Charles Schwab Review 2026: Is It Right For You?

Charles Schwab Review 2026: Is It Right For You?

Charles Schwab is a legacy name you’ll often hear in the same breath as Fidelity, E*TRADE and other firms that have been around for decades. Unsurprisingly, it routinely outperforms most brokers on our annual “Best of” list thanks to its wide range of offerings and impressive services.

This year, Schwab ranked fourth overall, trailing only Fidelity, Interactive Brokers and Webull, largely because it fell short in areas like mobile experience, fractional shares and interest on uninvested cash — gaps that won’t matter to every investor.

Like other brokerages of the same caliber, Charles Schwab doesn't require an account minimum to trade with them — that means you could start with as little as $5 or as much as $5,000. It also doesn't charge a fee for trading stocks, but these days, that should be expected of any broker. Paper trading, which lets you practice investing without putting real money on the line, is available as well.

If you're looking for a quick overview, here's what we think sets Schwab apart from its competitors — and for whom it might fall short. Otherwise, you can read our comprehensive overview of Schwab and learn more about fees, investment selection, interest rates and user design further below on the page.

Charles Schwab's trading platforms

Schwab offers two trading platforms: Schwab (available online and via a mobile app) and the thinkorswim platform (available as a downloadable desktop platform, online and as a mobile app).

Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile are the firm's standard trading platform that works for everyday investing and trading. In our experience, both the web and mobile app are a little clunky, lacking the smooth user interface of more mobile-first brokers like Robinhood. Schwab's online experience has some features, such as alerts and screening and research, but it's limited. The mobile app is even more limited, which may discourage new investors who might expect a larger level of guidance.

Thinkorswim is the platform that more advanced traders will love. And for good reason: it’s one of the highest-tier trading experiences out there. Thinkorswim offers deep customization with its charts and interfaces, screeners with custom attributes, Trade Flash (a feature that shows third-party analyst up/downgrades, trade imbalances, trading floor events and more), "what-if" scenario analysis on real and hypothetical trades and technical analysis from more than 400 studies.

The most capable version of thinkorswim is the downloadable desktop experience, though the web experience offers similar features. Both the desktop and web versions of thinkorswim have customizable workspaces, Level II data, conditional orders, paper trading, live financial news and advanced charting. The thinkorswim app isn't far behind: The only thing it lacks is screening within the app. Schwab.com's website and app don't offer most of those features. The paper trading function is fairly advanced compared to the competition: You can practice trading equities, options, futures and forex.

Which one should you use? Not all investors will find the experience of switching back and forth from one app to another ideal, but you can use both interchangeably depending on your needs. One area where Schwab.com stands out over thinkorswim is with its available products. On Schwab.com's online experience and its app you can trade stocks, ETFs, options, complex options, mutual funds and fixed income. On thinkorswim you don't get access to mutual funds or fixed income, though you can trade futures and forex. That said, most advanced traders probably aren't too worried about long-term mutual funds or holding bonds.

Charles Schwab's investment selection

Charles Schwab has a large selection of tradable securities, including more than 7,700 no-transaction fee mutual funds. Within its own proprietary lineup of index funds and ETFs, Schwab now offers some of the lowest expense ratios available.

When it comes to bonds, Schwab also has a comprehensive selection. Choices include new-issue municipal and corporate bonds, plus government options such as Treasurys. Charles Schwab clients aren't currently able to trade cryptocurrencies directly. However, the broker does offer access to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

With so many available funds, choosing what to trade can be challenging. Schwab offers several tools and resources for investors who want additional guidance.

ETF Select List helps narrow ETF choices by highlighting top picks in specific categories. Investors can sort funds by criteria such as expense ratio, Morningstar category and benchmark index.

The Personalized Portfolio Builder tool is designed to help investors create a diversified portfolio based on financial goals, risk tolerance and time horizon.

Schwab’s Investing Themes feature collections of stocks grouped into more than 40 customizable themes — including artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, digital payments, health care access and online gaming — allowing investors interested in thematic strategies to select a curated group of related stocks.

Schwab Stock Slices provide access to fractional shares, enabling investors to purchase a portion of a stock rather than a full share. For example, buying a $10 slice of a $100 stock equals 10% ownership of one share. Slices are available for as little as $5, and investors can purchase up to 10 slices at a time. However, fractional trading is limited to S&P 500 stocks, while some competitors offer fractional shares across a broader range of securities.

