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Firstrade vs Robinhood 2019

StockBrokers.com | November 5th, 2019

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Is Firstrade better than Robinhood? After scoring brokers on over 4,000 data points for our 2019 review, Firstrade (67.1%) is better than Robinhood (46.99%).

Firstrade

Great For Chinese Americans - Open Account
Special Offer: Commission-Free Trading on 700+ ETFs

Founded in 1985, Firstrade has a long history of providing value for its customers. Known for its easy-to-use website, Firstrade offers $0 stock and options trading. Firstrade offers Morningstar research; however, its trading platform struggles to stand out against industry leaders. Read full review.

Robinhood

Great Mobile App
Robinhood makes trading simple for beginners by offering an easy-to-use mobile app and $0 stock, options, ETF, and cryptocurrency trades. However, Robinhood makes money by accepting payment for order flow. Furthermore, few trading tools are offered, and there is no phone support. Read full review.

Overall Rating

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Overall 3.5 2.5
Firstrade Review Robinhood Review

Trading Fees

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Minimum Deposit $0.00 $0.00
Stock Trade Fee (per trade) $0.00 $0.00
ETF Trade Fee $0.00 $0.00
Options Base Fee $0.00 $0.00
Options Per Contract Fee $0.00 $0.00
Mutual Fund Trade Fee $0.00 N/A
Broker Assisted Trades Fee $19.95 $0.00
Commissions & Fees 4 4.5
Winner check_circle

Margin Rates

Feature Firstrade
Open Account 		Robinhood
Under $24,999.99 9.50% 5.00%
$25,000.00 to $49,999.99 9.00% 5.00%
$50,000.00 to $99,999.99 8.50% 5.00%
$100,000.00 to $249,999.99 8.00% 5.00%
$250,000.00 to $499,999.99 7.75% 5.00%
$500,000.00 to $999,999.99 6.00% 5.00%
Above $1,000,000.00 5.25% 5.00%
Commissions & Fees 4 4.5
Winner check_circle

Account Fees

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
IRA Annual Fee $0.00 $0.00
IRA Closure Fee $0.00 $0.00
Returned ACH Fee $50.00 $9.00
Returned Wire Fee $50.00 $9.00
Stock Certificate Processing Fee $300.00 N/A
Stock Certificate Delivery Fee $300.00 N/A
Paper Statement Fee $5.00 $5.00
Paper Confirmation Fee $3.00 $2.00
Domestic Wire Fee $30.00 $25.00
International Wire Fee $50.00 $50.00
Commissions & Fees 4 4.5

Investment Options

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Stock Trading
 Yes Yes
OTCBB / Pink Sheets
 Yes No
Options Trading
 Yes Yes
Complex Options Max Legs
 2 4
Futures Trading
 No No
Forex Trading
 No No
Commission-Free ETFs all all
Mutual Funds (No Load)
 5234 0
Mutual Funds (Total)
 12603 0
Bonds (US Treasury)
 Yes No
Bonds (Corporate)
 Yes No
Bonds (Municipal)
 Yes No
Advisor Services
 No No
International Trading
 No No
Offering of Investments 3.5 2
Winner check_circle

Order Types

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
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 No
Order Type - MultiContingent
 Yes No
Order Type - OCO
 Yes No
Order Type - OTO
 Yes No
Order Type - OTOCO
 No No
Offering of Investments 3.5 2
Winner check_circle

Trading Platforms

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Desktop Platform (Windows)
 No No
Desktop Platform (Mac)
 No No
Web Platform
 Yes Yes
Paper Trading
 No No
Trade Journal
 No No
Watch Lists - Total Fields
 13 7
Two-Factor Authentication Login
 No Yes
Heat Mapping
 Yes No
Platforms & Tools 2 1
Winner check_circle

