Marcus Invest vs Trade Ideas: Which Is Better in 2026?

Prices checked October 2026. A price marked (Oct 2026) was read on the vendor's own pricing page; others are described without a number because we could not verify one.

Goldman Sachs' former automated investing service, closed in 2024 when its accounts moved to Betterment.

How it works: Marcus Invest used a questionnaire to set a risk level and invested in model ETF portfolios built by Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs closed it in 2024 and transferred the accounts to Betterment, so anyone who held one now has a Betterment account under Betterment's own pricing.

In practice, Marcus Invest’s AI discontinued in 2024. It is a robo-advisor (hands-off automated investing), best suited to former Marcus Invest clients checking where their account went. On connecting an account: no (holds your money at Marcus). On execution: not offered. Cost: discontinued; accounts moved to Betterment (2024).

One real limitation: Marcus Invest is closed: Goldman Sachs moved its accounts to Betterment in 2024, so the comparison that matters now is Betterment itself.

AI-driven trade signals aimed at active traders. Best for short-term, signal-driven trading.

How it works: Trade Ideas runs an AI engine nicknamed Holly that simulates many strategies overnight and surfaces a fresh set of intraday trade ideas each morning, each with suggested entry, exit, and risk parameters. Real-time scanners flag setups as they form during the session, and some users wire the signals into supported brokers to act quickly.

In practice, Trade Ideas’s AI AI trade signals (Holly). It is an AI stock research and scoring tool, best suited to active, short-term trading. On connecting an account: via supported brokers. On execution: signals + execution. Cost: subscription (premium).

One real limitation: Priced and built for active traders, not long-term portfolio management.

Category comes first. Marcus Invest focuses on former Marcus Invest clients checking where their account went (discontinued in 2024), and Trade Ideas on active, short-term trading (AI trade signals (Holly)). On broker connection they differ too: Marcus Invest is “No (holds your money at Marcus)” versus Trade Ideas at “Via supported brokers”. That shapes everything downstream: how personal the answers are, where trades settle, and how much control you keep over individual positions.

Every tool gives something up for what it does well. Below is the give-and-take on each, so you can weigh the specific strengths against the limitations that come with them, beyond the headline category.

For AI investing tools, the distinction that matters most is whether the tool works from your actual, connected positions or reasons from something else: a separate account it manages for you, or the tickers and numbers you feed it. It decides how personal the answers can be, and where your money physically lives.

• Marcus Invest: manages a separate account it holds. Marcus Invest does not read the brokerage you already use. It opens and holds a new account, then invests the money you move into it, so its view is limited to what sits inside Marcus Invest.
• Trade Ideas: connects specific supported accounts. Trade Ideas connects a defined set of accounts (Via supported brokers), so whether it can see your holdings depends on whether your money is at one of them.

This is where they diverge most. One works from your real, connected account while the other does not, so if you want an assistant grounded in the exact positions you already hold, that gap is the thing to weigh first. This holdings-aware angle is the one Walnut is built around: it connects the brokerage you already use and reasons from your live positions, read-only by default, with any trades left for you to approve.

Each one wins a different job, so the answer depends on which job you need done.

• Choose Marcus Invest if you want former Marcus Invest clients checking where their account went. Its AI discontinued in 2024, and it costs discontinued; accounts moved to Betterment (2024). It is built for nobody opening a new account, since the service is closed; former clients should compare Betterment, where their account now sits. Keep in mind: marcus Invest is closed: Goldman Sachs moved its accounts to Betterment in 2024, so the comparison that matters now is Betterment itself.
• Choose Trade Ideas if you want active, short-term trading. Its AI AI trade signals (Holly), and it costs subscription (premium). It is built for active short-term traders who want AI-generated intraday setups with entry and exit levels. Keep in mind: priced and built for active traders, not long-term portfolio management.
• Choose Walnut if you want a keep, trim or exit read on the stocks you already own, and placing the trades you approve. It is an AI investing app that connects the broker you already use, and it costs free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets.

Because they sit in different categories, this is not strictly either-or: some investors use one for former Marcus Invest clients checking where their account went and the other for active, short-term trading, and watch for overlapping costs.

Cost is easy to misread when two tools charge in different shapes, so compare the model, not just the number. Marcus Invest: discontinued; accounts moved to Betterment (2024). Trade Ideas: subscription (premium). A percentage-of-assets fee scales with your balance, a flat subscription does not, and a “free” tier usually earns elsewhere (on cash, order flow, or premium upgrades), so the cheapest headline is not always the cheapest outcome for your situation.

Prices checked October 2026. Pricing and tiers change, so confirm the current numbers on each provider’s own site before you decide.

Walnut is an AI investing app, and it is the pick for a keep, trim or exit read on the stocks you already own, and placing the trades you approve (free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets). It connects the brokerage you already use, read-only by default, gives each holding a keep, trim or exit read against the S&P 500, flags any position above a quarter of the portfolio, and places the trades you approve. You use it through its own assistant, or inside Claude or ChatGPT. See Walnut vs Marcus Invest and Walnut vs Trade Ideas.