Title card for the Stock Moe guide on how to buy fractional shares in 2026, step by step

How to Buy Fractional Shares in 2026: Step by Step

ByStock Moe

Last updated October 23, 2026. By Stock Moe, former financial advisor, MBA and finance teacher.

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you open an account through them, Stock Moe gets paid by Webull or Kalshi at no extra cost to you. I only link to products I use myself. This is not financial advice.

Here is how to buy fractional shares: open a brokerage account that offers them, search for the stock, switch the order from shares to dollars, type the dollar amount, and confirm. On Webull the minimum buy is $1, Fidelity and Schwab also start at $1, and Robinhood starts at $1, according to each broker’s own pages as of October 23, 2026. The whole thing takes about two minutes once your account is funded.

I taught finance for years and I was a financial advisor before that, and the question I still get most from beginners is some version of “I only have $25, what can I even buy?” The answer in 2026 is almost anything. In this guide I will show you exactly how fractional shares work, how to place your first order step by step, what they cost, and the four things nobody tells you until after you buy.

Key takeaways

  • A fractional share is less than one full share. Put $25 into a $250 stock and you own 0.1 of a share. Your gain or loss is the same percent as a whole share, just on a smaller amount of money.
  • Most big US brokers let you buy fractional shares for as little as $1 (Webull, Fidelity, Schwab and Robinhood all do, per their pages on October 23, 2026).
  • You get dividends in proportion to what you own. Own 0.75 of a share and a $10 dividend pays you $7.50, using the SEC’s own example.
  • Fractional shares cannot be moved to another broker. If you switch brokers, the fraction gets sold first, which can mean taxes.
  • On Webull, fractional orders are market or limit during regular hours, and limit only by share amount before and after hours.

What is a fractional share?

The SEC’s investor bulletin on fractional share investing defines one as “less than one full share of a stock or other security.” That is it. If a share of Apple closed at $348.22 on October 22, 2026, and you only have $25, a fractional share lets you buy about 0.072 of one share instead of waiting until you have $348.

Fractional shares are not new. FINRA points out they have existed for decades through dividend reinvestment plans, where a dividend that did not divide evenly into the share price bought you a slice of a share instead of leaving pennies in cash. What changed is that brokers now let you buy the slice on purpose, in dollars, with a tap.

The reason this matters for a beginner is simple. Every stock I talk about on my channel, from a $20 crypto play to a $500 tech name, becomes buyable with the same $25. You pick the company first and the dollar amount second, which is how investing is supposed to work.

How do fractional shares work?

When you place a fractional order in dollars, the broker converts your dollars into a fraction of a share at the price it fills. Robinhood says its fractional orders go down to 0.000001 of a share. Webull fills down to more than 0.00001 of a share. The math is the same everywhere: dollars in, divided by the share price, equals the fraction you own.

Do you get dividends on fractional shares?

Yes. The SEC bulletin says you “generally receive dividends and take part in stock splits in proportion to your fractional ownership.” Its example is a stock paying $10 a share: own 0.75 of a share and you get $7.50. Most brokers also let you turn on dividend reinvestment so that cash buys more fractions automatically.

Do you get to vote?

Maybe not. FINRA says common stockholders usually get one vote per share, but fractional owners “may not have voting rights,” and it depends on the broker’s program. For a $25 position that does not matter to me, but you should know it going in.

Can you move fractional shares to another broker?

No. Both the SEC and FINRA say fractional shares generally cannot be transferred. Webull’s help page says fractional positions “are liquidated before a full outgoing transfer” and the cash is sent instead. Selling can create a taxable gain or loss, so if you think you will switch brokers later, keep that in mind.

How are fractional orders filled?

This is the part the SEC flags. Some brokers fill your fractional order in real time at the live price. Others collect fractional orders through the day and fill them in batches as whole share orders, which can change the price you get. Robinhood says trades placed during market hours “are executed at that time.” Webull supports market and limit orders during regular hours, so you can set your price. Ask your broker which way it works before you assume.

How to buy fractional shares on Webull, step by step

I use Webull myself and it is where I send beginners, so here is the exact path on the mobile app, taken from Webull’s own help page on trading fractional shares, accessed October 23, 2026. The steps on Fidelity, Schwab or Robinhood are close to the same: find the stock, flip the order to dollars, type the amount, confirm.

How to buy fractional shares on the Webull mobile app, using the steps on Webull’s help page as of October 23, 2026.

  1. Open and fund a brokerage account

    Download the Webull app, open an individual brokerage account (cash or margin) and link a bank account. Webull says there is no minimum deposit to open the account. Deposits by ACH usually take a few business days to fully settle, so do this first.

