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Firstrade vs Lightspeed 2020

StockBrokers.com | January 20th, 2020

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Is Lightspeed better than Firstrade? After scoring brokers in eight separate categories for our 2020 review, Firstrade (76.33%) is better than Lightspeed (61.30%).

Firstrade

Best for Chinese-speaking investors - Open Account
Special Offer: Commission-Free Trading on 700+ ETFs

Firstrade offers $0 stock, ETF, and options trades, and is best known for its easy-to-use website, alongside its Chinese language services. While Firstrade offers Morningstar research and a variety of tools, its overall offering struggles to stand out against household name brands who are also priced at $0. Read full review

Lightspeed

Lightspeed Trader
Lightspeed is a direct-access online brokerage that focuses on serving active and professional traders through its in-house and third-party trading platforms. Casual traders beware, not trading enough means paying high monthly platform fees. Read full review

Overall Rating

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Overall 4 3
Firstrade Review Lightspeed Review

Trading Fees

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Minimum Deposit $0.00 $10,000.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade) $0.00 $4.50
ETF Trade Fee $0.00 $4.50
Options Base Fee $0.00 $0.00
Options Per Contract Fee $0.00 $0.60
Mutual Fund Trade Fee $0.00 N/A
Broker Assisted Trades Fee $19.95 $25.00
Commissions & Fees 4.5 2.5
Winner check_circle

Margin Rates

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Under $24,999.99 9.00% 8.00%
$25,000.00 to $49,999.99 8.75% 8.00%
$50,000.00 to $99,999.99 8.25% 7.00%
$100,000.00 to $249,999.99 7.75% 7.00%
$250,000.00 to $499,999.99 7.50% 6.75%
$500,000.00 to $999,999.99 5.60% 6.25%
Above $1,000,000.00 5.00% 6.00%
Commissions & Fees 4.5 2.5
Winner check_circle

Account Fees

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
IRA Annual Fee $0.00 $35.00
IRA Closure Fee $0.00 $95.00
Returned ACH Fee $50.00 $30.00
Returned Wire Fee $50.00 $30.00
Stock Certificate Processing Fee $300.00 $75.00
Stock Certificate Delivery Fee $300.00 $50.00
Paper Statement Fee $5.00 $5.00
Paper Confirmation Fee $3.00 $2.00
Domestic Wire Fee $30.00 $20.00
International Wire Fee $50.00 $50.00
Commissions & Fees 4.5 2.5

Investment Options

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Stock Trading
 Yes Yes
Fractional Shares
 No No
OTCBB / Pink Sheets
 Yes Yes
Options Trading
 Yes Yes
Complex Options Max Legs
 4 4
Futures Trading
 No Yes
Forex Trading
 No No
Commission-Free ETFs all 0
Mutual Funds (No Load)
 10746 0
Mutual Funds (Total)
 14939 0
Bonds (US Treasury)
 Yes Yes
Bonds (Corporate)
 Yes No
Bonds (Municipal)
 Yes No
Interest Sharing
 No No
Advisor Services
 No No
International Trading
 No No
Offering of Investments 4 3
Winner check_circle

Order Types

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Order Type - Market
 Yes Yes
Order Type - Limit
 Yes Yes
Order Type - Stop
 Yes Yes
Order Type - Trailing Stop
 Yes Yes
Order Type - Contingent
 Yes Yes
Order Type - MultiContingent
 Yes Yes
Order Type - OCO
 Yes Yes
Order Type - OTO
 Yes Yes
Order Type - OTOCO
 No Yes
Offering of Investments 4 3
Winner check_circle

Trading Platforms

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Desktop Platform (Windows)
 No Yes
Desktop Platform (Mac)
 No Yes
Web Platform
 Yes Yes
Paper Trading
 No Yes
Trade Journal
 No No
Watch Lists - Total Fields
 47 141
Heat Mapping
 Yes No
AI Assistant Bot
 No No
Platforms & Tools 2.5 3
Winner check_circle

Charting Features

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Charting - Trade Off Chart
 No Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies
 58 20
Charting - Drawing Tools
 8 8
Charting - Historical Trades
 No Yes
Charting - Corporate Events
 Yes No
Charting - Automated Analysis
 No No
Charting - Save Profiles
 No Yes
Charting - Study Customizations
 6 4
Charting - Custom Studies
 No No
Platforms & Tools 2.5 3
Winner check_circle

Day Trading

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Stock Alerts - Basic Fields
 Yes Yes
Stock Alerts - Advanced Fields
 No No
Streaming Time & Sales
 No Yes
Streaming TV
 No No
Direct Market Routing - Stocks
 No Yes
Direct Market Routing - Options
 No Yes
Ladder Trading
 No No
Trade Hot Keys
 No Yes
Level 2 Quotes - Stocks
 No Yes
Level 2 Quotes - Options
 No Yes
Trade Ideas - Backtesting
 No No
Short Locator
 No Yes
Order Liquidity Rebates
 No Yes
Winner check_circle

Mobile Trading Apps

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
iPhone App
 Yes Yes
Android App
 Yes Yes
Apple Watch App
 No No
Trading - Stocks
 Yes Yes
Trading - After-Hours
 Yes No
Trading - Conditional Orders
 No No
Trading - Mutual Funds
 No No
Trading - Simple Options
 Yes Yes
Trading - Complex Options
 Yes Yes
Trading - Option Rolling
 No No
Touch / Face ID
 Yes No
Winner check_circle