Charting Features

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Charting - Trade Off Chart
 No No
Charting - Indicators / Studies
 58 5
Charting - Drawing Tools
 5 0
Charting - Historical Trades
 No No
Charting - Corporate Events
 Yes No
Charting - Automated Analysis
 No No
Charting - Save Profiles
 No No
Charting - Study Customizations
 6 2
Charting - Custom Studies
 No No
Platforms & Tools 2 1
Winner check_circle

Day Trading

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

Mobile Trading Apps

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

Mobile App Features

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Watch List Syncing
Yes Yes
Stock Alerts - Basic Fields
 No Yes
Charting - After Hours
 No Yes
Charting - Drawing
 No No
Charting - Study Customizations
Yes No
Customizable Homescreen
 No No
Heatmapping
 No No
Stream Live TV
 No No
Barcode Lookup
 No No
Mobile Trading 3.5 3.5
Winner check_circle

Research Overview

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
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 No
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 Yes
Research 4 1
Winner check_circle

Stock Research

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

ETF Research

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
ETFs - Strategy Overview
 Yes Yes
ETFs - Top 10 Holdings
 Yes No
ETFs - Sector Exposure
 Yes No
ETFs - Risk Analysis
 Yes No
ETFs - Performance Analysis
 Yes Yes
ETFs - Ratings
 Yes No
ETFs - Morningstar StyleMap
 Yes No
ETFs - Reports
 Yes No
Research 4 1
Winner check_circle

Mutual Fund Research

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
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 1
Winner check_circle

Options Trading

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Option Chains - Streaming
 No No
Option Chains - Total Columns
 8 5
Option Chains - Greeks
5 0
Option Chains - Quick Analysis
 No No
Option Analysis - P&L Charts
 No No
Option Probability Analysis
 No No
Option Probability Analysis Adv
 No No
Option Positions - Greeks
No No
Option Positions - Adv Analysis
 No No
Option Positions - Rolling
 Yes No
Option Positions - Grouping
 No No
Platforms & Tools 2 1
Winner check_circle

Beginners

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
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 No
Videos
 Yes No
Webinars (Monthly Avg)
 5 0
Webinars (Archived)
 Yes No
Live Seminars
 No No
Progress Tracking
 No No
Interactive Learning - Quizzes
 No No
Investor Magazine
 No No
Education 3 2
Winner check_circle

Banking

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Retail Locations
 2 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
Winner check_circle

Overall

Feature Firstrade Robinhood
Firstrade Review Robinhood Review
Overall 3.5 2.5
Winner check_circle

Comparing brokers side by side is no easy task. For our annual broker review, we assess over a dozen brokers on hundreds of different variables to find the best online broker. Yielding a database of over 4,000 data points, let's compare Firstrade vs Robinhood.

To start this comparison, first, we will take a look at the online broker commission rates for placing regular stock and options trades. Firstrade and Robinhood have equal fees for trading stocks (equities), $0 per trade. With options, the base fee is $0 for both Firstrade and Robinhood. Option contracts at both of the brokerages are the same at $0 each. It's important to note that not all brokers charge a flat fee per trade. Thus, it is important to read the full commission notes for each broker, which we include with each online broker review.

Next to commission rates, being able to trade what you want is important. Robinhood offers clients Stock Trading and Options Trading while Firstrade offers Stock Trading, Options Trading and Mutual Funds. Looking at mutual funds, Firstrade boasts an offering of 12603 mutual funds compared to Robinhood's 0 available funds.

Trading access aside, by comparing popular features and functionality, we can break down relevant differences between both brokers. Neither broker offers virtual trading. Taking a look at mobile trading, Both Firstrade and Robinhood offer clients access to an iPhone App, iPad App and Android App. Not to be left out, online banking is also a nice benefit for many investors, and some brokerages provide these services to clients. Clients can have Checking Accounts and Debit Cards at Firstrade while customers at Robinhood can have none of these.

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

Firstrade Review
Robinhood Review

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All pricing data was obtained from a published web site as of 02/18/2019 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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