Fills and Fees
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Schwab vs Wells Fargo

Prices, payments, fees and registration, side by side.

Market orders fill at once; marketable limit orders add a price cap.

The short answer

S&P 500 · Market orders · all sizes under $200,000

Per $10,000 of market orders in S&P 500 stocks, Schwab customers pay about $0.07 less than Wells Fargo customers: $0.08 above the fair price against $0.15 above the fair price. That holds on identical trades too.

Schwab is paid about $0.05 per $10,000 order; Wells Fargo isn't paid for orders. Neither charges a stock commission.

Not a verdict on which broker is better overall; for your own habits, use the yearly cost calculator.

Side by side

Tap a name for its report

Schwab and Wells Fargo side by side
MeasureSchwabWells Fargo
Prices you getSeptember 2026 · S&P 500 · Market orders
Extra cost per $10,000 traded Dollars paid above the fair price (midpoint of the best buy and sell quotes) per $10,000 of market orders, all sizes under $200,000 averaged (largest orders weigh most); lower is better.better: $0.08$0.15
Customer pays, as a share of the spread 0% = you got the fair price, 100% = you paid the full gap between buy and sell quotes; lower is better.better: 2.6%5.2%
Same-trade gap vs other brokers Points of the spread on identical stocks and order sizes; below zero = better than other brokers.better: −10.7 pt−4.9 pt
Average execution speed Average time from receiving a market order to completing it; faster is not better here, as brokers whose orders took longer got better prices.156 ms113 ms
Broker is paid, per $10,000 order What trading firms pay the broker for a $10,000 order (payment for order flow).$0.05$0.00
Orders that beat the quoted price Share of orders filled at least slightly better than quoted; it says little about how much you save, so it is context, not a score.97%98%
Typical order size Average dollars per order; brokers whose customers place bigger orders tend to get better prices.$21,502$8,940
Feeschecked Nov 2, 2026
Commission per stock trade Dollars per online stock or ETF trade; nearly every broker charges $0, so the real cost is in the price you get.$0.00$0.00
Options fee per contract Dollars per options contract to open a trade, on top of any per-trade commission.$0.65$0.65
Margin interest rate Yearly interest on a $25,000 margin loan.11.57%better: 11.00%
Interest on idle cash Yearly interest (APY) on uninvested cash in a standard account.0.01%better: 0.02%
Transfer-out fee For moving your whole account to another broker. Lower is better.$50.00better: $49.95
Is it registered?regulator records, not an endorsement
FINRA record BrokerCheck: the broker's licences, history and any disciplinary actions.BrokerCheckBrokerCheck
SIPC member Returns your securities and cash (up to $500,000) if the broker fails; not investment losses.YesYes
Reports what it is paid for orders Rule 606: where a broker sends orders and what it is paid. A broker whose orders go through another firm files none.YesYes
Tick = the better value; unticked rows are context, not a score. Prices: September 2026 (SEC Rule 605), orders under $200,000. Payment: Apr–Jun 2026 (SEC Rule 606). How we measure

Cost by order size

S&P 500 · Market orders

Show as a table
Order sizeSchwabWells Fargo
<$250$0.48$0.05
$250$0.22$0.07
$1k$0.15$0.07
$5k$0.12$0.08
$10k$0.08$0.09
$20k$0.07$0.11
$50k$0.08$0.23
$200k+$2.73$1.40
Every broker gets far worse prices on orders of $200,000 and over.

What does this add up to in a year?

See your yearly cost

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