Trading & Research Platforms

Composer: Platform Profile

Platform profileUpdated 2026-09-12

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Overview

Composer is an automated strategy-building and brokerage platform that uses AI to help investors create rules-based portfolios without writing code.

Current capabilities include:

natural-language strategy creation;
backtesting;
community-built strategies;
automated rebalancing;
stocks;
ETFs;
options in eligible accounts;
taxable brokerage accounts;
Traditional IRAs;
Roth IRAs;
cash sweep;
automated execution.

SoFi completed its acquisition of Composer in 2026.

This is no longer a pending transaction.

Current brand:

Brand: Composer by SoFi

May fit better for

systematic investors;
investors who want rules-based automation;
users who want no-code strategy construction;
investors who use backtesting before deploying a strategy;
investors who want automated stock and ETF portfolios;
eligible options users;
IRA investors who want automated strategies.

May fit less well for

investors who only make a few manual trades per year;
users who do not want a recurring subscription;
investors who treat backtests as forecasts;
traders who need intraday discretionary execution throughout the session;
users who want one universal custodian for every Composer account type;
investors who want options inside an IRA.

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SoFi acquisition is completed

SoFi announced on June 23, 2026:

Acquisition:
Acquirer: SoFi Technologies, Inc.
Announcement date: 2026-06-23
Current brand: Composer by SoFi

The SoFi investor release explicitly states the launch followed its acquisition of Composer Securities LLC.

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Legal broker

Current BrokerCheck:

Legal name: Composer Securities LLC
CRD: 325118
SEC number: 8-71057
FINRA member: Yes
SIPC member: Yes

Composer Technologies and Composer Securities are separate affiliated entities.

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Clearing partners

Current Composer disclosures:

Clearing partners:
Alpaca Securities LLC
Apex Clearing Corporation
Single universal clearing firm: No

Account type and features determine which clearing partner applies.

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Taxable accounts vs IRAs vs options

Current January 2026 help center:

Individual taxable:
Alpaca: Yes
Apex: Yes
Traditional IRA:
Apex only: Yes
Roth IRA:
Apex only: Yes
Options:
Alpaca Individual only: Yes
IRA options: No

This is a critical product-structure distinction.

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Trading Pass pricing

Current pricing:

Trading Pass:
Monthly: $40
Annual: $384
Annual equivalent monthly: $32
One pass across multiple accounts: Yes

A Trading Pass is required for live automated trading.

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Subscription cost example

Monthly billing for 12 months:

$40 × 12 = $480

Annual plan:

$384

Difference:

$96

under current pricing.

Expired promotional prices must not replace the current standard rates.

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Expired promotion

Composer previously offered a temporary $5/month or $48/year promotion.

The help center marks it:

Promotion status: EXPIRED
Promotion end: 2025-11-30

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Deposit minimum

Current Composer help center:

Minimum deposit: $50
Recommended portfolio funding: $2,500
Minimum per symphony: $50

The $2,500 amount is a recommendation, not the legal/account-opening minimum.

Composer explains that smaller balances can leave intended allocations in cash when a security is not fractionable and the account lacks enough cash to buy a whole share.

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Stocks and ETFs

Current platform:

Stock commission: $0
ETF commission: $0
Management fee: $0

The Trading Pass remains separate.

Regulatory charges and other account fees can still apply.

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Options pricing

Current Composer help center:

Options:
Contract fee: $0.65
Exercise assignment fee: $5 per position
Account route: Alpaca Individual accounts only

Exchange and regulatory fees can be additional.

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Options example

20 option contracts:

20 × $0.65 = $13

base contract-fee reference.

An exercise or assignment can add:

$5 per affected position

under the current schedule.

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Automated trading schedule

Composer executes automated symphony trades during its designated daily trading period rather than continuously reacting every second of the market day.

Current disclosures show:

Daily trading window: approximately 3:50 PM–4:00 PM ET

Strategy rules can trigger allocation changes according to the symphony logic.

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Backtests

Composer's core research feature is historical backtesting.

The current help center explicitly models:

regulatory fees;
slippage;
optional subscription cost.

Current default backtest slippage disclosures show:

Default slippage: 1 basis point

Users can adjust assumptions.

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Backtest

A backtest is not live performance.

Differences can arise because of:

execution prices;
spreads;
liquidity;
market impact;
order timing;
non-fractionable securities;
changing strategy logic;
data quality;
overfitting.

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IRAs

Current account types:

Individual: Yes
Traditional IRA: Yes
Roth IRA: Yes

Current help states that opening an IRA requires an active Trading Pass.

Apex is the current IRA clearing route.

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IRA closure fee

Current February 2026 help center:

IRA closure fee: $60

The clearing firm charges the fee when processing the closure/distribution.

