Active traders are a better fit to SogoTrade's pricing model even if it lacks the features that options traders really need.
- Low minimums
- DIYers
- Options traders
- Penny stock traders
Review of: SogoTrade
Reviewed by: Larry Ludwig
Last modified: October 23, 2018
Simply put, SogoTrade is a no-frills discount stock brokerage firm. With this broker, it’s possible to get some of the cheapest commissions for stock trading that we’ve been able to find, but there’s a catch. Read on to find out why.
SogoTrade seems great if you are just trading with stocks and ETFs, but with mutual funds it’s not recommended. If you are a passive investor, SogoTrade is definitely not right for you.
Since Vanguard is without a doubt the low-cost leader in index funds of this nature, it might be a better option. Active traders are a better fit to SogoTrade’s pricing model. Although its options trading prices are low, SogoTrade lacks the features a derivatives trader really needs.
SogoTrade offers international trading accounts and has customers in nearly 140 countries. Chinese-language customers will enjoy content in both English and Chinese, along with 24-hour Chinese language support and customer service.
Let’s discuss the various characteristics and features of SogoTrade.
SogoTrade Fees & Features
| Minimum Investment | $0 |
|---|---|
| Stock Trades | $4.88/trade ($2.88/trade with a 50-trades package) |
| Options Trades | $4.88/trade + $0.50/contract |
| Mutual Funds | $25/trade |
| Investment Types | Stocks, Penny Stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bonds |
| Accounts |
|
| Access | Website, iOS App, Android App |
| Broker Assisted Trade |  |
| Virtual Trades | |
| No Fee ETFs |  |
| Customer Service | Phone: M-F 7A-8P ET; Email; Chinese Language Phone: M-F 24 hours |
| Promotions | Get 100 Free Trades |
- Free Trading Ideas – Account holders receive free access to research tools including the Morning Call newsletter, ValuEngine reports and Options Play.
- SogoMarketRiders (New) – SogoTrade’s newest offering provides asset management solutions.
- Application Programming Interface (New) – SogoTrade’s new platform lets you build your own trading app, access your account data, view market data and more.
SogoTrade Fees and Commissions
As is often the case in today’s investing environment, where we seem to have many different brokerages competing for our business/money, the fees, commissions and account minimum details are really what drive people’s decisions about which investing house to go with.
SogoTrade offers prepaid packages that can help you save money. A 50-trade package costs $2.88 per trade, while a 20-trade package costs $3.88 per trade. In addition, if you deposit $10,000 or more when you get started with SogoTrade, you’ll be locked in at a $2.88 commission rate per trade for 12 months.
There’s no recurring/periodic account maintenance or inactivity fees on individual, taxable accounts. Online statements are free, but if you want a paper statement, it’s $5 month. IRA accounts, unfortunately, have a $30 annual fee, but there’s no fee for opening an IRA.
Visit the website for the complete listing of SogoTrade’s fees. It also features a very nice comparison of SogoTrade’s fees with other major brokerages.
SogoTrade Alternatives
| Stock Brokers | |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 7.5/10 | 8.5/10 | 7.5/10 |
| Min. Investment | $0 | $0 | $5,000 |
| Stock Trades | $4.88/trade ($2.88/trade with a 50-trades package) | Free | Free |
| Promotions | Get 100 Free Trades | Get a $200 Transfer Rebate From Firstrade | None |
| Review | — | Read the Review | Read the Review |
User Experience
Overall, SogoTrade’s online account/user interface offers the tools you need to execute trades without many added bells-and-whistles (which is what you’d come to expect from a low-cost leader in online stock trading).
Once you fill out all of the account sign-up forms and log in to your account, you’ll be directed to a “starting” screen. Shown on this screen are the normal account details one would expect to see, including your cash balance, market value of your holdings, amount of cash you have available for trading, and total account equity. The screen also shows the current status of any open stock trading orders you have, as well as a snapshot of your portfolio positions and the market value of your total portfolio over time.
In order to get a more detailed view of what’s going on with your portfolio holdings, you can navigate on the “start” page to the “account” drop-down menu and click the “account positions” menu selection.
Along with showing the normal investment holding details (ticker symbol, price per share, no. of shares, total purchase cost, market value, and % and $ value gain/loss), one fairly interesting feature of this tool is that it displays a pie chart that shows a breakdown of your portfolio by long and short positions. As you can see in the screenshot below, I don’t currently have any short positions; however, this is a very useful tool to quickly capture the overall components of your portfolio.
Another important SogoTrade online account feature that I almost always have to use at tax time to tally up my stock gains/losses each year is the “account history” menu feature. An example of what this feature looks like is shown in the slideshow below. Using this feature, you can look up your stock purchase, dividend, commission, and selling records from a two year period.
Screenshots
Pros and Cons
Pros
- No-Frills Interface — If you're looking for serious, no-nonsense trading, SogoTrade should appeal to you.
- No Maintenance Fees — SogoTrade does not charge maintenance or inactivity fees on accounts.
- Low Commissions — SogoTrade has some of the cheapest commissions on the market.
Cons
- Annual IRA Fee — If you have an IRA with SogoTrade, expect a $30 annual fee.
Summary
On the positive, SogoTrade is currently among the lowest-cost brokerages available, although you have to be a frequent trader or prepay for trades.
