SogoTrade Review 2025

Is SogoTrade regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It's also a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

Is SogoTrade safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• the background of the broker.

How you are protected

At SogoTrade, all customers are covered by US SIPC investor protection, which is great.

The SIPC investor protection protects against the loss of cash and securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash. A non-US citizen with SogoTrade is treated by the SIPC the same as a US resident in case something goes wrong. The covered amount is substantially higher than at most European investor protection schemes.

On top of this, accounts are covered with additional insurance up to an aggregate limit of $150 million. The aggregate limit means that this additional insurance covers all SogoTrade accounts and not just yours.

Not all investments are protected by SIPC, however. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

Our brokerage experts put together a comprehensive guide on the safety profile of SogoTrade.

Background

SogoTrade is based in the USA and was founded in 1986. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.
Providing financial statements and being regulated by a top-tier authority are all great signs for SogoTrade's safety.

Find your safe broker

Account base currencies

At SogoTrade, the only available base currency is USD.

If you have a personal bank account in a currency other than USD, then you will be charged a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

SogoTrade charges no deposit fees.

However, it only accepts bank transfers. This is similar to SogoTrade's competitors.
If you are from the US, you can also deposit funds using:

• ACH (automated clearing house) initiated at your bank or at SogoTrade
• Check deposit
• ACAT (account transfer)

Note that even for digital banks, SogoTrade can only receive funds via regular bank SWIFT. Most digital banks send funds on ACH electronic transfer, which won't work on SogoTrade.

Due to US regulations, US citizens cannot use credit cards to fund their brokerage accounts. They can only use debit cards, where available.

Here's all you need to know about minimum deposit requirements and depositing money at SogoTrade.

A bank transfer can take several business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

SogoTrade withdrawal fees and options

SogoTrade doesn't charge a fee for ACH withdrawals. However, US domestic check withdrawals cost $5, while wire withdrawals are quite costly: $30 in the US and $50 outside the US.
If you are outside the US, you can use only wire transfer to make a withdrawal.

Read our guide containing all key info on available withdrawal methods and related fees at SogoTrade.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from SogoTrade? We tested the credit card/bank transfer withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

How do you withdraw money from SogoTrade?

• Log in to the account management.
• Go to the 'Funds/Account Transfer' menu.
• Select 'Transfer Cash'.
• Select the withdrawal method.
• Enter the amount you wish to withdraw.
• Initiate the withdrawal.

Can you open an account?

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SogoTrade is a US broker, but clients from many countries around the world can open an account.
Nevertheless, there are some 120 countries from where clients cannot open accounts, including Canada, Indonesia and Russia.

Read our separate article on how to get your account started with SogoTrade.

What is the minimum deposit at SogoTrade?

The required SogoTrade minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

SogoTrade has 7 types of accounts:

In this review, we tested the Individual Account.

How to open your account

The account opening process is fully digital and fast. It took just one day for us, which is not usual for US brokers: for example, the account opening at Interactive Brokers can take much longer. However, the process was not as user-friendly as at some other brokers.
First you have to go through a 5-step registration process that takes roughly 20 minutes. Here you have to provide some personal information and there are also questions about your trading experience.
At the end of this process, you have to verify your identity and residency by uploading scans of the following documents:

• ID or passport for identity check
• Bank statement or utility bill for proof of residency

SogoTrade's mobile trading platform, called SogoApp, is available on iOS and Android. In this review, we tested it on both.

The mobile platform is only available in English.

Look and feel

SogoTrade's mobile trading platform is useable, but the design looks like it is from the early 2000s. On first use, it provides a handy walkthrough of the main functions, like orders and price alerts.

We really liked how easy it is to get an overview of the option chain (a list of all available options contracts) for the various securities. Unfortunately, charting is extremely simple in the app: you can't do any analysis, not even moving averages or RSI. You can't even select between a daily or weekly chart.

Login and security

SogoTrade provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.

Logging in works the same as on the web trading platform.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

Search works as you would expect and gives good search suggestions. However, sometimes if we typed "too fast" there were no results and we had to delete our search and try again.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop-loss
• Stop Limit
• Trailing Stop
• Trailing Stop Limit

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til end of the day (GTD)

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the SogoTrade mobile platform.

Our analysts personally tested SogoTrade's mobile trading platform; read the SogoTrade mobile app review for a detailed verdict on its performance and features.

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SogoTrade offers a desktop trading platform, the SogoElite. It is available only for Windows.

The desktop trading platform is available in the following languages:

• English
• Russian

Look and feel

The SogoTrade desktop trading platform is not user-friendly. The functions are not intuitive at all. For example, if you want to see an asset's chart, you have to first open the chart feature and then type the asset's symbol in the search field.
As a plus, the desktop trading platform is highly customizable.

Login and security

SogoTrade provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.

Search functions

The search functions are poor.

Contrary to the web trading platform, you can search only by using the asset's ticker, and not its name.

Placing orders

The following order types are available on the desktop platform::

• Market
• Limit
• Stop-loss
• Stop limit

There are also order time limits you can use on the desktop platform:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til end of the day (GTD)

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

SogoTrade has unclear fee reports.

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SogoTrade offers a good variety of products for those interested in US assets; however, you cannot trade futures. Bonds and funds can be only traded via phone.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both ChoiceTrade and TradeStation offer more stock markets to trade on.

Stocks and ETFs

As a plus, SogoTrade covers all US-listed equities, including OTC, small cap and penny stocks. Pre-market and after-hours trading are also possible.
You can trade some non-US equities through US OTC markets (e.g. the French stock KLPEF) but keep in mind that liquidity might not be adequate, as you are not trading on the main listing venue.

Options

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both ChoiceTrade and TradeStation offer more option markets to trade on.

Cryptocurrency

SogoTrade offers cryptocurrencies through a partnership with Apex Crypto. The following cryptocurrencies are available for trading:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
• Zcash
• Dogecoin
• Stellar Lumen

At the time of the review, cryptos were available to US clients, with the exception of residents of the states of New York and Alabama.

Residents of the following countries are also allowed to trade cryptos: Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

We recommend SogoTrade for stock and options traders with a US focus who value great customer service.

in this comprehensive collection below, you can find links to all aspects of SogoTrade.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our SogoTrade fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the SogoTrade minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your SogoTrade account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the SogoTrade account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the SogoTrade trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about SogoTrade customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is SogoTrade legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether SogoTrade is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is SogoTrade good for beginners.

Can you buy silver at SogoTrade?

Research for silver products in the Silver buy on SogoTrade guide

I want to trade options, are they available at SogoTrade?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on SogoTrade?

What is the minimum account balance at SogoTrade?

Check out the current account balance requirements at SogoTrade in our What is the minimum account balance at SogoTrade article.

Looking for commission and fees data for SogoTrade?

We collected them in SogoTrade commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from SogoTrade?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on SogoTrade.