public is an app for investing that doesn’t charge commissions and gives you many choices, like stocks, ETFs, options, bonds, and crypto. It also has fractional shares. What is the difference between Public and other major broking firms that now offer commission-free trading? Let’s look at our review of the Public investing app to find out. Public.com Review
What is Public.com?
Public is a stockbroking company that works through an app and doesn’t charge fees for trades. It was started in 2017. The four people who started it are Jannick Malling, Matt Kennedy, Peter Quinn, and Sean Hendelman.
The company’s legal name is Public Holdings, Inc., doing business as Open to the Public Investing, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Public used to be called Matador but later changed the front-facing name of the company to Public.
On February 17, 2021, Public announced that it had raised $220 million in a Series D round at a $1.2 billion valuation. Investors included Accel, Greycroft, and Lakestar; Will Smith (via his Dreamers VC); Intuition Capital; Tiger Global; The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC; and more. Public.com Review
Our annual reader survey named Public as one of the best investing apps!
What Does It Offer?
Public.com is an investment platform where you can invest in numerous assets, including stocks, ETFs, crypto, bonds, and fractional share trades. Public.com Review
Public is also the first major investing platform to roll out Treasury Bills with on-demand liquidity. This means you can take advantage of their high yield rate of 3.3% (as of this writing) while being able to sell your T-bills anytime you want.
Public Premium costs $8 per month (it’s free if you have an account balance over $50,000) and provides the following perks:
- As a Public Premium member, you get unique data on all the companies you care about. Think of things like how many Teslas of a specific model have been delivered this quarter or Apple’s sales per continent, etc.
- You also get institutional-grade research from Morningstar, providing the bull and bear cases for many popular stocks, along with downloadable reporting on competitive pressures, business strategy, and more. Public.com Review
- Access to extended-hours trading—which adds an additional 5 hours of trading time in the day for some stocks available for trading during extended trading hours.
- You can organise the assets in your portfolio into custom groups. Then, compare each group’s performance side by side.
- When there’s a breaking story making the rounds, Public Premium’s expert analysts will give you the additional context you need with exclusive audio programming for Public Premium members only. Public.com Review
Dollar-Cost Averaging And Fractional Shares
Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) can take the emotion out of investing. Instead of trying to time the market, it’s all about building wealth over a longer term, and reducing the impact of market volatility. This way, you’re able to invest equal amounts of money on a regular basis—regardless of the market’s ups and downs. Public.com Review
An example of this in practice is recurring crypto investments, which are especially helpful for investors who want to manage market risk with a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) strategy.
Public also supports crypto recurring investments. That means you’ll be able to automate the purchase of your favorite coins and tokens. Public.com Review
They are also one of a growing number of companies that allow you to invest in fractional shares, which means that you can get started investing in pricier stocks with less capital up front.
lets you buy fractional shares in stocks, ETFs, and crypto, all in one place.
No Payment For Order Flow (PFOF)
As commission-free trading has quickly become an industry-wide standard, brokers have had to find other ways to make money. Some platforms have chosen to generate income by routing their trades to specific clearing firms. This revenue model is known as Payment for Order Flow (PFOF). Public.com Review
Many in the investing industry have criticised PFOF for creating a conflict of interest for brokerages. Despite this, it remains the primary revenue source for several firms. However, Public isn’t one of them. It announced on February 16, 2021, that it was officially a PFOF-free broking. Public.com Review
Options Trading
You can now execute options trading on Public. You’ll have access to a strategy builder which allows you to plan your trades and predict potential outcomes.
Public has advanced charts that let you perform technical analysis, visualise your trades, and an options screener to help you find attractive options contracts. Public.com Review
The cost to execute an option is where things get intriguing. Public lets you earn rebates on your stock & ETF options. You’ll earn a rebate of $0.06-$0.18 per stock & ETF options contract.
You can also invest in index options on Public with some of the most popular market indices, including SPX, XSP, VIX, MBTX, and CBTX Public.com Review
There are no minimum hold periods or settlement days on U.S. Treasuries. And each corporate bond page has key financial information about the company, such as, debt-to-equity ratio and free cash flow so you can make informed decisions quickly and easily.
There is a flat 0.05% per month fee based on the average daily balance of your Treasury Account. Public.com Review
High-Yield Cash Account
Their high-yield cash account is a great place to store your uninvested funds. As of this writing, this account earns a 3.30% APY and has no fees. There is a $20 minimum deposit required to open the account, but after that, there are no minimum balance requirements.
