Capital One investing started out as share builder back in 1996, with the goal of making investing affordable and easy. Today, in 2016, Capital One investing continues to thrive, thanks to its automatic investments, pleasant customer service and clean website. Under the brokers base commission structure, regular stock trades cost 695 and options trades run at six ninety five plus seventy five cents per contract.
Note though complex options are not supported. Compared to the big-name brokers such as TD Ameritrade, etrade fidelity in Chara, Capital One investing is less expensive. However, compared to other discount brokers such as option sells traking and the like, Capital One investing is more expensive.
Capital One investing comes out on top in a big way is with its automatic investments, also known as the share builder plan, giving customers the ability to automatically buy shares of stocks ETFs or select mutual funds each month for only 395 for trade.
Capital one investing is the only broker to offer its customers a separate rate to take advantage of discounted automatic investments, it is this simplicity that makes Capital One investing so attractive for investors who want to set it and forget it with their IRAs during customer service.
Testing for our 2016 review, Capital One investing is phone support which was consistently an enjoyable experience, reps are always enthusiastic, professional and helpful. Phone aside email live chat support yielded mostly positive experiences with more highlights than low lights across the board.
However, compared to the rest of the industry, the broker finished in the middle of the pack for customer service. The shining star in Capital One investing Arsenal is the website’s ease-of-use, everything from navigation to placing trades and performing research is an effortless experience.
The website boasts a very clean design. It is clear that Capital One investing takes its time before launching anything new to ensure a top-notch user experience. If there is one recommendation, we would make for Capital One investing in 2016, it would create a customize dashboard for customers to replace the current boring accounts overview page.
For research, we found Capital One investing coverage of equities ETFs and mutual funds to be very strong, thanks to the use of Morning star as a primary provider. Although the broker purposely supports a little more than 1,000 mutual funds for trading due to its focus on quality over quantity, we were impressed by the depth of research provided.
Capital One investing does not offer a formal desktop or a web-based trading platform. Instead, it relies on its website. There isn’t anything for advanced traders to be excited about, because active traders are not Capital One investing target market, that said Capital One investing does have its fair share of innovative tools for regular investors.
Our favorite is the portfolio builder tool, which launched in 2014. Using portfolio builder customers can create their own diversified portfolio with up to 8 ETS, aligning their investment style of long term goals. Once a new portfolio is compiled, it can be purchased and sold for a single flat rate of 1895 tools aside as far as investments go.
Capital One investing has a mixed offering, complex options are not supported, nor are after-hours trades or shorting. However, Capital One investing through Capital One is the only company alongside Bank of America Merrill edge to offer credit and debit cards, checking and savings accounts, as well as home mortgages through Capital One.
The company also supports universal login for customers for easy account management. Capital One investing shines in ease-of-use it performs very well in research and customer service, but suffers in its efforts to appease the tool hungry active trader. Capital One investing should only continue to thrive in doing what it does best, offering a great solution for casual investors in those seeking automatic investments as well as giving current Capital One 360 customers an easy way to access to markets.