Overview of Moomoo Investing App
Moomoo is a new brokerage firm with some advanced trading tools. A subsidiary of Futu, Inc., it
uses the same trading tools as its parent company. Starting in 2015, it has built an impressive
software platform, but many services are still missing. Here are the details of Moomoo pros and cons:
Moomoo Pricing and Minimum Deposit
| Investments | Commissions |
|---|
| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Options | $0 |
| Mutual funds | not offered |
| Treasury Bills, Notes, Municipal and Agency Bonds, Zeros & Strips | not offered |
| Investments | stocks, options, cryptocurrencies, ETFs |
| Minimum deposit to open account | $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account |
| Promotion |
Moomoo promotions
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Opening an Account
Moomoo’s website is available in English and Chinese. The broker has a user-friendly online account
application through its parent company’s website at fututrade.com.
Besides Americans, Futu accepts applications from residents of many other countries. Residents of mainland China have their own dedicated application. A Chinese Identity Card is required. Applicants from other countries require a passport.
Although headquartered in Silicon Valley, some of the instructions on Moomoo’s application sound like they were written by non-native English speakers. Futu is insured by SIPC and regulated by FINRA and SEC.
The real downside of Moomoo right now is that it only provides individual margin accounts.
Tradable Assets
Moomoo currently offers a small range of investment vehicles. They include:
- Stocks
- Options
- ETFs
- Closed-end funds
Although this is a rather short list, the broker-dealer does offer American Depository Receipts and access to three foreign stock exchanges: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
Fees and Commissions
Moomoo has two pricing schedules, one for US residents and the other for residents of foreign countries.
US residents pay $0 for stock, ETF, and option trades. The broker charges no per-contract fees, which is a huge benefit for active derivative traders.
For clients who live outside the US, the equity commission jumps to 0.49¢ per share (with a $0.99 minimum). Options are 65¢ each with a higher minimum ($1.99).
Non-US customers must also pay platform fees for using Moomoo’s software. Clients can choose between fixed or tiered pricing; the former charging a minimum of $1 per order, and the latter charging fractions of a penny per share (depending on monthly volume).
All nationalities pay the same commission on Hong Kong trades (0.03% with a HK$3 minimum and a platform fee of HK$15). For China A-shares, the cost is the same (the minimum is 3 RMB and the platform fee is 15 RMB).
One feature that all nationalities should be aware of is the $75 outgoing ACAT transfer fee. It is per security, an unusual policy. Transferring 3 stocks would cost you $225.
Open Moomoo Account
Open Moomoo Account
Customer Service
Moomoo offers customer support through its parent company Futu. Unfortunately, there are no branch locations, and we didn’t even find a phone number for this outfit. There is an e-mail address (cs@fututrade.com), but online chat is only a dream at this point.
Desktop Platform
For order entry and security analysis, Moomoo has a desktop platform. Compatible with both Windows and Mac, it also can be used as an API.
The best place to start on the platform is with the vertical menu that appears on the left-hand side. The Markets tab displays the platform’s watchlist (several can be created) along with the day’s activity. Entries can be sorted by vertical columns.
The Trade tab is where the order ticket is located. Despite the program’s sophistication, we didn’t find the widget to be overly spectacular. There are only two duration choices (day and good-til-canceled), and there is no direct-access routing.
There are six order types:
- Market
- Limit
- Stop
- Stop limit
- Market if touched
- Limit if touched
One of the features we really like on this platform is the Inside Quote widget. Also known as the BBO or best bid and offer, the data shows the lowest ask and highest bid in real time for an entered ticker symbol. Level II quotes are available for an additional fee.
Charting can be accomplished in full-screen mode, although this is not the default setup. Over 20 years of price action can be shown at one time. There are about 60 technical studies, although they don’t work in tick-by-tick mode. The one missing feature is right-click trading, which is strange because there is a right-click menu.
The Moomoo platform does provide a decent amount of customization. An icon in the shape of a T-shirt in the upper-right portion of the screen provides multiple themes. We used purple and dark.
Mobile App
Moomoo’s mobile app is another great tool for research and charting. A graph can be rotated horizontally, and we really like the ability to change the time frame by tapping on the graph. Technical indicators and drawing tools make an appearance, too.
