Anyone tried Firstrade ?

status1

Well-known member
I came across this brokerage while browsing and supposedly they have $0 commissions for stocks and options
Looks like they are trying to compete with Robinhood
I was wondering if anyone has tried them out or not and what would be the catch ?
 
I guess I am the first one to try it
I switched over from Tradier because they required 300K account to trade calendars and diagonals
I just placed my first double diagonal trade at Firstrade
The web platform is kind of horrible because the default is to buy the first leg which is opposite of all the other brokearges I got used to
Also It does not show the mid price so I am using TOS to get the mid price
Another oddball thing is the confirmation comes separate for each leg so you have to download each confirmation separately

Now for the good news
It is true that they have $0 commissions and that includes SPX
They only charge a few cents for clearing fee so for the 10 lot double diagonal in SPX I paid a total of $1.42
That beats all the other brokerages except maybe Robinhood but I am not sure if you can trade double diagonals in SPX over there
 
I guess I am the first one to try it
I switched over from Tradier because they required 300K account to trade calendars and diagonals
I just placed my first double diagonal trade at Firstrade
The web platform is kind of horrible because the default is to buy the first leg which is opposite of all the other brokearges I got used to
Also It does not show the mid price so I am using TOS to get the mid price
Another oddball thing is the confirmation comes separate for each leg so you have to download each confirmation separately

Now for the good news
It is true that they have $0 commissions and that includes SPX
They only charge a few cents for clearing fee so for the 10 lot double diagonal in SPX I paid a total of $1.42
That beats all the other brokerages except maybe Robinhood but I am not sure if you can trade double diagonals in SPX over there

I was surprised regarding Tradier's account size requirements. I tried them for a few weeks, as I heard their platform was interesting. They
also have that strange confirmation process.
 
I sent them a feedback and they said they will try to improove the sight but I am not holding my breath for it

For the confirmation I found a workaround
I use the history to download the trade for that date so I get all the legs for that day in an Excel format
which is a lot better than TOS where I have to coble up 2 separate Excel data formats into one to get all the same information to be used for a trading journal
 
I sent them a feedback and they said they will try to improove the sight but I am not holding my breath for it

For the confirmation I found a workaround
I use the history to download the trade for that date so I get all the legs for that day in an Excel format
which is a lot better than TOS where I have to coble up 2 separate Excel data formats into one to get all the same information to be used for a trading journal
do they have pm accounts
 
I am not sure since I am not using it for the pm account The only thing they have going for it is the very low commission otherwise I would probably not even use it I would say you would be better off if you choose a different brokerage if you need a pm account
 
I am not sure since I am not using it for the pm account The only thing they have going for it is the very low commission otherwise I would probably not even use it I would say you would be better off if you choose a different brokerage if you need a pm account
Thanks for your reply ,between fidelity and Schwab what would you recommend ,if I am trading only 4 leg spx options but i use optionnetexplorer to set up my trade or maybe any other broker
 
I would say number one would be TOS but if you have ONE you could set up and track your trades that way and also look at your risk graph

After that I would say Schwab is better at setting up and closing a trade but none of them are as good as TOS
When you want to roll an existing option at the other brokerages you have to close one trade before opening the next one
On TOS you can do it in one trade
You can also try Tastyworks but the commissions are high so keep that in mind if you plan to make a lot of adjustments
There is also Etrade which is between TOS and Tastyworks as far as the commissions are concerned
 
I would say number one would be TOS but if you have ONE you could set up and track your trades that way and also look at your risk graph

After that I would say Schwab is better at setting up and closing a trade but none of them are as good as TOS
When you want to roll an existing option at the other brokerages you have to close one trade before opening the next one
On TOS you can do it in one trade
You can also try Tastyworks but the commissions are high so keep that in mind if you plan to make a lot of adjustments
There is also Etrade which is between TOS and Tastyworks as far as the commissions are concerned
thank you so much , I am at schwab now ,not so happy with the pm ,they stress test me 16% on the upside on spx, and also get nothing on cash held in the account ,do you know how fidelty would be on this
tos commissions is a problem on spx but I use it together with one for charting
btw I have rolled an existing option on schwab as well in one trade
 
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Here is a link to the Fidelity pm It's toward the bottom of the page
You need at least 150K plus some other requirements
Before the pandemic they used to have very good rates on the cash held in the account now it's pretty much the same as everyone else At least the commissions are lower than TOS
Schwab is one of the other few that can roll an option trade in one trade That is because they bought OptionsXpress which was a good move for them
 
Another negative for Firstrade that I came across recently is that they cannot handle an Iron condor trade if it's placed separately
They want to charge the margin separately for each side if you leg into an iron condor but if you place the trade for both sides in one order than they only charge you one time for the margin
 
Another negative I found recently
For some unknown or stupid reason you cannot place a spread order before the regular market opens You have to sign up for extended hours so you can place a spread order before the regular market open
Oddly you can place a single leg option order before the regular market but not a spread
 
Looks like this is the end of the line for the free index options fee
Starting June 1 they will start passing through the SPX index option fee so for more than $1 for the weekly it will be 0.59 cents I may have to close this account since that was the only good thing going for it
 
Looks like this is the end of the line for the free index options fee
Starting June 1 they will start passing through the SPX index option fee so for more than $1 for the weekly it will be 0.59 cents I may have to close this account since that was the only good thing going for it
Thank you for informing of the fee change. -- Saves me the effort of considering an account there.
 
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