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eToroFirstrade Review
Written by Sam Levine, CFA, CMT
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis
Reviewed by Blain Reinkensmeyer
Firstrade is a deep discount broker offering zero-commission trading on penny stocks, options, and even mutual funds — great for budget-conscious traders. Chinese-speaking customers will appreciate Firstrade’s comprehensive support in Cantonese and Mandarin, adding a unique layer of accessibility.
That said, Firstrade's trading tools and educational resources trail industry leaders. While the platform is user-friendly and bolstered by innovations like FirstradeGPT, it lacks the depth needed to satisfy advanced traders. Whether you're exploring fractional shares or testing AI-driven research, Firstrade’s strengths depend on your specific needs.
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Minimum Deposit:
$0.00 -
Stock Trades:
$0.00 -
Options (Per Contract):
$0.00
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Firstrade is great for dollar cost averaging investors. On top of no-commission stock, option, and ETF trades, Firstrade doesn’t charge for mutual fund trades.
- Fractional shares are available for 4,000 stocks/ETFs, and the minimum trade size is only $5.00.
- Firstrade has bolstered its options capabilities. Options Trade Ideas (powered by OptionsPlay) provides trading ideas and reports on specific strategies.
- Firstrade's mobile stock trading app is easy to use and provides good charts.
- Firstrade provides exceptional support for Chinese-speaking customers.
Cons
- Firstrade is stronger in pricing than features. I found its trading platform and tools to be adequate but well behind the best brokers for 2024.
- Investor education is thin and could be better organized. For example, an article about funding education was located in the retirement tab.
Overall summary
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Firstrade
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| Overall |
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| Investment Options |
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| Commissions & Fees |
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| Mobile Trading Apps |
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| Platforms & Tools |
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| Research |
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| Customer Service |
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| Education |
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| Ease Of Use |
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Firstrade trading platform screenshots
Mobile app:
Learn more
If you prefer trading on the go, see our picks for best mobile apps for stock trading.
Customer service
To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research firm Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For this year's testing, 135 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks, with wait times logged for each call.
Customer service representatives were asked for assistance or details for prospective customers in several areas of broker services, including account opening, trading tools, apps, rollovers, active trading, and more. Here are the results for Firstrade.
- Average Connection Time: 1-2 minutes
- Average Net Promoter Score: 7.1 / 10
- Average Professionalism Score: 7.5 / 10
- Overall Score: 7.43 / 10
- Ranking: 9th of 13 brokers
Is Firstrade good for beginners?
While Firstrade didn't make it onto our current shortlist of best trading platforms for beginners, it’s inexpensive, easy to use and the mobile app isn’t overwhelming. For Chinese-speaking customers it could be the best choice. Sophisticated investors and traders will find better fits among our top-ranked brokers for 2024.
Does Firstrade have fees?
Yes, Firstrade has fees, but they are mainly for incidental services, such as transferring the account out. Firstrade does not charge annual account fees, nor does it charge trading fees for stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and options.
What is the minimum deposit for Firstrade?
Firstrade has no account minimums, so feel free to open an account simply to try out the tools and features.
What is FirstradeGPT?
One of the first brokers to explore using an AI copilot in their research offering to clients, Firstrade recently launched FirstradeGPT, powered by FinChat.io, to generate technical and fundamental market analysis. The app has a ChatGPT-style chat interface that uses either your own or pre-defined prompts to interact with the FirstradeGPT model and receive streaming responses including complex graphs and bar chart data.
How does Firstrade make money?
Like virtually all online brokerages, Firstrade makes money through payment for order flow, or PFOF. In this practice, a broker receives payment for routing its clients’ transactions through particular market makers. The practice is the subject of some controversy but remains common industry practice. Fidelity is an exception in not accepting PFOF. (Learn more about PFOF.)
Is Firstrade safe?
Yes, Firstrade is safe. Firstrade was founded in 1985 and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC, which provides up to $500,000 of coverage of a client’s assets in the event of broker bankruptcy. Its clearing firm, Apex Clearing Corporation, provides additional insurance.
Does Firstrade show second-level data?
No, Firstrade does not provide access to Level II market data. Level II data shows detailed order book information, including bid and ask prices from market participants, helping traders gauge market depth and sentiment. This sort of data is typically useful for day traders who rely on precise market insights to make quick decisions.
About Firstrade
Founded in 1985, Flushing, New York-based Firstrade is a deep-discount online broker that offers $0 stock, ETF, mutual fund, and options trades. Firstrade was among the earliest U.S. brokers to launch retail cryptocurrency trading and embrace AI tools.
Firstrade 2024 Results
For the StockBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards, announced on Jan. 23, 2024, all U.S. equity brokers we reviewed were assessed on over 200 different variables across eight areas: Commissions & Fees, Investment Options, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education, Ease of Use, and Overall.
StockBrokers.com also presented “Best in Class” awards to brokers for additional categories Beginners, Options Trading, Futures Trading, Active Trading, IRA Accounts, Investor Community, Penny Stock Trading, Banking Services and Customer Service. A “Best in Class” designation means finishing in the top five brokers for that category.
For more information, see how we test. New to investing? Check out our beginner's guide on how to invest.
Category awards
| Rank #1 | Streak #1 | Best in Class | Best in Class Streak | |
| Penny Stock Trading | 2 |
StockBrokers.com Review Methodology
Our mission at StockBrokers.com is simple: provide thorough and unbiased reviews of online brokers, based on an extraordinary level of hands-on testing and data collection. Our ratings and awards are based on this data and our in-house experts’ deep authority in the field; brokers cannot pay for preferential treatment. Here’s more about trustworthiness at StockBrokers.com.
Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools for U.S. investors, collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process; this makes StockBrokers.com home to the largest independent database on the web covering the online broker industry. We test all available trading platforms for each broker and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables.
As part of our process, all brokers had the annual opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy. Brokers also were offered the opportunity to provide executive time for an annual update meeting.
Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test or about StockBrokers.com.
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About the Editorial Team
Sam Levine has over 30 years of experience in the investing field as a portfolio manager, financial consultant, investment strategist and writer. He also taught investing as an adjunct professor of finance at Wayne State University. Sam holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Market Technician designations and is pursuing a master's in personal financial planning at the College for Financial Planning. Previously, he was a contributing editor at BetterInvesting Magazine and a contributor to The Penny Hoarder and other media outlets.
Carolyn Kimball is a former managing editor for StockBrokers.com and investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets.