity every paycheck in my taxable account. It's nice not not having a few bucks here and there sitting in my settlement fund.

[arf30]

I did a test drive of the fractional buying this morning and it's a pretty clunky process compared to mutual funds. The android app is pretty buggy - if you tap a blank area (outside of the input fields) it'll reset you to buying by number of shares and hide the dollar amount input. Then I did a limit order at the ask, but the ask moved down before I could place the order, so that took a few retries. Then it filled my order as two separate orders at slightly different prices, so I've got 2 tax lots to deal with now - and there was 4 cents leftover. There's probably an "all or nothing" setting that I missed. Overall I'll stick with mutual funds for now.

[MAI]

Then it filled my order as two separate orders at slightly different prices, so I've got 2 tax lots to deal with now - and there was 4 cents leftover.

All of my orders were executed as two trades, one for the whole share part, one for the fractional share part. Most of them had were routed differently for the fractional share part (whole share part routed through FDLM, I don't remember who the fractional share part used), and had a worse price (higher on buy, lower on sell) for the fractional part, but the two trades for my most recent order were both routed through FDLM, and had the same share price. It would be nice if they could always do that, and consolidate them into one trade, for simplicity.

The rollout to the website is VERY slow. I'm still not seeing anything there. Maybe someone who has access on the website could post a screenshot?

[BroIceCream]

I did a test drive of the fractional buying this morning and it's a pretty clunky process compared to mutual funds. The android app is pretty buggy - if you tap a blank area (outside of the input fields) it'll reset you to buying by number of shares and hide the dollar amount input. Then I did a limit order at the ask, but the ask moved down before I could place the order, so that took a few retries. Then it filled my order as two separate orders at slightly different prices, so I've got 2 tax lots to deal with now - and there was 4 cents leftover. There's probably an "all or nothing" setting that I missed. Overall I'll stick with mutual funds for now.

I've only done one fractional trade. The hint I learned from Fidelity customer service to utilize specific tax lots, was to initiate the trade on my phone, and don't bother specifying tax lots. Execute the trade.
Then go into the website, and under the "Pending Orders" listing, then go in and adjust the tax lots to use whichever I desired. You can only do this while the status is "pending", but any time during the day of the trade is fine.

Very easy (but two step).

[MAI]

I am now seeing fractional share trading on the Fidelity website, under "Accounts & Trade/Trade". However, if I click on the black "Trade" link visible directly on the top of the page (alongside "Transfer", "Pay Bills", and "Add Note"), that version is still the old version. I note that both versions on the website have a refresh button, once you choose a Symbol. The mobile version does not, which is a pain. You can do a crude "refresh" on the mobile version only by choosing the same Symbol again by clicking on it and choosing the same one from the menu.

Edit: Under the "Accounts & Trade/Trade" version, you can choose between "Simplified Ticket" and "Expanded Ticket". It appears that you can only do fractional and dollar-based trading under the Simplified Ticket. The Expanded Ticket allows you to sell specific shares, but only allows a whole number of shares.

Edit: Actually, I take it back, you CAN choose specific shares under the Simplified Ticket. There's a link on the right that says "Specify shares".