Our Take

ChoiceTrade remains best suited for higher volume s🍌tock and options traders who can benefit from low-cost options trading at 40 cents per contract. This is much better than the 65 cents per contract often found at larger brokers. It is important to note that regulatory fees, exchange fees, and cash-settled options surcharges are extra.

All in all, ChoiceTrade’s pitch is quite simple. If you want to trade a lot of options, then ChoiceTrade is cost-competitive, with options-oriented tools to support you. Likewise, active stock traders will appreciate the commission-free trades and the streamlined platform. However, any investor wanting to take a buy-and-hold approach may find that inactivity fees or the lack of investment options won’t meet their investing needs.

Introduction

ChoiceTrade is a U.S.-based brokerage firm that has been in business since 2000. The company caters to active, self-directed traders and offers several🌠 trading platforms—each geared toward a specific trading style. Recently, ChoiceTrade has sought to expand its offerings beyond low-cost trading. This could be a good move for the c🅺ompany, allowing it to cast a wider net.

Still, ChoiceTrade is playing catch-up in an industry where competitors have steadily gotten larger in size, broader in offerings, and more competitive in pricing. With a small line-up of trading products and limited research amenities, the broker may be best suited for options traders༺ who want to take advantage of the low $0.40 per contract price. We’ll look at how ChoiceTrade stacks up in terms of features, costs, and resources to help you decide if it could be a good fit for your trading style.

Pros & Cons

Pros Explained

• Low costs for options traders: Options fees are just $0.40 per contract, which is very low for the industry. Many other brokers charge $0.65 or higher per contract.
• Commission-free trades for stocks and ETFs: Investors can place trades for all NYSE, AMEX, and Nasdaq stocks and ETFs without paying a commission. 
• ChoiceTrade Elite platform is easy to customize: You can customize the ChoiceTrade Elite platform, a browser-based streaming site, by dragging and dropping widgets around to create your preferred layout. You can also customize the displays for option chains.

Cons Explained

• Small lineup of trading products: ChoiceTrade supports U.S. equities, ETFs, and options. Customers don't have access to other trading products, including mutual funds, fixed income, futures, futures options, commodities, forex, or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:cryptocurrencies. 
• News and research amenities are limited: ChoiceTrade's news options are quite limited. It doesn't have the variety of options that larger brokers offer. Most of the research amenities are offered only on the upgraded platforms, which cost extra each month.
• High platform fees: The only platform you can access for free is the ChoiceTrade standard web platform, which is outdated and has limited functionality. Paid options include QuoteStream Trader for $14.95 to $24.95 per month, DasTrader for $135 per month, and ChoiceTrade Elite, which is $29.95 per month. The price for Elite is waived if your account has at least $30,000. Additionally, investors may incur outgoing wire fees, transfer fees, inactivity fees, or the like, which are fairly pricey and could add up quickly.

Usability

ChoiceTrade's account opening process is straightforward. You can open an account online, request a new account packet by mail, or download the forms from the website. Opening your account online is quite easy. To get started, you simply enter your citizenship status (U.S. citizen, resident alien, or non-resident) and then select the type of account you want to open—either individual, joint, custodial, IRA, or specialty (i.e., corporate, non-profit, investment club, LLC, partnership, or trust). The account minimums are $100 for cash accounts, $2,000 for margin accounts, and $25,000 for day trading accounts. 

The ChoiceTrade web platform is simple to set up—there are only a few defaults and customization options—but it's clunky and outdated. ChoiceTrade Elite (provided by iVest) is the broker's newest platform. ChoiceTrade Elite is web-based, easy to navigate, and more functional than the website version. 

The Elite platform provides better charting capabilities, and you can 🅘drag and drop widgets to customize your trading workflow. ChoiceTrade Elite platform costs $29.95 a month, but ChoiceTrade waives the fee if you have at least $30,000 in your account. The company offers two other trading platforms—QuoteStream ($14.95 to $24.95 per month) and DasTrader ($135 per month)—but we focused on the web, Elite, and mobile app platforms for this review.

