Many people find themselves intrigued by the thought of opening a portfolio, but many are put off by the high barrier to entry.
What if I told you there was a way to improve your portfolio without spending a dime?
You can test the waters, make some trades, and even make some additional cash with the help of free stock you can obtain in a number of different methods.
You may get a head start on generating wealth with the help of the apps discussed in this article, as many of them will not only give away free stock but also teach you how to acquire stock, provide the tools to trade stocks for free, and so on.
Investing in Stock Without Spending a Dime
It’s common knowledge that you can’t get something for nothing. Although, with the proliferation of opportunities to acquire equities at no cost, this may no longer be the case.
Due to increased competition from bargain online brokerage businesses in the late 1990s, several traditional brokerage houses lowered their commission rates to remain competitive.
Many brokers now provide commission-free trades, and some go even farther by providing free stock charts, stock portfolio trackers, and other services. Some companies are even giving out stocks for free in an effort to bring in more buyers.
Free stock giveaway requirements can vary widely amongst brokerage houses. When an investor opens an account, some companies automatically issue shares, while others require more stringent qualifications (like you have to make a deposit into your account and make a trade).
Creating an account is usually straightforward, but you should always read the tiny print first.
Free Stocks: 15 Ways to Get Them
You can obtain free stocks or account bonuses ranging from $2 to $1,000 if you invest through the applications and trading platforms mentioned in this article.
Here are twelve strategies for making the most of these promotions and obtaining free shares.
1. Public
Investing in fractional shares of stock with as little as $5 is possible on Public, a commission-free brokerage and investment platform. You don’t need a large sum of money to begin investing in fantastic firms like Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and many more.
Popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from providers like Vanguard, BlackRock, and others are available, and they do not impose the account minimums or commission charges that you’ll find with some other investment firms.
Simply open an account, deposit funds, and begin building your own personalized stock portfolio. You should invest in stocks whenever you have spare cash. There is no need to fork over hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Join through our referral link to get your free stock, and after your account is verified, you’ll have it waiting for you. Simply use our provided link to access the app’s download page and get going. In the desktop version, enter your phone number to receive a download link to the app.
2. Webull
When you use Webull, you have the chance to acquire free shares through a fantastic platform.
Webull is a commission-free investment platform that offers new users 1 free stock once they make an initial deposit of $100. The value of the shares you receive will fall between between $8 and $1,600.
The only thing you have to do to get your hands on some free stock is join up and open an account. Then, after signing up, you can obtain a free stock signup bonus worth $8-$1600 if you link a bank account and deposit $100 into your account.
There are ways to get even more free stock after you’ve registered an account. Your account will include a referral link that you can send to your friends so that they can try out the service for themselves. By using your referral link, you and the person you suggest can both receive free stock. They now support Bitcoin as well, and you can earn free cryptocurrency just for inviting your friends to use the site.
You have the option to either let the free stock sit in your account and accrue interest or cash it out.
3. Robinhood
Everybody who signs up with Robinhood receives a free stock.
Robinhood is often regarded as one of the best investment applications for newcomers.
You can get free stock shares in various firms just for signing up, and if you refer other people to the site, you can get even more stock for free.
After signing up, you may receive free stock from a variety of companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Facebook, Microsoft, General Electric, Ford, and Energy Transfer. Your free stock could be worth anywhere from a few dollars to several hundred. The odds of getting the more valuable dollar stocks are lower.
Even if you don’t end up with a more valuable stock, it’s still a great method to get your investment portfolio off the ground.
Robinhood’s assistance center features how-to video guides and written information about the stock market.
If you use the link below to download the app, you will automatically be entered to win the free stock. Within a few days, you can expect to receive your stock and be able to make a claim on it. So long!
Simply by introducing your friends, you can quickly increase your stock holdings. Both you and they will receive a free share of stock for your time and effort.
You already know that Robinhood is a fantastic investment app because it charges no fees or commissions, requires no initial deposit, and offers appealing free stock bonuses.
You can trade stocks, fractional shares, cryptocurrencies, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) via their website or mobile app; but, more seasoned investors may find the interface to be a little simplistic.
4. Groundfloor
With Groundfloor, you may invest in high-yield, short-term real estate projects through a crowdfunding model.
When you invest with Groundfloor, you’ll be funding short-term loans for entrepreneurs and real estate investors who want to renovate and resell or rent out the acquired buildings.
