This deal has expired, view more Ally deals by clicking here.
Please keep in mind that the fine print says offer non transferable and people did receive individualized links. It looks like there is a public link but no guarantee it will work. Update: I’m seeing public advertisements for this, so should work for everybody.
The Offer
- Ally Invest is offering two offers:
- 90 days of free trades with a $10,000 minimum investment. This isn’t that interesting so won’t really talk about it.
- $200 cash bonus with a $200 minimum investment. Requires the following:
- Must fund new account with at least $25,000 within 15 days of account opening
- Must execute at least 3 trades within 90 days of account opening
- Must maintain a balance of $25,000 (minus any losses) for 90 days
The Fine Print
- This offer is valid for one new individual or joint account opened by 3/31/2018, funded with at least $25,000 within 15 days of account opening, and that executes at least 3 trades within 90 days of account funding.
- ACAT forms must be received within 15 days of opening new account.
- New accounts are eligible for this special offer when opening a new Ally Invest account and funding with a minimum of $25,000 within 15 days with funds from outside Ally Invest Securities, LLC.The minimum funds of $25,000 must remain in the account (minus any trading losses) for a minimum of 90 days from date of funding account.
- You must apply for this promotional offer by clicking through this page to our online application and opening an account. New accounts receive cash credit within 10 business days of meeting promotion requirements. Bonus is not available for withdrawal for 120 days after it is awarded to your account.
- Must complete a first-time ACATS account transfer of $2,500 or more to receive a Transfer Fee Credit of up $150 to cover the outgoing transfer fee from your current brokerage firm.
- Credit will be deposited to your account within 30 days of receipt of evidence of charge.
- This transfer reimbursement offer does not apply to Termination Fees or Maintenance Fees.
- Not valid for any retirement or ERISA qualified accounts.
- Offer is not transferable.
- Open to US residents only.
- Excludes current Ally Invest Securities, LLC account holders.
- Excludes former Ally Invest Securities, LLC (formerly TradeKing Securities LLC) account holders who have closed their accounts within the past 90 days.Ally Invest can modify or discontinue this offer at any time without notice.
- Individuals that reside in apartment complexes or units that share a similar address may be subject to a manual payout.
- Other restrictions may apply.
- This is not an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where we are not authorized to do business.
- If you believe you have met the requirements and should have received the promotion please reach out to us at [email protected] or 1-855-880-2559.
Our Verdict
I personally don’t go after these deals as I prefer to invest into low cost mutual funds and try to forget about my investments whenever possible. Maybe I’m being lazy but this seems like too much work for $200. Let me know if I’m being unreasonable in the comments or if you think of the best way to maximize it.
Hat tip to reader MichaelÂ
Updated offer https://go.ally.com/invest/current-promotion/ expiring 9/30. Courtesy/u/Bran_Solo on r/churning https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9ayagb/chase_sapphire_banking_is_live/e4zh0ho/
” I prefer to invest into low cost mutual funds” Not Cool…
This is extended to 3/31/2018
The offer still on,
I think it’s not bad idea for the person who want openg a investment account,not just want the bounus(nothing wrong with that)
I did check the IB,they cost look like low,but if your account not trade more offen ,then they chage fee monthly.
compare with other almost have nothing or 300 trade for free.
Just wander how their system?is it stable and easy to use?
No outage with their platform so far. So I supposed it’s stable.
Easy to use? Well, I will answer it in a roundabout way:
1) Their site don’t let you price your Sell orders down to the third digit after the decimal point, so you can’t sell something at $0.209, only $0.21 or $0.20.
2) Apparently I “accidentally” placed a Buy order for AT&T yesterday, at a Limit order price probably several cents above the Market Order price, even though I was just previewing a Buy order. The Trade page keeps defaulting to Sell mode, if you reload the whole page, which is annoying.
3) The most troubling part for me is the brusque unenthusiastic attitude I’ve encountered, on every occasion, whenever I have to interact with a human at Ally Investment, be it via online chat or phone calls. Even the initial pre-asset transfer inquiry phone call was not as pleasant as with other bigger brokerages. Heck, I had a more pleasant conversation with TDAmeritrade even though I have already transferred my stocks out of there and into Ally.
I haven’t used their mobile app, but another poster here doesn’t seem to think highly of it.
Oh, whatever you do, don’t use Robinhood. Those bastards would “restrict” your account *without any notice*, while continue to let you transferring in new assets. You would only get to find out (months or years later) if/when you try to transfer out. They won’t let you close your account, because your balance is non-zero (only because they never tell you they have “restricted” your account so you keep moving assets in.) They don’t even have a phone number to reach them at. They would so non-communicado for weeks, after receiving the documents they demanded from you, still without unfreezing your account. I’m still battling them to try to get my assets out. I will set up a website dedicated to that issue and warning others to stay away from Robinhood. When the product/service is “free”, you (or your assets) are the product.
An Ally customer service guy says a “trade” is a buy-sell. So, you have to do 3 buy-sells within 90 days, which is $29.70 in commissions.
Maybe you got a confused rep, but I did 3 purchases only, and then emailed them and ask if I qualified, and they said yes I had qualified for the bonus and I should see the deposit within 1-3 business days.
the red flag on this for me is their fees to do an acat out. they charge $50 for an even partial ACAT transfer of funds out. Most brokerages, if they charge, only charge for a full transfer out. Ameritrade, Merrill fidelity do not partial transfers. It can be avoided by doing a full sale of securities and then simply withdrawing but that can be costly with capital gains.
between the taxes you have to pay on the $200, ($50 assume 25% bracket, the 3 minimum 4.95 trading fees and then the $50 to acat out. Not much left..
It’s cheaper to trade than to do ACAT. You can get away with 4 trades total: buy – sell – buy – get the bonus – sell. Total of $19.80 of commissions. Also, trade commissions reduce the cost basis, so you can deduct them as capital loss. Bottom line, the bonus is worth $180.20 pre-tax money.
*trade commission INCREASE cost basis.
I are bad of proofreading.
the $50 was if you wanted to transfer funds out after satisfying requirements. most don’t charge to transfer partial amounts ally does,
You can actually do 3. Buy, buy more of the same thing, sell it all. Or buy, sell some, sell the rest if you prefer.
I did this back in October when it was public. I trade options which have pretty high commissions, so the free trades saved me $500 (max you can get) and their standard prices after that are pretty competitive. Horrible website/iPhone app though – very buggy.
It’s basically $170-$180 bonus if you transfer 25k in execute 3-6 trades and transfer out. If you were going to invest in something anyway it’s a good deal.
this seems like the most reasonable way to view this offer. I agree with DoC that its too little of a bonus to go out of your way to invest, but yeah if you’re looking to invest a large sum anyway, this is a nice little bonus to milk
I also got a public link in the mail, so it might not be enforced/targetted
Other than the 90 days you must keep the $25k in the account. Between several HYS accounts and other options (Chase savings etc.) that’s still quite the opportunity cost to consider.
The money doesn’t have to sit in cash. You could just invest it in short duration bond funds which have comparable yields to savings accounts with very little price fluctuation.
True. It really comes down to time and money. If you’ve exhausted other liquid alternatives (I have $15k @ 5% and $20k @ 3%) and you aren’t looking to monitor your high yield savings or checking accounts to ensure you meet requirements then yeah I suppose this may be worthwhile.
I can’t fault anyone for doing it but I still believe this has a high opportunity cost for most people who read this blog. Like Dan said though, if you’re looking to invest anyways then there’s more value here.
I received a public link in the mail…