Best Brokerage Account Interest Rates on Uninvested USD Cash

The rapid rise in interest rates by central banks around the world initially caused a lot of pain for investors, especially those heavily invested in tech stocks. But now, the high-interest rates environment is also providing an opportunity for investors who earn interest on their uninvested cash.

In this blog post, we will highlight the brokerages offering the highest interest-earning brokerage accounts for investors looking to earn interest on their uninvested US Dollars (USD).

From looking at all the different products available on the market right now for USD cash, we consider the best service to be provided by Public.com or Webull, where you can earn 5.40% and 5.00% interest, respectively and have easy access to your funds whenever you need them.

Looking for interest in EUR Cash or GBP Cash? Check our articles on the best brokerage account interest rates on Uninvested EUR cash and Uninvested GBP cash.

Rates last updated 5th of June 2023.

* Saxo Bank currently offers a tiered interest rate that varies depending on the deposit amount held on the account and also the account type.
** The interest rates referenced for Interactive Brokers reflect the maximum possible rate for each type. The rate you actually earn may be lower.

*** Note: European investors only have access to Interactive Brokers, Saxo and Lightyear.

Public.com USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 5.4% on USD Cash via the Treasury Account (annualised 6-month T-Bill rate).
• How often is interest paid? Interest accrued for each day during the period is added and paid out on or after the 16th of each month, or the next business day if that falls on a weekend.
• Are there any restrictions? You can access your funds at any time by selling your T-Bills, and there is no limit to the amount you can put on deposit.
• Is your money safe? Treasury Accounts are in custody at The Bank of New York Mellon, and balances below $500k are covered by SIPC insurance.

Public.com is an innovative broker that stands out from the rest, with some of the products and tools they have on offer. One tool we like is their Alpha AI investing co-pilot which allows you to harness the power of AI to pull historical stock info, or even summarise the latest earnings calls.

Another unique feature on the Public.com trading platform is the ability to invest in alternative assets such as comic books, Banksy artwork, first edition Harry Potter books, Pokémon cards, and many more unique assets that usually wouldn’t be possible to have exposure to.

Webull USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 5.00% on uninvested USD cash.
• How often is interest paid? Interest will be paid on the 15th of every month.
• Are there any restrictions? No limits, withdraw anytime.
• Is your money safe? Your assets are protected up to $500,000 in value, including $250,000 in any cash awaiting reinvestment under SIPC insurance.

When your cash is under the bank sweep product, the uninvested cash in your brokerage account is swept to program banks, where it becomes eligible for FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per program bank ($1,000,000 in total).

Webull has only been around for several years and has some very nice signup bonuses to get you started. With Webull, you can get up to 12 free stocks by opening an account and making an initial deposit of any amount (Webull Referral Link).

You can earn further free shares when you refer friends who sign up for Webull and complete their first deposit, you’ll receive between two and three free shares of stock valued between $3 and $3,000.

Some unique features of Webull include the ability to access OTC markets and the ability to trade options.

M1 Finance USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 5.00% APY on USD Cash on M1 Plus Accounts costs $95/year. Regular savings accounts with M1 Finance earn 1.50% interest.
• How often is interest paid? Interest is credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions?  No limits or deposit minimums apply.
• Is your money safe? The M1 High-yield savings accounts are provided by B2 Bank, whose accounts are covered by FDIC insurance of up to $250k. You may also be able to insure amounts up to $5 million through B2’s Insured Deposit Network Program.

M1 Finance can make your life a lot easier, as it can pretty much manage a lot of your personal finance needs. They offer all their clients savings products, loans, checking accounts, credit cards, pensions, and investing services.