The majority of the loans have periods of 6 or 12 months, and the advertised interest rate is 10%.
The minimum investment for these loans is only $10.
The good news is that there is currently an offer running on Groundfloor where you may earn $10 for each person you refer to the site, which you can then use to invest in a real estate project of your choosing. You and your referral will receive your bonus as soon as the recipient receives the funds from your referral.
5. Investments by M1 Financial
You may trade stocks without paying any commissions using the M1 Finance app, which is comparable to Robinhood.
With its simple design and wide selection of pre-made investment portfolios (dubbed “Pies”) curated by industry pros, this site is a fantastic option for those just getting started with online investing.
The site is very customizable, allowing you to put your money into individual stocks, ETFs, and REITs, or into a pre-made investment pie.
If you only have a little bit of money to invest at a time, you can buy a little piece of a single stock with M1 Finance’s fractional share investing.
To build a portfolio tailored to your specific requirements at a reasonable cost, use the M1 Financial platform, which is a robo-advisor.
Pies in your portfolio are regularly examined and rebalanced as money is added or taken out. Forcing a rebalancing is just one more way in which M1 Finance stands out as a fantastic investment option.
Registering with M1 Finance can get you free shares and bonuses that can be used to jumpstart your investing portfolio. Once you’ve signed up and funded your account, you can recommend a friend and both of you will receive $30 if they sign up and create an account.
6. Tornado
Based on Nobel Prize–winning research and years of institutional investing experience, Tornado (previously NVSTR) is a brokerage and investment account that offers one-click portfolio optimization.
Anyone over the age of 18 in the United States can sign up for a Tornado account for free. Given that there is no minimum deposit required, these accounts are suitable for virtually anyone.
Their current subscription plan costs $4.99 a month and includes 25 trades. Quite a steal at $0.20 per transaction! could as well be without cost. If you make more than this or choose to trade outside of your membership, it will cost you $4.50 per trade.
New Tornado users can receive a cash incentive right now. If your account is approved, they’ll deposit a predetermined amount of money into it. You will definitely receive at least $10, and you might get as much as $1,000. The website provides the exact probabilities of winning each sum.
A trade must be made within the first month of account opening or the free stock will be forfeited. Monetary bonuses have a one-year holding period before they can be withdrawn.
7. Invest with SoFi
SoFi offers a plethora of useful services. In addition to refinancing student debts, they offer insurance, a cash management account (with a debit card), and personal loans. They have added a brokerage and a Robo-advisor to their services.
You may start trading stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies with as little as $1 with SoFi Invest if you’re interested in managing your own finances. There is no commission to trade stocks or ETFs, so investing can be done without breaking the bank. It’s even possible to invest in a small number of shares.
By downloading the SoFi app and signing up for an Active Invest account, you can receive up to $1,000 in free stock. They’re running a promotion called the “claw game,” in which you pick an item with a claw. To play, players must first grab a game piece from the app screen, which will then reveal a dollar value in “stock bits,” or fractional shares of stock. The range of possible stock grants is $5 to $1,000, with the lower grant amounts being more common.
8. Firstrade
Firstrade is a discount broker that doesn’t charge commissions and lets you trade stocks, ETFs, options, and over 11,000 different mutual funds.
Kiplinger’s ranked them as 2019’s number one best platform for ETF and active investors, and they have garnered numerous other accolades as well.
They’re inexpensive and provide a mechanism for receiving free inventory. The stock is only available to users who join up for the free service. After you sign up, you’ll be given a referral link that you can share with your friends to invite them to try out the service for themselves.
Each of you will be eligible to get one free share of stock whenever a friend of yours signs up and has their account authorized.
Algorithms determine the random distribution of the free shares. According on market conditions, the price might be anything from $3 to $200.
At Firstrade, you can get up to $500 in free stocks.
9. TradeStation
TradeStation is an alternative low-cost broker that provides a number of services, including commission-free stock trading, crypto trading, trade research, and more.
There are no account minimums, no trading costs for stocks and ETFs, and real-time market data is provided free of charge for a wide range of financial instruments including stocks, ETFs, stock options, futures, indices, and cryptocurrencies.
The platform’s award-winning apps are available for desktop, mobile, and web interfaces, so you may use them any way you like.
