SogoTrade Review 2022

SogoTrade has low stock, ETF and options fees, and transactions using ACH are free. On the other hand, margin rates and wire withdrawal fees for non-US customers are high.

How we ranked fees

We ranked SogoTrade's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of SogoTrade for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared SogoTrade's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, ChoiceTrade and Passfolio. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of SogoTrade alternatives.

To have a clear overview of SogoTrade, let's start with its trading fees.

SogoTrade trading fees

SogoTrade trading fees are low. The fee structure is transparent and you can easily calculate costs.

Stock fees and ETF fees

SogoTrade has low stock and ETF commissions. Market orders cost $2.88 per trade. However, if you use limit orders then there is no commission. In fact, you might get a very small bonus through the "Get paid to trade" program:

If your limit orders are received to buy below the Ask or sell above the Bid price, not only will the commission be $0, but you may also earn $0.001 per share when the order executes. This is known in the brokerage industry as "adding liquidity". SogoTrade passes on a part of this rebate to the customer, although overall it doesn't amount to much.

If you prefer stock trading on margin, you should check SogoTrade margin rates.

A margin rate is charged when you trade on margin. This basically means that you borrow money from your broker to trade, and for this borrowed money you have to pay interest.

SogoTrade's margin rates are considered high compared to the industry average.

SogoTrade's margin rate is volume-tiered. It applies a base rate, with a premium or discount, depending on the financed amount. The base rate is set by SogoTrade – at the time of writing the review, the base rate was 6.75%.

Options fees

SogoTrade options fees are low, at $0.50 per contract.

 Note that there is a $15 fee for the exercise or assignment of options, which is considered very high.

Crypto fees

SogoTrade now offers its clients cryptocurrency trading through a partnership with Apex Crypto. The following cryptocurrencies can be traded: 

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

Trading fees are either $1 or 1% of the trade value, whichever is higher. If you trade large amounts ($500+), this can add up to quite high fees.

Non-trading fees

SogoTrade has low non-trading fees. There are no account or deposit fees, and SogoTrade has also eliminated the inactivity fee it previously charged.

There is no charge for ACH withdrawals, while a check withdrawal to a US address costs $10.

However, non-US customers must use wire transfers for withdrawals, which cost a very high $50.

Opening an account at SogoTrade is fast and fully digital for both US and international citizens. There is a $25 annual fee for IRA accounts.

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.

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

If you live in the US, transactions are free via ACH. Non-US clients on the other hand are charged $50 for wire withdrawals.

Account base currencies

At SogoTrade, you can open only USD accounts.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

Generally, a convenient way would be 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.

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

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

SogoTrade charges no deposit fees, but it only accepts bank transfers. This is similar to SogoTrade's competitors. 

While some digital banks, like Wise lets you send SWIFT transfers on its platform, in SogoTrade's case it didn't work as you can't set US addresses on the platform. 

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)

You can only deposit money from bank accounts which are under your name. A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card would be instant.

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.

How long does it take to withdraw money from SogoTrade? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took 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.

SogoTrade's web trading platform is user-friendly, with a good search function and many order types. However, it's not customizable, has a clunky look, and lacks two-step authentication.

SogoTrade offers multiple web trading platforms, which they brand as SogoTrader, SogoOnline and SogoOptions.

In this review, we tested SogoOptions because it looked the most feature-rich. Beyond English, it's available in simplified and traditional Chinese. Despite its name, it also offers stocks in addition to options. 

Look and feel

The SogoOptions web trading platform is user-friendly. You will easily get around even if you are a beginner.

On the negative side, the web trading platform is not customizable.

Login and security

SogoTrade provides only a one-step authentication.

However, when you log in, you have to provide a 4-6-digit PIN number. This serves as an additional security layer on top of the regular 'user ID + password' combination.

Search functions

The search functions work as you would expect. When you start typing the asset's ticker or name, a list of relevant results appears.

Placing orders

You can use a lot of order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop limit
• Trail stop / Stop limit

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.

There are also two order time limits you can use:

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

Alerts and notifications

You can't set price alerts and you don't get any notification of your executed orders on the web trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

SogoTrade has a clear portfolio report but lacks a clear fee report. The fee report would help you to see how much you paid to the broker in trading costs.

The portfolio report is available on the 'Account Overview' page and not within the trading platform.

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The SogoApp is usable but has a dated design. It offers a variety of order types and price alerts, but lacks a secure two-step login. Charting options are also very basic.

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

It's 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

There is no two-factor authentication; logging in works the same as on the web trading platform.

An option for biometric authentication is also missing, which would make logging in more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. They work as you would expect and give 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 same order types and order time limits as on the web trading platform. 