Mobile App Features

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Watch List Syncing
Yes No
Stock Alerts
 No Yes
Charting - After Hours
 No No
Charting - Drawing
 No No
Charting - Study Customizations
Yes No
Heatmapping
 No No
Stream Live TV
 No No
Barcode Lookup
 No No
Mobile Trading 3.5 3
Winner check_circle

Research Overview

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Research - Stocks
 Yes Yes
Research - ETFs
 Yes Yes
Research - Mutual Funds
 Yes No
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBB
 Yes No
Research - Fixed Income
 Yes No
Screener - Stocks
 Yes Yes
Screener - ETFs
 Yes No
Screener - Mutual Funds
 Yes No
Screener - Options
 No No
Screener - Bonds
 Yes No
Misc - Portfolio Builder
 No No
Misc - Portfolio Allocation
 Yes No
Research 4 2
Winner check_circle

Stock Research

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Stock Research - Reports
 1 0
Stock Research - Earnings
 Yes No
Stock Research - Insiders
 Yes Yes
Stock Research - Metric Comp
 Yes No
Stock Research - SEC Filings
 Yes No
Stock Research - Social
 No Yes
Stock Research - Balance Sheet
 Yes No
Stock Research - Cash Flows
 Yes No
Stock Research - News
 Yes Yes
Stock Research - ESG
 No No
Research 4 2
Winner check_circle

ETF Research

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
ETFs - Strategy Overview
 Yes No
ETFs - Top 10 Holdings
 Yes No
ETFs - Sector Exposure
 Yes No
ETFs - Risk Analysis
 Yes No
ETFs - Performance Analysis
 Yes No
ETFs - Ratings
 Yes No
ETFs - Morningstar StyleMap
 Yes No
ETFs - Reports
 Yes No
Research 4 2
Winner check_circle

Mutual Fund Research

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Mutual Funds - Strategy Overview
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Prospectus
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Reports
 No No
Mutual Funds - Fees Breakdown
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Top 10 Holdings
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Asset Allocation
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Sector Allocation
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - Country Allocation
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - StyleMap
 Yes No
Mutual Funds - 3rd Party Ratings
 Yes No
Research 4 2
Winner check_circle

Options Trading

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Option Chains - Streaming
 No Yes
Option Chains - Total Columns
 8 60
Option Chains - Greeks
5 5
Option Chains - Quick Analysis
 No Yes
Option Analysis - P&L Charts
 No Yes
Option Probability Analysis
 No No
Option Probability Analysis Adv
 No No
Option Positions - Greeks
No Yes
Option Positions - Adv Analysis
 No No
Option Positions - Rolling
 Yes Yes
Option Positions - Grouping
 No Yes
Platforms & Tools 2.5 3
Winner check_circle

Beginners

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Has Education - Stocks
 Yes Yes
Has Education - ETFs
 No No
Has Education - Options
 Yes Yes
Has Education - Mutual Funds
 No No
Has Education - Fixed Income
 No No
Has Education - Retirement
 Yes No
Paper Trading
 No Yes
Videos
 Yes Yes
Webinars (Monthly Avg)
 6 1
Webinars (Archived)
 Yes Yes
Live Seminars
 No No
Progress Tracking
 No No
Interactive Learning - Quizzes
 No No
Investor Magazine
 No No
Education 3 3
Winner check_circle

Banking

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Retail Locations
 1 0
Member FDIC
 No No
Checking Accounts
 Yes No
Savings Accounts
 No No
Credit Cards
 No No
Debit Cards
 Yes No
Mortgage Loans
 No No
No Fee Banking
 No No
Banking 2 0.5

Overall

Feature Firstrade Lightspeed
Firstrade Review Lightspeed Review
Overall 4 3
Winner check_circle

Using data from our latest annual broker review which tested more than a dozen different online brokers over six months, we can compare Firstrade vs Lightspeed to determine which broker is best. Let's dive in.

First, we will break down the commission charges of both brokers for placing stock and options trades. Lightspeed, with its regular stock trades costing $4.50, is more expensive than Firstrade's rate of $0 per trade. For options trading, both Firstrade and Lightspeed charge the same base fee of $0. Firstrade's per contract rate of $0 is less than Lightspeed which charges $0.60. Instead of flat rate fees, several brokers charge a per-share fee instead. For a complete review of trading charges, read our full online broker reviews.

Next, investors want to make sure they can trade the investment vehicle they want. Lightspeed supports Stock Trading, Options Trading and Futures Trading while Firstrade supports Stock Trading, Options Trading and Mutual Funds. As far as mutual funds go, Lightspeed trails Firstrade by 14,939 total mutual funds, with Firstrade offering 14939 and Lightspeed offering 0.

Finally, by comparing the each broker's website and platform features, we can surface interesting differences. Lightspeed offers virtual trading while Firstrade does not. For mobile trading, Firstrade and Lightspeed both have a iPhone App, iPad App and Android App. Online banking is also used by many customers, and multiple full-service brokerages provide these services. Checking Accounts and Debit Cards are offered by Firstrade while Lightspeed offers none of these.

Overall, between Firstrade and Lightspeed, Firstrade is the winner.

Firstrade Review
Lightspeed Review

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All pricing data was obtained from a published web site as of 01/20/2020 and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. For stock trade rates, advertised pricing is for a standard order size of 500 shares of stock priced at $30 per share. For options orders, an options regulatory fee per contract may apply.

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