  2. Search for the stock or ETF

    Tap the search bar and type the ticker or company name. Open the quote page.

  3. Check that it supports fractional shares

    Look for the green diamond icon on the quote page. Webull supports fractional trading on “select U.S. stocks and ETFs,” and that icon is how you know a name is eligible.

  4. Tap Trade and choose your order type

    Pick Market or Limit. During regular hours, 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern, you can use either. Before 9:30 AM and after 4:00 PM, Webull allows limit orders only, entered by share amount.

  5. Switch the amount from shares to dollars

    Next to the quantity field, change the unit from Share to USD. Type the dollar amount you want to invest. The minimum buy is $1 and the order must be for more than 0.00001 of a share.

  6. Review the estimated shares and confirm

    The app shows roughly how many shares your dollars will buy at the current price. Check the number, then confirm the order. Webull says fractional orders cannot be edited after you send them, so if you make a mistake, cancel the pending order and place a new one.

  7. Check your position

    Open your Positions tab. You will see the fraction you own, your average cost and your gain or loss in dollars and percent. That percent is the number that matters, not the size of the slice.

Ready to try it? Open a Webull account through my link (affiliate link, I get paid if you sign up). As of October 31, 2026, Webull’s offer page through my link reads “Plus, earn up to 5.0% APY* with Premium and get 12 fractional shares worth up to $3,600!” and the 12 fractional shares require “an initial deposit of $100 or more.” Any offer is subject to Webull’s current terms and eligibility, and the page notes the Premium APY is variable and that joint, futures, IRA, smart advisor, entity and event contract accounts are excluded, so read the offer page for the current terms before you deposit. Stocks can lose money, and past results do not predict future results.

What $25 buys you right now

Here is the fun part. Using the October 22, 2026 closing prices, $25 buys about 0.296 of a Lennar share, 0.118 of an Nvidia share, 0.100 of an Amazon share, 0.072 of an Apple share, 0.048 of a Microsoft share and 0.039 of a Meta share. It also buys about 0.00003 of a Berkshire Hathaway Class A share, which closed at $820,500. I put that one in to make a point: without fractional shares, Buffett’s own stock is off limits to almost everyone.

Bar chart showing how to buy fractional shares with $25: 0.296 of a Lennar share, 0.118 of Nvidia, 0.100 of Amazon, 0.072 of Apple, 0.048 of Microsoft and 0.039 of Meta at October 22, 2026 closing prices
Fraction of one share that $25 buys at the October 22, 2026 closing prices, per Yahoo Finance.

Notice that the slice size has nothing to do with the quality of the investment. A 0.039 slice of Meta that rises 10% makes you the same $2.50 as a 0.296 slice of Lennar that rises 10%. Beginners get hung up on owning “a whole share.” The market does not care. Your return is the percent move times the dollars you put in.

That Lennar number is not random. Berkshire Hathaway just took its stake to about 29 million shares, and I broke down every filing in my piece on the Buffett Lennar stake. If you ever wanted to follow a Buffett trade with lunch money, this is how you do it.

How to buy one share of a stock

Some people do not want a fraction. They want to buy one share of a stock and see a whole number in the account. That works the same way, with one switch flipped the other direction: leave the quantity unit on Shares instead of USD, type 1, pick Market or Limit, and confirm. On Webull a single share of any US listed stock can be bought with no commission, and the only difference from a fractional order is that you need the full share price in cash, so one share of Apple at the October 22 close needs about $348 while one share of Lennar needs about $84.

My advice is to decide by dollars, not by share count. If one share costs more than you want to put in that company, buy the fraction. If it costs less, buy the share and put the rest in your next idea. A whole share gives you a vote and can be transferred to another broker later; a fraction cannot. Those are the only real differences.

Which brokers offer fractional shares?

Most of the big names do now, and the minimums are all about the same. Here is what each broker’s own page said on October 23, 2026.

  • Webull: $1 minimum buy, $0.01 minimum sell, select US stocks and ETFs marked with a green diamond. Market and limit orders in regular hours, limit only before and after hours. Fractional orders can be placed from 7:00 AM to 7:30 PM Eastern.
  • Fidelity: fractional quantities to three decimal places as long as the order is worth at least $1. Market and limit orders, good for the day only, and orders can only be placed while the market is open, roughly 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern.
  • Charles Schwab: “most U.S. listed stocks and ETFs for as little as $1,” no commission on online fractional trades. Schwab dropped the Stock Slices name and now just calls them fractional shares.
  • Robinhood: “as little as $1, or as little as 0.000001 shares,” real time fills during market hours, more than 5,000 eligible stocks and ETFs, and dividend reinvestment into fractions.

