With roughly $6 trillion in assets under management, Fidelity Investments is a colossus. In addition to its huge brokerage operation, the 78-year-old privately held company manages mutual funds and offers retirement services and wealth management. But its online brokerage customers say it sweats the small stuff for them. And Fidelity now holds a record 13 years on IBD's list of Best Online Brokers.
Fidelity finished ahead of all its competitors in IBD's 2025 Best Online Brokers survey. It also ranked first in net promoter score and percentage of very satisfied customers.
"We have the advantage of being a private company and thinking long-term," said Josh Krugman, senior vice president of brokerage at Boston-based Fidelity Investments. "Long-term thinking is important in any business, but especially in the brokerage business."
Rather than chase passing trends, Fidelity can step back and take a longer view, he says. As a result, it can differentiate between transient fads and game-changing innovations that empower its customers to capitalize on what's new and better.
For example, Fidelity introduced alternative investments in its institutional business years ago to help meet the evolving needs of its clients. It then rolled out alternatives in its retail business, learning along the way and establishing both private and liquid alternative offerings.
IBD's 2025 Best Online Brokers
The 2025 list of Best Online Brokers spotlights perennial leader Fidelity Investments, frequent winner Merrill Edge (owned by Bank of America) and mobile-trading favorite Robinhood.
Fidelity has ranked among the top Best Online Brokers every year the survey has been conducted.
Charles Schwab has been honored among IBD's Best Online Brokers for 12 years of the survey. Other online brokers that qualified for this year's list are Interactive Brokers, E-Trade (owned by Morgan Stanley) and Vanguard.
Read Our Full Special Report On The Best Online Brokers For 2025
Fidelity Prizes Customer Feedback
Despite its massive size, Fidelity maintains a close relationship with its customers via multiple channels. Its staffers even participate in a lively Reddit community of investors, gathering insight and sharing ideas.
"We continually invest in our technology, tools and capabilities with a 100% customer focus," Krugman said. "We have a number of product teams that continually evaluate customer feedback."
The evolution of Fidelity's advanced trading platform offers a case in point. It recently launched a beta version of what it calls "Active Trader Pro" that incorporates user input.
"We got feedback that the way our legacy platform performed on Macs wasn't as ideal as on PCs," Krugman said, so the latest version works better.
Fidelity Investments' Trade Execution Speed Is No Secret
In IBD's survey, Fidelity ranked first in nine different attributes including trade execution/speed. Its investments in the backbone of its online brokerage have clearly paid off.
"We're committed to delivering the highest quality trade execution and we're very transparent about how we're doing," Krugman said. "The level of transparency we provide probably goes further than what many others provide."
On its website, Fidelity reports its average execution speed (0.04 seconds), the percentage of shares that are price-improved (95.33%) and the percentage of shares that fall within the NBBO (National Best Bid and Offer): 98.63%. It includes a detailed explanation of how it computed each metric.
Fidelity also ranked first in IBD's survey in educational resources. Because it caters to a wide range of investors, including many beginners, the company features a vast array of educational content.
To help investors get started in understanding options, for example, Fidelity offers a free four-week online class that covers key concepts and practical application. The curriculum includes common options strategies and how to apply those strategies in a portfolio.
Trading professionals lead each one-hour class. The program is geared for investors who have an approved options agreement on file with Fidelity but haven't traded yet, or have traded options just once or twice.
On a broader scale, Fidelity has a clearinghouse of educational videos and articles that span all aspects of options trading. The content progresses from the basics ("Should you trade options?") to the specifics ("What is a protective put?").
"We continually invest in our platform to help educate customers on options," Krugman said. "It's a plain-English guided digital experience that takes you step-by-step on how to develop an options strategy."
Fidelity Investments' Cash Management Works For Investors
In terms of choices for cash management — another category in IBD's survey in which Fidelity finished first — the company makes it easy for investors to maximize the returns on the cash held in their settlement account.
It automatically sweeps investors' cash into its government money market mutual fund (currently earning roughly 4.4%) rather than a much lower interest rate that's typically tied to an affiliated bank (earning perhaps 0.1%).
"On some accounts, our customers can choose to have their cash swept into an FDIC-insured bank instead of our government money market mutual fund," Krugman said. Those accounts currently earn about 2%.
Fidelity led the pack in customer service as well. Aside from the comprehensive, customer-friendly content on its website, the company offers live help via phone, email, chat, social media or at roughly 200 physical branches around the country.
