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Best brokers for US retirement accounts

IRA and 401(k) rollovers are a US-resident question, and the deciding factor is fund selection and cost, not trading tools.

Answer: 5 of the brokers we cover meet the criteria for this page. Ordered on those criteria, Charles Schwab is the first name to look at — US residents.

Charles SchwabOwns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.5

US residents

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FidelityOwns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.5

Retirement accounts

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Interactive BrokersOwns the share
★★★★★★★★★★5.0

Real share ownership from almost any country

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What we screened on

The comparison table

BrokerWhat you getMinimumFractionalRegulationExtended hours
Charles SchwabShare ownershipNoneYesSECPre-market and after-hours sessions supported
FidelityShare ownershipNoneYesSECExtended-hours trading supported
Interactive BrokersShare ownershipNoneYesSEC, FCA, CBIPre-market and after-hours routing available
Merrill EdgeShare ownershipNoneNoSECAvailable
VanguardShare ownershipNoneNoSECLimited

Broker by broker

1

Charles Schwab

Owns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.5

A full-service US brokerage; thinkorswim gives it a genuinely strong active-trading platform.

Minimum
None
Fractional
Yes
Regulators
SEC
US universe
Full US listed market
  • US residents
  • Long-term investors who want research and banking in one place
  • Options traders via thinkorswim
  • International account availability is limited and varies by country
2

Fidelity

Owns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.5

Strongest on the long-term-investor side: research, cash management and low-cost index funds.

Minimum
None
Fractional
Yes
Regulators
SEC
US universe
Full US listed market
  • Retirement accounts
  • Buy-and-hold investors
  • Fractional investing in dollar amounts
  • Primarily a US-resident offering
3

Interactive Brokers

Owns the share
★★★★★★★★★★5.0

The default answer for a non-US investor who wants to actually own US shares rather than a derivative of them.

Minimum
None
Fractional
Yes
Regulators
SEC, FCA, CBI
US universe
Full US listed market (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX) plus 150+ global markets
  • Real share ownership from almost any country
  • Multi-currency accounts
  • Options, futures and international listings in one account
  • The desktop platform is dense and unforgiving for first-timers
  • Data subscriptions are billed separately
4

Merrill Edge

Owns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.0

The reason to choose it is the banking relationship, not the trading platform.

Minimum
None
Fractional
No
Regulators
SEC
US universe
US listed stocks and ETFs
  • Existing Bank of America customers
  • Banking and investing under one login
  • Best value only if you already bank with BofA
  • US residents only
5

Vanguard

Owns the share
★★★★★★★★★★4.0

Built for people who want to stop looking at the screen, not for traders.

Minimum
None
Fractional
No
Regulators
SEC
US universe
US listed stocks and ETFs
  • Index-fund-centred retirement portfolios
  • Investors who trade rarely
  • Weak active-trading tooling
  • No fractional single-stock buys

Frequently asked questions

Which broker is best for US retirement accounts?

Charles Schwab leads this list on our criteria: IRA account types supported. A full-service US brokerage; thinkorswim gives it a genuinely strong active-trading platform.

Does a CFD count as owning the stock?

No. A contract for difference tracks the share price but confers no ownership, no voting rights and no real dividend — only a cash adjustment. It is a leveraged trading product, not an investment holding.

How is this list ordered?

By the criteria named on this page, using each broker's own published data. Commercial relationships never move a broker up a data-ordered table; where two brokers are genuinely equal on the criteria, our partners appear first and are labelled as partners.

Are the fees on this page current?

Every fee statement links to the broker's own pricing page, which is the authoritative source. We restate published figures rather than estimating them, and where a broker does not publish a number we print "not published".

Reviewed August 2026 · sources linked on each broker profile.