If your application is accepted, you’ll get $10 worth of cryptocurrency for free. When you add money to your account, you unlock even more benefits. Get $200 in cash or cryptocurrency for making a $5,000 deposit. If you deposit $10,000, you’ll receive $500. Put up a hundred grand, and you’ll get a thousand.
Read our comprehensive TradeStation review.
10. Moomoo
You can trade stocks on Moomoo with no commissions, no minimum deposit, and no fees on the essentials, and the app is suitable for both inexperienced and experienced traders alike.
This program provides you with everything you need to trade, including free level 2 quotations (usually a paid feature), trading before and after the market opens, virtual trading, and more.
The app is available for download on all major mobile platforms.
Those who sign up using the link below will be eligible for free stocks worth up to $1,000. The sole stipulation is that a minimum deposit of $100 be made. When making a deposit of $100, you will be given a stock with a value of between $4 and $200. If you put down $1,500, you’ll get a free stock worth anywhere from $100 to $1,000.
11. Stash
Stash is an online brokerage account and micro-investing platform that lets you buy individual companies, ETF index funds, or a diversified group of equities with a predetermined level of risk.
With Stash, you can invest as little as you like because you can purchase fractional shares.
An investor can get started with Stash for as little as $5.
When you sign up with Stash and deposit at least $5, you’ll receive a $5 bonus.
To claim your bonus, follow the link below, link your bank account, and deposit at least $5. If this is successful, you will get $5 deposited into your account. The bonus money can be used to invest in a diversified index fund using exchange-traded funds.
Stash Invest also offers a “Stock-Back” scheme where users can earn additional shares for their accounts. With the Stash Visa debit card, you can make fractional stock shares in any 11 million participating retailers (including Amazon, Walmart, and Starbucks) or shares in a diversified index fund if those stocks aren’t available on the platform.
A $1 monthly fee separates you from opening a beginning account, so you may use your bonus to cover that cost if you choose and then use your Stock Back rewards to buy shares at cost.
12. Bumped
Using your associated credit or debit card’s purchasing history, the Bumped rewards app and brokerage account will provide you with free fractional shares of stock.
Exactly how does it function? Then, select the brands you regularly buy from and link your primary credit and debit cards to them. Then, your connected brokerage account will automatically be credited with free shares whenever you purchase from one of those brands.
More than a thousand firms have online and mobile shopping platforms where users can make purchases and earn stock. When you make a purchase from one of the affiliated brands, you can choose to get stock in the affiliated company or in a stock of your choosing.
After creating an account, all you have to do is shop as usual and earn free stuff.
13. Acorns
Acorns are another investment app offering new users a bonus simply for creating an account.
We’ll add $5 to your account just for signing up through our link. That incentive can cover the monthly $1 price for account management.
After signing up for Acorns, you’ll be eligible for what the company terms “Found Money” bonuses, which may be used to purchase shares at no cost.
When you utilize their service or product and spend above a particular amount, companies like Amazon, Casper, Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb will deposit free stocks into your account.
For every dollar you spend at Amazon, the company will put away $0.03 in your Acorns account to buy stocks, while every time you use the Uber app, the company will put away $0.50. When you buy a Casper mattress, the company will deposit $75 into your Acorns account, and when you sign up to be an Airbnb Host, you’ll receive a $200 bonus.
The goal is to utilize the app to earn bonuses on purchases you plan to make anyway and then to use those bonuses to buy shares in their highly diversified index fund portfolios.
14. Bits of Stock
Another app that rewards you with stock for buying from your favorite stores online and in person is Bits of Stock.
You can start earning stock with every purchase at some of your favorite businesses immediately after downloading the app and linking a bank account.
As a new customer, I was given $5 worth of Popeye’s Chicken stock just for opening an account. A brokerage account was opened for me once I claimed the stock, so I may sit on it and let it grow or withdraw the money whenever I like.
You have nothing to lose by trying it out; once it’s set up, you can earn rewards by making in-store and online purchases.
15. Schwab
In recent years, the long-standing brokerage business Schwab. Schwab has released its “Intelligent Portfolios offering,” a low-cost robo-advisor service that will let you invest in and automatically rebalance a portfolio of diverse ETFs with minimal effort on your part.
