M1 Crypto Review

M1 Crypto Ratings at a Glance

The M1 platform helps empower its user’s financial well-being by offering easy ways to invest intelligently in a variety of different assets. M1 is easily one of the most versatile trading platforms available right now — it’s called the “Finance Super App” for a good reason. Under the M1 umbrella, you’ll find M1 Invest (the brokerage), M1 Borrow (margin trading), M1 Spend (its Visa Debit Card & Checking and Owner’s Rewards Card) and M1 Plus (to access premium M1 features). It just launched yet another great facet of M1— M1 Crypto.

M1 already offers zero-commission trading for its brokerage accounts, and M1 Crypto follows this model. One of M1’s greatest advantages over its competitors is its unique “M1 Pies” feature. Pies are groups of assets that users can invest in to diversify their portfolio into the assets they want to buy quickly and easily.

You will soon be able to invest in Expert Crypto Pies, designed for a wide range of financial goals and investment objectives. You can also access more than 6,000 stocks and funds to build your own custom pie. Custom crypto pies are also available but you can’t combine cryptos and stocks in one pie. Nevertheless, you can invest in multiple pies, making your portfolio a carefully crafted pie of pies. If that wasn’t enough, you can set it to dynamically rebalance your portfolio so that it will automatically keep your portfolio diversified.

Users will need to have or open a funded M1 Invest account to trade crypto in M1 Crypto, but it’s easy to sign up. Until November 30, 2022, you can get a free $10 credited to your M1 Invest account when you sign up and deposit $100 within 30 days. M1 offers 10 cryptocurrencies for trading, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and other large-market-capitalization coins. You can build your portfolio by buying crypto individually, or you could dive straight into the Crypto Pies. M1 Crypto will add more cryptos eventually, but support for the top 10 or so is likely enough for most investors.

M1 Crypto is finally available to the general public so you can sign up for M1 Crypto today! M1 will soon also offer a wide range of expert Crypto Pies, each with a different makeup of tokens. It will have thematic strategies like decentralized finance (DeFi), Web3 and large-cap crypto. Besides its crypto trading features, M1 is excellent for traditional finance investments. Users can seamlessly manage multiple accounts in one app.

M1 seems to have all you need in terms of customer service resources, including a blog and help center. The blog is updated frequently with market news as well as advice for navigating the M1 platform. The help center caters to operating the M1 platform. The many features M1 offers can be a lot to manage, so the help center explanations on getting started, account set up, transfers, investing, spending and borrowing come in handy.

Its client success team is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.ET on days when the U.S. stock market is open. The team responds to a request within one business day. You receive an email confirming it has successfully received your request within 5 minutes of your submission.

All data transferred and stored within M1 systems is protected with military-grade 4096-bit encryption, and it offers two-factor authentication (2FA). You can enable 2FA in the settings section of M1. Crypto assets on M1 are held in a custodial wallet powered by Apex Crypto, which provides strong security for the assets it holds. Apex Crypto stores 44 types of cryptocurrencies and is trusted by large trading platforms. This is normal as few trading platforms have custody of the cryptocurrencies that are traded. It’s important to note that cryptocurrencies are not FDIC- or SIPC-insured.

M1 doesn't charge trade commissions on any account or fees to deposit or withdraw from your connected bank. Customer pricing is simple on M1. With zero commissions, crypto traders can invest without worrying about losing money on high fees. Apex Crypto adds a 1% fee for every crypto trade that is priced into the execution price. This fee is slightly higher than some platforms. It is free to sign up and deposit money from the account. Check out its complete fee structure.

M1 Crypto will be an important part of the Finance Super App where users invest, borrow and spend. The app is as powerful as its name implies. It lets you easily manage all your investments on M1 in one place. You don’t have to look at price graphs and complex technicals. You can manage your portfolio, rebalance settings and change pie composition without the complex technical features that clutter other apps. This is why it’s perfect for beginners as well as experienced traders. The app has a great user interface that makes it seamless to use M1 on the go.

M1 Crypto is finally here so you can get started by signing up on the website or mobile application.

Key user benefits are the ability to customize your investment strategies and automate your portfolio balancing while paying zero commission fees. The pies and automated rebalancing are useful features that almost no other crypto trading platform offers. This automation is great for all kinds of users. Those who know what they want their portfolio to look like already can set it up in minutes, or you can choose one of the expertly designed pies (which are not out yet but will launch soon) and let it rebalance into a great portfolio. Intelligent diversification is generally considered extremely important in investing, and M1 clearly made it their goal to make it as easy as possible for its users to get it right.

The user experience is great, especially with the M1 mobile application. The simple user interface provides a visual level of clarity that many financial apps are missing. The automation provided by the M1 pies makes this the perfect user experience for many different kinds of investors. With a few taps, you can build an expertly-devised, diverse portfolio of cryptocurrencies, traditional investments or both. By turning portfolios into pies and visually displaying their weight, users enjoy a visually pleasing investing experience. 

M1 vs. Competitors

The M1 platform has a few competitors that are similar, such as eToro. Compared to eToro and other industry-leading competitors, M1 is an up-and-comer in crypto. It just rolled out its platform and supports fewer cryptos initially. eToro has been around for a while and also offers both traditional investments like stocks or ETFs and cryptos. However, M1 is one of the best traditional finance trading platforms out there already, and adding crypto to the mix makes it even better.

M1’s unique automation features along with its easy-to-use mobile application make it a top contender for beginner-friendly crypto exchanges. It is much easier to set up your portfolio exactly how you want it without having to carefully execute each and every trade to build it and keep it diversified. Platforms like eToro may be better for investors looking for a wide selection of cryptos but M1 is clearly on top for beginners. 

Both eToro and M1 are centralized finance (CeFi) platforms with a reliable history of helping individuals invest straight from their mobile devices. They also each offer unique features like M1’s pies and eToro’s paper trading. If you are looking for easy portfolio automation, M1 is likely the choice for you because of its pie concept.

Overall, M1 is a fantastic platform with an incredible variety of features. Adding crypto trading makes good on the core mission of M1, to empower individual users. Brian Barnes, M1’s founder, explains that “Cryptocurrencies are a roughly trillion-dollar asset class that over 20% of Americans have invested in, traded or used. It has been the most requested asset addition, with roughly half of our surveyed users wanting to use M1 to invest in crypto. Adding it to the platform gives you the choice to make this burgeoning asset class a part of your long-term investment strategy if it matches your risk tolerance and long-term perspective.” You can sign up here.

M1 offers a number of great financial products, uses a reputable security provider, has great automated solutions and provides an easy-to-navigate user experience. The biggest issue M1 Crypto has is that it only supports 10 cryptos initially. This is plenty for most investors, but those looking for a wide variety of altcoins may find it lacking. However, it seems like it is a promising tool for new crypto investors who want to join the space or for experienced investors looking for an automated solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

This disclosure must go with the article: “Investing in cryptocurrency comes with significant risk and may not be suitable for everyone. Based on your specific situation and financial condition, carefully consider whether investing in cryptocurrencies is suitable for you. Cryptocurrencies are not FDIC or SPIC-insured. For relevant disclosures and risks, visit m1.com/crypto-disclosures.”