Zacks Trade Rating: 
Overview of Zacks Trade
If you want a broker for day trading that has advanced tools, lots of data, and even crypto trading, Zacks Trade should be one of your top choices. Read on for all the details.
Zacks Trade Pros
Customer service: There are no extra fees for trades made with a broker’s help.
Advanced software: Provided through Interactive Brokers.
Global trading: Many foreign exchanges are available.
Zacks Trade Cons
No commission-free trading: Every type of investment has a trading fee.
Research will cost money: Most data packages and several research tools have monthly fees.
Inactivity fee: Day traders can avoid this if they make $15 in trading commissions each month.
Investment Lineup
Zacks Trade customers can buy and sell the following investments:
- Stocks
- ETFs
- Closed end funds
- Mutual funds
- Options
- Bonds
- Warrants
- Cryptocurrencies
Crypto trading is offered through a partnership with Paxos. Zacks Trade is one of the few brokers in the U.S. that lets you trade on foreign exchanges. You can trade the stocks of many foreign companies. Some of the available exchanges are Switzerland, the UK, Spain, Belgium, and Mexico.
Zacks Trade also opens accounts for residents and citizens of many countries. Only a few countries are not eligible. Again, it is one of the few U.S. brokers to do this. Foreign applicants need to send in Form W-8.
Zacks Trade offers a good variety of account types. You can open taxable or tax-advantaged accounts as joint, individual, business, or retirement accounts.
Zacks Trade does not have managed accounts. All accounts are self-directed. You can add a variety of market data and research tools to your account. Some are free, but others can cost hundreds of dollars per month.
Opening an Account
It’s easy to open a Zacks Trade account. Just find the orange button on their website to get to the online application. Foreign residents should also start here. They will need to fill out and send IRS Form W-8 to Zacks Trade’s clearing firm (email: [newaccounts@interactivebrokers.com](mailto:newaccounts@interactivebrokers.com)) along with their new account number.
Zacks Trade does not accept physical stock certificates for deposit.
Try Zacks Trade
Cash bonus up to $1,000 when you open a Zacks Trade account.
Open ZacksTrade Account
Customer Service
Zacks Trade used to have a live chat on its website, but this has been removed. Still, you can contact them in a few ways. You can email ([support@zackstrade.com](mailto:support@zackstrade.com)), call (888.979.2257), or fax (312.265.9547). When we called customer service, we reached voicemail after a few minutes. In the past, they answered right away.
Most ways to reach Zacks Trade are only open during market hours, which is a clear downside. There are no branch offices, so support options are limited now.
One good thing about Zacks Trade is that its customer service is based in Chicago. Interactive Brokers often uses customer service centers in other countries.
Zacks Trade Fees and Commissions
Zacks Trade has not switched to zero-commission trading. Here are the broker’s current fees for stocks and options:
Stocks & ETFs $0.01 per share, $1 minimum commission
(Greater than $1 per share)
Stocks & ETFs 1% of trade value, $1 minimum commission
(Less than $1 per share)
Options $1 for the first contract, $0.75 for each additional contract
Mutual fund trades cost $27.50 each. Most bond trades are $3 for each bond plus a percentage of the face value. Crypto trades have a $1.75 minimum commission, but this is capped at 1% of the trade value.
Zacks Trade requires a $250 minimum deposit to open an account. There is a $15 monthly inactivity fee for accounts with less than $25,000 in assets. This fee can be avoided by generating $15 in trading commissions per month. This makes Zacks Trade more appealing for active traders.
Zacks Trade also charges for withdrawals after the first one each month. The first withdrawal is free, but after that, it’s $1 per ACH, $4 per check, and $10 per wire.
Data package fees are another cost to consider. Some data subscriptions are free, but many are not. Here are a few examples:
| Bundle | Non-Pro | Pro |
|---|
| NYSE AMEX Options Depth of Book (L2) | USD 11.50 | USD 62.50 |
| IB Market Signals | FREE | FREE |
| OTC Markets Top of Book (L1) | USD 6.00 | USD 35.00 |
| Euronext Currency Derivatives Depth of Book (L2) | EUR 3.00 | EUR 3.00 |
| Oslo Bors Depth of Book (L2) | NOK 110 | NOK 387.50 |
Even though Zacks Trade is not the cheapest broker, it does not charge for outgoing ACAT transfers.
Margin
Zacks Trade offers margin accounts. If you have a cash account, you can upgrade to margin trading online in the Account Management section.
