TradeZero Review

Item: TradeZero
Rating: 3
Author: Chad Morris

Review of TradeZero America

Day traders and other experienced traders in the United States who are looking for advanced software, great services, and the lowest possible commissions definitely should take a look at TradeZero. Although the brokerage firm is not well known, it could be soon.

TradeZero U.S. Pricing and Minimum Deposit

Investments	Commissions
Stocks and ETFs	$0
Options	$0.59 per contract
Mutual funds	not offered
Treasury Bills, Notes, Municipal and Agency Bonds, Zeros & Strips	not offered

Investments	stocks, options, ETFs
Minimum deposit to open account	$2,500 for cash account, $2,500 for margin account

Investment Choices

TradeZero offers self-directed brokerage accounts only. There are no financial-planning services or managed accounts. Inside the broker’s self-directed accounts, the following assets can be traded:

Equities (including the OTC marketplace, but there are no foreign stocks)
Options
ETFs

There are no other products at this time, which is somewhat of a disappointment because some active traders no doubt would be interested in trading futures and forex.

TradeZero has plans for a cryptocurrency launch and is currently accepting e-mail addresses for its waitlist. The broker-dealer promises a discrete crypto trading platform. No word yet when this exciting service will be released.

Day Trading

TradeZero specializes in day trading, so we need to analyze this topic straight away.

Shorting. Securities can be shorted inside a TradeZero account. The brokerage firm has a short locate tool that can find shares of a stock to short. The tool will display the cost to short the security plus the number of shares available for shorting.

Level II quotes. Level II quotes are available on multiple platforms at TradeZero.

Direct-access routing. Also available. However, accounts that use this service must maintain at least $30,000 in account equity.

Routing fees and rebates. TradeZero America is one of the few securities brokerage firms to offer maker-taker fees. Although this service is not available on OTC or pre-market trades, it does provide an opportunity to make money by trading.

Although U.S.-based accounts will need to keep equity of at least $25,000 to regularly day trade, TradeZero does have a sister company in the Bahamas that can be used to circumvent this requirement.

Tradezero America Review

TradeZero Margin Rate

Margin trading of course is available at TradeZero. The broker has ditched the traditional tiered interest rate schedule for an easy, flat rate. It’s currently 9.5%, which is a passable deal, especially for small margin balances.

Securities priced below $3 are not marginable at TradeZero, and stocks below $2.50 have a $2.50 per share margin requirement on short positions.

TradeZero has a margin check tool on its website that will display the initial overnight requirement for an entered ticker symbol for both short and long positions.

Tradezero USA Review

ZeroPro

TradeZero has three computer platforms and one mobile app. ZeroPro is the most advanced of the four. It has a great deal of trading power. Here are some of the highlights:

Full-screen charting with over 70 technical studies
Ability to display multiple graphs simultaneously using multiple windows in the workspace
Color-coded Level II quotes
Trade ticket with discrete sell-short and buy-to-cover buttons
Several order types (including conditional orders) and duration choices
News articles (not videos) courtesy of CNBC and other sources
Time & sales data
Short locate widget with color-coded accept and cancel buttons
Customizable alarms
Real-time watchlist
Most active stocks

The primary downside of ZeroPro is the cost (noted below in the pricing section) and the lack of streaming video news.

Tradezero Platform Review

ZeroWeb

ZeroPro is a desktop program. Traders who prefer a browser-based system can use ZeroWeb instead. The software has a lot of the same features (like Level II windows, platform alerts, and news articles).

Like ZeroPro, ZeroWeb has hotkeys that are fully customizable. The window to adjust these will be found in the settings menu (under the Preferences tab on ZeroWeb).

Tradezero Trading Review

ZeroFree

Going down one more level, we have ZeroFree. This is a really basic platform that operates within a web browser. Despite its simplicity, it does have customizable hotkeys, Level II numbers, a short locate tool, time & sales data, and real-time quotes. The interfaces of some of the tools may be different on Free, but many of the same tools are integrated.

