If you are still looking for any information about investing in US stocks using the Gotrade review, maybe this article will shed some light.
Gotrade Investing In US Stocks
And here you are, thinking of investing in US stocks but not having the budget to buy even the cheapest and decent one. Although there are penny stocks below $1, you don’t recognize them and are unsure of their stability. Of course, you don’t want your money to go to waste, don’t you? And this is where we think the Gotrade broker platform app can be of service. A broker that promises two things -“commission-free” and you can buy fractional stocks of your liking as low as $1.
You might be asking now what is Gotrade? Is it safe for small investors with little budget? What’s the catch of why they are saying it is commission-free?
That is what we will try to uncover with this review.
DISCLAIMER: This article is not a sponsored post. Neither is financial advice.The content is based on fact sheets and personal experience and review. The content and screenshots in this post are from the Gotrade mobile app used here in the Philippines. It may vary depending on your country but the logic and principles are the same.
What's In Here
Key Takeaways
- Gotrade is regulated and licensed by Labuan Financial Services Authority, a financial consultant in Malaysia.
- Gotrade allows you to buy and sell actual shares directly on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Hence, the stocks are not Contracts For Difference (CFD).
- Although there are other brokerage platforms that offer fractional share trading, with Gotrade, you can invest and buy any stock of your liking for as low as $1 USD.
- Gotrade offers commission-free trading fees. Hence, there’s no price spread.
- The minimum deposit to get you started is $10 USD.
- The withdrawal fee is currently $2 USD per transaction.
- The Gotrade mobile brokerage app supports over 150 countries.
- Gotrade’s main source of income is from the small fees collected on the foreign currency exchange (FOREX) when you add funds to your account. Since you will be trading in US stocks, the currency should be USD ($).
- Gotrade does not support cryptocurrency trading – as of writing this.
- Users can withdraw their settled funds/cash from GoTrade instantly.
The GoTrade Stock Financial Investment Mobile App
As of writing this, Gotrade is only available for mobile users. They don’t have a web-based platform but the app supports both Android and iOS mobile devices. But before you venture into the stock market, you might want to read “What Type Of Trading Styles Suits Me?” first.
For this review, the screenshots and descriptions are all from the iOS iPhone Gotrade app version. Although there might be some differences in terms of navigation and orientation when used on Android, the functionalities should be the same.
Gotrade Screenshot Gallery
For our “Investing In US Stocks Using The Gotrade Review“, here are some screenshots of the Gotrade US stock investment mobile app to provide you with a sneak preview of what’s inside.
The Pros To Expect From The App
Here are some of Gotrade’s noticeable user interface functionalities which we think are good enough, especially for beginners:
- Colorful UI.
- Easy navigation tabs.
- Simplicity – for both UI and descriptions.
- Easy to understand. The Gotrade app uses a more comprehensive language so that even beginners can understand it instead of using the “Wallstreet” terminologies.
- Quasi stories feature, it is like what you see on Facebook or Instagram. It shows you the top trending US stocks logos with the gain/loss in percentage.
- Interesting search tags. Gotrade has ready-made tags that help users quickly jump into trending topics.
- Provides related news about the stocks you wanted to pick.
- Supports local banks and even GCash (in the Philippines) to fund your account.
- Supports different local banks for withdrawals.
- Gotrade rewards you if you refer the app to your friends.
- Get more features like technical analysis from the experts and inside news when you subscribe to their Gotrade Black. Here’s an interesting review of the Gotrade app from Mark Sigg on Youtube.
Update: Previously, you will need to pay $2 monthly if you want to subscribe to Gotrader Black and use its features. But now, this feature is now FREE.
The Cons When Using Gotrade Mobile App
As promised, we will provide you with an honest topic about investing in US stocks using the Gotrade review. We will not only focus on the good side of the app but also on the functionalities we wished were considered by the developers.
No Technical Indicators
While we say that the app is good enough for beginners, it may not be appealing to others, especially veterans who wanted to do technical analysis. The Gotrade app does not have the functionality for you to apply basic indicators like moving averages (MA), MACD, and not even volume trends.
