Partial Shares
The 2020’s are bringing a lot of change to the world of finance and investing. Robo accounts are here, and so are fractional shares. Is TD Ameritrade keeping up with other brokerage firms? Let’s find out.
Can You Buy Fractional Shares on TD Ameritrade?
TD Ameritrade only offers whole-share trading for stocks and exchange-traded funds. It has not rolled out fractional-share trading, although it does offer a free Dividend Reinvestment Plan for stocks and ETFs. This service will accumulate fractional shares of securities as dividends are paid, but it is not possible to buy fractional shares. It is possible to sell them.
Mutual Funds
It has always been possible to
buy fractional shares of mutual funds at TD Ameritrade, and it still is. In fact, on the buy side, only a dollar amount can be used. For sales, either a dollar amount or share amount may be specified.
Open TD Ameritrade Account
Open TD Ameritrade Account
Webull as Alternative
If you want to invest in partial shares,
Webull is worth considering.
Webull offers fractional-share trading in every ETF and stock on the major U.S. security
exchanges. Webull has a $5 minimum purchase amount. Webull also requires each purchase (and sale) to be equivalent to 0.00001 shares or more. The broker does not impose the $5 requirement for the sell side.
It is possible to trade partial shares on any of Webull’s platforms. There are three of them: a desktop system, browser platform, and mobile app. There are multiple order forms. One of them, an advanced ticket used primarily for options trading, does not have partial-share capability. The other tickets do, and they are easy to use.
Fractional-share trades at Webull can only be used with market orders, so obviously you’ll need to choose a market order.
In the quantity field on the desktop and browser platforms, there is a symbol for percent, dollar, and share. On the mobile app, the percent option isn’t there. For a partial-share trade, you want to toggle to dollar amount. A whole-dollar amount is what creates a fractional-share position.
After specifying a dollar quantity, you’ll need to enter the amount. All three platforms will
offer some pre-installed dollar amounts. You can choose one of these or enter your own. Then
submit the order (day is the only time-in-force option at Webull for market orders).
Open Webull Account
Grab your last chance to get 12 free stocks valued up to $30,600.
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Trading on Webull
Although all three of Webull’s trading platforms do offer paper trading, these demo modes don’t offer the ability to practice with partial shares. Be sure you’re in live mode when trying to submit a fractional-share trade.
While the lack of fractional-share trading in simulated mode is disappointing, one of the great
features of Webull’s service is that fractional shares can be day traded. Also of importance is that partial shares receive dividends at Webull in proportion to their ownership, just like whole shares.
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Updated on 2/2/2022.