You’ll need a sizable starting capital to invest in their Intelligent Portfolios offering, which starts at $5,000. If you have a sizable investment portfolio to move over ($25,000 or more), you can receive a referral signup bonus of $100–$1,000.
Take advantage of this cash bonus offer if you’re in the market for a new advisor and have a sizeable sum to transfer. In this case, you only need to ask around or look for a referral online. Remember that your required deposit must be made within 45 days of account establishment.
Financial Implications of Getting Free Stock
You should be aware of the tax implications of holding stock shares in a brokerage account.
One of the most visible is the tax on capital gains realized from the sale of appreciated stock. Capital gains are taxed in two ways:
Gains from the sale of an asset held for less than one year are subject to short-term capital gains taxation. Your normal tax bracket applies here.
Those gains from the sale of assets held for more than a year are considered long-term gains. A person’s tax rate could be from 0% to 20%, depending on their filing status and taxable income. As a rule, however, these rates are more reasonable than the short-term capital gains tax rates.
Dividends may also be subject to taxation. Most dividends are considered taxable income, but knowing whether or not they are qualified might help you save on taxes. Ordinary or nonqualified dividends are taxed at the same rate as the shareholder’s regular income tax bracket. In contrast, qualified dividends are taxed at a rate between zero and twenty percent, depending on the shareholder’s filing status and taxable income.
Your dividend tax bill will be larger in either case if you are in a higher tax bracket. Yet, the length and timing of your investment’s ownership might have a significant impact on your taxable income. Potentially lowering your tax liability are a number of special case scenarios and exceptions.
One of the best ways to reduce the tax hit from receiving free stock is to plan ahead. Holding the shares for more than a year will likely result in a lower tax bill. Because of this, you can sell your shares at the lower long-term capital gains rate.
A loss in investing money might be used to reduce a gain in another investment. Each year, you can deduct up to $3,000 from your taxable income in the event that your losses exceed your gains.
Totally Free Shares Are Up For The Taking
Absolutely everyone enjoys receiving something for free, but when that something turns out to be an asset that could increase in value over time, that feeling is amplified many times over.
This article has shown that there are numerous opportunities to get free shares and jumpstart your investment career.
If you can’t make up your mind, why not use multiple platforms and reap the benefits of all of them? Identify which ones are truly free of charge and which ones come with strings attached.
Don’t delay; the offers on the free stock will soon expire.
F.A.Q. – Commonly Asked Questions
Can it be true that there are businesses that provide out stock for free?
When you open an account with a certain company and either make a deposit or suggest a friend, you may receive free shares as a thank you. It’s a win-win situation: they can deduct the cost of giving you free stock as an investment in bringing in new customers, and you can get a foot in the door by purchasing shares at no risk.
When will I receive my free stock?
The company you work for determines the parameters under which you can obtain free stock. Simply sign up for Robinhood, and within a few days, you’ll receive one free share of stock. If you get other people to sign up for the service, you’ll receive more stock in return. If you open an account with Webull and fund it within 24 hours, you’ll receive one free share of stock, and if you fund it with any amount, you’ll earn a second free share. The referral system allows you to earn shares simply by recommending other people to the service. The needs of a business may vary from one to the next.
Do free stocks take a long time to receive?
The free shares promised by most stock giveaways are typically credited to your account within a week. The steps necessary to obtain the free stock vary per individual brokerage. They will often credit your account with the stock and make it tradeable within a week.
Can you tell me how long I need to wait before selling my stock?
It’s vital that you read the tiniest print in any agreement you get into. You can get the stock in your brokerage account soon and start trading or cashing it out almost immediately. In other cases, you may need to meet particular conditions in order to keep your reward, such as a holding period during which you are prohibited from selling the shares. Tornado, for instance, mandates that you make a single trade ($4.50) during the first month of account opening, and that you keep the cash return in your account for an entire year.
Where can I find free stock?
The type of free stock you receive is determined by the firm and the stocks they are offering as part of their free stock program. While using Robinhood, your odds of receiving Facebook, Microsoft, or JPMorgan Chase shares are, respectively, 1 in 150 and 1 in 50,000. There is a one-in-eighty chance that you will receive either GE Energy Transfer or Ford. A certain number of shares of stock or stock options are given away for free each month. Webull’s algorithmically-determined stock giveaways are completely fair. A share of stock can be purchased for as little as $2.50 or as much as $250.