Ask your average day trader or investor what the greatest danger is to their survival and you’ll likely get an answer from the quick-answer triad. They’ll say that a day trader or investor has to watch out for the fundamentals, or that it’s the technicals that will get you; or that the biggest impediment to day trading or investing survival is falling for poor recommendations from so-called experts. To a certain extent all three explanations are plausible hazards, but they fail to take account of the most pernicious hazard to the day trader or investor: costs. 
All trades and investing activities have a cost factor attached to them and few trading or investing platforms have addressed the issue head on in this ally invest review. Ally Invest which lives at the domain Ally.com has taken a different – we’d go as far and say it’s even a unique approach to solving the biggest problem faced by day traders and investors. This is my review for Ally Invest. It’s an honest look at what makes the platform a credible and fitting solution for day traders and investors.
Ally Invest Review – The Broad Solution
No two day trader or investor will occupy the same space in terms of experience or expectations. This means then that any trading or investing platform that narrows itself too much could become something untouchable for a wide variety of trading and investing skill levels. Ally bucks this trend by offering an end-to-end solution for 
a wide cross-section of day traders and investors. The platform provides for self-directed trading, a solution that caters directly to the guy or gal that knows their way around the day trading table. Ally provides this self-serve solution across a variety of products, including Stocks, Options, Bonds, ETFS, Mutual Funds, Forex, and Futures. This is comprehensive coverage, the sort of thing that you’d expect from some major platform that charges a small fortune for access. But the value you get for this level of self-directed trading is quite unbelievable when you crunch the numbers on what Ally Invest has to offer. I’ll talk more about that value ion a moment but suffice it to say, you probably won’t find anything quite like Ally out there.
But let me not veer too far from the benefit at hand. Ally’s self-directed trading offers all the functional tools and assets any experienced hands-on trader needs. Traders get a full suite of in-depth research tools, allowing for the drill-down necessary to spot trends and dive behind the obvious. For traders, there is probably no sweeter solution. Ally’s research tools allow traders to stay ahead of the curve via an extensive suite of analysis tools. Technical analysis, as many traders are aware, is the ultimate shortcut to trading consistency. Ally’s platform provides the leverage needed to get to the bottom of all the analysis for not just individual stocks, but also the technical scope needed to assess Mutual Funds, Futures and ETFs.
But as I’ve mentioned before, Ally’s services don’t just cater to the well-versed day trader. Those investors that are busy, inexperienced, or who just want someone else to handle their affairs are right at home at Ally. The platforms managed portfolio service provides the backing and peace of mind necessary for any would-be investor to get fully into the game. The features for the managed portfolio service are arguably the best I’ve ever seen on any platform. Experts at Ally recommend, select and manage all the portfolio requirements in a professional and steady way. Ally takes the uncertain and turn it into certainty and predictability. Investors don’t have to worry about losing track of their goals because Ally’s technology handles all the rebalancing quietly in the background. It’s like placing all your investments in a fully-automated state-of-the-art machine. Best of all, Ally’s managed portfolio services doesn’t cost the insane amounts that are seen all too often in the investing space. Ally managed portfolios have an expense ratio of only .30% which is well below the industry average for this level of service.
Ally Invest – The Biggest Reason to Move All Your Trades There
Like I said at the beginning, the biggest hazard to day trading or investing success isn’t some mishap with spotting trades or investment opportunities, its paying too much to execute trades. There are platforms that charge as much as $35 per trade, and even more for managed investing services; But few actually provide the level of protection and service that Ally offers.
Ally trumps all these other platforms by providing a level of value pricing that makes selecting them an absolute no-brainer. How much are you paying for a trade currently? $11? $8? Ally puts all other platforms in the shade with a pricing structure that is just unbelievable. Stock and ETF trades are just $4.95 – an insanely low threshold that ensures that any trader, of any experience level or budget, can access the service.
Active traders can get an even lower rate just by executing 30 trades per quarter, a drop in the bucket for many traders. This means that for traders that execute over 30 
trades each quarter, the rate per trade is an accessible $3.95. It really doesn’t get any better than that; I’ve looked.
Ally.com/invest manages to offer this level of value with a massive suite of tools and research assets which is a great deal more than what I’ve found in researching the best trading and investing platforms.
Ally also offers account protection for investors, a service that covers customer cash claims up to $250,000 and an aggregate cap protection of up to $150 million.
Taken together, the services offered by Ally can transform the life of any day trader or investor due to the minimal trading costs and the assortment of tools. Taken as proof of value, there’s no other platform out there that comes close to Ally – none. If you’ve been searching for an all-in-one solution to your trading then Ally.com might be the perfect solution.
Jenna Gleespen is a published author and copywriter specializing in personal and investment finance. Her expertise is in financial product reviews and stock market education.
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