5 Best Brokerage Accounts for High Interest Rates on Cash Sweep - NerdWallet (2024)

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 11 times over the past two years, which put rates at a two-decade high. Rate cuts are expected in 2024, and that means now is the time for investors to capitalize on the opportunity to earn more interest from uninvested cash. (Uninvested cash can wind up in your brokerage account for a variety of reasons — it can be cash deposits you simply haven't used to purchase investments yet, or dividend payments that weren't reinvested automatically.)

Interest on uninvested cash is often referred to as a "cash sweep," which is just what it sounds like —some brokers sweep your cash into high-yield options. The key word is "some" —many do not, which typically means they're earning interest on your cash rather than passing it along to you.

In NerdWallet's analysis, the below brokers offered the highest APYs or yields on idle cash.

Why you can trust NerdWallet's picks: Our writers and editors together have more than 50 years of experience writing about finance, and follow strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity. We do a deep, independent analysis of dozens of investment firms, sorting through the details to find and evaluate the information investors want when choosing an investing account. To see our full methodology and learn more about our process, read our criteria for evaluating online brokers.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 11 times over the past two years, which put rates at a two-decade high. Rate cuts are expected in 2024, and that means now is the time for investors to capitalize on the opportunity to earn more interest from uninvested cash. (Uninvested cash can wind up in your brokerage account for a variety of reasons — it can be cash deposits you simply haven't used to purchase investments yet, or dividend payments that weren't reinvested automatically.)

Interest on uninvested cash is often referred to as a "cash sweep," which is just what it sounds like —some brokers sweep your cash into high-yield options. The key word is "some" —many do not, which typically means they're earning interest on your cash rather than passing it along to you.

In NerdWallet's analysis, the below brokers offered the highest APYs or yields on idle cash.

Why you can trust NerdWallet's picks: Our writers and editors together have more than 50 years of experience writing about finance, and follow strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity. We do a deep, independent analysis of dozens of investment firms, sorting through the details to find and evaluate the information investors want when choosing an investing account. To see our full methodology and learn more about our process, read our criteria for evaluating online brokers.

NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokerage firms by assets under management, along with emerging industry players. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.

We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).

For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.