The Largest Brokerage Firms
The largest brokerage firms are household names: Vanguard, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Bank of America (specifically Merrill Lynch), and J.P. Morgan each manage trillions of assets and millions of accounts.
Vanguard alone has $8.2 trillion assets under management (AUM) as of July 31, 2023. Charles Schwab, the second largest brokerage by assets under management, made headlines in 2023 with its acquisition of TD Ameritrade.
The largest brokerage firms saw solid AUM growth on the back of an impressive stock market rally in 2023. Read on for a deep dive into the brokers with the most valuable assets and most investors.
Key findings
- The largest brokerage firm: Vanguard is the largest brokerage firm by assets under management and active investment accounts accounts, with $8.2 trillion in AUM as of July 31, 2023 and over 30 million investors.
- Charles Schwab by the numbers: As of the third quarter of 2023, Charles Schwab is the second-largest brokerage, with $8.18 trillion assets under management and 38 million active brokerage accounts.
- AUM and brokerage accounts grew: The largest brokerage firms all experienced an increase in AUM and brokerage accounts between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.
The largest brokerage firms by assets under management
| Platform | Assets under management, 2022 (trillions) | Assets under management, 2023 (trillions) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard | $8.10 | $8.20 | 1% |
| Charles Schwab | $6.60 | $8.18 | 24% |
| Fidelity | $3.60 | $4.40 | 22% |
| J.P. Morgan | $2.60 | $3.20 | 23% |
| Bank of America/Merrill Lynch | $1.30 | $1.50 | 15% |
| Morgan Stanley | $1.30 | $1.40 | 8% |
| Coinbase | $0.10 | $0.11 | 13% |
| Robinhood | $0.06 | $0.09 | 39% |
| Ally Invest | $0.01 | $0.01 | (2%) |
Vanguard is the largest brokerage firm by AUM, managing $8.2 trillion in assets as of July 31, 2023, up $100 million from the previous year.
Charles Schwab closed the gap with Vanguard in 2023. It manages $8.18 trillion in assets as of Q3 2023, up 24% year over year.
The largest brokerage firms by active brokerage accounts
| Platform | Active brokerage accounts, Q3 2022 (millions) | Active brokerage accounts, Q3 2023 (millions) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity | 35.6 | 38.0 | 7% |
| Schwab | 34.0 | 34.5 | 1% |
| Robinhood | 12.2 | 23.3 | 91% |
| Bank of America/Merrill Lynch | 3.4 | 3.8 | 12% |
| Ally Invest | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0% |
| Coinbase | 8.5 | 6.7 | (21%) |
Fidelity boasts the most active brokerage accounts, with 386 million, among major firms for which data is available. Stock brokerages saw a lift in accounts as the market rebounded in 2023, while Coinbase struggled with waning interest in cryptocurrency.
Charles Schwab
- Assets under management: $8.18 trillion
- Total active brokerage accounts: 34.5 million
Founded in 1971, Charles Schwab introduced the concept of the discount brokerage and has risen to be the largest stock brokerage firm around. It offers a variety of financial products and services, including stock trading, individual retirement accounts, and banking.
Charles Schwab is most famous as a full-service brokerage. It has a high-quality web platform and app with quite a few investment options. This broker grew considerably last year, in large part because it finalized the acquisition of TD Ameritrade, a popular online broker. In addition to investment services, Charles Schwab offers a very popular checking account product with unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide and no foreign transaction fees.
Learn more: Charles Schwab Review
Edward Jones
- Assets under management: $1.8 trillion (as of September 2023)
- Total clients: Over 8 million (as of September 2023)
Edward Jones is a full-service financial services company that offers commission-based brokerage accounts in addition to other types of accounts.
Founded in 1922, Edward Jones emphasizes building relationships between clients and financial advisors. The company has nearly 15,000 offices in the United States staffed by close to 19,000 financial advisors.
Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
- Assets under management: $1.5 trillion
- Total active brokerage accounts: 3.8 million
Bank of America is a financial services company offering banking, credit cards, loans, and investment products. In 2009, Bank of America acquired investment company Merrill Lynch.
Merrill Lynch serves as the main brokerage option through Bank of America. Clients have the option of Merrill Edge® Self-Directed and Merrill Guided Investing for professional guidance. For clients with substantial funds ($10 million or more), Bank of America also offers Bank of America Private Bank.
Learn more: Merrill Edge Review
J.P. Morgan
- Assets under management: $3.2 trillion
J.P. Morgan is the full-service brokerage offered by Chase. Clients can open a self-directed brokerage account to trade on their own, work with a dedicated advisor, or invest using a robo-advisor. The broker offers zero-commission trading and a $0 minimum on self-directed accounts (automated accounts have a $500 minimum).
Those who qualify for Chase Private Client can receive a J.P. Morgan Private Client Advisor to build an investment portfolio that fits their individual needs. Chase Private Client members also gain access to investment accounts for retirement and education expenses as well as J.P. Morgan industry research and insights.
Learn more: J.P. Morgan Review
Fidelity
- Assets under management: $4.4 trillion
- Total active brokerage accounts: 38 million
Fidelity is a full-service broker that has a wide selection of mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). Other notable features of this broker are access to international markets and fractional share investing. Since its founding in 1946, Fidelity has grown to become the largest provider of 401(k) retirement savings plans in the United States.
Learn more: Fidelity Review
Robinhood
- Assets under management: $90 billion
- Total active brokerage accounts: 23.3 million
Although it hasn't been around long, Robinhood has had a huge impact on the investment industry. It was founded in 2013 and made waves for offering zero-commission trading. That may have seemed like a gimmick at the time, but at this point, it has become the industry norm. Robinhood also made waves in January 2018 when it started listing cryptocurrency.
Learn more: Robinhood Review
Vanguard
- Assets under management: $8.2 trillion
- Total investors: Over 30 million
Vanguard is one of the most popular full-service stock brokerages for investing in mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). It wasn't included in the earlier data sets because the asset and client information it provides aren't as detailed as what other brokers offer.
The numbers above were reported by Vanguard as of July 31, 2023. Although investors primarily use it for index fund investing and not for everyday stock trading, it manages more assets and has more clients than most of its competitors.
Learn more: Vanguard Review
Ally Invest
- Assets under management: $10 billion
- Total active brokerage accounts: 520,000
Ally Invest is the trading platform offered by Ally Financial. It originally became popular as a discount brokerage option, and it now offers commission-free trading to match its major competitors. This broker provides self-directed accounts, IRAs, and robo portfolio services.
Learn more: Ally Invest Review
FAQs
Brokerages facilitate transactions between parties. Stock brokers arrange transactions between buyers and sellers of securities.
Vanguard is the largest brokerage firm in the United States, with $8.2 trillion assets under management.
The four biggest stock brokerage firms in the United States are Vanguard, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan.
Charles Schwab is larger than Fidelity when measured by AUM, $8.18 trillion to $4.4 trillion. Fidelity however has more active brokerage accounts, 38 million to 34.5 million.
The Ascent provides in-depth reviews of the best stock brokers as determined by our methodology.
Sources
- Ally Invest (2023). "Ally Financial Inc. 3Q 2023 Earnings Review."
- Bank of America (2023). "Bank of America 3Q23 Financial Results."
- Charles Schwab (2023). "Schwab Reports Monthly Activity Highlights."
- Coinbase (2023). Form "10-Q."
- Edward Jones (2023). "Media Kit."
- Fidelity (2023). "About."
- JP Morgan Chase & Co. (2023). "3Q23 Financial Results."
- Morgan Stanley. "About Morgan Stanley Investment Management."
- Robinhood (2023). "Investor Relations."
Our Research Expert
Jack Caporal is the Research Director for The Motley Fool and The Motley Fool Ascent.
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