Fidelity Investments: what the sources say

The questions, with sources

"Not verified" means we could not confirm it from a source we could read. Check the entity and rules for your own country. Education only, not investment advice.

How the points add up

• Regulation 20 of 20. Licensed by a major financial regulator (see the broker page for the register entry)
• Client protection 20 of 20. Investor compensation scheme applies: SIPC plus Fidelity excess-of-SIPC policy; Client assets held separately from the broker's own (stated in its documents)
• Transparency 10 of 10. Annual financial statements are public (listed parent or published report)
• Security record 9 of 15. Worst incident in the last five years scored: 9 of 15
• Compliance record 14 of 25. 2 regulator or court action(s) in the window; reports from press only are shown but not scored
• Costs 10 of 10. Buying 1,000 USD of a US stock or ETF: 0% commission at the published base tier (FX and spread not included)

Points earned of points available. A criterion we could not verify is left out and lowers the evidence share. See how we score.

Security incidents

• 2024-08 Unauthorised third party used two newly opened customer accounts to obtain images of customer documents from an internal database (occurred 2024-08-17, discovered 2024-08-19); 77,099 individuals; data incl. names, Social Security numbers, driver's licence Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: Press reports no funds lost; Massachusetts consent order in April 2026 (see legal_actions) source
• 2024-03 Fidelity notified about 28,000 individuals of personal-information compromise at third-party provider Infosys McCamish Systems Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: Press; no funds loss reported; breach date not stated source

Regulator and court actions

• 2023-10-02 Massachusetts Securities Division: USD 750,000 fine for inadequate vetting of options and margin applications (Mar 2020 to Jun 2021) Outcome: Consent order; press Official consent order (Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, E-2021-0030) confirms USD 750,000; order text dated 3 Oct 2023. Earlier press source: https://commonwealthbeacon.org/government/state-government/fidelity-fined-750000-for-failing-to-vet-customers-properly/?nb=1 source
• 2026-04-27 Commonwealth of Massachusetts: USD 1.25 million consent order over cybersecurity enforcement failure linked to the 'Image ID' data breach (about 77,000 customers); Fidelity unit not named in article Outcome: Settlement; press Official consent order (Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, E-2024-0373) confirms USD 1,250,000; offer of settlement 22 Apr 2026; breach 17-19 Aug 2024, ~77,000 people. Earlier press source: https://law360.com/articles/2470178 source

Actions reported by press only are shown and not scored.

Key facts in five lines

• Online US stock and ETF trades carry a USD 0 commission on Fidelity's fee page [source 1].
• Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC is wholly owned by Fidelity Global Brokerage Group, Inc., a subsidiary of privately held FMR LLC; its public FY2025 statement of financial condition shows total assets of USD 3.84 billion and member's equity of USD 1.70 billion [source 8].
• SIPC covers up to USD 500,000 per customer, with an excess-of-SIPC aggregate of USD 1 billion [source 2].
• A foreign exchange wire carries a fee of up to 3% of principal [source 1].
• In 2024 a breach exposed documents of 77,099 individuals; Massachusetts fined a Fidelity unit USD 1.25 million in April 2026 (press) [source 6].

Questions about Fidelity Investments

Is Fidelity Investments safe?

We do not give a yes or no. We record its regulation (SEC / FINRA), whether an investor compensation scheme applies, and what we found about incidents and regulator actions. Read the sections above, and check which entity holds your account.

Does Fidelity Investments charge commission on US stocks?

Online US equity trades USD 0 for any number of shares or trades; ETFs USD 0; professional equity traders USD 0.001 per share

Where this comes from

• [1] Fidelity Commissions, Margin Rates, and Fees accessed 2026-10-11
• [2] Fidelity: How is my account protected? accessed 2026-10-11
• [3] Fidelity: Investors who reside outside the United States accessed 2026-10-11
• [4] Security Affairs: Fidelity second data breach 2024 (press) accessed 2026-10-11
• [5] Commonwealth Beacon: Fidelity fined $750,000 (press) accessed 2026-10-11
• [6] Law360: Mass. Fines Fidelity $1.25M Over Image ID Data Breach (press) accessed 2026-10-11
• [7] Motley Fool: fractional shares on Fidelity (press, third party) accessed 2026-10-11
• [8] Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC Statement of Financial Condition FY2025 (SEC EDGAR, Form X-17A-5) accessed 2026-10-11

Not verified: Founding year not verified. FINRA BrokerCheck page not opened (search budget exhausted); SEC broker-dealer registration and FINRA membership rest on the entity's own SEC X-17A-5 filing. Only a balance sheet (Statement of Financial Condition) is public for the broker-dealer; the private parent FMR LLC publishes no full annual report that was found. A 2015 FINRA action (USD 500,000 fine) is older than the window and omitted. No FINRA/SEC action within window found in searches (not exhaustive). Fractional shares rely on a third-party source [source 7].

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