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Public is a commission free stock trading mobile app that is user-friendly and caters to the beginner investor. The broker was founded in 2018 and is formerly known as Matador. 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 stands out for it’s social element that lets you follow and connect with friends and experts in the community.
Although it has a very limited selection of account types, Public offers a great pricing structure, charging no trading fees or commissions. This makes it an appealing option for beginning investors who enjoy sharing ideas with a community of investors. We’ll take a deeper look at Public to help you decide whether it is the right fit for your investment needs.
Public is on a mission to make investing accessible for everyone. It believes a significant reason why many people do not invest is due to a lack of financial literacy, expensive financial products, and soaring share prices that can require people to invest $1,000 or more to purchase a single share of popular, high-performing stocks. Public was built to address these issues with the aim of unlocking greater access to the stock market for a broader audience of investors. For the passive or beginning investor who desires investing education, Public could be a good fit. That being said, traders and investors interested in derivatives or a more robust tool set will find better options elsewhere.
Public lets you buy fractional shares
There is a social media element to public
Public does not accept payment for order flow
Easy to use mobile app
Limited account types
Limited investment selections
Limited features
Only available on iOS and Android devices
Public’s user-friendly platform makes the app simple and easy to navigate. Once you download the app, the next step is to answer a few basic questions to submit your application and open an account, which takes less than 5 minutes.
Once you're logged in and fund your account, it's very easy to search for stocks and ETFs, view other users' portfolios, and start investing. On the home page is a news feed of your investing community sharing insights and ideas on their trades. You can also view their recent posts as well as their portfolio by simply clicking on a user’s account profile. Moreover, you can join in on a discussion, direct message people, or build a group chat of your own. However you decide to assemble your community, you can follow other investors and watch the financial moves they are making.
At the very top of the home page, you will see market data as it pertains to the main indices.
When searching for new stocks, you can simply type in the ticker symbol in the search box, or you can browse through the different categories created by Public. Some categories include companies reporting earnings, companies new to the market, meme stocks, space exploration stocks and ETFs, as well as top movers. Public has over 5,000 stocks that are organized into themes. You can easily choose a category, browse the list, and pick a company that seems interesting. The broker provides plenty of information on each company, allowing you to explore company histories, comments, and trends.
One caveat, however, is that Public has limited customization, charting, and research functionality.
Public is only accessible on iOS and Android devices via an app. It does not have a web-based platform.
Although the overall workflow on the mobile app is good, the trade experience with Public is rather basic. For instance, you will not be able to customize your trading experience, trade from the chart, or stage multiple orders. For beginning and new investors who will gravitate towards Public, making a buy or sell order could not be easier. Simply search for the stock or ETF you’re looking for, and select “Invest”. You will then be instructed to designate a specific dollar amount or number of shares you would like to invest.
Public is very limited in its range of offerings. It currently offers a Savings account and a Taxable/Individual brokerage account. Unlike many other competing brokers, Public does not offer retirement accounts or joint accounts. Additionally, it only supports stock and ETF trades. For investors looking to allocate to crypto assets, fixed income, forex, OTC stocks, options contracts, or futures, Public will not be a good fit. However, the broker does support fractional shares, making it easier for new investors to access expensive stocks.
Again, There isn’t much trading functionality when using Public as a broker. Subsequently, the order form is very simple. If you’re trading fractional shares, the order ticket defaults to a market order. If you are buying or selling whole shares, you can choose between a limit, market, and stop order. There is no functionality for tax lot selection. If you’re a new investor looking to be solely passive, the order types that Public supports might be suitable for your needs.
Over the past few years, investing has become dramatically more accessible with the standardization of the commission-free trading model. Without commission fees, brokerages tend to lean on other forms of revenue to sustain and grow their businesses, including payment for order flow (PFOF), a much-debated practice in which a brokerage firm receives rebates on trades routed through its clearing firm. The main criticism of payment for order flow is that it creates misalignment between the financial aims of the brokerage and the interests of its clients.
As of February 2021, Public officially no longer uses order flow as a revenue generator. As a replacement for revenue Public would otherwise generate via payment for order flow and to compensate for the additional costs of routing to exchanges, the broker has introduced an optional tipping feature for customers to use when they make a trade. Members can choose to add a tip to their trade to support Public’s commitment to not participating in payment for order flow. Members can also choose to execute their trades without commission fees or tipping if they so choose.
