Public

Market position

Public is positioned as a newer entrant in US retail brokerage competing with mobile-first platforms such as Robinhood and Webull and with incumbent brokers including Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers and E*TRADE. It differentiates on breadth of asset classes and AI tooling rather than account-type coverage, and reviewers note it lacks mutual funds, custodial and international accounts relative to established competitors. Reported valuation reached $1.2 billion in February 2021.

Public describes itself as the world's first agentic brokerage and says it was the first broker-dealer to introduce commission-free, real-time fractional investing (2019) and the first to offer fractional bond investments (December 2023). It is characterized in third-party review coverage as the only US broker that pays customers to trade options via a revenue-sharing rebate, and it markets the lowest base margin rate among leading US brokerages as of August 2025. Its prompt-driven Generated Assets and 2021 decision to drop equities payment for order flow further distinguish the offering.

Technology

The platform is a mobile-first electronic trading application with an accompanying API for programmatic trading and real-time market data. AI capabilities are built on large language models, including OpenAI's GPT-4 for the Alpha research assistant, and extend to prompt-generated index construction with S&P 500 backtesting, automated earnings-call and market summaries, and agent-based portfolio automation. Security measures cited include AES 256-bit encryption, TLS 1.2 or newer, and SMS two-factor authentication; the company reports 99.994% platform uptime for calendar year 2024.

Go-to-market

Public acquires customers directly through its app and website with commission-free trading, no account minimums, promotional yields (3.30% APY cash account, 5.70% bond account yield) and an options rebate program. It has used celebrity and consumer-brand marketing, including a February 2021 advertising campaign featuring Michael Bolton performing a revised version of one of his songs to criticize payment for order flow. Growth has also come from acquiring competitors' customer accounts, and the platform is covered by mainstream personal-finance reviewers.

Retail investors in the United States, with emphasis on self-directed and active traders — particularly options traders attracted by rebates, mobile-first users, income- and yield-focused investors using bonds, treasuries and cash accounts, and higher-balance investors served through the Concierge program for accounts of $500,000 or more.

Geography

Headquartered in New York City with a US-based customer support team staffed by FINRA-licensed specialists. Public launched in the United Kingdom in July 2023. The platform does not offer international accounts.

History

Launched in September 2019 with commission-free fractional investing, Public raised a $15 million Series B in March 2020, a $65 million Series C in December 2020, and $220 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in February 2021. In February 2021 it discontinued payment for order flow on equities in favor of customer gratuities and ran an anti-PFOF advertising campaign with Michael Bolton. Crypto trading arrived in 2021 (an initial launch of ten coins and tokens including Bitcoin and Ethereum in October 2021, after a March 2021 crypto expansion described on the company's timeline). Acquisitions followed: Hypercharts in January 2022, Otis in March 2022, Stocktwits' TradeApp brokerage accounts in April 2024, Carta's startup stock marketplace accounts in August 2024, and Alto's crypto IRA business in November 2025. Public Premium launched in June 2022; treasuries in March 2023; the Alpha AI research assistant in May 2023; a UK launch in July 2023; bonds and a high-yield cash account in 2023; options trading with rebates in January 2024; an automated corporate bond account in August 2024; margin investing in November 2024; retail direct indexing in October 2025; and the Agentic Brokerage in November 2025.

Risks & controversies

The Wikipedia article on the company carries an editorial notice that a major contributor appears to have a close connection with the subject and may require cleanup for neutral point of view. Third-party review coverage criticizes limited customer support, the absence of mutual funds, custodial and international accounts, a lack of tools such as customizable screeners, and fees charged to non-Premium members for certain trade types. Public retains payment for order flow on options after eliminating it for equities. Its August 2024 purchase of Carta's secondaries business followed backlash against Carta over the use of private customer data to broker a share sale. Company disclosures note that options are risky and unsuitable for all investors.