Firstrade Review: A Better Foreign Broker?

I am currently using ToledoTrade as my broker in US. However, I recently found out that Firstrade (Link) is open to Malaysians and I have decided to give it a try.

Why Firstrade?

I was mainly attracted by the $0 commission for online trading. Furthermore, like ToledoTrade, there is no inactivity fee too. There is also no minimum initial deposit.

Is Firstrade safe?

It is established since 1985 and is a member of FINRA/SIPC. You can refer to this link to know more about FINRA/SIPC. Firstrade is rated by major industry publications including Barron’s, Forbes, and Smart Money as one of the best online brokers over the years. For the fifth year in a row, Firstrade was awarded 4.5 stars out of five for the website’s ease of use and also awarded “Best in Class” by StockBrokers.com 2019 Online Broker Review.

Account opening process

To open an account with Firstrade, the account holder has to be 18 years old and above. We have to make sure that we select an international account. Firstrade will send a One-Time Verification Code through text message or phone call that expires after 30 minutes before the form filling. We will have to upload passport photo page and signature page during the registration.

We also need to fill in a Foreign Tax ID Number (FTIN). We can use our Income Tax Number from Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia. The broker also needs more information including annual income, liquid net worth, total net worth (excluding any liabilities), investment experience, and investment objective. Furthermore, we have to choose whether we want to activate some additional account features such as margin trading, options trading and extended hours trading. I left all these options unchecked.

After that, we will have to set up user ID, password, and a 4-digit pin. Finally, we need to sign an E-Signature Service Agreement. We will get an account number in email within one to two business days. I got my account in the next day.

When we first log in, we have to sign an agreement saying we are not financial professionals. After that, set two security questions and answers and we are ready to go.

Funding the account

It is slightly tricky to fund the account. I use Alliance Bank for the wire transfer. The transfer details can be gotten here (Link). However, Alliance Bank requires a Fedwire code of the receiving bank which is not available on the webpage. After inquiring Firstrade, it is the same as its ABA number which is 71000288.

We will need to put the 8-digit Firstrade account number with full name as the reference. Nonetheless, Alliance Bank does not allow such a long reference. So, I just put in the account number and the transfer went through. The transfer took one day to appear in my Firstrade account. There is a usual cut of $15 from the intermediary bank and also the fees imposed by Alliance Bank.

Drawback

So far, there is only one drawback that I discovered. It has a withdrawal fee of $35 for outgoing foreign wire transfer. Nonetheless, I do not think that it will affect me that much as I would not withdraw frequently.

Conclusion

I have yet to make a transaction yet but I think the interface is quite easy to navigate. I will write more about this broker once I have used it for a bit longer.

Referral link

If you are interested in opening an account with Firstrade, perhaps you can use my referral link below. Otherwise, you can google Firstrade and open an international account with this broker.

Referral link here

Disclosure: If you click on the link above to open an account with Firstrade, I might get a reward if certain conditions are met.