WellsTrade Review
Although WellsTrade isn’t the most well-known brokerage, it does have some good investment services that are worth considering. Here are the main facts:
Rating: 
- Stocks & ETFs: $0
- Options: $0.65 per contract
- Mutual Funds: $35
- Minimum to open: $0
Wells Fargo Investment Choices
WellsTrade customers can choose between two main types of accounts: robo or self-directed. The robo account trades ETFs only. You can also get help from human advisors if you have a robo account.
Self-directed accounts have a much bigger list of ETFs and more investment options. These include:
- Option contracts
- Stocks (including OTC stocks)
- Mutual funds
- Closed-end funds
- Bonds and other fixed-income securities
WellsTrade does not offer cryptocurrencies, precious metals, warrants, foreign stocks, forex, or futures.
WellsTrade Pricing
So, what does all of this cost? A robo-managed account costs 0.35% per year. Some Wells Fargo Bank customers get a discount of 0.05%. There is no extra cost to speak with a human investment advisor.
Self-directed accounts do not have management fees. There are also no commissions for online stock and ETF trades. Trades over the phone with a live representative cost $25 each.
Option trades cost 65¢ per contract.
Buying U.S. Treasury debt at auction is free.
Mutual funds with a transaction fee cost $35, but there’s no extra charge for phone trades with an associate.
Margin
WellsTrade customers can open either a cash or margin account. We found that you cannot upgrade a cash account to margin status online—you have to call to make the change.
At the moment, WellsTrade charges 12.75% to 8.75% for margin loans. Accounts with more than $250,000 in assets can get discounts up to 2.5%.
WellsTrade’s software does not show margin requirements for specific investments, which is another letdown.
Website
WellsTrade’s website is easy to use because of a clear top menu. The main problem is that there isn’t much on the site.
The order ticket has only four order types: stop, stop limit, market, and limit. There are two time-in-force options: day and GTC. The action menu includes buy to cover and sell short. There’s also a menu to switch between cash and margin for a trade (if the account allows margin).
At the top of the order ticket, there are tabs for options and mutual funds.
Charts on the WellsTrade website have several tools, such as:
- Technical indicators
- Event overlays
- Different chart styles, including OHLC bars and dot
- Drawing tools
However, a chart cannot be made to fill the entire screen, which is a major flaw.
Mobile App
Because WellsTrade uses the Wells Fargo app, there are lots of cash management tools available. These include things like mobile check deposit, a free FICO score, and information about home loans and credit cards.
For trading, the app uses the same order ticket as the website, but sell short and buy to cover are missing.
You can add a stock to a watchlist from its profile on the app. You can also create more than one watchlist, and these sync with the website.
You can set alerts for a stock, too. There are many alert types, like % volume change, price below, and news about the stock symbol. Alerts are only sent by email.
The biggest weakness of the WellsTrade app is that its charts are very simple. You can’t turn your phone to see a horizontal chart, and there are no tools.
Additional Software
WellsTrade is not a good choice for advanced traders. There is no desktop trading program. The website does not have a browser-based platform, and there is no smartwatch app either.
Customer Support
WellsTrade also falls short with customer service. There is no chat tool on the WellsTrade website. There is no email system. One useful feature is a document upload tool. You can use it to send scanned copies of documents to the broker.
Even though Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Advisors have branch offices, these places do not help with WellsTrade accounts.
You can get help by phone. WellsTrade’s phone service is open only on weekdays from 8:00 am EST to midnight. There is no service on weekends.
There is a Customer Service tab at the top of the WellsTrade website. In this section, you can do things like set email preferences and change your username.
Options Trading
You can add options trading to a WellsTrade account, but it’s not easy. There is no online form. You have to download a PDF from the Account Forms page (under the Customer Service tab) and submit it. We had to send it several times before WellsTrade accepted it.
You can look up option chains (just puts and calls) for an asset on both the app and website. There are no built-in spread trades, and you cannot set up custom multi-leg trades.
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Research and Education
WellsTrade does better with education. Under the Research tab on the website, you can find global index data, commodity prices (these can’t be traded), and market news. There are lots of reports from Morningstar and Wells Fargo Securities. But there are no videos on the website.
It is pretty easy to find investments using WellsTrade’s screeners. There are screeners for stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds, but not options. The stock screener has basic and advanced modes. The advanced mode only has 9 search filters. These include:
- Industry
- Consensus rating
- P/E ratio
- Dividend yield
Stock profiles show analyst ratings from Morningstar, Wells Fargo Securities, and Refinitiv. Some ratings have price targets. The WellsTrade site also shows financial statement numbers in charts for easy reading.
Miscellaneous Services
DRIP Availability: Cash dividends from stocks and ETFs can be used to automatically buy more shares of the same investment.
Initial Public Offerings: WellsTrade does not let you buy IPO shares early. Webull does.
Extended Hours Trading: WellsTrade does not offer pre-market trading. There is after-hours trading from 4:01 pm to 6:30 pm EST, but only on the mobile app.
Fractional Shares: WellsTrade does not offer fractional share trading for stocks and ETFs. You can buy fractional shares at
Robinhood.
Periodic Mutual Fund Investing: You can set up automatic purchases of mutual funds at WellsTrade.
Cash Management Features: Even though WellsTrade is connected to Wells Fargo, there are no banking features like a debit card. Still, you can link a Wells Fargo checking or savings account to a WellsTrade account.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Both personal and small business IRAs are available at WellsTrade. But closing one will cost $49.95, which is a big downside.
Our Recommendations
Small Accounts: WellsTrade’s robo account requires a $500 minimum. Self-directed taxable accounts have no minimum and are better for small investors. We don’t suggest the company’s IRAs for small accounts because of the closing fee.
Mutual Funds: WellsTrade is a good choice for mutual funds. The mutual fund screener found 8,157 funds open to new investors. Almost 3,000 have no load and no transaction fee. The screener is easy to use and has lots of filters.
Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: Self-directed traders can buy target-date mutual funds in retirement accounts. WellsTrade also has custodial accounts, but is missing many features, such as
traditional wealth management and annuities.
Charles Schwab is a better option.
Beginning Investors: WellsTrade’s robo account offers free phone consultations with licensed financial advisors, which is a good choice for beginners.
Active ETF and Stock Trading: WellsTrade does not have the tools needed for active stock or ETF trading.
Moomoo is better, and it offers fractional shares too.
Wells Fargo Brokerage Review Verdict
WellsTrade could do much better because of its connection to a large bank, but it struggles in many ways and hasn’t improved much. Its software needs a big update, customer service needs to get better, and there are more issues.
Updated on 7/20/2025.
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