Robinhood USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? You’ll earn 1.5% APY on your uninvested brokerage as part of Robinhood’s cash sweep program or 4.65% for Robinhood Gold members (which costs $5 per month).
• How often is interest paid? You’ll be paid interest by the program banks monthly (last business day).
• Are there any restrictions? You’ll only earn interest on your uninvested brokerage cash that’s swept to the program banks, and interest will start accruing as soon as the bank receives your cash. There is no minimum or maximum amount you can earn interest on.
• Is your money safe? Uninvested cash in your brokerage account that is swept into the cash sweep program bank accounts becomes eligible for FDIC insurance up to $1.5 million or $250,000 per program bank. Note that until funds are swept to a program bank, they are held in your brokerage account which is protected by SIPC.

Robinhood is a relatively new broker on the scene but has managed to grow massively and now has over 23 million users. Robinhood hit the headlines during the Wall Street Bets short squeeze in 2021 when the controversially paused in stocks such as GameStop.

Robinhood offers a simple and innovative product that customers seem to love. They do the basics well, such as investing in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and IRAs.

Wealthfront USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 4.55% on USD Cash
• How often is interest paid? Interest is credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions? No restrictions. There are unlimited deposits and withdrawals, and you can earn the full 4.55% no matter how much you have on deposit.
• Is your money safe? Like some of the other providers we are covering in this post, Wealthfront has partnered with Green Dot Bank to offer their savings products, which means that users are covered under FDIC insurance.

Wealthfront use a sweep system to offer up to $5 million in FDIC insurance (or $10 million for joint accounts) on your Cash Account deposits. Wealthfront can sweep your deposits to up to 20 partner banks ($250,000 x 20 = $5M) at any given time.

Wealthfront not only offers a great interest rate on your uninvested cash, but they also have a great solution for people who want to automate their investing and have a more hands-off approach to investing.

Through their automation, Wealthfront can help you maximize your tax loss harvesting savings each year. They have, on average, added an extra 1.8% to our Automated Investing Account clients’ after-tax returns.

Betterment USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 4.50% on the High Yield Savings Account. You won’t earn any interest on their checking account, but you can avail of some rewards.
• How often is interest paid? Interest will be paid into your account by the first business day of each month.
• Are there any restrictions? No limitations on the High Yield Savings Account; you can earn interest with a deposit of as little as $10.
• Is your money safe? FDIC insurance up to $2 million.

Betterment has created a wide variety of portfolios that you can subscribe to that make investing a little bit easier for you and help you achieve diversification immediately.

If you are a responsible investor, Betterment might be a good fit for you. Betterment has Socially Responsible Investment portfolios that allow you to support companies that are green and making a positive impact on society.

Wise USD interest rate

• What rate is on offer? USD Interest rate is 3.92%.
• How often is interest paid? Interest is charged monthly and deposited straight into your account.
• Are there any restrictions? there are no additional limits to the amount customers can hold in their accounts and no balance minimums or fees involved.
• Is your money safe? Wise does implement certain safeguards for customer funds. These funds are segregated into a combination of cash held in reputable commercial banks like JP Morgan Chase and low-risk liquid assets in Money Market Funds managed by BlackRock and State Street. Wise states that you could face times when access to your cash is restricted, during extreme volatility in the market for government assets, to preserve the value of your assets.

Wise is slightly different from the rest of the brokers that made our list, as it is primarily an eMoney business that helps individuals seeking cost-effective solutions for international money transfers.

Even though it is an eMoney business, Wise does give you the option to hold your funds in Cash, Stocks, or Interest. When you opt for stock, Wise will select an appropriate index fund and make investments on your behalf.

If you decide to switch your funds to the ‘interest’ option, Wise will invest them in government-backed short-term loans and bank deposits. The interest earned through these investments is then passed on to you.

The downside of this for investors is that the service is currently a bit limited if your ultimate goal is to invest those uninvested funds more freely in stocks, ETFs, etc., of your choosing.

Interactive Brokers USD interest rate

• What rate is on offer? The interest rate you will earn with Interactive Brokers will depend on your account type and how much you have on deposit. The maximum interest rate available for USD balances is 3.580% for IBKR Pro accounts and 4.580% for IBKR Lite accounts.
• How often is interest paid? Interest accruals are calculated monthly and will be credited to your account within the first couple of days after the month’s end.
• Are there any restrictions? Unfortunately, the first $10k of your USD cash balance with Interactive Brokers does not accrue any interest whatsoever.