Transfers from the high-yield cash account to your broking account happen instantly as long as you do the transfer between 7 am and 8 pm Eastern time. Public.com Review
The account is also FDIC-insured up to $5 million by spreading funds across partner banks, and while funds are being transferred, they are covered by SIPC insurance.
Direct Indexing
Public.com now offers Direct Indexing, which allows you to own the individual stocks that make up a market index, like the S&P 500, rather than buying an index fund or ETF. Most investment platforms offer this service only to wealthy investors with six-figure portfolios, but Public makes it available with a minimum initial investment of $1,000. Direct indexing benefits include tax-loss harvesting, portfolio customisation, and the ability to own each asset directly. Public.com Review
Generated Assets
Public’s Generated Assets tool allows you to build an investable index using AI. All you need to do is type in a prompt and its AI will proceed to create an index that matches your objectives. Public will also backtest it against the S&P 500. Once its set up, you can invest in the Generated Asset you built, directly on Public. Public.com Review
Public API
Tech-savvy traders will appreciate Public’s trading API, which lets computers talk to your Public investing account, so you can automate tasks, get data, and place trades without using the Public app manually. The API offers powerful read and write access, making it easy to pull essential data and execute complex strategies with no commissions. Public.com Review
Are There Any Fees?
Public is commission-free, but there may be small exchange fees incurred for trades. Additionally, there are fees for various services:
- All broker-assisted phone trades: $30
- Domestic wire transfer: $30
- Domestic overnight check: $35
- Returned check, ACH, wire and recall/stop payments: $30
- ACAT outgoing: $75
- Paper statements: $35
- Mark-up on crypto: 1-2%
How Do I Open An Account?
An account can be opened through the mobile app. You can download the mobile app for iOS or Android from https://public.com. Part of the application process includes an investor profile. This is standard across brokerages. Public.com Review
The requirements for opening an account are:
- Being 18 years of age
- Having a valid Social Security number
- Having a legal U.S. residential address
- Being a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident, or having a valid visa
You can also transfer funds from another broker to Public, which Public does not charge a fee for. If the transferring firm does charge a fee, let Public know because for balances above $150, Public will cover the transfer fees from your former brokerage.
You can also fund the account with an ACH transfer from your bank. There is no minimum investment required. Note that Public charges $75 to transfer money out of Public to another broking.
You can withdraw money only if funds have settled from recent trades. Public.com Review
How Does the Public Compare?
Public is not the only commission-free investing app, but it is one of the few options that allow fractional-share investing. However, it has fewer investment options than other brokers, as it does not support mutual fund trades. Check out how Public compares to some of the other popular apps here: Public.com Review
Public Bonus Offer
Public is currently offering a 1% Match bonus that gives you an uncapped cash reward when you transfer your eligible broking, IRA, or 401(k) rollover to a Public investing account.
You’ll get 1% of the total value you transfer credited as cash once the transfer settles. The bonus is typically applied within a few weeks and must stay in your Public account for several years to avoid forfeiture under the terms. Public.com Review
Public will also cover up to $100 in outgoing transfer fees from your old broker if your transfer is over $5,000. It’s an easy way to earn extra cash on assets you’re already planning to move. Public.com Review
Is It Safe And Secure?
Yes — Public is a member of SIPC, which protects up to $500,000 in securities for each customer account. Public also uses AES 128-bit encryption and TLS 1.2 to secure data in transit. Public.com Review
Contact
Public does not offer customer service by phone. However, it does provide live chat support from within the app. You can also email their team at [email protected]. Their customer service hours are Monday through Friday, 9 AM and 5 PM (ET). Note that if you have a simple question, you may be able to find the answer on Public’s FAQ page. Public.com Review
Is It Worth It?
At one time, Public was considered a beginner-friendly investment app, complete with a social investing component. But it’s ditched community investing, recently launched a suite of new products and tools, and repositioned its offering to more serious, advanced investors.
If that’s you and you’re looking for a commission-free trading platform with access to a wide range of investments, including fractional shares, Public is worth considering. Just know that you won’t have the option of live telephone support, as it’s still not available on the Public platform. Public.com Review
The account-opening process is quick and straightforward, and Public’s user interface is intuitive. Is Public worth trying out? In our view, yes—it could turn out to be the one commission-free broking service you enjoy the most.
Common Questions
Let’s answer a few popular questions about Public.
Does Public have a web platform?
Yes, Public recently launched a web platform which makes accessing statements and tax forms much easier.