Square's Cash App Rolls Out Free Fractional Stock Trading

Hardly a month after moving to acquire an API broker, Square Inc SQ announced the rollout of fractional stock trading services on its Cash App.

What Happened

Cash App has facilitated bitcoin purchases since 2017. Now it’s bringing expensive, otherwise inaccessible stocks within reach of the middle-class user.

“You don’t need to buy an entire share to make your first investment,” Cash App tweeted Thursday. “With Cash App, you can own a piece of hundreds of different stocks, including the most expensive stock on the market, Berkshire Hathaway Class A, which regularly trades above $300,000 per share.”

Why It’s Important

With no fees and trades starting at $1, Cash App positions itself to rival Robinhood. Robinhood proved the model’s value by accruing more than 6 million users and a $7.6 billion valuation.

Cash App also threatens traditional wealth management companies. The market’s established firms have begun to embrace some of the competitive service features appealing to a younger and less wealthy client base, including fractional and commission-free trading.

The investing feature will roll out “soon.” In the meantime, Square will continue to innovate. Management recently applied for a bank charter in Utah, which may signal efforts to formalize its virtual services.

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Photo credit: Tony Webster (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons