Zacks Trade Review
For advanced trading and pro-level software, Zacks Trade is definitely one brokerage firm worth considering. Before opening your next account, be sure to take a look at the following review:
Accounts and Tradable Assets
At Zacks Trade, investors will find a moderate list of asset classes. The broker-dealer offers stocks, options, cryptocurrencies, mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and fixed income. Besides the big American exchanges, there are over-the-counter exchanges and even some foreign exchanges like the London Stock Exchange. An account has to be enabled for foreign trading before it can actually trade on one of these foreign exchanges.
Every account at Zacks Trade is a self-directed one. There is no investment-advisory service. A brokerage account will have to have some sort of tax structure, and Zacks Trade has a few of them. Examples include joint, custodial, individual, trust, and retirement. There are several choices for professional traders, too. These include proprietary trading groups and hedge funds.
Positions of securities inside a Zacks Trade account are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) up to $500,000 per separate capacity.
Pricing
Zacks Trade caters to day traders, and this emphasis has several implications. First, trades are not commission free. Second, there is a $15 monthly fee for accounts with less than $25,000 in assets. A customer can bypass this inactivity fee if they generate $15 in trading commissions per month. There is also a minimum opening deposit of $250.
Every stock or ETF trade at Zacks costs $0.01 per share with a $1 minimum. This price assumes the stock has a market price of at least $1.00. Below that, the commission is 1% of trade value with a $1 minimum commission.
Option contracts are $1 for the first contract and $0.75 for each additional contract in a single trade. There are no fees for exercises and assignments. Zacks Trade is one of the few brokerage houses we know of to charge nothing extra for broker-assisted trades.
Crypto trades have a $1.75 minimum and a maximum of 1% of trade value. Mutual funds are $27.50 per side.
As a day-trading firm, Zacks has data bundles with fees that vary widely by the package chosen. It does not charge anything for software.
Margin
As already mentioned, Zacks Trade specializes in high-powered trading. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the brokerage firm offers margin accounts. Rates are some of the lowest in the industry:
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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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Zacks Trade’s desktop platform, which we’ll examine up ahead, has a margin calculator that will show the current and post-trade margin requirements of a hypothetical trade.
Besides standard margin, Zacks Trade offers portfolio margin.
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Banking Tools
Zacks Trade does not have any notable cash-management features. There is no debit card and no FDIC-sweep program.
Website
Zacks Trade’s website is used primarily for advertising the company’s trading service. There is a login that creates a platform for account management, money transfers, and simple trading. Statements and tax documents can be downloaded, and there’s a really useful portfolio-analysis tool that can generate pdf reports in daily, monthly, and quarterly formats.
For actual trading, the website has charts with several graph styles, intra-day stats, multiple trade types, and a few time-in-force choices.
Mobile App
Zacks Trade borrows software from Interactive Brokers and uses it for its own customers. The mobile app can be used on Apple or Android phones and tablets. Charting, of course, will be better handled on a tablet, although a phone will have the same resources. These include:
- Several technical studies
- Multiple plot styles
- Buy and sell buttons displayed on top of a graph
On the trade ticket, there is a swipeable graph displayed on the right-hand side. Swiping to the left reveals the graph that was previously viewed before getting to the order ticket. The chart can be edited without having to go back to the original graphing page.
The trade ticket has several order types. These include mid-price, limit, market if touched, and trailing. Important trade stats, such as bid and ask numbers, are prominently displayed at the top of the ticket in real time.
It’s possible to establish trading presets on the order ticket. Just look for the settings icon (three dots) in the upper-right corner. Potential adjustments include order size, time in force, and trade type.
Besides the trading platforms for tablets and phones, Zacks Trade also has an app for Apple Watch.
Desktop Program
The most advanced trading experience will be found on Zacks Trade Pro, the company’s desktop program. It does pack in a lot of useful features. Even better, it can be used on Mac and Linux machines.
A good place to begin on Pro is in the bottom-left corner. Here, there are two layouts installed by default: Classic and Mosaic. It’s possible to create custom layouts and put them down here. There’s also a Learn tab in the corner; it has a great deal of educational resources to help learn this advanced platform.
Classic and Mosaic layouts have a lot of the same tools, although the interfaces are different. There can be slight differences from window to window as well. The trade tickets have a few differences. For example, in Classic mode, there is a check box to route marketable orders to exchanges at best bid and offer only. In Mosaic mode, this check box does not exist. Either ticket has lots of order types, including:
- Mid-price
- Limit
- Pegged-to-Best
- Adaptive Algo
Charting on any layout has a great many tools. During our investigation, we found a right-click menu with trade buttons at the top (the platform uses blue for buy). There are only two plot styles in the software, although there are a great number of technical studies. Drawing tools and text boxes are fair game, too.
Zacks Trade’s desktop software also has some really good option tools. A strategy builder has some spreads already installed, which means it’s really easy to set up a multi-leg trade. And then there’s the volatility lab. This is a window that has a lot of information on open interest, volatility (historical and implied), and more, all in color-coded graphs.
The platform has a simulated-trading mode, which we highly recommend as this software does have a steep learning curve.
Zacks Rank Trading Tool
For the last 36 years, Zacks Investment Research, Inc. has maintained hypothetical model portfolios
holding Zacks Rank #1 stocks. A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank #1 stocks has beaten the market in
29 of the last 36 years with an average annual return of +24.15% a year; more than double that of the S&P
500’s +11.11%. These returns cover a period from 1988 to 06/03/2023.
The Zacks Rank Trading Tool gives traders the opportunity to search for Zacks Rank #1 stocks by theme, sector, and industry, and to buy and sell stocks from the tool right from within their Zacks Trade Brokerage account.
An account minimum of $250 (account balance or initial account deposit) is needed in order to access the Zacks Rank Trading Tool.
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Day Trading
With a monthly account fee assessed against accounts below $25,000, Zacks Trade is obviously catering to day traders. Here’s how the broker-dealer is performing in key areas:
Leverage: Day traders get up to 4:1 leverage, and those who have portfolio margin can increase this level to 6:1.
Extended Hours: Pre-market and after-hours trading are possible for securities. Cryptocurrencies trade around the clock.
Level II quotes: Zacks Trade offers Level II data on both American and non-American exchanges.
Direct-access routing: It’s possible to send an order to a specific market venue using Zacks Trade’s software. Some foreign exchanges also have this feature.
Shorting: Zacks Trade permits shorting, and its software displays how many shares of a ticker symbol can be shorted.
Bracket orders: The order ticket on the desktop platform has a feature to add take-profit and stop-loss orders to an opening trade.
Customer Service
Previously, Zacks Trade had a human chat widget on its website. This has been removed, and there is no robo chat tool, either. It does have an email address (support@zackstrade.com), although this will obviously deliver a slower return.
For issues that can’t wait, phone service is available during regular business hours, which for Zacks is 9:00 am until 6:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. Zacks Trade has no branch locations.
Additional Services
Initial Public Offerings: Not available.
DRIP Service: Available at Zacks Trade, although the brokerage firm charges for its service here.
Fractional-share Trading: Missing in action for securities, although cryptocurrencies can be traded in whole dollars.
IRA Service: Zacks Trade has Traditional, Inherited, Roth, SEP, and Rollover IRAs. The Inherited setup is available in both Roth and Traditional tax modes. The Rollover is only available in the Traditional tax structure.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: Zacks Trade doesn’t have it.
ZacksTrade Review Final Verdict
For high-octane global trading, Zacks Trade is definitely a strong contender.
Open ZacksTrade Account
Visit ZacksTrade Website
Updated on 12/22/2024.
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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