The interest rates for margin loans are very competitive. Here’s the tiered schedule:
|
Debit Balance
|
Margin Rate
|
|
$0 - $100,000
|
8.83%
|
|
$100,001 - $1,000,000
|
8.33%
|
|
$1,000,001 - $3,000,000
|
8.08%
|
|
$3,000,001+
|
7.83%
|
Zacks Trade also offers portfolio margin for accounts with at least $110,000 in value. This allows for more leverage.
The trading platform shows margin requirements for each ticker symbol you enter. Now let’s look at the available platforms.
Zacks Trade Pro
Zacks Trade Pro is a desktop trading program that is free to use. This platform is actually Trader Workstation, which Interactive Brokers customers may recognize, but it shows the Zacks Trade logo.
This software has many advanced features. Some of the highlights include:
- Order ticket with 19 order types and advanced tools
- Full-screen charts with many tools
- Time & sales data
- Asset scanners
- Many options tools
- Watchlists
- Alerts
- Economic calendar
- And much more...
The order ticket has an advanced tab where you can use bracket orders. There is also an option chain link for any ticker you enter. The strategy builder helps you set up multi-leg option trades.
Charts in Pro can be stretched to full width, which is great for using any of the 100+ technical indicators. The right-click menu includes trade buttons and other tools.
In the bottom-left, you’ll see Mosaic and Classic tabs to switch layouts. Most tools appear in both. There’s a Learn tab, which is helpful for beginners. This is a powerful program, so we suggest taking time to learn it. You can also use a demo login to practice trading without risk.
Client Portal
The client portal is a web-based trading system. Even though it’s just a website, it’s quite advanced. It has a trade ticket with many order types, and the charts are provided by TradingView, offering many graphing tools.
The website is best for managing your account, but it also has a good mutual fund screener and tools for deposits and withdrawals.
Mobile App
The Zacks Trade mobile app is also a strong platform. We liked the order ticket, which includes a chart you can swipe through. The ticket has advanced features like a price management algo tool and professional trade types, such as mid-price and time variant percentage of volume.
The app offers options tools, including Greek values and profit-loss diagrams. There are not many preset strategies, but you can build custom orders.
Charts can be displayed horizontally and there are three styles: candlesticks, bar, and mountain. There are a few technical studies, and up to five years of price data can be shown.
Education & Security Analysis
Zacks Trade is not meant for beginners, so it doesn’t offer much financial education. It also doesn’t provide much of its own market news, but some add-ons specialize in this. Free subscriptions include 24/7 Wall Street, Dow Jones, Seeking Alpha, and The Motley Fool.
Zacks Trade provides many security analysis tools on its trading platforms, especially the desktop software and client portal. On the website, each security profile includes:
- Analyst Forecast
- News
- Ownership
- Dividends
- Social Sentiment
- Key Ratios
- ESG Ratings
- Forecast: EPS
- Technical Insights
- Short Selling
Under the Research tab, you’ll find lots of market tools, such as an economic calendar and a global exchange center.
The desktop software has many security analysis tools, like an advanced stock screener for foreign exchanges and many options analysis features.
Zacks Rank Trading Tool
For the past 36 years, Zacks Investment Research, Inc. has managed model portfolios of Zacks Rank #1 stocks. These stocks have outperformed the market in 29 of the last 36 years, with an average yearly return of +24.15%, compared to the S&P 500’s +11.11%. These results cover 1988 to 06/03/2025.
The Zacks Rank Trading Tool lets you search for Zacks Rank #1 stocks by theme, sector, and industry, and trade them directly within your Zacks Trade account.
You need a minimum account balance or deposit of $250 to use the Zacks Rank Trading Tool.
Day Trading and Swing Trading
Leverage: Regular margin accounts offer up to 4:1 leverage. Portfolio margin accounts can get up to 6:1.
Shorting: You can short sell with a Zacks Trade account. Some platforms show how many shares are available to short.
Level II quotes: Zacks Trade offers Level II data on U.S. and many foreign exchanges. This data usually has a cost.
Direct-access routing: Zacks Trade lets you send orders directly to market makers and ECNs in the U.S. and abroad.
Routing fees and rebates: Zacks Trade gives rebates for some orders that remove liquidity.
Other Services
Initial Public Offerings: IPOs are not available at Zacks Trade.
Fractional-share Trading: You can trade fractional shares or coins of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies.
DRIP Service: You can reinvest dividends for a fee.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Roth, Traditional, SEP, and Rollover IRAs are available. IRAs can use limited margin for day trading, but only up to level 1 options approval. There are no extra commissions or fees for IRAs.
Extended Hours: Zacks Trade allows both pre-market and after-hours trading.
Periodic Mutual Fund Purchases: Not available.
Try Zacks Trade
Cash bonus up to $1,000 when you open a Zacks Trade account.
Open ZacksTrade Account
Updated on 7/20/2025.
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