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Cash sweep

Current Composer disclosures state:

Cash sweep available: Yes
Cash sweep coordinator: Apex Clearing Corporation

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Protection

Composer Securities is a SIPC member.

Current standard disclosures show:

SIPC:
Total limit: $500,000
Cash sublimit: $250,000
Market loss protection: No

Alpaca and Apex are also SIPC members under their applicable account roles.

Assessment

Composer charges for automation rather than for ordinary stock execution.

That distinction matters.

A user paying $384 annually may find the subscription economical if Composer replaces:

custom coding;
manual rebalancing;
multiple strategy tools.

A user who wants to place a few manual ETF trades can find the subscription hard to justify.

The platform's strongest feature is also its main analytical risk:

backtesting makes strategy design easier, but historical fit can look much better than future live execution.

The current corporate status is clear:

Composer is now part of SoFi, while Composer Securities remains the registered broker-dealer operating the brokerage relationship.

General information

Legal entity	Composer Securities LLC

Costs and minimums

External costs	Composer states zero commissions and zero management fees for its core automated trading, but its full fee schedule and third-party or account-specific charges still apply. Examples include regulatory or service charges and a $60 retirement-account closure fee.
Platform subscription	Trading Pass costs $40 per month billed monthly or $384 per year ($32 per month equivalent), billed from the bank account linked to the Composer account.

Account types

Custody	Composer joined SoFi in June 2026, but Composer—not SoFi Invest—is the brokerage relationship described on the current product site. Securities products and brokerage services are offered by Composer Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member. Accounts are carried and trades are executed, cleared, settled, and custodied by Alpaca Securities LLC or Apex Clearing Corporation; retirement accounts are held at Apex, business accounts at Alpaca, and individual accounts may be held at either firm.

Custody

Composer joined SoFi in June 2026, but Composer—not SoFi Invest—is the brokerage relationship described on the current product site. Securities products and brokerage services are offered by Composer Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member. Accounts are carried and trades are executed, cleared, settled, and custodied by Alpaca Securities LLC or Apex Clearing Corporation; retirement accounts are held at Apex, business accounts at Alpaca, and individual accounts may be held at either firm.

Platform and trading features

Backtesting	Native backtesting compares a symphony with benchmarks or another strategy and reports historical allocations and metrics with modeled fees and slippage. Results are hypothetical, not forecasts.
Integrations	Composer is an integrated brokerage workflow rather than a bring-your-own-broker signal router. Composer Securities provides the brokerage relationship; Alpaca Securities and Apex Clearing provide carrying, execution, clearing, settlement, and custody according to account type.
Paper trading	The Watch feature assigns a simulated $1,000 to a symphony and tracks it forward without investing; this is Composer's paper-like observation workflow.
Risk controls	Users review and confirm AI-created logic before anything runs, can watch a symphony with simulated funds first, and can sell or stop investing in symphonies. Account login requires SMS two-factor authentication. These controls do not prevent strategy or market loss.
Live execution	Available inside funded Composer brokerage accounts through a Trading Pass. Automated symphonies trade and rebalance after the user reviews and invests in them.
Automation model	Integrated brokerage and no-code strategy platform. Users build or edit rule-based 'symphonies,' use AI-assisted natural-language creation, or select community/prebuilt strategies; Composer then rebalances and executes approved strategies.
Strategy creation	AI-assisted natural-language creation, a no-code visual editor, editable prebuilt/community symphonies, conditional rules, filters, asset selection, and several weighting methods. The user can inspect and change the generated logic before investing.
Trading authority	DIY or user-selected automated strategy execution inside the user's Composer brokerage account. Community strategies can be copied and edited; Composer is not presented here as discretionary portfolio management.
Supported asset classes	Automated symphonies are documented around stocks and ETFs. Composer Direct Trading separately allows manual stocks, ETFs, and options; do not present listed options as automatically tradable inside symphonies without separate current documentation.

Regulation and investor protection

Entity structure	Composer Securities LLC is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member; Composer Technologies Inc. is a separate affiliated technology company. Alpaca Securities and Apex Clearing are SEC-registered broker-dealers and FINRA/SIPC members that carry/custody accounts and execute/clear/settle trades. Composer joined SoFi in June 2026; that ownership change does not make SoFi the stated custodian.

Entity structure

Composer Securities LLC is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member; Composer Technologies Inc. is a separate affiliated technology company. Alpaca Securities and Apex Clearing are SEC-registered broker-dealers and FINRA/SIPC members that carry/custody accounts and execute/clear/settle trades. Composer joined SoFi in June 2026; that ownership change does not make SoFi the stated custodian.