You are not also automatically entitled to earn the full interest rate as advertised; the rate you earn will depend on how much you have on deposit with Interactive Brokers. Only those with accounts with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of USD 100,000 or more can receive interest at the full rate. For accounts with a NAV below USD 100,000 (or its equivalent), the interest rates are proportionate to the account size.

It is not straightforward to work out the exact interest rate you will receive from Interactive Brokers, but they do have a calculator you can work with to get a good estimate of what rate you may get.

• Is your money safe? The level of protection you will receive on your cash deposited with Interactive Brokers will vary a lot from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, this is something we covered in detail in a separate blog post if you are interested in learning more about your protections with IBRK and we also have a full review IBKR’s services if you want to dig a little deeper.

Interactive Brokers has one of the most comprehensive service offerings on the market that allow you to trade instruments such as options, futures, crypto, and bonds, which not many other brokerages allow you to do. If you are a complete beginner, they also have a Paper Trading account which will allow you to get some experience under your belt before you start investing with real money.

They also have superb analytical tools, such as their Trader Workstation (TWS), to help you hone your development of more technical trading strategies.

E*TRADE USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? 3.85% APY on premium savings accounts. A minimal 0.05% APY is also available on their Max-Rate Checking accounts.
• How often is interest paid? Interest will compound from the date of deposit to the last full day before the withdrawal date. Interest will be credited to your account on a monthly basis.
• Are there any restrictions? There are no limits on the premium saver account, you can start with a deposit of as little as $1, and you earn the same interest rate no matter what level of funds you have on deposit. With a Premium Savings Account, withdrawal limits apply. Account holders are allowed up to six withdrawals or transfers from their account in any calendar month.
• Is your money safe? FDIC Insurance up to $500k per depositor for the premium savings account and $250k for the Max-Rate Checking Account.

E*TRADE, which markets itself as a ‘one-stop shop for your financial goals’, has been around since the 80s and was responsible for the development of the process which allowed the first trade to be placed by a retail investor with an exchange. E*TRADE was acquired back in 2020 by Morgan Stanley, which is the 4th largest investment bank in the US.

The most popular services on offer from E*TRADE aside from their premium savings account, are their Core Portfolios, which allow you to automate your investing, and their Traditional/Roth IRA accounts.

Ally Bank USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? The current rates on offer from Ally will differ depending on what product you go with:
  • Savings Account: 3.85% (variable rate)
  • High Yield CD: up to 4.80% (fixed rate)
  • Raise your Rate CD: up to 3.75% (option to increase once every two years if Ally up their rates)
  • No Penalty CD: 4.25%
  • Money Market: 4.15% (variable)
  • Interest Checking: 0.10% up to $15k and 0.25% balances greater than $15k (variable)
• How often is interest paid? Interest is compounded daily and credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions?
  • Savings Account: Access anytime, no early withdrawal penalty, but withdrawals are limited to 6 per statement cycle.
  • High Yield CD: Early withdrawal penalty and maximum savings limits will apply.
  • Raise your Rate CD: Early withdrawal penalty will apply.
  • No Penalty CD: no early withdrawal penalty. You can access funds within 6 days of the account being funded.
  • Money Market: Access anytime, unlimited ATM withdrawals, and 6 additional withdrawals per statement cycle.
  • Interest Checking: unlimited deposits and withdrawals.
• Is your money safe? As a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), funds are available to meet customer claims up to $500K, including a maximum of $250,000 for cash claims. CDs are also covered by FDIC insurance with partner banks.

Ally Bank has so many options available for those looking to earn interest on their uninvested USD that vary depending on whether you want a fixed rate, variable rate, easy access, or are happy to lock up your funds for a couple of months/years.

You could essentially do all your financial dealing with Ally Bank as they offer; checking accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, personal loans, investing, and retirement accounts.

