J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing Review 2023 (2023)

In today’s market free trading is table stakes,. And most of the big-name brokers have stepped up to play. This includes J.P. Morgan which has $0 trade commissions for its Self-Directed Investing app.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing (hosted through the Chase Mobile App) is yet another example of a no-fee, high-value brokerage account brought about by the democratization of “high” finance. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use, no-frills investing app, J.P. Morgan investing is well worth considering. Here’s what you need to know about it.

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J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is a no-frills investment app designed to serve long-term investors. It’s ideally suited for people who already have a lot of their financial life in the J.P. Morgan Chase world. If you already have the Chase App downloaded, opening an investment account is as simple as tapping a few buttons.

The Self-Directed Investing app allows investors to buy and sell stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds with no commissions. It also offers investors the ability to buy and sell very low-cost options. The app itself allows users to keep watchlists and investigate individual investments. But the default views are on portfolio totals. This prevents investors from “losing the forest for the trees.”

Don’t expect gamification or flashing lights when you download the app. It’s simple, streamlined, and almost old-school in its approach. But under the hood, you’ll find a powerful app that can give investors access to the most important aspects of the financial markets.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing gives every customer commission-free trades for stocks, options, and ETFs, and the account balance minimum is $0. However, options do come with a per contract fee of $0.65.

Mutual funds investors will also love to learn that J.P. Morgan never charges fees on mutual fund transactions. While most brokers do offer a selection of no transaction fee (NTF) mutual funds, it's highly unusual for a firm to promise fee-free trades on every mutual fund that can be bought or sold on its platform.

With a $2,500 minimum balance, investors gain access to the Portfolio Builder tool. This tool allows users to see how a certain stock or ETF would fit into their overall portfolio. The tool automates some of the best aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) to keep investors pursuing adequate diversification given their goals.

Unfortunately, this is the primary mobile source for data and information. Users need to use the website to find articles about investment strategies. And users more or less need to leave the site to get detailed information about a stock or ETF.

You can trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds (as in directly purchasing bonds), and other fixed income assets (think CDs) with J.P Morgan. And the platform tries to differentiate itself from other investing apps by helping investors keep an eye on their total portfolio while giving them the flexibility to choose from a variety of investments.

But it should be noted that while J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is marketed as a “trading” platform, it doesn't support foreign currencies, cryptocurrencies, or futures. You also can't buy or sell fractional shares with a Self-Directed J.P Morgan account or trade on margin (margin trading is only offered on full-service accounts).

I found J.P. Morgan to be very easy to use. It had more than adequate investment selection, and I loved the Portfolio Builder tool. Investors who want a primarily “plain vanilla” portfolio with a few individual stocks or options will love the low fees and the easy-to-use app.

That said even “plain vanilla” investors may have better options outside of J.P. Morgan’s Self-Directed app. TD Ameritrade offers a greater variety of account types, and it also offers free trades. And Robinhood supports cryptocurrency in addition to stocks and ETFs.

Perhaps the biggest draw to J.P. Morgan rather than its competitors is the integration with Chase. People who have a Chase credit card, will find that opening a J.P. Morgan investment account becomes an easy next step. By contrast, other companies make opening an account more difficult.

People who already have a Chase product can simply open an account through the Chase Mobile App. This involves answering a few questions and funding the account.

Those who aren’t current account holders must either download Chase Mobile or visit the Chase.com website. Once users provide personal and employment information, they can choose the type of account to open. From there, it's up to the investor to fund the account and start investing.

J.P. Morgan Securities is a member of FINRA and the SIPC. It’s a well-known company, for a large bank, is remarkably free from scams and shady business. Investors should not expect some sort of bait and switch. I don’t expect J.P. Morgan to raise rates on any of its investment products soon.

The accounts are also protected through multi-factor authentication. Users are prompted for multiple factors even when logged in from known IP addresses. To me, this is an excellent example of consistent security.

Investors' accounts are also somewhat protected from theft as long as the fault is J.P. Morgan’s and not yours. That said, the investments in the account are not perfectly safe. Investments in any brokerage account can lose value and even go down to zero. Stock market investors need to be ready to risk money if they're going to invest.

J.P. Morgan is neither the first company to offer no-fee trades nor is it the most innovative company in the bunch. However, it offers a few unique selling points. The Portfolio Builder tool is an excellent option for people who want to own funds along with individual stock positions. The easy buy and sell buttons make the “nuts and bolts” of investing easy to manage.

The only real drawback to the platform is that it only supports after-tax brokerages and traditional and Roth IRAs. Business owners or side hustlers will need to host their self-employed retirement plans elsewhere.

Overall, I don’t think I would move my money from another no-fee brokerage to J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing. However, it will make top apps for free trades for the foreseeable future. New investors are likely to find that it’s easy to use, even if it's a little bit boring. I like that it encourages responsible investing in line with risk tolerances and time horizons.