Are Vanguard ETFs really fee-free to buy & sell?

[Fields of Gold]

Vanguard is saying that it has ETFs that have no fees to trade.   Fidelity also has/had this no-fee advertisement on ISHARES ETFs; however, there was/is a $4.95 fee to sell if the purchase had not been held for something like 30 days.  Therefore, I'm wondering if Vanguard's "no fee" ETFs have any similar hidden fees that other traders have experienced lately?

[FIPurpose]

There might be a 30 day selling restriction. But why would you want to sell after 30 days?

[Fields of Gold]

Still interested in this topic.  Has anyone here traded Vanguard ETFs ("no fees") to know if they end up charging a fee for trading under 30-days or similar?

[terran]

There might be a 30 day selling restriction. But why would you want to sell after 30 days?

Tax loss harvesting opportunities often happen soon after the initial investment (before there has been a chance for gains).

[HAPPYINAZ]

Etrade lets you buy and sell Vanguard ETFs free (VOO, VTI and others).  As well as things like ITOT and lots of other index funds.  They have hundreds of different ETFs you can buy and sell for free.

[jacoavluha]

Etrade lets you buy and sell Vanguard ETFs free (VOO, VTI and others).  As well as things like ITOT and lots of other index funds.  They have hundreds of different ETFs you can buy and sell for free.

Etrade has a short term trading fee of $20 on the commission free ETF's, such as VTI. So if you buy and pay no commission, but then sell within 30 days (like to tax loss harvest), you'll pay a $20 fee on the sell.

Vanguard may have short term trade fees on their brokerage, I don't know.

[MustacheAndaHalf]

Vanguard not only charges $0/trade on Vanguard ETFs, but last year they started charging $0/trade for ~1800 ETFs.  So right now you can trade Schwab, iShares, SPDR or other ETFs at no cost.
https://vanguard.com/etfscommissionfree

That's regardless of how often you buy or sell.  The only restriction is SEC regulation T, which says you can't be a freeloader.  You can't buy a stock with proceeds from another sale, and then sell that stock before the settlement date.  You can't own an ETF for 1-2 days and sell with "unsettled funds", because there's an SEC regulation against that practice.  But it's still $0/trade, even then.

I have not tried to buy 3X leveraged ETFs, but owing to my momentum experiment I discovered that exchange traded notes (ETNs) are not $0/trade.  But all the other ETFs I've purchased have been $0/trade since the announcement, with no restrictions on the timing.

By the way, could you be confusing Fidelity mutual funds with Fidelity ETFs?  Fidelity can't control when people buy and sell it's ETFs, because they trade on the open market.  I could buy one today and sell it next week, and Fidelity can't stop it.  But Fidelity mutual funds are a different matter, and they can impose restrictions on the frequency of buying and selling.