The ChoiceTrade mobile app is available for Android and iOS. You can trade the same products (stocks, ETFs, and options) on web-based and mobile platforms. Likewise, all the order types available on the web platforms can also be used on the mobile app. You can create watchlists through the app, but you better know your ticker symbols. There's no way to search by company name, even though there's a "Search Company" button. The app provides streaming of real-time news or quotes after you set it up on the regular trading site, but it has limited charting and news. 

Trade Experience

ChoiceTrade's standard web platform is clunky and difficult to navigate. The quotes are streaming now, but the charting is rudimentary compared to newer, intuitively designed platforms from competing brokers. Still, you can choose your preferred chart type (line, area, OHLC, candlestick, or hollow candle) and a timeframe from one minute to 10 years. 

There are a limited number of technical indicators, but they aren't available on the quick charts. If investors are looking for more advanced charting options, they may need to upgrade to one of the more advanced platforms—Quotestream, Dastrader, or ChoiceTrade Elite.

The Elite platform is more functional and easier to use, with streaming data and widgets that let you design your preferred workflow. The auto staging tool sets up trades recommended by newsletters for you to verify and submit. The order ticket is basic, and there's no direct-from-chart trading feature.

You can set up a default order type (limit or market) for both stocks and options and set a default number of shares or contracts. The trading defaults you create on the web platform extend to the Elite platform and mobile app, as well.

Mobile Trade Experience

The ChoiceTrade mobile app is suitable for the most basic trading needs while you are away from a larger screen. Users will find that the functionality of the mobile experience mirrors that of the desktop, with the ability to trade directly fr♚om the price chart, the ability to customize the platform, ability to customize the price chart.

It is best used for placing trades you're already planning to make rather than researching or analyzing potential ones. Experienced traders who have used robust apps from some of ChoiceTrade's competitors will be disappointed with the overall lack of functionality on the mobile platform.

It's worth noting that much of the font on the mobile app is quite small. It can be difficult to read on smaller mobile devices, and you can't zoom in for a closer look. The ChoiceTrade mobile app also has streaming data, but you may have to set it up on the regular site to get it working correctly on the app.

Range of Offerings

ChoiceTrade customers can trade U.S. stocks, ETFs, and options. The company doesn't support mutual funds, fixed income, futures, futures options, commodities, international assets, currencies, or cryptocurrencies. The primary reason traders pick ChoiceTrade is to trade lots of options contracts, so the limited offering is understandable—but it's still a limitation. 

With ChoiceTrade, you can trade:

• Stocks long and short (including OTC) with 6,000 on the easy-to-borrow list
• ETFs
• Simple and multi-leg options (up to four legs)

Order Types

In a continuing effort to offer more products and services to its customers, ChoiceTrade has♏ expanded the variety of order types to now offer:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop
• Stop limit
• MOC
• LOC
• MOO
• LOO
• Trailing stop

Trading Technology

ChoiceTrade’s strategy for routing orders is to put its investors’ interests first. The company seeks out the top execution services in the industry and access to the best-performing markets to fulfill client orders rather than considering any rebates or other perks that may be received as a result of using a particular market to route an order. ChoiceTrade does accept payment for order flow on stocks and options orders.

You can't set up or automate a trading system on ChoiceTrade, but you can use its demo account to test the platform and some strategies.

Costs

ChoiceTrade offers commission-free stock, ETF, and options trading. Options still have a per-contract fee of $0.40, which is low. The $0 commission stock trades apply to NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX stocks and ETFs executed at $1 or more per sha♍re. 

All other stocks have a $12 commission plus surcharges. Pre-market and post-market trades also incur a $0.005/share fee. The main selling point of ChoiceTrade is its low options fee of $0.40 per contract, which is lower than many brokers.