But in case you still wanted to do technical analysis on each of your target stocks or ETFs, here’s a list that you can try for free:
No Monitoring Features For Multiple Positions
Another one that some users will look for is the details of their entries into stock for multiple positions at different price points. In other stock platforms, like EToro, you will see the position you entered, the date and price you entered, and what profit you’ve made with that entry. In Gotrade, you will be provided the average cost summary of your position and not the breakdown.
You Cannot Define Your Entry/Exit Position
Also, unlike other platforms, you cannot define or set your desired entry point or stops. For example, you feel that a certain stock will still go down. If you already have a number in your mind where you want to be your entry point, you will have to tune in until the chart reaches that before you can trade. With other platforms, you can just set that and wait for it to be executed automatically.
Same as with setting the stops or trailing stops. Especially for day traders and more so for scalpers, who wanted to protect their gains, you cannot set a stop to cut loss to prevent more damage to your investments.
Setting Alerts Is Not Supported
With Gotrade, you cannot set alerts to notify you that a certain stock has already reached your desired entry price point. Vice-versa, you also cannot set if the stock you are monitoring is diving and has reached your defined stop-loss price point to protect your gains or earnings.
Delays In Withdrawal Process
Unlike when you are depositing or adding funds to your Gotrade account which instantly happens, withdrawals can take days. It may take around at least 3 days before your traded position is liquidated and credited to your defined local bank account.
Paypal and Credit Cards Are Not Supported
Lastly, when you open a new account with Gotrade and used your credit card for your initial funds, it is not supported at the moment for your succeeding deposits. Even Paypal is not supported to fund your account. Paypal could have been an advantage for most users, especially for USD transactions to reduce the gap in foreign exchange.
But Then Again…
But then again, most of these cons are some of the important features that a day trader is looking for. Or if you are investing for the short-term, then think it over first.
However, if you are into trend-following trading or aim to have a long-term investment, then these things shouldn’t matter. You may even treat Gotrade as your starting point in experiencing how the US market works then should you decide to jump into another platform to enhance your trading skills, then go for it.
How Do We Start Investing In US Stocks With GoTrade?
As of writing this, we’ve already been using the Gotrade app for two weeks and the result is not bad at all. Here’s our actual test run of investing in US Stocks using the Gotrade review. We will show you how our small investment grew in the span of 2 weeks.
Once you’ve created your account, the minimum deposit before you can start buying and investing is $10, we started with $20. On our second week, we’ve already gained $3. This is not actually bad considering that the US market is bearish (which is a good time to invest) and the stocks we picked are not highly volatile.
Citing An Example of Investing In US Stocks Using The Gotrade Review
One example is the profit we’ve gained 6.03% from JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU) after investing a fractional share worth $5. As mentioned before, you can invest a fractional share for as low as $1. And to compute the actual fractional share you will get is dividing your investment by the current price of the stock during your trade.
For example, if the current price of JBLU is $8.37 per share and you’ve invested $5, then your share will be around 0.597371565. And after 2 weeks, we’ve already made a 6.03% gain. It means we’ve profited already.
We’ve actually diversified our portfolio and spread that $20 investment into different fractional stocks. We invested in ETFs like VOO and INDA, as well as in NVDA and GOOG.
Diversifying your stock portfolio, for us, is the safest way when you are investing. In this way, if one of them is not doing well, at least, the others will not be affected – unless there’s a global financial crisis.
Not A Financial Advice But Try To Check Them Out
Based on our experience, try and check out investing more in ETFs and Healthcare funds, they are less volatile and are managed by fund managers. Here’s one of our previous articles explaining an example of a feeder fund and how can you benefit from it.
Or if you have GCash, then you can read this topic on how you can start investing for as low as Php50. It is more or less like Gotrade in terms of how much you can invest but with limited investment options. But with GCash, it is easier and faster to invest.
