Is Firstrade free?

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Is Firstrade free as of September 2024?

Firstrade is in fact a zero-commission broker when it comes to buying and selling stocks. Zero commission is especially useful if you trade relatively low volumes, like buying stocks for less than $500 per trade, because you won't be hit with any minimum fees the broker might charge.

We should note that the payment-for-order-flow model, which is used by some zero-commission brokers to generate income (rather than relying on commissions), could potentially create a conflict of interest between you and your broker. This could result in trade execution (like routing your orders to specific market makers) that might be unfavorable for you under certain market conditions, especially when using market orders (as opposed to limit orders, which seem to be less affected).

Keep in mind that at some brokers, you could incur non-trading charges like withdrawal or inactivity fees. Also, if you trade on margin, the margin rate charged by brokers can differ wildly. In the next chapter, we'll find out what these charges are at Firstrade and how they compare with fees charged by its closest competitors.

If you want to read our full review, including fees, deposit options and other platforms (like web and desktop) then skip to the Firstrade review.

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Firstrade

4.4/5

Minimum deposit

Stock fee

Low

Options fee

Low

Inactivity fee

Account opening

1-3 days

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Overview of Firstrade fees and charges

It's safe to say that Firstrade's fees are low in general. They either don't charge a brokerage fee for things that other brokers do, or they only charge a small amount.

Here's a high-level overview of Firstrade's fees

Firstrade Fees snapshot
Assets	Fee level	Fee terms
US stock fee	Low	$0 per trade
EURUSD fee	-	FX not available
US mutual fund fees	Low	$0 per trade
Inactivity fee	Low	No inactivity fee

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Firstrade fees explained

Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely because online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: from a purely technical standpoint, it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5,000 clients.

This is not to say, however, that they don't charge any fees at all. They make money by charging you various rates for various actions or events. Usually you need to keep an eye on the following three types of fees:

Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually carry out a trade, like buying an Apple share or an ETF. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or a financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.

A commission is either fixed or based on the traded volume.
A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price.
A financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.

Non-trading fees. These are usually related to some operations you carry out in your account, such as depositing money, withdrawing money, or not trading for an extended period.

We compare Firstrade fees with its closest competitors, TradeStation and Interactive Brokers.

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Firstrade trading fees

Firstrade's trading fees are low, which makes it suitable for you even if you trade often (i.e. several times a week).

Let's break down trading fees according to the different asset classes available at Firstrade.

Trading fees

Firstrade's trading fees are low.

Stock fees and ETF fees

Firstrade has low stock trading fees.

Stock fees of a $2,000 trade
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
US stock Estimated commission of a $2,000 trade, assuming a $50 stock price	$0.0 $0 per trade	$5.0 $5 per trade for non-US clients. For US clients, commission-free up to the first 10,000 shares per trade.	$1.0 Fixed pricing: $0.005 per share, min. $1, max. 1% of trade value. Free for US clients choosing IBKR Lite plan.
UK stock fee Estimated commission of a $2,000 trade, assuming a $50 stock price	- Not available	- Not available	$3.8 Fixed £3 for trade value less than £6,000, 0.05% of trade value for more than £6,000
German stock Estimated commission of a $2,000 trade	- Not available	- Not available	$3.2 Fixed €3 for trade value less than €6,000, 0.05% of trade value for more than €6,000

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Fund fees

Firstrade fund fees are low.

Fees of a $2,000 fund purchase
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
Mutual fund Estimated commission of a $2,000 US domiciled fund trade	$0.0 $0 per trade	$15.0 $14.95 per transaction	$15.0 $14.95 per transaction or 3% of trade value, whichever is lower. There are also more than 18,000 funds with no transaction fee
EU mutual fund Subscription fee of a $2,000 face value European stock fund	- Not available	- Not available	$4.4 0.1% of trade value with €4 min and €29 max

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Bond fees

Firstrade has low bond fees.