Here's a rundown of ChoiceTrade's commissions and fees:

• $0 commission for most equities and ETFs
• OTCBB/penny stocks are $12 per transaction
• Options base commission is $0 per leg
• Options per contract fee is $0.40, max 4 legs per trade
• Margin interest is the Fed Funds rate plus six points (Fed Funds is 5.33% as of July 15, 2024, so it would be 11.33%)
• $10 monthly account fee for non-U.S. accounts
• $50 inactivity fee per quarter if you place fewer than five trades per calendar quarter
• Accounts that close without a trading fee are $25
• Outgoing account transfer fee is $100 for a full transfer and $35 for a partial one; no fee for an incoming transfer
• Exercise and assignment fee is $5
• Voluntary corporate action fee is $100; mandatory corporate action fee is $75
• Wire fees are $35 for outgoing domestic wires, $60 for international
• Paper trade confirmations are $1 per trade
• Paper statements are $10 per month 
• Live broker fee is $30 per transaction
  

How This Broker Makes Money𝐆 From You and for You

With fewer brokerages charging commissions these days, it's less obvious how they stay in business. Here are some behind-the-scenes ways ChoiceTrade makes money from you. While some brokers offer ways to enhance your returns through stock lending programs and uninvested cash sweeps, ChoiceTrade offers neither.

• Interest on uninvested cash: Like many brokerages, ChoiceTrade earns interest on its customers' cash balances. Unlike most firms, however, ChoiceTrade doesn't pay interest on customers' cash balances. The website doesn't mention what's done with uninvested cash. When we asked management directly, it said the company paid no interest on cash balances.
• Stock loan programs: ChoiceTrade earns revenue by loaning stocks in your account for short sales. It does not share any portion of that revenue with customers.
• Payment for order flow: Some brokers earn money by accepting payments from market makers for directing equity and options orders to them, a practice called payment for order flow (PFOF). ChoiceTrade receives payment for order flow from some of its market makers, but not all of them.
• Price improvement: ChoiceTrade doesn't report price improvement numbers when discussing its order routing. This lack of transparency isn't a positive, and indicates that saving you money may not be ChoiceTrade's priority.
• Portfolio margining: Portfolio margining computes real-time margin for stock and options trades based on risk instead of fixed percentages. ChoiceTrade does not offer portfolio margining, which is surprising considering it is an options-focused broker. However, the company does have basic margin trading capabilities and earns money from the margin interest.

Account and Research Amenities

ChoiceTrade is missing some of theꦑ account and research amenities you would expect from large brokers. It offers a limited suite of research tools, including screene🌄rs, a trading idea generator, and charting.

Stock Screener

Choi🍸ceTrade offers a basic screener on the web platform. The screener on the ChoiceTrade Elite platform provides streaming real-time data and several customization options. You can add screener results to your existing watchlists or create a new one.

ETF and Mutual Fund Screener

ChoiceTrade does not have ETF or mutual fund-specific screeners. While there is no ETF-specific screener, ETFs can show up in the stock screener results.

Options Screener

Several tools for generating options trading ideas are available in the Elite platform under the “Find” tab. Candidates for trades are identified based on youᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚr market outlook.

Fixed Income Screener

ChoiceTrade does not have a fixed income screener.

Tools and Calculators

ChoiceTrade does not have any investing, retirement, or life planning tools/calculators. On each stock's research page, you can click on the options tab to launch a trade ticket and conduct some basic trade analysis. You can also add a note to the trade for a journal entry. The ChoiceTrade Elite platform provides a well-designed heat map under the research heading.

Trading Idea Generators

ChoiceTrade Elite platform offers several trading idea generators. Investors can screen using algorithms based on company fundamental data, earnings, chart patterns, advanced strategies, and unique stock conditions.

News 

ChoiceTrade offers the basic stock information and market data you would expect from any broker. On the Elite platform, you'll find a news feed for individual stocks on each stock information page.