Alerts and watchlists are integrated. It’s easy to add or delete a security from a list: just tap on the heart icon on an asset’s profile. To set up an alert, just tap on the Alerts tab in the bottom row. There are many criteria to choose from.
If you want to practice trading on the app, there is a simulated mode. Just tap on the Me icon in the bottom row and then select Paper Trading.
Community Forum
Moo is the company’s social networking service. Available on both the mobile platform and desktop program, it provides an easy way to connect with other traders. During our testing of Moo, we were able to create posts, follow other users, like posts, comment on them, and export posts to Twitter and Facebook.
Moo displays tiles of popular stocks and posts that are currently trending. Tapping on these is a quick way to find active conversations.
Margin Borrowing
Moomoo charges a flat 6.8% for margin balances on U.S. and Hong Kong equities. On China A-shares, the cost is 8.8%. Both of these rates are for long positions. For short positions, the cost of borrowing varies by stock.
Moomoo’s desktop platform and mobile app both provide margin details on stocks and ETFs. These important data points include the short rate (3.25% on SPY when we did our research), initial margin, number of shares available for shorting, maintenance margin, and more.
Options Trading
On both platforms, Moomoo offers options trading. The broker’s software displays chains for calls and puts. There are no multi-leg strategies, but we did find Greek values, which should be of benefit to active derivative traders. Unfortunately, the brokerage firm does not offer any other advanced option tools, like a strategy builder or a probability lab.
Education and Research
Moomoo’s website has an economic calendar with upcoming IPOs, dividends, splits, and earnings announcements. These events can be sorted by a variety of criteria.
Next to the calendar is a collection of news articles. Some of these are from external sources like CNBC, while others are Moomoo’s commentaries on trading opportunities.
Moomoo’s software offers some very good stock analysis tools. On an entered ticker symbol on either the mobile app or desktop system, we found:
- Short selling data
- Technical trends
- Backtesting
- Price ratios
- Analyst ratings with price targets
- Financial statements with bar charts
- News articles
- Selections from Moo on that particular security
- And more...
The desktop platform has a very good stock screener. Besides the American exchanges, it can scan the Chinese markets. It is located under the Opportunity tab.
ETF Resources
Besides stocks, Moomoo’s screener can also search for ETFs, including funds on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets. But there aren’t many search criteria. It is possible to scan by region, industry, and asset class.
Fund profiles unfortunately don’t have the same amount of data on them as their stock cousins. For example, we didn’t find any backtesting data or ratings from third-party analysts. ETF profiles do have margin details, option chains, capital flow trends, and news articles.
Other Services
IRAs: Not available.
Fractional-share Trading: Moomoo’s very good software doesn’t yet offer whole-dollar trading.
Dividend Reinvestment Program: Despite Moomoo’s very good stock trading software, it doesn’t offer DRIP service...but it should!
IPO availability: On both the desktop platform and mobile app, there is a list of upcoming equity IPOs (on both American and Chinese markets) with release dates. Moomoo requires settled cash to sign up.
Extended Hours: Moomoo has a pre-market session that runs from 4 o’clock in the morning till the opening bell. It also has an after-hours period that closes at 8 in the evening.
Comparison
Moomoo’s foreign stock service does outperform many other broker-dealers in the U.S. marketplace. But it doesn’t outperform Interactive Brokers, who offers access to the Chinese markets and many more.
Despite its foreign stock offering, Moomoo’s investment lineup is rather small. WellsTrade offers mutual funds and bonds, while Robinhood has cryptocurrencies.
Our testing of Moomoo’s software proves that it is light years ahead of J.P. Morgan Chase and Firstrade, who offer only basic trading platforms. But TD Ameritrade and Merrill Edge have better software.
Although Moomoo does offer very good stock analysis tools, the addition of free pdf reports would make them even better. Vanguard customers do have them.
Awards
Moomoo Cons and Pros Verdict
Moomoo has an appealing name, but it seems to fall flat in actual trading services. We do like it
for its margin rates, social networking, and access to Chinese markets.
Open Moomoo Account
Open Moomoo Account
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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