Firstrade IRA Account Review
Firstrade may be smaller than other brokers, but it still offers useful services. Here’s what you need to know:
Bulls Talk About...
Lowest commissions in the industry. Being small doesn’t mean worse—Firstrade’s fees beat the big firms.
New cash management options. You can now get a debit card on your Firstrade account.
International accounts supported. Most residents outside the U.S. can open a Firstrade account, unlike at many brokers.
Bears Talk About...
Reduced customer support. To offer $0 commissions, Firstrade cut back on live help.
Basic trading tools. The platform lacks advanced features.
Limited education content. Few articles and videos are available.
Cash Management Tools
Firstrade lets you add check-writing and a debit card to your brokerage account for free if you hold at least $100. The first check order and card ship free overnight almost anywhere.
The catch is ATM fees aren’t reimbursed, and Firstrade doesn’t operate its own ATMs. Foreign transactions carry a 3% fee.
UMB Bank issues Firstrade’s debit cards and checks—the same bank used by Fidelity.
Tradable Assets
Firstrade offers mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, bonds, stocks, and options. You can trade OTC securities and penny stocks above $0.10.
Missing are precious metals, warrants, forex, futures, options on futures, and cryptocurrencies.
Commission Schedule
Most trades cost $0. Equities, ETFs, mutual funds, closed-end funds, and options all trade free, with no per-contract or exercise fees.
Bond trades cost $30 each or are marked up/marked down. Short-term mutual fund redemptions under 90 days incur a $19.95 fee.
Margin rates range from 8.5% to 12.75%.
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Customer Support
Firstrade offers a 24/7 AI chat named Sammi, but it can’t answer everything. Live chat was removed with the $0 commission change.
Phone support is available weekdays, with toll-free and international numbers, plus a free callback option.
You can also fax, mail, or email forms. Firstrade’s site has a document upload tool and a download center for forms.
Mutual Funds
Firstrade offers over 11,000 funds with no transaction fees. About 8,127 carry a load. The screener lets you filter by family, Morningstar rating, turnover, 5-year returns, and more.
Fund profiles pull data from Morningstar, giving you rich info and direct links to prospectuses and reports, with trade buttons at the top.
Exchange Traded Funds
The ETF screener adds filters like sector weightings, regional exposure, price/book, number of holdings, and analyst ratings.
Sorting ETF results is easy by any column, though you must click the ticker to trade. ETF profiles mirror Morningstar, showing asset allocation, NAV premium/discount history, sustainability scores, and top holdings.
You can view option chains for ETFs via a link at the top of each profile.
Mobile Trading
Firstrade customers can use a mobile app with solid chart tools. You can rotate graphs horizontally. The app offers several chart types (OHLC bars, candlesticks, hollow candles, Heikin Ashi, line, area, baseline) and lets you switch the vertical axis between price, percent change, or indexed to 100.
You can log in with Touch ID on iPhone. The app has ACH transfers and a trade ticket, but no mobile check deposit, bill pay, or streaming news. You can trade options but not mutual funds.
Website Trading
On the website, you can trade mutual funds. Use the search bar to enter a ticker, company, or fund name. Buy and sell buttons on a fund’s profile open an order ticket page. You can choose to reinvest both dividends and gains or take both in cash.
A trade bar at the bottom lets you trade stocks, ETFs, closed-end funds, and options (calls and puts). It shows real-time bid/ask, last price, and volume. You can expand option chains there, but placing multi-leg strategies requires using a web order page.
For stocks and ETFs, the ticket supports stop, stop limit, and trailing orders. You can choose day, good for 90 days, extended hours only, or extended hours plus regular session.
Firstrade has no separate browser platform.
Account Types
Firstrade offers individual and joint cash and margin accounts. For retirement, there are Roth, Traditional, and Rollover IRAs. Minor accounts include UTMA and UGMA. For education, there’s a Coverdell ESA.
Trusts, estates, businesses, and investment clubs each have their own account types.
None of Firstrade’s accounts have fees—no setup, closing, annual, inactivity, or maintenance charges.
Firstrade does not offer solo 401(k) or 529 plans.
Global Investing
Firstrade lets residents of most countries open accounts (excluding Cuba and North Korea). It does not offer direct trading in foreign markets, only ADRs and OTC stocks in the US.
The site and support are available in two Chinese versions.
Learning Materials
Firstrade’s Education tab has basic articles on stocks, options, mutual funds, and bonds. It also offers option calculators from the Options Industry Council, e-books, and videos like how to place a trailing stop.
A glossary explains investing terms. Stock profiles pull Morningstar data, including analyst research and price targets.
Other Services
Firstrade offers free dividend reinvestment and free robo purchases of mutual fund shares.
Recommendations
Small Accounts: No fees or minimums make Firstrade ideal for small balances.
IRAs: Firstrade is hard to beat for retirement accounts.
Beginners: New traders need strong support, good education, and easy software. Schwab is a better pick.
Mutual Fund Investors: Firstrade’s free fund trades are unmatched.
Active ETF and Stock Traders: Firstrade’s trade bar is good but not enough for pros. Webull is the choice here.
Firstrade IRA Review Summary
Firstrade delivers unbeatable value for option traders and international clients. Traders needing desktop platforms or forex must look elsewhere.
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Open Firstrade Account
Updated on 4/8/2025.
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