External Research Tools

ChoiceTrade offers proprietary research to allܫ account holders. Platform users also🌄 can choose to access external research tools for an additional fee.

Charting

The charting on ChoiceTrade's standard web platform is extremely basic. The Elite platform has a more robust charting package that includes numerous options studies and ways to evaluate the probability of profit on a particular strategy. If you're looking for advanced technical analysis, this is not the platform for you.

Cash Management

ChoiceTrade does not offer cash sweeps of uninvested funds.

Fractional Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRIP)

ChoiceTrade offers the ability to purchase some stocks in fractional shares. It also permits the purchase of fractional shares when using dividend reinvestment programs.

SRI/ESG Research Amenities

ChoiceTrade does not support screening based on socially responsible investing (SRI) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

Portfolio Analysis

The ChoiceTrade Elite platform has an intriguing portfolio analysis tool called Trade Journal, where you can examine your trading results, including inspecting them visually on charts. Buying power and margin calculations display in real time, which is a plus for active traders. The portfolio analysis feature calculates a time value index, which is a time-we🍰ighted rate of return figure.

Education

ChoiceTrade's education offerings are minimal. There are videos for platform walkthroughs on the Elite platform as well as quick and full user guides. One helpful feature ChoiceTrade offers is demo accounts that customers and potential customers can use to learn the platform and practice placing trades.

Customer Service 

Phone support is available Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. In general, the phones are answered very quickly.

• Call (877) 731-9114 to open an account or place a trade
• Call (787) 773-1848 for all other inquiries

There's no online chat for current or prospective clients. Other available contact options include:

• Email: service@choicetrade.com
• Submit a question via an online form
  
• Live brokers are available when the phone lines are open

Non-U.S. customers can open accounts, but the website doesn't provide details about which countries it supports. The website is available in a wide variety of languages.

Security

ChoiceTrade has made some recent improvements, but it still has some work to do to offer its clients better security.

• There is no two-factor authentication; only a username and password are required to log in.
• Information is encrypted using SSL technology
• ChoiceTrade does not sell your personal account information to third parties.
• ChoiceTrade is a member of the 澳洲幸♑运5官方开奖结果体彩网♓:Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), so accounts are protected up to $500,000 ($250,000 cash maximum). The company does not carry any excess SIPC insurance.
• The company did not experience any recent platform outages or data breaches.

Transparency

ChoiceTrade is upfront about its commissions and fees, which are described clearly on its website. While the initial and maintenance margin requirements for various positions are described briefly on the website, there's no mention of the margin interest rate you'll pay, other than "our margin rate is Fed Funds plus 6 points." Some customers may be eligible for lower margin rates, but you have to contact the company for details.

Available Account Types

ChoiceTrade offers:

• Individual and joint taxable trading accounts
• Custodial accounts
  
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Individual retirement accounts (IRAs)

Specialty accoಌunts (C-corporation or S-corporation) include:

• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Limited liability company   
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Investment
• Corporate  
• Trust   
• Partnership   
• Non-profit  
• Member

The Bottom Line

Many of ChoiceTrade's competitors have grown and invested heavily in the features and capabilities of their platforms. In comparison, ChoiceTrade has a less robust platform, a limited range of offerings, and minimal educational/research content. Although the company can be attractive to certain types of options traders and active stock traders, there is little here for most investors. This may change if the company moves forward with its plans to enhance its products and offerings. 

Given the strengths of other brokers covered in our 2024 broker reviews and ratings, we find it difficult to recommend opening an account with ChoiceTrade at present. However, there are a few types of traders who might find an account useful: non-U.S. customers who can't open an account at another broker and options traders who can take advantage of the low $0.40 per contract options fee. If ChoiceTrade wants to expand outside that limited market, it must improve its platform and offerings to attract a broader customer base.

Compare ChoiceTrade to Similar Brokers

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