Zacks Trade Review
Traders seeking advanced technology and professional-level software may find Zacks Trade worth considering. Before choosing this broker for a new account, review the following details carefully:
Accounts and Tradable Assets
Zacks Trade provides access to a reasonable variety of investments. Available products include stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and fixed-income securities. In addition to the major U.S. exchanges, clients can trade over-the-counter securities and access numerous international markets, including the London Stock Exchange. Zacks Trade currently promotes access to 150 markets in 34 countries. Customers must receive the necessary international-trading permissions before placing orders on foreign exchanges.
Zacks Trade’s current public investment and pricing pages do not identify cryptocurrency as an available product. Its advertised offerings concentrate on stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, and securities traded in overseas markets.
All Zacks Trade accounts are self-directed, and the company does not provide an investment-advisory program. Customers can choose from several account registrations and tax structures, including individual, joint, custodial, trust, and retirement accounts. Specialized registrations are also available for professional traders and organizations, such as corporations, partnerships, proprietary trading groups, and hedge funds.
Securities and qualifying cash held in a Zacks Trade account receive protection from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. SIPC coverage is limited to $500,000 for each separate account capacity, including no more than $250,000 for cash. SIPC may help replace missing customer assets when a member brokerage firm fails, but it does not reimburse investors for market-related losses.
Pricing
Zacks Trade is aimed largely at frequent traders, and this approach affects its fee schedule in several ways. The broker does not provide commission-free trading, and accounts with less than $25,000 are charged a $15 monthly inactivity fee when they generate less than $15 in commissions during that month. New customers must also make a minimum initial deposit of $250.
U.S. stock and ETF transactions involving securities priced above $1 cost $0.01 per share, subject to a $1 minimum commission. When a stock or ETF trades below $1, the charge is 1% of the transaction value, with the same $1 minimum. Exchange, clearing, and regulatory costs can be added in certain circumstances.
An options order costs $1 for its first contract and $0.75 for every additional contract included in the same transaction. Exercises and assignments do not have a separate fee. Zacks Trade also does not impose an extra surcharge when a licensed representative places a trade for the customer.
Mutual-fund transactions cost $27.50 each. Government and corporate bonds follow separate commission schedules based on their face value and the number of bonds included in the order.
Because the brokerage serves active traders, it offers optional research and real-time market-data packages. Prices depend on the selected package and whether the subscriber is classified as a professional or nonprofessional customer. Zacks Trade provides Client Portal, its mobile application, and Zacks Trade Pro without a platform-access charge.
Margin
Zacks Trade’s emphasis on frequent trading makes the availability of margin accounts unsurprising. Its published borrowing rates are lower than the standard rates charged by many major brokerage firms:
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Debit Balance
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ZacksTrade Margin Rate
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$0 - $100,000
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8.83%
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$100,001 - $1,000,000
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8.33%
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$1,000,001 - $3,000,000
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8.08%
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$3,000,001+
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7.83%
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Published U.S.-dollar margin rates currently begin at 8.83% on the first $100,000 borrowed and decline to 7.83% for the portion of a debit balance above $50 million. Zacks Trade uses blended pricing, meaning each part of a large loan is charged according to the tier in which it falls. These rates can change.
Zacks Trade Pro includes margin-analysis features that display both the current margin requirement and the estimated requirement after a proposed transaction.
In addition to standard Regulation T margin, qualified clients can apply for portfolio margin. This method calculates requirements according to portfolio risk and can reduce the amount of required equity for certain diversified or hedged positions. Portfolio margin does not promise a specific amount of leverage for every position or account.
ZacksTrade Promotion
Banking Tools
Zacks Trade offers few traditional cash-management features. The brokerage does not advertise a debit card, check-writing privileges, or an FDIC-insured bank-deposit sweep.
Website
The public Zacks Trade website mainly describes the brokerage company and its services. After signing in, customers can use Client Portal, a browser-based system for account administration, transfers, reports, and trading. Clients can download tax documents and statements and use Portfolio Analyst to prepare PDF reports covering customized periods.
Client Portal includes charts, intraday market information, multiple order instructions, and several time-in-force choices. It also allows customers to change account settings, request additional trading permissions, transfer funds, and monitor open orders and current positions.
Mobile App
Zacks Trade provides its customers with brokerage and clearing technology connected to Interactive Brokers. The Zacks Trade application works on compatible Android and Apple phones and tablets. Its charts are easier to examine on a larger tablet screen, but the phone version includes many of the same tools, such as:
- Multiple technical indicators
- Several chart formats
- Buy and sell controls displayed on charts
A swipeable chart appears on the right side of the mobile order ticket. Swiping toward the left reveals the chart that was open before the user entered the trade ticket. Changes can be made to the chart without returning to the original chart page.
The order form supports a variety of instructions, including MidPrice, limit, market-if-touched, and trailing orders. When the necessary market-data subscription is active, current bid and ask quotes are shown prominently near the top of the ticket.
Customers can create order presets through the settings icon in the upper-right corner. Available preferences include the default order quantity, time in force, and order type.
In addition to supporting smartphones and tablets, the current Apple App Store listing identifies the Zacks Trade application as compatible with Apple Watch.