The same order ticket system appears on ZeroFree, and this means there are discrete buttons for short trading. This time, the ticket appears at the top in a horizontal format.

The watchlist on Free has a symbol field at the top to quickly add a security to the list. A red x can be used to delete an entry. Other windows, including the Level II box, the chart window, and the short locate tool have similar setups.

ZeroMobile

TradeZero has a mobile app that functions on tablets and phones. There are some really nice tools that often aren’t available on other brokers’ apps. For example, the TradeZero app has a short locate tool that can scan the securities markets for securities available for shorting. Some other day trading firms don’t have this software on their mobile apps.

Other features on ZeroMobile include charting with OHLC numbers, news articles, earnings histories, a watchlist, current position data, and more.

Tradezero App Review

Other Software

TradeZero does not have a smartwatch app. It does have a website that can be used for general account management functions like ACH transfers and day-trade tracking.

TradeZero Fees and Minimums

U.S.-based accounts at TradeZero pay no commissions on trades of stocks on the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ exchanges. The stocks must be priced at $1 or more.

Option trades also have no base commission, although there is a per-contract fee of $0.25. Automatic exercises and assignments are free. Manual exercises are $35.

Penny stocks (anything below $1) and over-the-counter stocks have a commission of 0.5¢ per share. There is a minimum commission of $0.99, and a maximum of $7.95.

Stock trades on the major exchanges that are placed between 4:00 am and 7:00 am have a surcharge of 0.3¢ per share.

There is no minimum deposit amount to open a TradeZero account, although the broker does require a $2,500 deposit to access any trading platform.

Speaking of software, there is a $59 monthly fee to use either ZeroPro or ZeroWeb (both are included in the subscription). Although Level II quotes are included in this monthly subscription, OTC quotes are not. There is a $5 monthly fee for OTC Level I and a $15 fee for OTC Level II.

ZeroFree and ZeroMobile are both free, although somewhat surprisingly, customers can’t access them without a $2,500 deposit.

Customer Support

The TradeZero website has a chat widget that’s up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the market day, there are human agents. At other times, the system is a robo chat. During our testing of this service channel, we have always received competent answers. A document upload tool is another highlight on the website.

Phone service is also available. Staffed hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, EST, during the week. And then there’s e-mail: support@tradezero.us.

TradeZero has no branch locations, so the above methods of communication are it.

Miscellaneous Services

Initial Public Offerings: TradeZero does not offer access to IPOs.

Extended Hours Trading: Pre-market and after-hours trading are both available at TradeZero.

DRIP Availability: TradeZero specializes in day trading, so it comes as no surprise that it doesn’t offer a DRIP service.

Fractional Shares: Not available.

Cash Management Features: TradeZero does not offer debit cards or checkwriting. Its website does have wire and ACH transfer tools.

Individual Retirement Accounts: One of the biggest disappointments in this review is that TradeZero doesn’t offer IRAs, which means all day trades must be executed inside taxable accounts. That could mean a lengthy 1099-B during tax season.

Recommendations

Active ETF and Stock Trading: TradeZero with the ZeroPro platform would be an OK choice.

Individual Retirement Accounts: Without IRAs or other retirement accounts, TradeZero just won’t work here. We can recommend Charles Schwab, who has IRAs, self-employed 401k plans, custodial accounts, a 529 account, financial-planning services, a robo account, annuities, life insurance, long-term care insurance, charitable giving, retirement calculators, and so much more.

Beginners: TradeZero is designed for advanced short-term traders. Beginners will probably be lost here. Instead, they should head over to . The company’s software is user-friendly and designed for newbies.

Mutual Funds: Although TradeZero doesn’t have any mutual funds, does. The brokerage house charges no transaction fees on any fund trades, and we found thousands of funds using its screener.

Small Accounts: Due to TradeZero’s $2,500 deposit requirement, we can’t recommend it. would be a better pick. It has fractional-share trading, no minimums, and a desktop platform with bracket orders. The platform displays margin requirements on individual securities.