Fidelity, the largest stock brokerage in the US, has slashed the minimum assets required for customers to participate in initial public offerings (IPOs) to $25,000, down from previous thresholds of $100,000 or higher. The reduction applies to IPOs, follow-on offerings, and secondary offerings, according to an announcement dated October 19.
Background
The move comes after a September in which just five US IPOs raised $1.9 billion, the slowest month for US listings since March. Across all US IPOs this year, the equal-weighted average return since each offer price is negative.
Fidelity previously required $100,000 or more in retail assets, including a $500,000 minimum for certain non-KKR underwritten offerings. The new $25,000 minimum represents a reduction of at least 75% and up to 95% for certain offerings.
Industry trend
Fidelity’s change is part of a broader push by brokerages to recruit smaller investors as US listings have slowed. Coinbase offered IPO access for the first time this year. Robinhood became an IPO underwriter for the first time, allowing it to obtain larger retail IPO allocations. E*Trade dramatically expanded its IPO center in 2026. Alpaca launched US IPO access via API in May, enabling fintech partners to offer IPO participation to certain investors outside the US. Kraken and ByBit announced tokenized IPO access to customers for the first time in 2026 via xStocks, including to customers abroad.
Historically, Fidelity has used asset minimums to gate access to new, historically risky offerings as a way to limit unsophisticated speculation. An LA Times columnist described IPO minimums as “protecting small retail clients from plunging into initial public stock offerings while the shares were still subject to IPO-related hype.”
Recent IPO market challenges
Bloomberg described September as the slowest month since March for US listings. Smart-ring maker Oura postponed a listing that it hoped would have been worth up to $15.6 billion, and buyers refused the top of its IPO price request. Nuclear group Holtec, along with SoftBank-backed SB Energy, also pulled back their IPO plans. Renaissance Capital analysts wrote that IPO activity has fallen short of expectations.
Fidelity’s permanent reduction to $25,000 is its second reduction this year, after a one-time SpaceX IPO eligibility reduction in June to $2,000.
The timing of Fidelity’s easement raised eyebrows on social media, with comments flagging Anthropic’s IPO as a possible subtext. The Claude maker could start marketing shares as soon as the week of November 9 at a valuation of up to $2 trillion.
