New York, April 10, 2018 - Commission-free platforms for exchange traded funds are popular throughout the brokerage industry with some of the largest brokerage firms, including E*Trade, Schwab and TD Ameritrade, offering expansive of ETFs on a commission-free basis.
However, the largest commission-free lineup in the brokerage business now belongs to Firstrade Securities, Inc., which said Monday it is making more than 700 ETFs available to clients on a commission-free basis. That gives Firstrade a larger commission-free platform, in terms of number ETF offerings, than E*Trade, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade combined.
“Under the just introduced program, Firstrade investors will have a wide selection of ETFs to choose from across eight asset classes, three exchanges, 82 categories and 40 fund families,” said Firstrade in a statement. “These available ETFs are designed for long-term investors and must be held for at least 30 days (if less than 30 days, the low-cost commission is $2.95). Also included are low expense ratio ETFs from leading fund families — Vanguard, iShares, SPDR State Street and First Trust, among others. In order to minimize risk, no leveraged ETFs are being offered.”
ETF Trading Platform Rivals
Earlier this year, ETRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) on Friday unveiled a massive expansion to its its commission-free exchange-traded fund (ETF) lineup. With the new additions, ETRADE now offers 225 ETFs on a commission-free basis, making the broker home to one of the largest commission-free ETF platforms in the industry.
“Since August 1, 2017, E*TRADE has added 80 commission-free ETFs from seven providers to its Commission-Free ETF Program,” according to a statement. “New additions include ETFs from IndexIQ, iShares, Janus Henderson, John Hancock Investments, Legg Mason, NuShares, and PIMCO.”
Schwab ETF OneSource now offers commission-free ETFs from 16 providers, including ALPS, Deutsche Asset Management, Direxion, ETF Securities, Global X Funds, Guggenheim Investments, IndexIQ, John Hancock Investments, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, OppenheimerFunds, PIMCO, PowerShares, State Street Global Advisors SPDR® ETFs, USCF, WisdomTree and Charles Schwab Investment Management. OneSource was expanded in January.
The Firstrade commission-free platform features 703 ETFs, more than three-quarters of which have received a Morningstar Rating three, four or five stars. In September, Firstrade pared its commission for stocks, ETFs and options from $4.95 to $2.95 per trade.
In addition to ETFs from, Vanguard, iShares, SPDR State Street and First Trust, the Firstrade platform features ETFs commission-free from ARK, WisdomTree, PIMCO, Global X and VictoryShares, among others.