Is TradeUP a Scam? Is It Insured? Is It Safe?

Highlights:

• TradeUP’s history goes back to 1986.

• There are insurance policies and government regulatory bodies that protect TradeUP accounts.

• TradeUP is owned by UP Fintech Holding Limited, whose stock trades on the Nasdaq.

Have you thought about opening a brokerage account with TradeUP? Before you dive in head first, take a look at our investigation:

History of TradeUP

TradeUP Securities, Inc. is a brokerage firm owned by UP Fintech Holding Limited, an investment firm headquartered in Singapore. UP Fintech’s stock trades on the Nasdaq in the United States with ticker symbol TIGR.

The symbol comes from Tiger Brokers, another broker-dealer owned by the parent company; Tiger operates in Asia and started in 2014. TradeUP focuses on the American and other markets.

A sister company of TradeUP is Marsco Securities. Marsco also focuses on the U.S. market. Marsco was founded in 1986 and was acquired by UP Fintech in 2019.

Regulatory Environment in the U.S.

TradeUP is a member of FINRA and the SEC, both of whom provide the lion’s share of the regulatory environment that oversees securities accounts domiciled in the United States. With the SEC, TradeUP has registration ID 8-36754. With FINRA, the number is 18483.

TradeUP is also a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the CBOE EDGX Exchange. These registrations provide additional oversight and safety for account holders.

Further Regulations:

Tiger Brokers in Asia is not governed by the U.S. authorities. Instead, it has its own registrations in the areas in which it operates. For example, in Singapore, the brokerage firm is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In New Zealand, the outfit is regulated by the Financial Markets Authority.

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Track Record

Taking a look at TradeUP’s BrokerCheck profile, we see just 4 disclosures since 1986, an excellent number for such a long history. The hiccups include:

In April of 2029, FINRA fined TradeUP $700,000 for failing to adequately implement anti-money laundering practices and for failing to monitor internal communications networks. The case ID is 2022073322301.
In another case brought by FINRA, TradeUP was accused of failing to properly report short positions. In docket # 2023077924101, TradeUP paid $300,000 to settle the case without admitting or denying the findings.
In 2010, FINRA brought another charge against TradeUP, this time for failing to enforce a supervisory system within the guidelines of the Bank Secrecy Act. This case resulted in a smaller $25,000 fine.

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Protections

TradeUP is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, better known in the industry as SIPC. This group insures brokerage accounts up to program limits. These typically cap out at $500,000 per separate capacity, which is essentially an account category, like an individual account. Because TradeUP only offers the individual account at this point, $500,000 per customer is the top of the insurance level.

Clearing Arrangement

Some transactions in TradeUP accounts are cleared through Interactive Brokers. IBKR has its own registrations with FINRA and the SEC and is also a member of SIPC.

Level of Transparency

During our probing on , we found fees and commissions clearly listed in a user-friendly format. One fee, the short interest fee, is not shown because it fluctuates daily.

Opinion

Based on the facts discovered during our examination, we conclude that TradeUP and its affiliated companies held through UP Fintech Holding Limited are legitimate operations with plenty of safeguards in place for clients. Of course, investing also entails risks, particularly the risk of loss of principal, which is the same risk that exists at all brokerage firms.

Updated on 1/9/2026.

Is TradeUP Safe, Legitimate, or a Scam in 2026?