Apex Clearing Brings Fractional Shares to Discount BrokeragesApex Clearing Brings Fractional Shares to Discount Brokerages

Apex Clearing originally built its fractional trading capabilities for robo advisory platforms. But the firm is now providing it to self-directed brokerages, it announced Tuesday.

Firms that sign on with Apex will have access to the custodian’s APIs, allowing clients to purchase fractional shares in stocks they might normally not be able to afford if they had to purchase whole shares.

“In making our real-time fractional trading capabilities available to self-directed investment platforms, Apex is not only positioning brokers and advisors for growth but also is continuing to knock down the barriers to make wealth management more affordable to more end investors,” CEO Bill Capuzzi said in a statement.

Fractional shares also allows investors to do direct indexing, a kind of separately managed account for the masses. Some robos already offer direct indexing, but several tech companies, such as Orion Advisor Services, RobustWealth and SmartX, are bringing the capability to advisors.

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