Alerts and notifications

Unlike at the web trading platform, you can set price alerts on the SogoApp mobile platform.

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The SogoTrade desktop trading platform has a lot to improve. The platform is not user-friendly, has a poor search function, and lacks a clear fee report.

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

The desktop trading platform is available in English and 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's desktop trading platform has only a one-step login. A two-step login would be more secure.

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

You can use the following order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop-loss
• Stop limit

There are also two order time limits you can use:

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

Alerts and notifications

Similarly to the SogoTrade web trading platform, you can't set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

SogoTrade doesn't have clear portfolio and fee reports.

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At SogoTrade, you can trade US stocks, ETFs, options and cryptos, but the offered assets cover only US markets. Some popular asset types, like futures, are not available.

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.

Stocks

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.

Cryptos

Cryptocurrencies are offered 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 for 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.

SogoTrade's research tools are OK. The wide offering includes detailed fundamental data and some trading ideas. However, the charting tools are not user-friendly and inadequate.

You can find research tools both on the web and the desktop trading platforms. Except for charting, we tested the tools on the web trading platform.

The research options can be found in the 'Research & Ideas' section. They are available only in English.

Trading ideas

You can find recommendations in the reports provided by ValuEngine and in the Morning Call newsletter provided by Trading Central.

The ValuEngine reports cover all US-listed individual stocks, as well as reports by sector. The analyses will give you a Buy/Hold/Sell recommendation using ValuEngine's quantitative analysis, but we wouldn't base any investment decision on this alone.

The Morning Call newsletters include technical analysis-based recommendations for a few selected symbols.

Fundamental data

You can find fundamental data in the reports provided by ValuEngine. These reports cover fundamental data like company valuation, financial statements, EPS, P/E, etc.

Besides ValuEngine, you can also access fundamental data if you log in to your web account and search for the asset's ticker in the search box. These fundamental data include growth rates, various legal filings (i.e. SEC filings, 10-K reports), comparison charts and a general company profile.

Charting

We tested the charting tools on SogoElite, the desktop trading platform, as it seemed better than other platforms' charting tools.

SogoTrade charting tools could use a lot of improvement. It was hard to edit the charts; for example, we didn't find how we can delete a trendline. Furthermore, there are only 56 technical indicators, which might be enough for most users, but this selection is smaller than what you'll find at some competitors.

News feed

The news feed is high-quality, and it is easy to read. It is provided by Comtex, a third-party news provider. You can find the news when you search for a specific asset.

Other research tools you may enjoy

The Stock Screener is a tool where you can filter stocks. There is a vast range of filters you can use: from technical indicators to company profiles, you will find everything. 

SogoTrader offers a handy tool called Asset Management. Resembling robo-advisors, it suggests a portfolio for you to start your investment with, based on your investment experience, risk tolerance level, and investment goal.

Lastly, SogoPlay is a great research tool for options trading. You have to select a specific option, add trading scenarios (like the market will go up) and your trading preferences (like the preferred investment amount). After that, the tool shows the expected profit/loss balance, trading costs, and other useful information.

Compare research pros and cons

SogoTrade has great customer support. You can reach out to them in many ways and customer service gives fast and relevant answers. However, support is not available 24/7.

You can contact SogoTrade via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

SogoTrade's phone support is fast and we got relevant answers. There is also a toll-free Skype line.

By email, we also received quick and relevant answers to our questions.

The live chat service provides relevant answers. Unfortunately, customer service is not available 24/7, only Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

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SogoTrade's education section could use some improvement. The content is hard to navigate and there is no demo account. As a plus, a wide range of topics are covered.

SogoTrade has educational articles on topics ranging from investing basics, trading and stock selection to options and margin trading. On the negative side:

• some of the materials are no longer available
• the blog section is rarely updated
• the sections are hard to navigate

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SogoTrade is regulated by top-tier US regulators like the SEC and FINRA. There is also a high amount of investor protection for up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash.

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 if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

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

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.

SogoTrade does not provide negative balance protection, but this is not a concern since they don't offer CFD or forex products.

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

SogoTrade is a great broker for US stock and options trading.

Stock and ETF trading fees are low, and even zero if you use limit orders. Options fees are low as well. Account opening is user-friendly and swift. Customer support is great, providing fast and relevant answers.

On the negative side, charting tools are extremely basic on all trading platforms. The product offering is limited, e.g. you can't trade futures or non-US markets. SogoTrade also charges high wire withdrawal fees for non-US payouts ($50). 

As the account opening is seamless and trading fees are low, feel free to try SogoTrade.

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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.