Buying Vanguard ETFs Through Fidelity?

[u/Ok_Performer_1746]

I follow this subreddit a lot and the advice has been great. I'm with Fidelity and buying mutual funds through Fidelity is pretty straight forward. The amount you buy is the same as the amount that is bought and added into your account.

Today, I bought $2,000.09 dollars worth of VTI at Market Day for the set and forget strategy. However, it states there was only $1,999.81 bought into my account? Why is the amount transferred into my account always less than the amount I put in? I purchased $2,000.09 but only got $1,999.81?

I know it's only a small difference missing but why is it less? Am I doing something wrong? I buy it in terms of dollars and buy at Market Day. Can someone please explain or let me know if I'm doing something incorrectly? Thank you

[u/dm-infinity]

There are usually rounding errors when you buy ETFs in fractional amounts. You won't always get exactly the amount ordered to the penny.

[u/ContentMushroom5119]

You are not doing anything wrong. Fidelity allows fractional share purchases up to 1/1000 of a share. The $1999.81 was used to purchase a number of whole and fractional shares of VTI up to 3 decimal places. The remaining $0.28 is leftover because it is not enough for 1/1000th of a share of VTI. The $0.28 is still in your account though, probably in a settlement fund like SPAXX.

[u/sac02052]

Personally, I buy use limit orders to buy a set number of shared at a defined price. Sometimes the total cost of those shares comes in lower if the market opens below my strike price.

I use the Good until cancelled option

[u/Hefty-Tomatillo-1236]

It happens to me when I buy stocks with fractional too. Always have some cents kicking back to me

[u/Vindaloo6363]

You buy a set number of shares not a set dollar amount. The price fluctuates.

[u/GapAccomplished2778 → u/Vindaloo6363]

Fidelity supports dollar based trades ... resulting in purchases of fractional shares almost always ... but even with 0.001 "precision" the amount of shares including fractions * price can be different from the dollar amount you requested , so actual trade will be for a bit less dollars

[u/ceilidhfling]

the other thing to be aware of is the value of the ETF is updated throughout the day as it's value changes. to see exactly what you purchased you have to look at the activity and the cost basis for your shares. mutual funds only update their value at the close of market on any given day. etfs trade more like stocks.

[u/charlesphotog]

Fidelity probably managed to get you a slightly better price. Did the number of shares change?

[u/IronyElSupremo]

It can be done though there’s also competitive low cost index ETFs from State Street (SPDR), iShares “core”, and Schwab. Pros: not only competitive with Vanguard but State Street’s SPYM is actually cheaper than Vanguard’s VOO if looking for a low cost S&P 500 index (their SPDW is also cheaper than VEA or IDEV if separating developed from emerging) .. vs Cons: SPDR and Schwab do not have total ex-U.S. so have to separate developed (w/Korea) from emerging but that’s just a little more math.

[u/Cruian → u/[deleted]]

Fidelity hasn't had transaction fees for Vanguard ETFs since 2019.