Desktop Program
Zacks Trade Pro provides the company’s most advanced trading experience. This downloadable desktop program includes a large collection of professional tools and can be installed on Windows, macOS, and Linux computers.
The bottom-left corner of Zacks Trade Pro is a useful starting point. Two standard workspaces, Classic and Mosaic, are installed automatically. Customers can also design and save their own layouts in this area. A Learn tab in the same corner contains educational material explaining how to use the sophisticated platform.
Classic and Mosaic include many of the same features, but their layouts are different, and some individual tools do not work in exactly the same way. For example, the order tickets have slightly different designs. Classic includes a checkbox that limits marketable orders to exchanges displaying the best available bid or offer, while Mosaic does not present the feature in the same format. Both tickets support many advanced order instructions, including:
- MidPrice
- Limit
- Pegged-to-Best
- Adaptive Algo
Zacks Trade Pro’s charting system provides a substantial number of analytical features. In our review, right-clicking a chart opened a menu with trading controls at the top, and buy orders were displayed in blue. The tested version had only two chart formats, but it included more than 120 adjustable technical indicators. Drawing features and text boxes were available as well.
Several advanced derivatives tools are also included. Strategy Builder offers predefined options spreads that simplify the creation of multi-leg orders. Volatility Lab presents historical and implied volatility, open interest, and other options information through color-coded graphs.
The software supports simulated trading, which we strongly recommend using because Zacks Trade Pro has a significant learning curve.
Zacks Rank Trading Tool
Zacks Investment Research has tracked hypothetical model portfolios built from Zacks Rank #1 stocks since 1988. Zacks currently reports an average annual return of approximately 24.00% for Zacks Rank #1 stocks from January 1, 1988, through May 4, 2026, compared with 11.49% for the S&P 500 over the stated period. These numbers represent hypothetical model results rather than returns earned in an actual brokerage account, and they do not reflect every trading cost or tax an individual investor could incur.
Through the Zacks Rank Trading Tool, customers can filter Zacks Rank #1 securities by theme, industry, and sector and prepare buy or sell orders directly from the tool within their brokerage account.
Zacks Trade customers can use the Zacks Rank Trading Tool without an additional subscription charge. The current fee page requires an account balance or initial deposit of at least $250 for access.
Open ZacksTrade Account
Day Trading
The possible monthly charge on certain accounts below $25,000 demonstrates that Zacks Trade is primarily designed for active clients. Here is how the company performs in several areas important to frequent traders:
Leverage: FINRA replaced its former pattern-day-trader classification and fixed $25,000 minimum with new intraday-margin requirements effective June 4, 2026. Member firms that need additional time may phase in the standards through October 20, 2027. As a result, the intraday buying power available through Zacks Trade depends on the account’s holdings, applicable margin rules, clearing-firm controls, and the broker’s implementation schedule. Portfolio margin uses a risk-based method and does not guarantee 6:1 leverage.
Extended Hours: Qualifying securities can be traded before and after the standard market session. Available hours, exchanges, and order types can differ according to the security and trading venue.
Level II Quotes: Optional Level II subscriptions are available for U.S. and foreign markets. Many real-time data packages have monthly charges, although a subscription fee may be waived when the account reaches the required trading-activity level.
Direct-Access Routing: Zacks Trade’s software can route eligible transactions to a selected market center. Direct routing is also supported on certain overseas exchanges. Exchange, clearing, regulatory, and routing expenses may be charged.
Shorting: Approved margin accounts can sell securities short. The trading software displays the number of shares currently available to borrow for a selected ticker symbol, although availability and borrowing costs can change without notice.
Bracket Orders: The desktop ticket allows a customer to attach profit-taking and stop-loss instructions to an opening order.
Customer Service
Zacks Trade currently provides customer assistance by telephone, email, online chat, and social media. Customers can send messages to support@zackstrade.com, and orders placed with help from a broker do not incur a special representative-assisted surcharge.
Telephone representatives are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET, excluding exchange holidays. The company does not maintain a network of public branch offices.
Additional Services
Initial Public Offerings: Zacks Trade does not currently advertise access to IPO allocations.
DRIP Service: Dividend reinvestment is available, although service-related charges may apply.
Fractional-Share Trading: Zacks Trade’s public product pages do not currently advertise fractional purchases of stocks or ETFs.
IRA Service: Available retirement registrations include Traditional, Inherited, Roth, SEP, and Rollover IRAs. An Inherited IRA may use a Traditional or Roth tax structure, while the Rollover IRA follows the Traditional structure. Zacks Trade’s current commission page lists no annual IRA custodial fee.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: The company does not currently promote a fully paid securities-lending program on its public product pages.
ZacksTrade Review Verdict
Zacks Trade is a strong possibility for sophisticated investors who need access to global exchanges. The broker advertises 150 markets in 34 countries, advanced software with no platform charge, broker-assisted trades without an added representative fee, and margin rates beginning at 8.83%. Its disadvantages include trading commissions, a possible monthly inactivity charge, minimal cash-management features, and support hours that exclude nights and weekends.
ZacksTrade Website
Visit ZacksTrade Website
Updated on 9/20/2026.
Chad Morris has been analyzing investment firms for Brokerage-Review.com since 2015. Backed by FINRA Series 65, 66, and SIE credentials, his work reflects a deep knowledge of the retail brokerage industry and digital trading tools.
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