About us

Brokerage built for you

A simple but powerful way to trade. $0 commissions. That’s how we’ve built the Vanguard Brokerage Account—for you.

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We strive to give you the best price on trades with:

10.35%

Effective over quoted spread*

Effective over quoted spread (E/Q) is the industry measurement for trade quality. The lower the percentage, the better. We're constantly working to give you the best price on trades, and those efforts are reflected in our low E/Q.

What this means

95%

Of Vanguard ETFs® traded at midpoint**

A trade at the midpoint of the quoted spread is generally considered the best price available. We provided midpoint pricing on over 95% of Vanguard ETF® trades.**

What this means

$1.70

Savings per 100-share order

Competitive trades add up to real savings. On average, investors would have saved $1.70 for a 100-share order compared to the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO).** More shares mean more savings, with $17.04 for 1,000 shares.

What this means

Understanding E/Q

E/Q is a calculation that compares an execution price to the quote. The quoted spread refers to the difference between the bid and ask prices. The effective spread is calculated by comparing the execution price to the midpoint of the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO).

100% E/Q means an order was executed at the bid price for a sell order or at the offer price for a buy order. A 0% E/Q means the order received the midpoint of the quoted spread. The lower the E/Q, the closer to midpoint the order executed.

“Best execution” practices help us keep our E/Q low

Vanguard Brokerage Services works with several trading partners to execute orders placed with us. We follow “best execution” practices so that you can get the best price for your order to buy or sell.

Here's how it works: When you place a brokerage order with us, your order makes a round trip—from you to the market and back to you. We route your order to one of our market centers, and we strive to get you the "best execution" price in a timely fashion by following these practices:

  • Market center reviews. We rigorously review market centers for their system availability, service quality, and financial and regulatory standing.
  • Execution quality. We evaluate the quality of how the market centers execute in one or more market segments. We consider various factors such as price improvement and overall effective price compared with the national best bid and offer (NBBO).
  • Price improvement. When possible, orders are executed at a better price than the prevailing national best bid and offer—better than the best bid for sell orders and better than the best offer for buy orders.

Midpoint pricing means the order is filled with an average price that is directly in the middle of the quoted spread. For example, say you place an order to buy or sell the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), and the quote is bidding 222.20, asking 222.25. The fairest trade price for both parties would be 222.225, directly in the middle of the quoted spread.

Why aren't all trades midpoint?

Some market conditions can make it difficult to provide midpoint pricing on every order. Market conditions such as fast-moving quotes or a scarcity of shares could cause an order to not receive a midpoint execution. Orders are sent to market makers who do their best to manage those and many other market conditions.

This number refers to the amount of price improvement you receive on your orders. Price improvement comes from providing a better price than the NBBO. Under SEC rules, the NBBO consists of the highest buy (and lowest sell) prices available.

View the quarterly reports for Vanguard Brokerage Services®†

See our reports

4 ways Vanguard Brokerage Services puts you first

Give you information designed to help you stay the course.

We provide all investors a long-term perspective and trading strategies to advance their goals.

How this benefits you: 

It helps you stay committed to the future you envisioned for your money.

Strive to get you the best price for your orders.

We route orders to the market centers that consistently execute at a price better than NBBO.  We're never compensated for routing your orders to specific market centers.

How this benefits you: 

We don't have a financial incentive to encourage you to trade.

Offer world-class, carefully curated products and services.

We tie our product offerings to our mission. That's why we focus on high-quality, low-cost mutual funds, ETFs (exchange-traded funds), and more.

How this benefits you: 

You'll gain exposure to products that have enduring investment merit, not pushed toward the flashy trends.

Help you minimize trading costs and taxes on stocks and ETFs.

We offer $0 commission on stocks and ETFs traded online. To keep taxes low, you can easily trade within your IRA or use first-in, first-out accounting.

How this benefits you: 

You enjoy low costs across the board—we don't raise costs someplace else to make up the difference.

See more about costs

Not sure where to start? Try our investor quick-start tool to see what’s best for your investment journey.

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*For market orders on the S&P 500 Index sizes 100–499 for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2023.

**For all marketable orders with a share size of 1–1,999.

†These reports disclose where we route orders and the nature of our routing relationships. See our reports.

For more information about Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs, visit Vanguard mutual fund prospectuses or Vanguard ETF prospectuses to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.

Commission-free trading of Vanguard ETFs applies to trades placed both online and by phone. Commission-free trading of non-Vanguard ETFs applies only to trades placed online; most clients will pay a commission to buy or sell non-Vanguard ETFs by phone. It also excludes leveraged and inverse ETFs, which can't be purchased through Vanguard but can be sold with a commission. Commission-free trading of non-Vanguard ETFs also excludes 401(k) participants using the Self-Directed Brokerage Option; see your plan's current commission schedule. Vanguard Brokerage reserves the right to change the non-Vanguard ETFs included in these offers at any time. All ETFs are subject to management fees and expenses; refer to each ETF's prospectus for more information. Account service fees may also apply. All ETF sales are subject to a securities transaction fee. See Vanguard Brokerage Services® commission and fee schedules the for full details.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest.

You must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services (we offer them commission-free) or through another broker (which may charge commissions). See the Vanguard Brokerage Services commission and fee schedules for full details. Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable directly with the issuing fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. ETFs are subject to market volatility. When buying or selling an ETF, you will pay or receive the current market price, which may be more or less than net asset value.

Vanguard Brokerage Account Agreement