Gotrade Is Commission-Free
In fairness to Gotrade, which we also like, is that they are quite transparent with what fees they deduct. And one of the advantages of trading with Gotrade is that they offer commission-free trading. This means that the end-users can benefit more by getting higher returns. Also, there’s no price spread which means there’s no difference between the bid and ask price during your trade. You can always check their full and most up-to-date fees.
So, how is Gotrade earning to sustain its operation? The company mainly gets its profit from foreign exchange when you fund your account.
How Do I Start Investing With Gotrade
After you download the Gotrade app, it will just take you around 10 minutes or less to create an account and get verified. There are no special documents needed.
You will only need to prepare the usual requirements such as a government ID bearing important details such as your picture, legal name, nationality, and address. The applicant can use their driver’s license or Passport. A recent billing statement with your name and address. And a selfie.
As of writing this, Gotrade offers a sign-in bonus where you get extra dollars for your startup trade. Then you can invite your friends and relatives to get more rewards.
Is Gotrade Safe?
Believe me, I understand where are you coming from and most of us will have this kind of concern. Especially if you are going to use your hard-earned money to invest. We believe our invested money is safe.
First, Gotrade is regulated – as we’ve mentioned in the Key Takeaways section.
Second, you will see this excerpt from Gotrade’s disclosures:
“Brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC. Clearing services are provided by Velox Clearing LLC and Vision Financial Markets LLC. All three firms are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash), per customer. Explanatory brochure can be found here: https://www.sipc.org/about-sipc/.“
Gotrade Disclosures – Gotrade | Commission Free Fractional US Stocks (heygotrade.com)
How To Withdraw Your Funds or Cash From GoTrade
One of the few features we liked from GoTrade is you can instantly withdraw your money straight to your registered or linked bank account. But there are a few things that you have to know and be aware of when withdrawing your funds.
- You cannot withdraw the money or funds you received from GoTrade’s referral rewards within 60 days of receiving them. You will see these in the Fresh Rewards field upon withdrawal. For example, you received $50 USD worth of VOO because your friend registered to GoTrade and added funds using your referral code on January 01, 2022. GoTrade will release the fund after 60 days. Hence, the $50 can be withdrawn (roughly) on March 02, 2022. GoTrade made this control in place to mitigate the possible fraud and money laundering from abusive users.
- You cannot withdraw the funds which recently came from your traded position. You will only be able to withdraw them on the third (3rd) trading day after you sold your stocks. For example, if you sold NVDA on a Monday, your acquired money will be placed in the Unsettled Funds within 3 trading days. Then on Wednesday (normally, I add one more trading day, Thursday), your fund is now eligible to be withdrawn. According to GoTrade, our trades take 2 days to settle a day after our last successful trading transaction.
- Make sure that you have registered and linked your bank account where you want to receive your money.
- There is a $2 USD wire fee when you withdraw your money from GoTrade. The fee is deducted from the amount you will withdraw. This means that if you are going to withdraw $100 USD from GoTrade, you will only receive $98 because the wire fee will be deducted from the total amount.
- From our experience, it only took a minute to receive the money into our bank account after we confirmed the amount we wanted to withdraw from GoTrade.
Here are some screenshots of when we have withdrawn our first $100 from GoTrade.
Concluding Words
First, I hope you find our “Investing In US Stocks Using The Gotrade Review” article helpful in some ways. We are not here to promote the application but we wanted to share with you our own personal experience using the app.
And we intend to continue using the app longer. Probably we can add more to this article once we see more improvements or even disappointments as time goes by.
By the way, since we are talking about US Market, you will not see feeder funds like the “ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund” here. But probably, check out other global ETFs available in Gotrade if you are interested in such investments.
But as we’ve mentioned before, for us, Gotrade is good enough for beginners if you want to start investing in US stocks with little budget. “Testing the water” as some others may put it. However, don’t end your exploration by just putting your money into your desired stocks. If we may suggest, try to study first your target US stock by learning about the company’s current state and value (fundamental analysis). Also, start learning the trend through chart reading (technical analysis).
If you decide to dive in and join Gotrade, you can use my referral code (779927) to get $2 in free stock. Or you can use my referral Gotrade link to get $2 free stock.
Happy investing!