When you submit an order to buy or sell securities to open to the public investing (OTTP), Public will send that order to a market center for fulfillment. There are dozens of market centers to choose from; Public routes your order to the one that they believe, using reasonable diligence, will execute that order on the most favorable terms available. It focuses on obtaining the best price, but the broker also takes into account other factors like speed of execution.
As far as trading technology, Public does not support automated trading or backtesting. These features are not necessary given Public’s focus on bringing passive investing to newer, social focused investors.
The Public app is completely free to use. Like many other brokerage firms, Public has no trading fees or commissions on stocks and ETFs. Additionally, there are no account minimums, account maintenance fees and no fees to open or close accounts. Unfortunately, the relatively limited selection of assets that can be traded through public for free impacts its score as far as costs. Beyond the limited assets that are free to trade in, there are a few miscellaneous fees for services such as outgoing ACAT transfers and broker-assisted trades. Some additional costs to note include the following:
The race to zero fees has increased competitive pressure in the brokerage industry and changed the business model for many online brokers. However, $0 commissions does not mean that everything is free, as brokers can still make money from you, and for you, in less obvious ways.
Although the research amenities are meager compared to larger rivals, Public provides enough basic data for investors to make educated decisions. Aside from its themes such as meme stocks, space exploration, and green power, Public does not have stock or ETF screeners, limited tools or calculators, no charting functionality, or third party research. However, you can view basic details about each supported security. That includes a price history, analyst ratings and price targets, upcoming earnings events, recent news, and basic fundamentals.
Public does not offer stock screeners.
Public does not offer ETF or mutual fund screeners.
This broker does not offer options contracts/screeners.
Public does not offer fixed income/screeners.
Public’s platform does not support charting functionality. However, you can embed your charts into your discussions.
If you’ve purchased and sold capital assets, such as stocks, then you might owe taxes on the positive difference earned between the sale price and the purchase price. This is known as capital gains. Using Public’s capital gains tax calculator, you will be able to estimate your tax obligation based on profit earned, length of ownership, and other personal financial circumstances. Public also has a fractional share calculator which allows you to see how many shares of a company you can buy with a given dollar amount.
Public does not have trade idea generators. However, there is a social community, in which you can share ideas with. Because it has an investing community, the door is open to you to engage with other investors to see what’s working for them and what isn’t. Most conversations tend to focus on how a particular stock is performing, risk strategies, or an investor's sentiment pertaining to the general stock market. You can also embed charts and graphs into your discussions to work through real world examples.
On the homepage of the mobile app, there is news pertaining to companies on your watchlist, being sourced from publications like Market Watch, Barron’s, Reuter’s Business Insider and more.
Public does not offer third-party research.
For stocks that pay dividends, you will have the option to reinvest the dividend back into the stock. You can easily opt into the program in your account settings.
Public users at one point did earn interest on cash held in their accounts. The new user agreements note that the company earns interests but that it is not shared with the account holder.
Aside from applicable themes, such as green power, Public does not have socially responsible investing (SRI) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research amenities.
Public does not have portfolio analysis tools beyond basic balance displays and buying power.
Public has a library of resources on their mobile app and website. You will find a good selection of articles related to investing, retirement, and the stock market.
Much of the education on the Public platform is by way of the social media element of the app. As an investor using Public, the door will be open for you to view other portfolios and interact with the community. You can jump in on a discussion, direct message people, or build a group chat of your own. However you assemble your community, you can follow other traders and watch the financial maneuvers they are making.
There are a few caveats to note. Just because people are celebrities, that doesn’t mean their stock picks are good. It is also important to note that you can’t see another person’s full portfolio—you will only see the stocks they own using the Public app. Nonetheless, having the ability to engage and bounce investing ideas with one another is a crucial aspect to education on the platform.
Public also partners with organizations to facilitate live events and workshops.
Public doesn’t have the most comprehensive customer service.
Since being founded in 2018, Public has not faced any regulatory actions. Although it’s not easy to find, Public does publicly post its fees and pricing schedule.
Although it is a bit limited in its offering, Public could be a solid broker for investors looking to build a community and share ideas. Considering its latest funding round, there is a possibility that Public expands its offering, including account types and investment selections, portfolio analysis and reporting tools and so forth.
As of today, however, beginners looking to develop their investing skills would be better served by a larger broker with a more robust offering they can grow into. Even if you are just looking to passively invest, a broker like Vanguard is an excellent choice if you can make do with a less social trading app. All that being said, Public is betting that there is a sizeable group of new, mobile-only investors who will appreciate the social element above all else.
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Public. We’re officially pfof-free. Medium.
Matador Commission Fee Schedule. Public. Accessed September 2021.
