Rule-based investors
Build systematic stock and ETF allocations from explicit conditions, filters, weights, and rebalance schedules without writing code.
Independent tool overview
Composer Trade at a glance
Composer by SoFi is a U.S. brokerage and no-code strategy platform for creating, backtesting, sharing, and automatically trading rule-based portfolios called Symphonies.
Visit the official Composer Trade site ↗
- Current brand
- Composer by SoFi
- Product type
- No-code strategy builder, backtester, and brokerage
- Automated assets
- Stocks and ETFs
- Trading Pass
- $40/month or $384/year
- Minimum deposit
- $50
- Brokerage accounts
- Individual, Traditional IRA, and Roth IRA
- Crypto support
- Ended January 31, 2026
- Last reviewed
- August 29, 2026
Overview
What Composer Trade is
Composer lets investors assemble stocks and ETFs with visual blocks for weights, conditions, filters, groups, and rebalancing frequency. Its AI assistant can translate a natural-language strategy idea into editable logic, but the user remains responsible for the rules, assets, risks, and decision to invest.
A Symphony can be tested against historical data and benchmarks before it is funded. Live automated strategies are then evaluated and rebalanced through Composer’s brokerage workflow, generally during a daily trading window near the market close. Users can also browse community strategies or copy one into the editor.
SoFi acquired Composer in June 2026 and the product is now branded Composer by SoFi. Composer stated that existing symphonies, assets, backtests, subscriptions, pricing, fees, custody, and SIPC protection were unchanged at that announcement. Composer Securities LLC remains the registered broker-dealer providing securities products and brokerage services.
Use cases
Who Composer Trade is best for
The strongest fit depends on the job you need the product to complete, not the size of its feature list.
Strategy prototyping
Translate an investment thesis into editable logic and test how it would have behaved across selected historical periods.
Automated rebalancing
Run one or more strategies in a Composer brokerage account and have the platform calculate and execute the required trades.
Community strategy research
Inspect published Symphonies, review their current logic and hypothetical history, then edit a copy rather than starting from scratch.
Capabilities
Core Composer Trade features
AI-assisted strategy creation
Converts a plain-language goal or thesis into editable Symphony logic that can be inserted into the visual editor and backtested.
No-code Symphony editor
Combines assets, nested groups, conditions, filters, and weighting methods into rule-based portfolio instructions.
Historical backtesting
Charts hypothetical returns, allocations, drawdowns, risk metrics, benchmarks, estimated slippage, and selected trading costs.
Automated execution
Evaluates invested strategies on their schedule and places trades intended to align holdings with the resulting target allocation.
Pre-built and community strategies
Provides discoverable Symphonies that users can inspect, invest in, or copy and modify.
Multiple account types
Supports one Individual account, one Traditional IRA, and one Roth IRA per eligible individual under one Trading Pass.
Direct trading
Eligible Alpaca Individual accounts can manually trade stocks, ETFs, and options outside automated Symphonies without a Trading Pass.
Composer API
Authenticated endpoints support account data, activity reports, Symphony backtests, and other programmatic workflows subject to rate limits.
Backtest cost controls
Lets users add an adjustable slippage estimate, regulatory fees, and the monthly Trading Pass to a hypothetical result.
Process
How the Composer Trade workflow works
Step 1
Define an investable rule
Write the strategy as explicit assets, signals, allocation rules, rebalance timing, and risk constraints rather than a vague return target.
Step 2
Build and inspect the Symphony
Use the AI assistant or visual editor, then verify every condition, ticker, weight, fallback branch, and trading frequency.
Step 3
Run multiple backtests
Test different market regimes and appropriate benchmarks instead of selecting only a favorable start date.
Step 4
Add realistic costs
Include the Trading Pass, regulatory fees, wider slippage assumptions, and the effect of uninvested cash.
Step 5
Stress the logic
Check concentration, leverage, turnover, drawdown, false signals, missing data, nonfractional assets, and what each else branch holds.
Step 6
Open and fund the brokerage
Complete identity review, understand the applicable clearing firm and disclosures, link a bank, and deposit at least $50.
Step 7
Start small
Deploy a limited amount, compare actual fills and allocations with the backtest, and avoid treating the AI-generated strategy as advice.
Step 8
Monitor live behavior
Review orders, holdings, cash, fees, drift, strategy changes, tax effects, and performance rather than assuming automation removes oversight.
Cost
Composer Trade pricing and free plan
Automated investing in stock or ETF Symphonies requires one Trading Pass per user: $40 billed monthly or $384 billed annually, equivalent to $32 per month. The pass applies across eligible Composer brokerage accounts and unlimited automated Symphonies. A $50 minimum deposit is required. Direct trading does not require the pass, though options, regulatory, exchange, and other listed brokerage fees may still apply.
Brokerage and direct trading
No Trading Pass required
Manual stock, ETF, and options trading for eligible Alpaca Individual accounts.
- $50 minimum account deposit
- Direct trading is unavailable for Apex Individual and retirement accounts
- Options cost $0.65 per contract
- Option exercise or assignment costs $5 per position
- Regulatory and exchange fees may also apply
Monthly Trading Pass
$40/month
Month-to-month access to automated stock and ETF Symphony trading.
- One pass per user
- Covers eligible Individual, Traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts
- Unlimited automated Symphonies
- No prorated refund after cancellation
- Paid from the linked bank account
Annual Trading Pass
$384/year
Annual automated-trading access at an effective $32 per month.
