Broker Reviews
A factual side-by-side of what each broker charges for stock, ETF, and options trades, plus margin rates and account minimums, pulled directly from each firm's own published pricing pages. This is not a recommendation — the numbers are laid out so you can decide what fits.
Fidelity and Charles Schwab are both large, long-operating full-service brokers that eliminated online stock and ETF commissions industry-wide back in 2019. Because the headline "$0 commissions" is identical at both firms, the differences that matter for an active trader show up in options per-contract fees, margin rates, and account-specific fees. Both figures below are pulled from each broker's own official pricing documentation.
| Category | Fidelity | Charles Schwab |
|---|---|---|
| Online US stock/ETF trades | $0 commission | $0 commission |
| Options per-contract fee | $0.65 per contract, $0 base commission | $0.65 per contract, $0 base commission |
| Broker-assisted stock trade | Incurs an additional fee beyond the online rate (confirm current amount with Fidelity) | $25 per trade |
| Automated phone trade | Not separately published in the section reviewed | $5 per trade |
| Account minimum to open | $0 | $0 |
| Margin account minimum equity | $2,000 (industry-standard Reg T requirement) | $2,000 (industry-standard Reg T requirement) |
| Base margin rate | 10.575% (effective 12/12/2025), tiered down to 7.50% on $1M+ debit balances | 10.00% base rate (effective 12/12/2025); exact tiered schedule by debit balance published on Schwab's margin rates page |
| Futures per-contract fee | Not a primary futures broker in the materials reviewed | $2.25 per contract (futures and futures options) |
| Non-Fidelity/Schwab no-fee mutual funds | $0 to buy; $49.95 if redeemed within 60 days | $0 to buy and sell (No-Transaction-Fee funds); short-term redemption fee applies inside 90 days |
| Outgoing domestic wire | Not itemized as a standard fee in the schedule reviewed | $25 per transfer ($15 if submitted online) |
Sources: Fidelity's official "Trading Commissions and Margin Rates" page (fidelity.com/trading/commissions-margin-rates, fetched directly) and Charles Schwab's official "Pricing Guide for Individual Investors" (schwab.com/legal/schwab-pricing-guide-for-individual-investors, April 2026 edition, fetched directly), cross-referenced against Schwab's separate margin rates and requirements page. Fees, especially margin rates, change with broader interest rate policy — verify current numbers on each broker's own site before opening an account or trading on margin.
Both brokers charge $0 for online US stock and ETF trades and $0.65 per contract for options, with no base commission on either side. If your trading is exclusively online stock, ETF, and standard options orders, the headline commission structure will not be the deciding factor between these two brokers.
Neither broker is presented here as the better choice. The right one depends on which products you trade, how large a margin balance you'd carry, which trading platform you prefer, and services unrelated to per-trade cost (research tools, banking integration, branch access). Use the table above as a starting checklist, then confirm current numbers directly on each broker's pricing page before opening an account, since commission schedules and margin rates are revised periodically.