Lightyear USD interest rate

• What rate is on offer? USD Interest rate 4.50%
• How often is interest paid? Interest will be credited to your account on the first of every month.
• Are there any restrictions? No Limits, note Lightyear is currently only available in European countries.
• Is your money safe? Lightyear does implement safeguards for customer funds. Uninvested customer funds are kept separate from Lightyear’s business funds and are held with regulated EU credit institutions and money market funds.

The primary institutions where Lightyear holds uninvested customer funds include ABN AMRO Bank in the Netherlands and AS LHV Bank in Estonia. Additionally, a portion of the funds is invested in BlackRock money market funds that hold AAA/mmf ratings from Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch.

But it is important to note what Lightyear states on their website so you fully understand how your account works, “funds held in your Lightyear account are not equivalent to a bank deposit, and therefore in the unlikely event that all appropriate safeguards fail, funds are ultimately protected by the Investor Protection Sectoral Fund only for amounts up to 20,000 EUR in total across all your multi-currency account balances. Funds are not covered by the Deposit Guarantee Sectoral Fund, as it only covers bank deposits”.

Lightyear has hired many former employees of popular brokers, banks, and e-money businesses such as Robinhood, Revolut, and Wise with the aim of breaking down some barriers with their platform.

Their main selling point is their straightforward, equitable, and transparent pricing structure, and they have a wide offering of international stocks and ETFs to choose from (over 3,000 at present).

Vanguard USD interest rate

• What rate is on offer?  Vanguard has several different product offerings which allow you to earn interest on your uninvested USD. Here are some of the best products on offer:
  • Money market funds: A full list of money market funds can be viewed here, which includes funds such as VUSXX Treasury Money Market Fund which is currently yielding 5.19%.
  • Certificate of Deposit: A full list of CDs on offer can be viewed here where you can find rates as high as 5.30%.
  • Vanguard Cash Plus Account: 2.20% on USD.
• How often is interest paid? Any cash in your account will earn interest daily and will normally be paid into your account on the first working day of the month.
• Are there any restrictions? There are minimum investments required on money market funds and CDs of $3,000 and $1,000, respectively. As well as depending on the product you choose you may be required to lock up your funds for a couple of months or years.
• Is your money safe?  Yes, Vanguard has protections in place for each product offering.
  • Money market funds:  Money market funds and other securities held in the Vanguard Brokerage Account are eligible for SIPC coverage. Securities in your brokerage account are protected up to $500,000.
  • Certificate of Deposit: Up to $250,000 by FDIC insurance
  • Vanguard Cash Plus Account: FDIC coverage up to $1.25 million for individual accounts and $2.5 million for joint accounts.

Vanguard is one of the most recognisable names in investing circles; you’ve probably invested in one of their funds before, as they are the largest provider of mutual funds and the second largest provider of ETFs worldwide. Aside from this, they also offer investment services to individuals, such as general trading accounts, and personal pensions.

In terms of the interest you can earn on uninvested cash with Vanguard, their offering is quite simple at a flat rate of 2.20%, no matter what currency you hold it in. Vanguard state they may earn more interest on those funds but will only pass on the 2.20%, and the remainder will be used to provide the best service possible to you.

Charles Schwab USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? Charles Schwab has a lot of different options when it comes to parking your cash to earn interest. Here are some of the best products on offer:
  • 0.45% on uninvested cash on brokerage accounts.
  • 0.48% on Investor Savings accounts.
  • Up to 5.07% on Schwab Purchased Money Funds.
  • Up to 5.4% on CDs (Certificate of Deposit).
• How often is interest paid? Credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions? You will only face restrictions when you invest in Schwab Purchased Money Funds and CDs. Some Schwab Purchased Money Funds have minimum investments that are $1,000,000, but there are many with no minimum. CDs then have terms ranging from 1 -18 months.
• Is your money safe? Yes, Charles Schwab has protections in place for each product offering.
  • Uninvested cash in your Schwab brokerage: Bank Sweep deposits are eligible for FDIC insurance.
  • Schwab Bank Investor Savings Account: FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor.
  • Schwab Purchased Money Funds: Underlying bonds are backed by the US Government.
  • Certificates of Deposit (CDs): FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. This can be extended by purchasing CDs from multiple banks.

