Firstrade vs TradeStation compared

Firstrade
TradeStation
Key differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Customer service score
    1.1
    /5
  • Account opening score
    4.2
    /5
  • Research score
    4.8
    /5
  • Customer service score
    4.0
    /5
  • Account opening score
    5.0
    /5
  • Research score
    4.3
    /5
Recommended for
  • Beginners
    3.7
    /5
  • Equity
    4.1
    /5
  • Equity
    4.1
    /5
You can open an account in United States
You can open an account in United States

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Basic data of broker

Overall Score
4.5

Recommended for Beginners and investors looking for zero-commission trading, focusing on the US market

Overall Score
4.7

Recommended for Traders focusing on US markets and buy-and-hold investing

Best crypto broker

Country of origin

USA

Country of origin

USA

Fees

Fees score
4.4
Fees score
4.1
Fees summary

Low trading and non-trading fees, free stock, ETF, fund and options trading

Fees summary

Low trading fees, average non-trading fees, free stock and ETF trading for US customers

Stock and ETF fees

Forex fees

Fund fees

Bond fees

Options fees

Futures fees

Crypto fees

CFD fees

Non-trading fees

Deposit and withdrawal

Deposit and withdrawal score
2.2
Deposit and withdrawal score
2.2
Number of base currencies

1

Number of base currencies

9

Deposit type

Withdrawal type

Account opening

Account opening score
4.2
Account opening score
5.0
Account opening fully online
Account opening fully online
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Time to open account

1-3 days

Time to open account

1 day

Required documents

Proof of identity: SSN / passport / national ID card / driver's license

Required documents

Proof of identity: ID / passport / driver's license Proof of residency: bank statement / utility bill

Trading platform

Web platform score
4.3
Web platform score
3.8
Mobile platform score
3.8
Mobile platform score
4.8
Desktop platform score
-
Desktop platform score
2.3

Markets and products

Markets and products score
3.2
Markets and products score
3.2
Stocks
*
*
Stocks
*
*
Fractional shares
Fractional shares
ETFs
ETFs
Forex
Forex
Funds
*
*
Funds
Bonds
Bonds
*
*
Options
Options
Futures
Futures
Crypto
*
*
Crypto
*
*
CFDs
CFDs

Research, education

Research score
4.8
Research score
4.3
Charting quality

Great

Charting quality

Great

Education score
3.5
Education score
5.0
Demo account
Demo account

Customer service

Customer service score
1.1
Customer service score
4.0
Phone
Phone
Live chat
Live chat
Email
Email
24/7 availability
24/7 availability

Security

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Banking background
Banking background
Listed on stock exchange
Listed on stock exchange
Foundation date

1985

Foundation date

1982

Country of regulation

USA

Country of regulation

USA

Firstrade

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

TradeStation

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

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.

Firstrade's service is on par with TradeStation's and a comparison of their fees shows that Firstrade's fees are similar to TradeStation's.

Account opening takes somewhat more effort at Firstrade compared to TradeStation, deposit and withdrawal processes are about the same quality at Firstrade, while customer service quality is considerably lower than TradeStation's.

Our experts rated the trading platform of Firstrade as being of the same quality as the platform of TradeStation, found that clients have access to about the same number of markets and products with Firstrade, while TradeStation provides somewhat lower-quality research and education.

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