Chase You Invest Trade Review 2020: Pros, Cons and How It Compares

You Invest Trade by J.P. Morgan offers a do-it-yourself trading platform that integrates with Chase’s existing mobile banking app. You Invest Trade is especially well-suited for beginners, offering educational tools and resources to help first-time investors build a diversified portfolio while learning about risk.

You Invest Trade’s robo-advisor counterpart, You Invest Portfolios, offers an alternative for investors who want their portfolio managed for them.

You Invest Trade is best for:

• Mobile users.

• New investors.

• Free trading.

• Existing Chase customers.

You Invest Trade at a glance

Where You Invest Trade shines

Education and safeguards. Chase You Invest helps first-time investors understand the risks of advanced investing practices, such as options trading, and even has safeguards in place that prevent investors from accidentally getting in over their heads. For options trading, this includes a rigorous approval process, only offering level 1 and level 2 options strategies and liquidating options positions automatically on expiration day. They also block trading of some highly speculative investments, such as leveraged ETFs and penny stocks.

» Want more options? Explore other $0 commission brokers.

Account minimum. You Invest Trade has a $0 account minimum, making any amount of money you’ve saved enough to start investing. According to J.P. Morgan, you can invest as little as $1 in no-load mutual funds with no transaction fees.

Integrated app. Existing Chase customers will be happy to know that they don’t need to download another app to access You Invest Trade accounts. All of You Invest Trade’s offerings are available on the Chase mobile app, where users can research, trade and manage investments in addition to accessing any other Chase accounts, such as credit cards or bank accounts.

If you’re not an existing Chase bank customer, you can still open a You Invest Trade account.

Ease of use. For some new investors, the prospect of building an entire portfolio from scratch may be overwhelming enough to turn them off from investing altogether. The You Invest Trade Portfolio Builder tool makes the process less intimidating and easy to do.

To use the Portfolio Builder tool, you take a quiz that determines how your assets should be allocated based on your risk tolerance and goals. You can then use that asset allocation as a framework when you search, compare and choose investments. While You Invest Trade accounts give investors access to other investment types, including bonds and mutual funds, the Portfolio Builder tool allows you to choose and trade only ETFs and stocks.

Where You Invest Trade falls short

Investment selection. While You Invest Trade may be an excellent choice for the beginner investor, more advanced investors may find its offerings limited. You Invest Trade doesn’t support investing in futures, forex or alternative investments like cryptocurrency.

High minimum for Portfolio Builder tool. The Portfolio Builder tool is one of You Invest Trade’s bigger selling points. Unfortunately, you will need to have at least $2,500 in your account to use it.

Limited tools and access to research. The Portfolio Builder tool is exactly what a beginner investor needs, but those with more experience may miss having access to a thorough suite of robust tools that can assist with investing strategy, analysis and research. Investors do have access to J.P. Morgan equity research and Morningstar analysis (which are likely sufficient for most Chase You Invest Trade users), but the number of third-party research providers isn't as high as similar brokers.

Transfer fees. Regardless if it’s a full account closure or you’re just transferring funds out of your account to a non-Chase account, you’ll pay a $75 fee. Similar brokers, like Fidelity and Vanguard, charge $0 for any kind of transfer.

Is You Invest Trade right for you?

If you’re looking for a basic brokerage account that will teach you how to build a portfolio, help you start trading on your own and protect you from speculative or high-risk investments, You Invest Trade is an affordable and comprehensive option. You’ll get the assistance and support you need and nothing to clutter your learning experience.

If you want to explore similar options, check out our review of the best brokers for beginners.