Fees of a $10,000 bond trade
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
US Treasury bond Estimated commission of a $10,000 US treasury bond trade	$0.0 Net Yield Basis for treasury, corporate, municipal, agencies, secondary CDs and zero bonds and $30 min for primary CD. Net Yield Basis means Firstrade acts as principal whereby the bonds will be subject to a markup or markdown.	$20.0 $14.95 + $5 per bond	$5.0 For the first $1,000,000 face value: 0.002% of trade value with $5 min.
EU/UK government bond Estimated commission of a $10k EU or UK government bond trade	- Not available	- Not available	$10.0 Below €50,000 face value: 0.1% of trade value with €2 min

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Options fees

Firstrade's options fees are low.

Options fees for 10 contracts
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
US stock options Estimated commission for opening 10 contracts	$0.0 $0 per trade	$11.0 For US clients, $0.6 contract per contract, for non-US clients $5 flat fee plus $0.6 per contract	$6.5 Less than 10,000 contracts per month and for a 10 contract trade: $0.65 per contract with a $1 minimum fee
US stock index options Estimated commission for 10 contracts	$0.0 $0 per trade	$11.0 For US clients, $0.6 contract per contract, for non-US clients $5 flat fee plus $0.6 per contract	$6.5 Less than 10,000 contract per month and for a 10 contracts trade: $0.65 per contract with $1 min
UK stock index options Estimated commission for 10 contracts	- Not available	- Not available	$21.3 £1.7 per contract with £1.7 min
German stock index options Estimated commission for 10 contracts	- Not available	- Not available	$18.4 €1.7 per contract with €1.7 min

Data updated on September 23, 2024

Margin rates

Firstrade margin rates are high.

Firstrade margin rates
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
USD margin rate	13.8% Base rate + tiered markup. Markup is 0-25k: +1.75%.	13.5% For positions less than $50,000: 13.5% per year	6.3% Tiered margin rate. Lowest tier has a rate of 6.33% at IBKR PRO (7.33% at IBKR Lite)
EUR margin rate	- Not available	- Not available	5.5% Tiered margin rate. Lowest tier has a rate of 5.483% at IBKR PRO (6.483% at IBKR Lite)

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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Firstrade non-trading fees

When it comes to non-trading fees, Firstrade is a rather cheap broker.

Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at Firstrade that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.

A high-level overview of how Firstrade stacks up in terms of non-trading fees
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
Withdrawal fee Fee for withdrawing money from the broker account. It is zero if you can withdraw money for free via any method, e.g. credit/debit card or bank transfer.	$0 Free withdrawal for ACH, but wire transfers cost $25	$0 $0 for ACH withdrawals and $25 for US wire withdrawals	$0 One free per month, after that $10
Deposit fee	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free deposit
Inactivity fee Fee applied if a customer does not trade for a certain length of time	No No inactivity fee	Yes $10/month – waived if 10 or more trades placed in prior 90 days OR $5000 avg end of month balance	No No inactivity fee
Account fee Monthly account fee	No No account fee	No No account fee	No No account fee

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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Firstrade

4.4/5

Minimum deposit

Stock fee

Low

Options fee

Low

Inactivity fee

Account opening

1-3 days

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Firstrade deposit fee

Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and Firstrade is no different.

Firstrade deposit methods
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
Bank transfer Bank transfer is available for deposit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/debit card Credit/debit cards are available for deposit	No	No	No IBKR debit cards are available for US customers
Electronic wallets Electronic wallets are available for deposit	No	No	No
Deposit fee	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free deposit	$0 Free deposit

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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Firstrade withdrawal fee

Firstrade generally doesn't charge a withdrawal fee.

Firstrade withdrawal fees and options compared
	Firstrade Firstrade	TradeStation TradeStation	Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers
Bank transfer Bank transfer is available for deposit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/debit card Credit/debit cards are available for deposit	No	No	No IBKR debit cards are available for US customers
Electronic wallets Electronic wallets are available for deposit	No	No	No
Withdrawal fee for bank transfer Fee for withdrawing money from the broker account. It is zero if you can withdraw money for free via any method, e.g. credit/debit card or bank transfer.	$0 Free withdrawal for ACH, but wire transfers cost $25	$0 $0 for ACH withdrawals and $25 for US wire withdrawals	$0 One free per month, after that $10

Data updated on September 23, 2024

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Firstrade inactivity fee

Firstrade does not apply an inactivity fee, which is great because your account won't be charged even if you do not trade for an extended period (like several months or years).

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Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.