Charles Schwab's fees and other costs

When it comes to administrative fees, Schwab has some of the lowest around — if you even have to pay them at all. Schwab doesn’t have any annual or inactivity fee. The fee to transfer all of your assets from your account is $50, but there's no fee for a partial transfer.

Schwab's brokerage account minimum to trade is $0, and there are only a few brokerage account fees to keep track of. There are no commissions for stock, options, and ETF trades. And while Schwab doesn’t charge any per-trade commissions for options, it does charge $0.65 per contract. This is a typical charge and is on par with other brokers that charge an options contract fee — but it's worth noting that several have recently eliminated that charge so you may want to keep an eye on this and see if Schwab follows in tune. Schwab does charge $6.95 per OTC trade. Because of this charge, investors wanting to trade penny stocks may want to look elsewhere.

Note: For investors who want investment management, Schwab also has a robo-advisor and financial advisor offering, which we've also reviewed: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.

Other Charles Schwab features

Research and data

Schwab provides its own equity ratings, along with reports from several top-tier research providers. In addition to real-time news and earnings reports, the broker offers a variety of research reports and market commentary authored by in-house experts, as well as a quarterly magazine free of charge.

Schwab’s investment screeners are easy to use and let you save your screens. Select Lists, like the previously mentioned one for ETFs, are compiled by the company’s experts and released quarterly to give you a pre-screened selection of mutual funds and ETFs. The funds on the list are divided by category, so you can easily see the company’s picks for, say, large-cap stock mutual funds.

The company is also integrated with Google Assistant — you can ask Google for stock quotes, general market updates and more — and has an Amazon Alexa skill that provides similar information, including the ability to create and get updates on a watch list.

Customer support

Customers have plenty of ways to get in touch. Phone, email and online chat are all available 24/7. If you prefer to speak to someone in person, there are nearly 400 Charles Schwab branches around the country, with some even open on Saturdays.

Mobile app

Schwab Mobile, the broker's app offering, is available on both iOS and Android. The user experience leaves something to be desired — as beginner investors might find the app sparse while more experienced traders might opt to use thinkorswim instead for better functionality and depth.

Execution quality

Schwab does receive payment from market makers for routing orders (called payment for order flow), although the company says that does not affect the value consumers get from using its brokerage services. It is also very transparent and clearly explains its order routing process, overall price improvement statistics and execution quality on its website. Schwab says its execution quality is 97%.

IRA account

Charles Schwab is a leading broker in the retirement account space, with traditional and Roth IRAs as well as self-employed retirement accounts, custodial accounts and inherited accounts. IRAs are retirement savings accounts that offer significant tax savings, such as a tax deduction on contributions or tax-free growth of your investments. You can have an IRA in addition to a standard brokerage account.

For traditional and Roth IRAs, Charles Schwab does not charge fees for opening or closing an account, maintenance or inactivity. Schwab also does not charge any annual fees.

Schwab Starter Kit

Schwab provides new investors with $50 to split across the top five stocks in the S&P 500 and educational content specifically designed to help people learn how to invest. This is a pretty unique opportunity: No other brokers start you off with your first chunk of cash to invest with.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you sign up for a Charles Schwab account?

  To open a brokerage account with Charles Schwab, you can do so online, over the phone or at a local branch. You'll need to choose the type of account you want to open — for example, a traditional brokerage account or an IRA — and if you want it to be an individual or joint account. You'll need your Social Security number, driver's license or ID, employment information and statement information for any assets or cash you want to transfer. You'll also need to verify your identity and connect any bank accounts.

• Is Charles Schwab safe?

  All investing comes with the risk of loss, but Charles Schwab is covered by insurance and is registered with all the appropriate governing bodies.

• Is an investment at Charles Schwab FDIC insured?

  Schwab has FDIC insurance to protect cash deposits in checking and savings accounts for up to $250,000. Charles Schwab is also covered by SIPC insurance, which protects brokerage accounts up to $500,000. SIPC insurance doesn't apply to investment losses or price fluctuations. Charles Schwab is also regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure compliance with securities regulations and by FINRA, which regulates broker-dealers.

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