However, since it’s a low-cost leader in stock trades, do not expect a lot of extra bells and whistles or help researching which stock to buy. SogoTrade assumes that you have done this research independently.
Additionally, SogoTrade is not the best or lowest-cost option for purchasing mutual funds. If you are looking to invest in that type of security, we would recommend another broker. In addition, many commission-free ETFs available at other firms can save you considerable transaction fees as well.
For an IRA, SogoTrade is not recommended. There are many other low-cost brokers like Ally Invest that don’t charge for maintaining an IRA account.
If you’re interested in trying SogoTrade for yourself, check out the current promotions the broker is offering.
Comments
Want to comment on SoGo Trade. I have been with them for about 4 years. I like the platform they offer. I started with them because they gave me a chance to trade options. I learned on their platform how to trade options and still trade options with them. SoGo has added a link to their Options Play which works well in conjunction with other options tools for putting together a good trade. I have found customer service to be very attentive and they reply on the phone or by e-mail quickly and efficiently. Getting cost basis for certain stocks i have added to over the years is a little hard to find but if you look you will find. I think margin costs are very competitive and cheaper than most other brokers. In summery, Good broker. Good platform. I recommend.
I’ve been with SogoTrade since June 2014 and highly recommend them for their trading fees.
I trade/invest in Marijuana penny stocks. I have found SogoTrade to be an excellent platform for penny stocks which other brokerage firms don’t even carry.
I have found customer service to be excellent, they have always answered any question I’ve had when I call, no long waits either. Just once did a rep. put me on a brief hold to verify his response to my question with his supervisor.
They had in 2014 the cheapest trading fee ($3.00), and now they are as low as ($2.88) or ($4.88). So if you are just looking to trade with no frills, I do recommend SogoTrade. By the way, before you proceed with any transaction they do clearly state and provide you with the actual cost for any given transaction before you execute the trade. Personally I haven’t had any problems with them.
Hi,
I have been using sogotrade since 2010 and I have a good amount of money invested through them. I am a passive trader with 10-20 trades/year. I haven’t had much complaints with them, except that it can be quite challenging to navigate through the site, setup bank account transfers, get documents, etc. Customer service is ok. I usually email them and get a response within the day.
Sogotrade is the worst in many respects. Way back in 2008 was great with $3 trades. But I will not ever use Sogo trade to buy anything ever again. If you have any issue, all I can tell you is good luck because these guys are not only Chinese, idiots and a**hles but goes way further to show you what kind of company this is really. Customer service is so horrible and over the years it got worse. Back in 2009, it was way better. Now if there is any issue they are like the Catholic Church. The blow you off for as long as they can and they hide like rats.
Started my investing with Sogotrade (been with them since 2009).
At the time, it was the cheapest of the block. As they say, you get what you pay for; the customer service was horrendous to say the least. It was very common to have a wait time for 30 minutes if you wanted to speak with a customer representative.
Having said that, the customer service and other aspects have considerably improved over the last year or so. Emails are typically answered within a couple of hours, customer service is also easy to reach (~2-5 minutes depending on the time of day).
One gripe with them is the time they take to put out the tax documents (it was almost mid of March the last 2 years); they can surely send them earlier.
Also, they don’t offer cost basis (and if you buy their prepaid package, they don’t include the prepaid commission in the sale. It is your responsibility to keep a track of the cost and commissions).
Still, the low cost kinda justifies the hassles. Recommended if you are not a heavy trader.
SogoTrade is a great choice! It provides lowest commission fees compare to other online brokers. And now there are more investment products for customers. Also the online trading platforms and market research tools can help customers a lot in investing and trading. Also, the website provide great guideline and education of how to trade in market, which is a great assist for customers, especially when you just start to trade. Also, I have no problem with the customer service! They answered phone quickly and really helpful. SogoTrade is a good choice!
Could you please, explain why this brokerage firm isn´t for long term investor?
Hi Alex where do we say this?
What about the stocks listed on OTCBB. Does SogoTrade allow to trade them or not?
I tried SogoTrade back in 2007 when I found out they had extremely low execution costs for online trades. However, the service was not very good and they seemed to have some issues that needed to be worked out, so I just sort of left after about 9-10 months. After trying two other brokerages with mixed results, I decided to look around again and see what was out there today (about 3-4 months ago). I noticed a lot of mixed reviews for SogoTrade and with no better alternative (in my mind), I decided to give them another shot. I could not have been more pleased with the customer service and platform. I have never had any issues with executions or fills and customer service has been very responsive the couple of times I contacted them. Anyway, I was just wanting to put my 2 cents in and let you know about the positive experience I have been having with SogoTrade this time around.
Thanks for the insight Bill.
How are the executions and fills for sogotrade. I’ve heard conflicting reviews all over about sogotrade. I’m mainly a swing trader with occasional day trades for listed stocks (no penny stocks for me).
Thanks for reading Zachariah. The executions and fills for me using Sogotrade have always been fine. However, my purposes for using Sogotrade were always more for long-term investing where small price changes didn’t matter within the day I was buying the stock. For swing trading or day trading, I know you all need a whole other level of accuracy in order to make money, so I’d suggest to continue searching around to get clarification. Best of luck!