Investor use of online brokerage accounts, new investment techniques rises

U.S. household awareness of investment products is at a 15-year high, with growing use of online brokerage accounts and relatively new investment techniques, such as crypto, ETFs, options trading and margin loans. This is according to Investment Products & Asset Managers 2025: Surging Awareness Creates New Competitive Opportunities in Brokerage and Managed Products, a report by Hearts & Wallets.

Several factors are causing this rise in brokerage accounts and new investment products. As explained by Laura Varas, CEO and founder of Hearts & Wallets, consumers are recognizing that online brokerage accounts allow them to take advantage of market appreciation often with higher returns than in demand deposit accounts, even with higher interest rates on savings, she said.

Online brokerage adoption is now being driven by younger, lower-asset households, Varas added. Of the 75 million U.S. households with OLB, over half, or 39 million, are households who have under $100,000 in investable assets. This year, 68% of households aged 35 to 44 had online brokerage accounts, as did 66% of households aged 45-54, and 61% of households under age 35. In contrast, older households are less likely to have online brokerage accounts, with 53% of households aged 55 to 64 and 45% of households aged 65 and older, she said.

Younger households are also more likely to use riskier investments like crypto, options trading and margin loans than older households, added Varas. One in 5 households, or 26.4 million, trade options, and 6% of households, or 7.9 million, use margin on taxable brokerage assets.

In addition, crypto engagement has tripled in the past 5 years, from 7% to 22% of households, with the highest usage among households under age 45 at 4 in 10 households. “Crypto use is rare in older households. Most crypto users are trading rather than using crypto for payments,” she pointed out.

The comprehensiveness of this package warrants watching for at least the following reasons, Varas said. These reasons include:

• Younger investors are engaging in options trading, sometimes on margin lending, spurred by online brokerage platforms that need to replace revenue lost to $0 stock/ETF trades.
• Older affluent households, recognizing the cost savings of ETFs and feeling empowered by new technology and more information, are trading more on their own.
• Established financial-services companies are piloting media services.
• Its pricing model is innovative.Guiding clients

To help guide clients who are using some of these new techniques, advisors should explain potential risks for margin loans, option trading and crypto, which especially appeal to younger consumers, Varas said.

“Hearts & Wallets’ view is that it is unfortunate that options trading, which is heaviest in young, mid-asset households (under 45 with $100,000 to under $500,000 in investable assets) – with over half of those 8.2 million households currently engaged in options trading – has replaced stock/ETF trades as 1 of 3 possible revenue sources for online brokerage platforms, along with margin and data sharing,” Varas added.

Younger households do have a longer investing timeframe to recover from risky investments that go awry, Varas pointed out. Still, she said, all households should be prudent when investing their nest eggs and should truly understand the potential risks. Advisors can help with that understanding.

Firms should use existing online brokerage capabilities as a competitive advantage, Varas said, and those without online brokerage should seriously consider adding some online brokerage capabilities to become more competitive.

Firms leading in Shareholder Certainty Score

The report also shared some information about Shareholder Certainty Score (SCS).  In explaining SCS, Varas said that Hearts & Wallets defines it as the portion of possible shareholders who are “definitely” sure they own investment products that are managed by each asset manager.

“Investors are becoming more aware of the investment products they own, but some still struggle to know the asset managers behind their products,” Varas said. “The SCS industry average is 41%, with leaders Fidelity, Vanguard and Schwab all having over 50%. Other asset managers exceeding industry average SCS include iShares, BlackRock, Invesco and J.P. Morgan.”

Household awareness of investment products is at a 15-year high (85%), Varas pointed out. Ten years ago, awareness of both products and asset allocation was lower. Younger and higher-asset households focused more on asset allocation than on products. Even with this high awareness of investment products in their portfolios, some households still haven’t been able to connect the dots between their products and distributors, she added.

“That’s not to say that households aren’t interested,” Varas pointed out.  “38% of households today say it is important to them which investment company(ies) manages my mutual funds, regardless of whether I or a financial professional has chosen the funds. That 38% is 8 percentage points higher than in 2011. Financial advisors can help educate clients about investment products in the portfolio and the companies behind them.”

Top asset managers

In addition, the report shared the top asset managers.  Fidelity (#1), Vanguard (#2) and BlackRock/iShares (#3) reach 14%, 11% and 8% of households through shareholder relationships respectively, and may reach as many as 20%, 18% and 14%, according to the report. These are followed by Schwab , Capital Group,  JP Morgan,  Invesco , Morgan Stanley ,  T. Rowe Price and American Century.

The Hearts & Wallets survey examines competitive consumer buying behaviors in saving and investing products, online brokerage and leading fund families, drawing from fields within the Investor Quantitative Database. The latest wave was fielded from July 17-Aug. 9, 2025, with 5,981 households.

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