- 20% lower than paying the standard monthly rate for a year
- One pass covers multiple eligible account types
- Annual fee is not included in backtests by default
- No prorated refund after cancellation
- Earlier $5 promotional pricing has expired
Pricing checked . Check current pricing at the source ↗
Assessment
Composer Trade strengths and limitations
Where it stands out
- Makes conditional portfolio logic accessible without requiring a programming language or external execution system
- Combines strategy creation, historical testing, brokerage funding, and automated execution in one product
- AI-generated logic remains editable and visible instead of operating as an opaque trading recommendation
- Supports multiple weighting methods, nested rules, filters, schedules, and comparison benchmarks
- One flat Trading Pass covers automated strategies across eligible account types
- Backtests can explicitly model slippage, regulatory fees, and the monthly subscription cost
- Registered broker-dealer and clearing relationships are disclosed, with assets custodied at Alpaca Securities or Apex Clearing
What to consider
- Backtests are hypothetical, benefit from hindsight, and cannot demonstrate how a strategy will perform in the future.
- Stock and ETF backtests use daily adjusted closing prices rather than the real-time quotes used for live decisions, so signals and fills can differ.
- The standard daily execution window is near the market close, which limits intraday strategies and exposes orders to market movement and spreads.
- The $40 monthly fee is material for small balances; at $2,500 it equals 19.2% of capital per year before market gains or losses.
- AI-generated strategy logic can misunderstand a prompt, select inappropriate assets, overfit history, or omit risks and is not investment advice.
- Crypto assets and crypto indicators are no longer supported; crypto ETFs remain distinct securities and may still be available.
- Direct options trading carries substantial risk and is separate from automated Symphony logic; some option losses can be rapid or exceed the initial amount.
- SIPC protection addresses certain missing-custody failures up to applicable limits, not market losses, strategy losses, bad execution, or declines in an asset.
- Actual trades can leave cash because of buffers, minimum order sizes, nonfractional securities, volatility, or unexecuted orders.
- Taxes, wash sales, short-term gains, portfolio turnover, liquidity, concentration, leverage, and account-specific suitability remain the investor’s responsibility.
- Composer requires a brokerage application, identity and tax information, bank linking, and U.S.-regulated account eligibility.
- SoFi ownership may lead to future product, account, pricing, or integration changes even though Composer stated that nothing changed at the acquisition announcement.
Compare
Composer Trade alternatives
The right alternative depends on the specific output, workflow, controls and budget your project requires.
Finance
Agentic Trading
Robinhood Agentic Trading is an alternative for users specifically exploring AI-agent-directed brokerage actions rather than visual rule-based Symphonies.
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Danelfin
Danelfin focuses on AI-assisted stock research and scoring rather than building and automatically executing custom portfolio logic.
Explore Danelfin →Finance
Stock Robo
Stock Robo is a lighter research-oriented custom GPT for forecasts and analysis, without Composer’s brokerage and automated execution.
Explore Stock Robo →Questions
Composer Trade FAQs
What is Composer by SoFi?
Composer is a U.S. brokerage platform for building, backtesting, sharing, and automatically trading rule-based stock and ETF strategies called Symphonies. SoFi acquired Composer in June 2026.
How much does Composer cost?
Automated Symphony trading requires a Trading Pass at $40 per month or $384 per year. One pass covers eligible Composer accounts and automated Symphonies for that user.
Can I use Composer for free?
Direct trading does not require a Trading Pass, but opening the brokerage requires at least a $50 deposit and other fees can apply. Automated stock and ETF Symphony trading requires the paid pass.
Does Composer provide investment advice?
No. Composer states that it does not provide investment advice or recommendations. Its AI and backtests help create and evaluate user-directed rules, but users make the investment decisions.
Can Composer’s AI trade automatically?
The AI can draft editable strategy logic. Live automation occurs only after the user reviews the Symphony, opens and funds a brokerage account, buys a Trading Pass, and chooses to invest.
What assets can automated Symphonies trade?
Current automated strategies focus on stocks and ETFs. Composer ended direct crypto asset and crypto-indicator support after January 31, 2026.
Are Composer backtests accurate?
They are estimates, not predictions. Stock and ETF tests use historical daily adjusted closing prices and assumptions that differ from live quotes, fills, spreads, timing, taxes, and investor behavior.
Where are Composer assets held?
Composer states that brokerage assets are custodied and trades cleared through Alpaca Securities and Apex Clearing. The applicable firm depends on the account.
Is Composer SIPC insured?
Alpaca and Apex are SIPC members. SIPC protection can cover missing securities and cash up to applicable limits if a brokerage fails, but it does not protect against market or strategy losses.
What changed when SoFi acquired Composer?
At the June 2026 announcement, Composer said existing strategies, custody, backtests, historical data, Trading Pass pricing, and fees remained unchanged. Future integrations have not all been specified.
Bottom line
Our Composer Trade verdict
Composer is one of the clearest ways for a U.S. retail investor to turn explicit stock-and-ETF rules into a backtested and automatically executed portfolio without building a trading system from scratch. The visual logic and integrated brokerage are compelling, but the AI does not remove investment risk and the backtest is not evidence of future performance. The $40 monthly pass is hardest to justify on a small balance, so model the fee, harsher slippage, taxes, drawdowns, and realistic live behavior before funding a strategy.
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