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Broker clearing firms list
Kateryna Onyshchuk / Shutterstock
Updated: January 17, 2024
As a way of protecting parties in the event of a trade, clearing firms are often used. A clearing firm takes responsibility for the transaction, and guarantees that it will go through in the end. Brokers use them to settle investment transactions. However, it's important to note that some brokers are self-clearing, meaning that they have their own clearing firm while others use a third party to clear the transactions.
In many cases, the largest clearing firms handle a large number of transactions, from various broker-dealers each day.
- 1.
Apex Clearing
- 2.
Broadcort & Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp.
- 3.
FOLIOfn, Inc
- 4.
Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing LP
- 5.
J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp.
- 6.
National Financial Services LLC
- 7.
Pershing LLC
- 8.
RBC Correspondent Services
- 9.
StoneX
- 10.
Southwest Securities Inc.
- 11.
Wedbush Securities Inc.
- 12.
Webull Financial LLC
- 13.
Open to the Public Investing Inc.
Some of the names on the list are rather well-known and familiar to most people. It's also worth noting that the clearinghouses are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), so it means that you, the investor, have some protection as well.
Which brokerage firms use which clearing firms?
You don't necessarily want to base your decision about a broker entirely on the clearing firm used. It can provide you with some insight into what to expect from that broker.
Here are some of the clearing firms used by some of the major brokers:
| Firm | Clearing House | Self-Clearing? |
|---|---|---|
| Ally Invest | Apex Clearing | No |
| Ally Invest Managed Portfolios | Apex Clearing | No |
| Betterment | Apex Clearing | No |
| E*TRADE | Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC | Yes |
| Ellevest | Folio | No |
| Fidelity Go | National Financial Services, LLC | Yes |
| J.P. Morgan | J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp | Yes |
| Fidelity Investments | National Financial Services, LLC | Yes |
| Firstrade | Apex Clearing | No |
| FutureAdvisor | National Financial Services LLC | No |
| Interactive Brokers | Self-Clearing | Yes |
| Lightspeed Trading | Wedbush Securities | No |
| M1 | Apex Clearing | No |
| MEGI | Merrill Lynch | Yes |
| Merrill Edge | Merrill Lynch | Yes |
| OpenInvest | Apex Clearing | No |
| Empower | Pershing Advisor Solutions | No |
| Rize | Apex Clearing | No |
| Robinhood | Clearing by Robinhood | Yes |
| SoFi Wealth | Apex Clearing | No |
| SogoTrade | Apex Clearing | No |
| Stash Invest | Apex Clearing | No |
| Stockpile | Apex Clearing | No |
| Tastyworks | Apex Clearing | No |
| TD Ameritrade | TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc. | Yes |
| TradeStation | TradeStation | Yes |
| Twine | Apex Clearing | No |
| Ustocktrade | Electronic Transaction Clearing | No |
| Vanguard | Vanguard Brokerage Services | Yes |
| Wealthfront | RBC Clearing & Custody | No |
| Wealthsimple | Apex Clearing | No |
| Axos Invest | Apex Clearing | No |
| Zacks Trade | Interactive Brokers LLC | No |
| Webull | Apex Clearing | No |
| Public | Apex Clearing | No |
| Acorns | RBC Correspondent Clearing | No |
As you can see, many of the biggest brokers are also self-clearing. Even if a brokerage firm uses a clearing company, many of them use subsidiaries that they own outright.
Many of the smaller brokers rely on third party clearing firms to help them make sure that everything proceeds as it should. It takes a certain number of resources to perform clearing services, and many of the smaller companies just don't have those resources.
It is also important to remember that broker-dealers can change clearing firms. So, even if a broker uses one clearing firm now, the broker may switch to another clearing firm later. For the most part, though, the clearing firm isn't a huge deal to the majority of ordinary investors. As long as the clearing firm used is reputable, the focus should be on finding the best online broker to fit your investing needs and preferences.
How do clearing firms make money?
Clearing firms make money by facilitating transactions between traders and another party, like a stock broker. Clearing companies are responsible for ensuring that transactions settle, and in exchange, they receive a clearing fee.
Passive investors aren't too likely to notice these fees since clearing fees are often quite small. However, active traders may notice them add up over time. You can use a variety of discount brokers if you're looking to keep trading fees as low as possible.
Bottom line
While you might not realize it, clearing firms are the middleman that keep trades running smoothly. In fact, the leading clearing houses process billions of transactions annually, which is trillions of dollars in value.
Hopefully, our list of clearing houses gives you a better understanding of what's happening behind the scenes.
Miranda Marquit is a journalism-trained freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance.
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