Zacks Trade Review 2023

Who is Zacks Trade suitable for?

Zacks Trade is a great broker for advanced traders and active traders. That’s not to say that other investors won’t benefit from trading with Zacks Trade, but I think less experienced investors are better served by other providers.

Regardless of your trading experience, ZacksTrade is a solid choice of online broker. Its extensive range of stock and ETF options, coupled with low trading fees, are sure to appeal to investors of all backgrounds.

Who is Zacks Trade?

Zacks Trade is a US-based, online discount broker. Zacks Trade has earned a reputation as the go-to choice for self-directed investors and active traders for almost half a century. Founded by Windy City native, Len Zacks, back in 1978, the company is one of the original disruptors.

Zacks Trade offers its customers low fees, but what really sets it apart from the competition is its massive mix of stocks and ETFs from the US, and further afield. Zacks Trade is one the leading brokers in the US and offers customers a robust platform that’s great for advanced traders.

Who owns Zacks Trade?

Zacks Trade is a division of LBMZ Securities, who also own Interactive Brokers. LBMZ Securities is a privately-owned corporation with the main beneficiary being the Francine Zacks Gift Trust.

• Taxable
• Joint
• Traditional IRA
• Roth IRA
• Rollover IRA
• SEP IRA
• Trusts
• Limited Partnerships

For the purpose of my review, I opened a generic taxable account and, also, a traditional IRA account.

Regardless of the account you decide to open, you will be using an incredibly robust trading platform to manage and execute trades. During my time on Zacks Trade, I found that my account gave me access to more advanced functions then I could shake a stick at. In my opinion, they provide advanced and experienced traders an efficient trading workspace packed with flexible tools that help you trade the way you want.

As for products available, Zacks Trade lets you trade securities and has a complete range of US and international stocks, ETFs, bonds, US mutual funds, options, as well as offering a select range of reputable cryptocurrencies and penny stocks.

Zacks Trade offers options trading, and also offers a variety of options trading strategies, including covered calls, naked puts, and spreads.

With your account you also have access to a range of mutual funds from different fund families, and can search for mutual funds based on various criteria, such as asset class, investment style, and fees.

However, if you are one of those brave souls who wants to trade futures or are confident enough to trade forex, then you will have to look elsewhere. Zacks Trade does not support these products. In my opinion, this is not a huge deal as these assets are not something casual traders should deal with due to the high risks usually associated with them.

Before you start the process, make sure you have the following to hand: a document that will act as your proof of residency (usually a bank statement or utility bill), and proof of identity (such as a passport or driving license). Assuming you have these documents ready, then the application should take no more than ten minutes to complete. That said, it may take up to three working days to verify your account.

To open a new account, simply follow these steps:

• Go to the Zacks Trade website and click on the “Open an Account” tab, located on the top-right of the homepage.
• Select the account you want to open and provide your personal information.
• Pick what currency you want your account in, for most people I would recommend USD.
• Answer a series of questions about your financial situation and goals. This may seem intrusive, but most brokers use these questions to gauge their customers risk tolerance and portfolio preferences.
• Lastly, scan/upload your proof of residency and an ID document.

Once you have completed all the above steps, Zacks Trade will need to verify your information is correct. This process should take no more than 3 working days and once your account is verified, you can deposit money and start trading!

Deposit & Withdrawal process

No matter how effective the trading platform is, being able to quickly and easily deposit and withdraw funds is just as important. Luckily, this process is hassle-free and relatively fast, as long as you ensure you fulfil the account minimum requirement. That said, as with almost every single other broker, the process of depositing money is almost instantaneous, whilst withdrawing money takes a little longer.

To deposit money

First of all, be aware that for your first deposit you must meet the account minimum requirement and deposit at least $2,500. Unlike some other brokers, Zacks Trade has no transaction fee on funds deposited into an account. The only costs you will have to pay are those charged by the financial institution used to make the transaction.

