Firstrade IRA Review
Main Ideas:
- An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is available at Firstrade.
- Firstrade IRAs do not come with recurring fees.
- Firstrade provides a limited amount of educational material for retirement investors.
If you’re trying to build savings for retirement, Firstrade may be worth a look. Here’s an overview of the broker’s IRA options.
Overview of IRAs at Firstrade
Firstrade has five types of retirement accounts. These are:
- Roth IRA
- Traditional IRA
- Rollover IRA
For small businesses, Firstrade also offers:
Firstrade’s SEP and SIMPLE plans are offered only in pre-tax (Traditional) form.
Although Firstrade does make international accounts available to non-U.S. citizens and non-U.S. residents, those accounts can only be opened as taxable individual accounts; they cannot be set up as retirement accounts.
Investment Advice
Every IRA at Firstrade is opened as a brokerage account. The company does not provide any investment-advisory service, portfolio management, or investment guidance. Each Firstrade brokerage IRA is self-directed, which means no financial advisor is involved. In other words, it is a do-it-yourself (DIY) arrangement.
Funding an IRA at Firstrade
After opening the account, a Firstrade retirement account can be funded with cash contributions, transfers from other IRAs, and rollovers from employer-sponsored retirement plans. Cash contributions can be made by paper check, ACH transfer, or wire transfer.
Once your Firstrade IRA is active, it is very easy to sign in on the broker’s website or mobile app and make a deposit through the ACH network.
Investment Vehicles for IRAs at Firstrade
Retirement investors at Firstrade can use the same range of investment products available to other account holders. The lineup includes stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, and options contracts. The stock category also includes real estate investment trusts (REITs) and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).
Firstrade does offer target-date mutual funds, although annuities are not available.
Because of industry rules, certain trading strategies, such as short selling stocks and some option spreads, cannot be used inside an IRA. And since Firstrade does not provide limited margin for retirement accounts, every trade placed in an IRA must be made with settled funds.
Minimums and Fees
A Firstrade IRA has no ongoing fees of any kind. There are no annual fees, low-balance fees, inactivity fees, or maintenance fees. There is also no cost to open or close an IRA.
A Firstrade retirement account follows the broker’s normal commission schedule. That means most trades are free. Trades in stocks, funds, and options carry no commissions, and option assignments and exercises also have no fees.
Placing a trade with a live representative over the phone adds a $19.95 charge.
Retirement Education at Firstrade
Firstrade has a small, and we really do mean small, collection of retirement articles and calculators on its website. To find them, go to Firstrade’s retirement hub. Here are a few examples of the articles we found:
- Understanding How Tax-Free & Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts Differ
- Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA
Firstrade’s retirement section also includes one IRA calculator. It asks for a few inputs, such as your current age and your target retirement age, and then estimates the size of your nest egg at retirement. The calculator does not include a field for current savings, which is a drawback. On top of that, the tool does not tell the user whether the projected amount is enough to cover retirement needs.
Opening an IRA
Opening an IRA at Firstrade is simple. Just go to the broker’s website and look for the orange account-opening button at the top of the page. Click it to begin. Then follow the prompts and enter all requested information. Your new IRA can be opened very quickly, possibly right away.
The same application is also available in the Firstrade mobile app by tapping the button to open a new account.
If you prefer a more old-fashioned method, Firstrade also provides fillable PDF account-opening forms. Here are a few IRA forms:
Of course, using a paper form will make the account-opening process take longer.
Managing a Firstrade IRA
Once the retirement account has been opened, it is easy to manage through Firstrade’s website. We do want to stress the website here because some of the tools mentioned below are not available in the mobile app.
Move your cursor over the Form tab at the top of the site and choose the Form Center link. On that page, scroll down to the Retirement & Education Accounts section. There, you’ll find links to the Roth IRA Conversion Form, IRA Distribution Form, IRA Beneficiary Form, and other helpful documents.
Another group of retirement resources appears under the Retirement tab on the website.
You’ll also find some useful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) there, along with links to tax information for IRAs.
Recommendations
Small Accounts: Since Firstrade accounts have no fees and no minimums, we can recommend
them for investors with smaller balances.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Firstrade is a solid choice for IRA accounts.
Beginners: New investors need strong customer support, a good range of learning materials, and
easy-to-use software. Charles Schwab
would be a better fit than Firstrade.
Mutual Fund Investors: Firstrade’s no-transaction-fee policy on all mutual funds is hard to beat.
Active ETF and Stock Trading: Although we do like Firstrade’s trade bar, it is not enough for
advanced traders. Webull gets the edge here.
Firstrade IRA Review Summary
Firstrade has a respectable IRA program. The lack of investment advice limits what retirement investors can do, and some products IRA investors may want are not available. Even so, the broker still delivers solid value.
Updated on 4/22/2026.
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