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ZacksTrade

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LAST UPDATED: June 27th, 2019

Zacks Trade is a division of Chicago-based LBMZ Securities founded in 1978.  They are a full-service broker-dealer and a member of the Zacks Group, one of the largest diversified financial services firms in the U.S.   They have clients in all 50 states and have $2.6 billion in total assets.  They also have over 600 employees worldwide and they provide a full suite of financial services to individuals, as well as institutional and corporate clients.

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The Good

  • Extremely low rates
  • Lowest margin rates in the industry
  • Three powerful trading platforms
  • Zacks trader
  • Mobile trading
It appears that Zacks Trade has quite a bit to offer and they are seemingly a reputable investment firm.  So let's take a few minutes to go over everything they offer.  Then in the next section we will cover a few of the areas we feel they could use some improvement:

Extremely Low Rates

Zacks Trade offers extremely low rates that offer an unmatched value compared to their competitors and they offer exclusive research and powerful platforms for you to use as well.  Their stocks and ETFs start at $4.50 minimum per trade + $0.01 per share and broker assisted trades with a $20 service fee.  Their options trades start at $4.50 for the first contract + $0.75 for each additional contract and broker assisted trades with a $20 service fee.  And their bond price is $3.00 per bond + $0.1% for a face value that's < $10,000, and for a face value that's > $10,000 it's $3.00 per bond + 0.025% of face value.

No Inactivity Fees Or Trading Minimums And You Still Get All The Perks

With Zacks Trade, you have the potential of saving hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars each year with their stocks and options trades as they start from $4.50 and have super low margin rates.  You will also enjoy not having to pay any inactivity fees or observing any trading minimums.  They also give you access to several powerful trading platforms and the flexibility to trade globally from a single account.  Additionally, you will receive free access to exclusive premium research and will get up to $150 in account transfer fees for full account transfers of at least $5,000, as well as price and trade execution savings.

Lowest Margin Rates In The Industry

Zacks Trade offers some of the lowest margin rates in the industry.  Their margin rates are at 2.64% and lower.  This will give you the opportunity to save loads of money per year in interest.  Additionally, their margin rates on stocks are as low as 25%.  Portfolio margin is available for account balances of $110,000 or more.

Three Powerful Trading Platforms

Zacks Trade gives you access to cutting-edge technology to help you reach your investment goals and they are all part of their services at no extra charge.

Zacks Trader

This is a simple, yet feature-rich trading platform with an easy to learn interface, but also allows you to use the advanced trading features and tools.

Zacks Pro

This platform allows traders, investors and institutions, trade stocks, options, bonds and other funds on more than 16 global worldwide markets from a single account.  This program is a feature-rich advanced trading platform that will help you optimize your trading speed and efficiency.

Mobile Trading

Zacks Trade calls these their Handy Trader and their TabletTrader and both provide mobile solutions to help you conduct your financial business on the go.  You can easily trade stocks, options and any other securities from almost any type of mobile device.  These are state-of-the-art programs that provide you electronic access to your account from your iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet or your BlackBerry.  You can enter and manage orders, view executions and conveniently monitor your portfolio, account balances and much more all from your mobile device.

Flexible International Trading

Zacks Trade provides you with the ability to trade globally from one single account.  You can trade stocks, options, bonds, warrants and more.  And they have more than 90 market centers within 20 countries and you will have access to their global market data 24-7.  Additionally, Zacks Trade offers lower commissions for their international trades than their competitors.

SmartRouting Technology And In-Depth Research Access And More

The Zacks Trade SmartRouting system looks for the best possible firm stock, option and combination prices that are available at the time you place your order.  The system dynamically re-routes all or some of your order to search for optimal execution, it continually evaluates any quickly changing market conditions and provides you with stock and option price executions that are much better than their competitors. You will also enjoy the Zacks Rank stock-rating system, their equity research reports that use research from Zacks' own analysts, their timely market commentary also from their team of expert analysts, Zacks Industry Rank that highlights the best industries for you, their robust screeners and more.
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The Bad

  • Mutual funds are higher than their competitors
  • Brokerage account minimum
Just as with every company review we like to present you with all the facts in an effort to help you make an educated decision about which company is right for you.  So let's take a few minutes to go over our Zacks Trade review to cover a few of the areas we feel they could use some improvement:

Mutual Funds Are Higher Than Their Competitors

Zacks Trade's mutual funds are higher than their competitors at $27.50 on no-load mutual funds.  Therefore, before you make any decisions, you will have to compare the number of mutual funds that are offered without transaction fees to determine whether or not this option is worthwhile for you.  Additionally, they require a $3,000 minimum investment, but all regulatory fees and exchange fees are included.

Brokerage Account Minimum $2,500

Zacks Trade has a brokerage account minimum of $2,500; however, this isn't necessarily a negative, depending on your financial situation.  If you are a new investor with limited funds, this might be a little steep for you.  But if you are a seasoned investor or an investor with available funds, this brokerage account minimum will probably be a non-issue for you.
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The Bottom Line

Zacks Trade has great customer support options via phone, email and live chat.  And their website is superior as it's extremely user-friendly and has all the information you could possibly need right there at your fingertips.  Additionally, they offer some of the best rates in the industry; therefore, we have no problem giving them a high recommendation for traders and investors at any level.  With that being said, just as with anything else, we encourage you to perform your own due diligence before deciding whether or not Zacks Trade is the right fit for you and your particular financial situation.
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Star Rating

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4 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

25%

4 grade

0%

3 grade

0%

2 grade

0%

1 grade

75%

Sentiment Criteria

Value

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Quality

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Service

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Trustworthiness

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Muhammad Muzammil Shaikh Beverly Hills, CA

Outstanding customer service and fee structure if you're a buy and hold long term international investor. Full access to global equities, ETFs, mutual funds via the Interactive Brokers platform.

6 years ago

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Erika Roiger East Peoria, IL

My dad recently died and my mom is trying to close his Zack's Trade account. She is older and not especially computer literate. She was told they will not mail her anything through snail mail and basically she is just going to have to find some way to figure it out to do it on-line. Customer service not very helpful. The paperwork she needs to fill out is ridiculously complicated. One question asked the date of the last election in which my dad voted. Really? That is somehow tied to his ID? My mom has had to deal with several investment and trade companies and Zack's by far is the worst for customer service.

6 years ago

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Darrell Owenby Johnson City, TN

RIPOFF. Commissions aren't correct. 1700 shares of a 1.15 stock are $17. OUTRAGEOUS. Was a prior member and it wasn't like this. Emailing, calling customer service does no good. Three trades with a net of +500 cost me almost $100 in commissions because I wasn't paying attention. Settling my account and moving to Fidelity or TDA. Stay away!

7 years ago

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James Arens Brenham, TX

Ripoff. Opened account, but could never trade because of their complicated system. Representatives were absolutely of no help. When decided to close account, they said it would take six weeks if I wrote a letter, but there was no other choice since once could not access their website. Stay as far a way as you can from this company.

8 years ago