You can add funds to your account by means of a bank wire transfer, check, or automated clearing house (ACH). Once you have decided on the method, you simply follow these easy steps:

• Log in to your Zacks Trade account.
• From there go to the “Transfer and Pay” screen and select “Transfer Funds”.
• Choose the Transaction Type, Currency, and Funding Method.
• You will be asked to provide details of the financial institution.
• Review the transfer information.
• Check all the information is correct, and confirm the transfer.

To withdraw money

Assuming your investment portfolio has been growing stronger, you may well want to spend some of those well-earned profits. Don’t worry, withdrawing funds is straightforward and can be done in just a few minutes. Though, as I mentioned earlier, it may take a few days for funds to appear in your account.

To make a withdrawal simply follow these steps:

• Log in to your Zacks Trade account.
• From there, go to the “Transfer and Pay” screen and select “Withdraw Funds.”
• Choose the Transaction Type, Currency, and Funding Method.
• If you are transferring funds to a linked bank account then the next steps are automated. If it’s a different account, you will need to provide the necessary account details.
• Review the information and, if you are happy, click “Confirm.”

After all, it’s all well and good for you to make astute trades, only to find your broker taking an oversize bite of your pie, and whether it’s transaction fees, management fees, service fees, or other such fees, some brokers really do ambush their customers with high hidden costs.

Aside from an inactivity fee, for which Zacks Trade charges $15 per month (for accounts under $25,000), I found they offer customers competitive pricing and reasonable account fees. Yes, there are cheaper brokers, but they struggle to match the full range of products and services that Zacks Trade provides.

For example, access to all Zacks Trade platforms, automated customer account transfers, corporate actions, order cancellations, broker assisted trades and IRA custodial services are all provided for free. I was even able to make one withdrawal a month for free, something most brokers bill you for, with subsequent withdrawals for the same month billed at a very reasonable withdrawal fees.

Trading fees for stock, ETF and bond trades are very low at just $0.01 per share but, as the saying goes, you can’t have everything and, as such, the fees for mutual funds trading are quite high—clocking at $27.50 for all trades over $1.00.

If you want to trade crypto, then the rates charged are quite reasonable and for monthly volumes of USD ≤ 100,000 you will be billed at 0.18% for a minimum of $1.75 per order, limited to no more than 1% of trade value.

Though I did not engage in margin trading during my time with the platform, I can report that the rates offered by Zacks Trade are some of the lowest I have encountered. For margin trading sums below $100,000, the rate is just 5.8%.

These are some of the best margin trading rates available, especially when compared to rival online brokers with average rates of 11%.

This is not a surprise as a lot of the ecosystem that Zacks Trade operates on is provided by another broker that is well regarded for its customer offerings, namely, Interactive Brokers. As I mentioned earlier in my Zacks Trade review, the company is owned by LBMZ Securities, which is, in turn, affiliated with Interactive Brokers, LLC, and, as such, the two trading platforms are quite similar.

Customers have a choice of three different platforms that provide a range of scalable and customizable services and trading tools that you can use. My Zacks Trade review will now look at them in detail.

Zacks Trade Pro

The Zacks Trade Pro platform is ideal for high-volume and active traders who are looking to maximize earnings. The Zacks Trad Pro trading platform has more tools than a Swiss army knife, and is fully customizable.

This powerful interface includes ensuite tools such as the Volatility Lab, which lets users quickly and accurately forecast future performance readings, as well as review historical performance. If you plan to trade stocks, tools, such as the Options Strategy Lab, are a real boon as they help forecast stock developments and also list potentially profitable strategies.

The cherry on the cake is that all these impressive resources are available to Zacks Trade customers for free! I should, however, mention that this extremely versatile and customizable tool can be a bit daunting to get to grips with, even for advanced traders.

Client Portal

I would advise that casual traders use the Zacks Trader Client Portal. This is a slightly scaled-down, browser-based trading platform. It offers a lot of the functionality of the Zacks Trade Pro trading platform, but is much easier to get to grips with.

You do not have to download anything to use the Client Portal as it is a browser-based experience. This means you can trade from any PC and do not have to worry about running programs on your device.

