Fidelity Takes Baskets to Market

At least some experts think that these type approaches could provide an effective middle ground between mutual funds and self-directed accounts for tretirement plan investors (see (k) Plans:  Net-Based Hybrid ).

Customers can create and name their own customizable baskets of five to 50 securities within their Fidelity account for a minimum initial investment of $10,000 in cash or on margin. Once the basket is created, investors can track and trade the securities within their basket, or the basket as a whole, in real-time during trading hours.With the new stock baskets, customers can enter multiple orders at the same time,   assign specific share tax lots after the orders are processed, to manage tax implications,   use up to 20 watch-list baskets to monitor and track their baskets’ performance.

There are no annual fees to maintain each basket once it’s created, and investors can create as many baskets as they like. However, the will be charged a commission to trade each underlying security in the basket.

In the future, Fidelity plans to introduce new basket trading capabilities, including the availability of predefined, style- and sector-specific stock baskets.

  – Camilla Klein                        editors@plansponsor.com