Question 1

Wait, does this really cost nothing?

Accepted Answer

It’s true. The Stock Investing Account has zero commissions which means you don’t have to
pay a fee for the stocks you’d like us to buy or sell on your behalf. We also don’t accept
payment for order flow (PFOF), which means we don’t make money on your trades or try to
incentivize you to trade more frequently.

Question 2

If it’s free, how does Wealthfront make money?

Accepted Answer

Unlike many other investing apps, we don’t accept PFOF, so we don’t make money on the frequency of your trades. Most of the money we make on your Stock Investing Account comes from the small net interest margin we earn on the money in your Cash Account which, through program banks, happens to get you one of the highest interest rates in the industry at 3.30% APY. We also make a small net interest margin if you choose to borrow using our Portfolio Line of Credit, which has one of the lowest interest rates in the industry at just 4.70% APR. And finally, we share half of all the net revenue with you that we earn from lending out your shares if you opt into our securities lending program. Rates are as of 1/30/26 and subject to change.

Question 3

Will my dividends reinvest automatically?

Accepted Answer

Up to you! You can choose to automatically reinvest your dividends as they pay out or you can choose to sweep them back into your Cash Account, where you can earn interest as soon as your dividends settle.

Question 4

Will I earn interest on my cash that I haven’t invested?

Accepted Answer

Yep! A Cash Account is required to open a Stock Investing Account, so any uninvested cash automatically continues to earn a high APY, which is currently 3.30%—8x more than the average savings account.

Question 5

Do I need a subscription to earn interest?

Accepted Answer

No subscription required—your uninvested cash automatically earns interest in your Cash Account. Some platforms require a paid subscription to unlock higher rates, while others require you to manually move idle cash into a separate money market fund to earn a higher yield. At Wealthfront, your cash earns an industry-leading high APY automatically until you’re ready to invest—no extra steps required.

Question 6

Can I buy fractional shares with the Stock Investing Account?

Accepted Answer

Yep. All of the stocks on our app are available as fractional shares and you can start investing with as little as $1. That means, you can buy a portion of some of the more expensive stocks, like Microsoft and Nvidia, that can generally cost several hundred dollars for a single share.

Question 7

So, how is this account different from the Automated Investing Account?

Accepted Answer

The Automated Investing Account is a globally diversified portfolio of low cost index funds that we build and manage for you. The Stock Investing Account is an account where you pick the individual stocks and ETFs you want to invest in. The Automated Investing Account is personalized for your risk tolerance, and it handles everything from portfolio rebalancing to intelligent dividend reinvesting. But most importantly, it comes with Tax-Loss Harvesting. By our estimate, automatic Tax-Loss Harvesting has generated annual tax benefits that have been, on average, more than seven times our low 0.25% annual advisory fee over the life of the account (as of July 31, 2025).

Invest

Borrow

Learn

Surprisingly simple

stock investing

Out with the noise, in with the ease

Some frequently asked questions