In my opinion, the Client Portal is the best way to experience Zacks Trade as you are able to take advantage of some of the powerful trading tools without suffering from information overload. If you decide later on that you want to be one of the Zacks Trade Pros, then you can simply download the program to upgrade your trading experience.

Mobile App

To meet the demands of this increasingly fast-paced world, Zack Trade offers a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices that makes international trading a breeze.

The Handy Trader mobile app is a mobile trading platform that is tailor-made for trading on-the-go. With the Handy Trader app, account holders can manage orders, monitor their portfolio, and trade stocks, options and other securities wherever they may be.

I was particularly impressed by the speed of the app on my phone, as I was able to pull up information, close trades, and check my account with zero lag.

Though I have to caveat, I am not an Apple user and cannot personally verify, with a 4.2 score on both the Google and Apple store fronts, it seems that the app performs well regardless of the OS.

You have three different ways of getting in touch with a customer service agent, namely, Live Chat, telephone, and email.

Live Chat

This is my recommended way of trying to resolve a problem as it’s the fastest way of getting help. To access chat support, you simply need to log-in to your account and select “Support,” on the bottom left of your account home-screen. Once there, select the chat option and an agent should quickly jump-in to help you deal with your issue.

However, I should warn you that Live Chat support is not available 24/7. Office hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 am-6:00 pm ET, not a great look as almost every other broker offers round-the-clock chat support.

Phone Support

If you prefer to talk to someone, then there is a toll-free number you can use. The wait time I experienced was relatively short.

However, this service is only available during Eastern Time working hours, Monday-Friday 9:00 am-6:00 pm ET.

Email

Lastly, if you are needing help outside of the office hours, or if you are simply not in a hurry, then you can get in touch with Zacks Trade by email.

Obviously, this is the slowest method of trying to fix an issue but the customer support team do read their emails and are quite quick in responding.

The lack of 24/7 support may be an issue for some, especially if you are overseas and have an issue. Overall, I have to say that I was impressed by the customer support agents and, in my dealings with them, I found them to be extremely competent and courteous.

However, my Zacks Trade review should mention that it’s almost too much information, and even seasoned traders may find themselves a little overwhelmed.

Research tools

Customers with Zacks are able to take advantage of in-depth research reports, with access to over 20 publications, including reports from Morningstar, Zacks Investment Research, and Seeking Alpha available to customers for free. Zacks Investment Research is one of the premier market reports and this is a great deal.

Knowledge is king and Zacks Trade has certainly taken this mantra to heart, as its platform charting tool is next level stuff. That said, getting to grips with it can be a bit hard, as there are over 120 different indicators to play with.

Other tools, such as Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, help customers identify mutual funds that should outperform the market. I was really impressed by the tool as mutual funds are not the easiest asset to trade, and it did identify some great picks.

There are a lot of investment resources available, too many to cover in detail in my Zacks Trade review, but all of them help their clients generate value on their investments and make trading a little less risky.

Educational tools

Zacks Trade offers a fairly large range of educational resources and tools. New traders will benefit from classes on trading theory, but even seasoned hands will find tutorials on using charting tools to be well worth their time.

On top of this, investor deposits are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) for up to $500,000 max per account.

To help protect customer accounts, Zacks Trade offers two-factor authentication on accounts, as well as SSL encryption. These security measures help ensure the safety of ZacksTrade clients’ accounts and personal information.

Useful information about Zacks Trade

Are ZacksTrade and Interactive Brokers the same?

The Zacks Trade trading platform is almost identical to the one offered by Interactive Brokers. This should not be a surprise, as Zacks Trade is a division of LBMZ Securities, which also owns Interactive Brokers. The two brokers are very similar in their offerings, but Zacks Trade offers free broker-assisted trading and has a superior customer service experience.

How to contact Zacks Trade

There are three ways to contact ZacksTrade:

The easiest way to contact ZacksTrade is from your account page via Live Chat.

You can also call Monday-Friday 09.00 – 18:00 EST on the following toll-free number: 888.979.2257

If your query is not urgent or outside office hours, you can email at [email protected].