Charles Schwab is one of the giants of the US financial services industry and has over $7 trillion in clients’ assets under management. Unlike many of the brokers we have discussed in this blog post, Charles Schwab also has a physical presence also, with over 400 branches.

There is very little Charles Schwab can’t offer you regarding your personal finance needs. With Charles Schwab, you can invest in stocks, index funds, mutual funds. ETFs, Options, Crypto, Bonds, CDs, Fixed Income, Money Market Funds, Retirement Accounts, etc.

SAXO Bank USD interest rate

• What rate is on offer? The interest rate on offer will be tiered based on the level of funds you have on deposit and whether you have a Classic, Platinum, or VIP account. This makes it difficult to find a relevant rate for each reader. Check out Saxo Bank’s calculator to see how much interest you could potentially earn. For instance, having $35k on deposit would yield an interest rate of 0.555% for a classic account, 0.957% for a Platinum account, and 1.082% for a VIP account.
• How often is interest paid? Interest is earned daily and credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions? Any accounts with a balance below USD 10,000 will not be eligible to earn any interest. There is no lock-up period.
• Is your money safe? If a Danish bank (including Saxo Bank) should suspend its payments or go bankrupt, client deposits are guaranteed by the Fund with up to EUR 100,000 for cash deposits.

Saxo Bank is a leading Danish investment bank with nearly 900,000 users, providing a wide range of financial services to clients around the world. With its innovative trading platforms, such as SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro, you can trade like someone on Wall Street.

Whether you are an individual trader, a professional trader, or looking to set up a corporate account, Saxo Bank will have a solution for you.

When it comes to the interest rates on offer, Saxo Bank is still lagging behind some of its competitors.

TD Ameritrade USD interest rate

• What Rate is on offer? A low rate of just 0.35%.
• How often is interest paid? Simple interest is calculated on the entire daily balance and is credited to your account monthly.
• Are there any restrictions? TD Ameritrade does not have any restrictions on their accounts, you will earn 0.35% interest if you have $1 deposited, and the same rate if you have $1,000,00 on deposit.
• Is your money safe? TD Ameritrade complies with the SEC’s Customer Protection Rules, which means that your assets will be segregated, and in the very unlikely event that TD Ameritrade was to become insolvent, these assets are protected from creditor’s claims.

TD Ameritrade also offers an Insured Deposit Account (IDA) cash sweep program, this is what enables you to earn interest on cash balances. As part of this program, your money will be placed with banks that are covered by FDIC insurance up to $250k. TD Ameritrade has three banks as part of the program which are Charles Schwab Bank, Charles Schwab Premier Bank, and Charles Schwab Trust Bank.

As TD Ameritrade has more than one participating bank, they can offer you a total FDIC coverage up to $500k as funds can be split between multiple banks.

Many brokerages take a hands-off approach and just give you the tools to invest as you see fit. TD Ameritrade not only gives you all the tools you need, but they are also there on the other end of the phone to help plan for your future financial needs whether they be short-term investing accounts or planning for retirement.

That is why there are five different bespoke account types based on your needs, Standard Account, Retirement Account, Education Account, Speciality Account, and Margin Trading Account.

While TD Ameritrade doesn’t pay great interest rates on your invested USD right now, they make up for it with everything else.

Investors are spoiled for choice now, with many brokers offering rates on USD cash of 5%+. A key concern for investors should also be how well their funds are protected, especially in the context of how we have seen some regional banks in the US fold in 2023, such as Silicon Valley Bank.

Thankfully the vast majority of investors will be well covered by both FDIC and SIPC insurance, but high-net-worth individuals should pay particular attention to whether the coverage is sufficient to protect them if any more banks were to have the same faith.