These 4 Brokerages are Running Big Promos on the Interest You Can Earn on Cash Right Now

The full article continues below these offers from our partners.

Offers That Raise the APY on Idle Brokerage Cash

If you have some money invested and other money in general savings, you have choices on where to stash that uninvested cash. One option is to keep it all at the brokerage where you have your investments. However, the interest rates brokerages pay on cash balances are sometimes quite a bit less than what you can earn with a competitive high-yield savings account.

But if you shop around, there are currently some excellent deals on what you can earn at a brokerage. Granted, like many promotions, these have a limited runway—the elevated return you can earn won’t last forever. But if you find it useful or simply convenient to hold uninvested cash at the same place as investments, these current brokerage bonuses are worth a look.

Offer #1 – Moomoo’s 8.10% New Customer Bonus

Moomoo often tops the list of the best cash balance interest rates, with its base rate of 4.10% APY out-paying the runners-up that offer 4.00%. But right now, new Moomoo customers are in for a treat, as a current promotion will let you earn a 4% boost, raising your APY on idle cash to a whopping 8.10%.

Limitations are that the APY boost is only valid for the first 3 months. And you can only earn the promotional rate on cash balances up to $20,000.

The effective earnings on this offer over the course of a year would be 5.10%, if you assume an 8.10% APY for 3 months followed by 9 months at the base rate of 4.00%, and also assume the current base rate of 4.00% will still be available in months 4–12.

Offer #2 – M1’s 4.50% New Customer Bonus

M1 is also rewarding new customers to its platform, giving them a 0.50% boost to the base rate of 4.00% APY. The resulting 4.50% return can be earned on any balance amount for a period of 3 months, similar to Moomoo’s deal. But M1 will pay that 4.50% boosted rate on much higher balances, topping out at $200,000.

Offer #3 – Betterment’s 4.50% Offer for Qualifying Deposits

Here again, Betterment is offering a 0.50% bump to its 4.00% base rate, and the 4.50% rate will be paid for 3 months. But unlike Moomoo and M1, this offer does not cap the cash balance you can hold at Betterment and earn the 4.50% rate. It does require, however, that you make a qualifying deposit into your new account (no minimum amount stipulated) within the first 14 days of opening the account.

Offer #4 – Wealthfront’s 4.50% Referral Bonus

Wealthfront also offers an ultimate rate of 4.50% APY—4.00% with a 3-month bump of 0.50%. But to earn Wealthfront’s boost, you need to refer a friend and that friend needs to sign up for a Wealthfront account. There are no rules, however, on the definition of friend, so it could be a spouse or family member. It does cap the cash balance that can earn the 4.50% promotional rate, but at a generous $250,000.

How to Boost Your Return With a High-Yield Savings Account Instead

If you want to move money in and out of investments regularly, keeping your cash at your brokerage makes things easy. But it isn’t your most lucrative option. Instead, today’s best high-yield savings accounts pay more than these promo-boosted brokerage APYs. And once the 3-month offer expires, the gap widens much more between what you’d earn at a brokerage vs. what you could earn instead with a high-yield bank account.

Also, because transfers from a savings account to a brokerage are usually executed within one day, it’s generally not a problem to hold your savings at an outside account.

Every business day, we monitor the rates of over 100 nationally available savings accounts and rank the top offers by highest APY. Right now, the top two accounts in our daily ranking of the best high-yield savings accounts pay 5.00%. But beyond those, you have 15 more options to choose from that pay 4.35% or better.

If you want to keep some money at your brokerage, so that you can quickly make an investment trade without having to set up an external transfer, one option is to keep a portion of your surplus cash at the brokerage for that purpose, earning their cash management rate. And you could keep another portion in a higher-paying savings account to maximize your overall cash return.

How We Find the Best Savings and CD Rates

Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs and savings accounts to customers nationwide and determines daily rankings of the top-paying accounts. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the account’s minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000. It also cannot specify a maximum deposit amount that’s below $5,000.

Banks must be available in at least 40 states to qualify as nationally available. And while some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don’t meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don’t live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.