So the minimum is not the thing to pick a broker on. Pick on the tools you will actually use. I like Webull because the charts are the ones I use on my channel, you can set limit orders on fractions, and it now has stocks, options, futures, crypto and prediction markets in one app. If you are curious about that last one, I explained the basics in how Kalshi works, and I will cover Webull’s version soon.

What do fractional shares cost?

At Webull, Fidelity, Schwab and Robinhood, there is no commission on fractional stock and ETF trades, per their pages. What you still pay are tiny regulatory fees that apply to every stock trade. Webull’s pricing page lists the SEC fee at $0.0000206 times the trade value on sells and a Consolidated Audit Trail fee of $0.000003 times trade volume. On a $25 sale the SEC fee is about five hundredths of a cent. You will never notice it.

The real cost of fractional shares is the one the SEC warns about: the fill. If your broker batches fractional orders, you might get a slightly worse price than the live quote. That is why I like being able to use a limit order on a fraction. You name your price and the order either fills there or it does not.

The four things nobody tells beginners

You cannot take them with you

I said it above and I will say it again because it is the one that bites people. Fractional shares stay at the broker where you bought them. Move your account and the fraction gets sold. If you have a gain, that is a taxable event.

Not every stock is eligible

Webull says “select” stocks and ETFs. Robinhood says over 5,000, which still leaves plenty out. Thinly traded small caps and some foreign listings are the usual gaps. If the green diamond is not there, the stock is not fractional on Webull.

Extended hours are different

On Webull you can only place limit orders by share amount before 9:30 AM and after 4:00 PM. On Fidelity you cannot place fractional orders outside regular hours at all. If you like to react to earnings after the close, know the rules first.

A small slice can still lose all of it

Owning 0.05 of a share does not make a stock safer. If the company drops 50%, your $25 is $12.50. Fractional shares lower the price of admission, not the risk. Investing can lose money, and past results do not predict future results.

How I use fractional shares

Three ways. First, I use them to buy a starter position in a stock I am watching so that I actually feel it. A $25 slice of a name makes me check the chart. That is a feature, not a bug. Second, I use dollar amounts to keep my positions sized the way I teach: the same dollars in each idea, no matter the share price. Third, I use them to let dividends reinvest without leftover cash sitting around.

What I do not do is treat a fractional share like a lottery ticket. The same rules I teach in the academy apply: know your entry, know where you are wrong, and size the position so a loss does not change your week. If you want to see how I pick those entries, my XRP price levels page shows the method on a live chart every day.

If you want the five minute version of what I am watching each week, my free Sunday Letter goes out every Sunday morning and I put my fractional share starter ideas in there before I talk about them on the channel.

Want to place your first fractional trade this week? Open your Webull account here (affiliate link, I get paid if you sign up). The current offer is subject to Webull’s terms and eligibility, so check the offer page before you deposit, and only invest money you can afford to lose.

Common questions

Is it worth buying a fraction of a share?

Yes, if the alternative is not investing at all. A fractional share gives you the same percent gain or loss as a whole share, just on fewer dollars. The downsides are that you cannot transfer the fraction to another broker and you may not get a vote.

Do you get paid dividends on fractional shares?

Yes. The SEC says you generally receive dividends in proportion to your fractional ownership. Own 0.75 of a share of a stock paying $10 and you get $7.50. Most brokers can reinvest that automatically.

What is the downside to fractional shares?

Three main ones per FINRA and the SEC: you cannot move them to another broker without selling, some brokers batch fractional orders so your fill price can differ from the live quote, and you may not have voting rights. Extended hours trading is also limited at most brokers.

Does the S&P 500 allow fractional shares?

You can buy fractional shares of S&P 500 index ETFs and of most S&P 500 stocks at Webull, Fidelity, Schwab and Robinhood. Whether a specific stock is eligible depends on the broker, so check the quote page. On Webull a green diamond icon marks eligible names.

What is the minimum to buy fractional shares on Webull?

Webull’s help page says the minimum buy is $1 and the order must be for more than 0.00001 of a share. The minimum sell is $0.01, as of October 23, 2026.

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Sources

I am not a financial advisor and nothing in this article is financial advice. Everything here is my own opinion, for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do your own research and talk to a licensed professional before you make any financial decision.

Stock Moe headshot

Stock Moe is a former financial advisor who worked at one of the largest financial firms in the country before moving into teaching. He holds an M.B.A. and an M.Ed. in Business Education, taught college and high school finance, and has coached teams to 15 state and 2 back to back national Stock Market Game championships. He runs the Stock Moe YouTube channel with over 720,000 subscribers, where he breaks down stocks, crypto, housing and the economy in plain English.

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