Moomoo: Robust Trading Tools to Grab the Bull by the Horns

Moomoo might be for you if: You're an active investor who wants advanced trading features and stock analysis tools, with low fees. This online brokerage is a good fit for hands-on investors who want to pick stocks, research the markets, and trade frequently, with zero commissions. Moomoo's platform offers stocks, ETFs, options, and fractional shares, with low rates on margin loans. Read our in-depth Moomoo review to see if this brokerage is the right choice for your investing goals.

Author's note: I'm not a day trader, and I prefer hands-off, passive investing in low-cost index funds. But if I was going to use a more "active" investment platform, I would want a broker that offers low fees and high-quality research and analysis tools. Moomoo has some intriguing features that let everyday investors take an active role in building their portfolios, with professional-grade trading tools -- and all with low fees.

Moomoo does not have the widest range of investments or account types compared to some other brokerages, but if you want to trade stocks, ETFs, and earn high yield on your extra cash, Moomoo can deliver what you need. Moomoo also stands out for its $0 options contracts and low rates on margin loans.

Investments

• ETFs
• Fractional shares
• Margin trading
• Options
• OTC stocks
• Stocks

Brokerage accounts

• Brokerage
• Cash Sweep Program

Zero-commission stock trading has largely become the new industry standard for online brokerages, but Moomoo goes even further to keep its fees low. Unlike many brokers, Moomoo also charges $0 for equity options contracts, and $0 for trades in over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Moomoo charges some fees for trading stocks in international markets like Hong Kong, and also charges typical regulatory fees and miscellaneous account service fees.

Margin rates

Moomoo offers margin loans, and its margin rates are lower than most other brokerages we've seen. As of May 27, 2024, Moomoo margin rates are 6.8%. Margin loans enable you to borrow money against the value of the securities in your portfolio, which can provide a flexible line of credit.

But margin investing -- where you use borrowed money to buy stocks or other investments -- can be especially risky, even more risky than investing with cash. Margin loans and margin investing are not suitable for all investors.

Moomoo charges 6.8% for U.S. and Hong Kong stocks, and 8.8% for Chinese stocks. Compared to many brokerage firms we've reviewed, Moomoo's margin rates are on the low side. Traders need a minimum of $2,000 in an account to use margin. This is a regulatory requirement that applies to all brokerages, not just to Moomoo.

Many online brokerages are trying to make their platforms more informative and educational, and Moomoo stands out with its extensive offerings of research and educational content. Here are a few examples:

Level 2 data

Moomoo offers Level 2 data to help uncover better opportunities to buy and sell securities. With Level 2 data on Moomoo, you get access to up to 60 price levels from six order books, including CBOE Bats BZX, NASDAQ TotalView, and NYSE ArcaBook.

NASDAQ TotalView (3 months free)

Moomoo has a partnership with NASDAQ to offer Moomoo customers three months of free premium market data from NASDAQ TotalView. This can help you make better-informed trades.

Moomoo Learn Premium

If you enroll in Moomoo's Learn Premium program, you can learn the fundamentals of investing and gain trading skills. Courses include:

• Opportunity Mining -- Understanding a Stock in Three Minutes
• Trading Tutorials -- Understanding Charting Patterns
• Advanced Financial Analysis for U.S. Stock Investing

Free "paper trading"

Moomoo offers free "paper trading," where you can make simulated trades in stocks and other securities -- without risking any real money. Paper trading can be a great way to learn more about buying stocks, test your investment ideas, and more.

Moomoo is designed for day trading and active investing. Because of the complexity and "advanced" nature of some of Moomoo's features, Moomoo's interface could be a better choice for more experienced stock traders. You can still use Moomoo if you're new to investing and want a good platform to make your first trades, but be prepared for a bit of a learning curve.

Here are a few of the advanced capabilities that Moomoo offers on its investing platform:

Charting tools

Moomoo helps you find trading opportunities with advanced charting features. Choose from more than 63 technical analysis indicators, set up to six multi-monitors to keep an eye on multiple stocks (with real-time data), or create your own customized technical indicators.

Stock analysis

Use Moomoo's powerful stock analysis tools to find bearish or bullish signals, and identify the right moment to buy or sell stocks, based on your investing strategy.

Moo Community

If you want to be part of a larger community of investors who share ideas and learn from each other, Moomoo can help. Its Moo Community has lively discussion of their latest trades.

Moomoo's investment platform interface is available on desktop and mobile.

App

Moomoo's investment app is available for iOS and Android. It appears that the Moomoo investment platform's capabilities and features are all available on the mobile version; you should be able to use the Moomoo app to do everything that you could do on the Moomoo desktop platform.

Mobile app capabilities include:

• Invest in stocks, options, and ETFs -- in the U.S. and worldwide
• Access extended trading hours (pre-market and post-market)
• Get professional research, data, and analysis
• Follow financial news and market trends
• Gain market insights for faster, better-informed trading
• Participate in the Moomoo community of over 21 million investors

The Moomoo app gets high ratings: 4.7 stars on the App Store, and 4.5 stars on Google Play.

Like many large online brokerages, Moomoo has had its share of customer complaints. The platform gets 2.6 stars on Trustpilot (although in fairness to Moomoo, some of the complaints appear to be AI-generated spam). Moomoo is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and has a grade of "F," with four customer complaints closed in the past 12 months on BBB.org.

Some customer complaints about Moomoo on BBB.org include:

• Someone accusing Moomoo of making it too hard to close an account
• People claiming that they did not receive a referral bonus that they thought they deserved
• A former customer disputing the location of unclaimed funds from their former Moomoo account

Moomoo appears to have made strong efforts to promptly reply to the BBB.org customer complaints, and has offered detailed responses to resolve the problems. In Moomoo's defense, some of the customers complaining on BBB.org appear to have violated the platform's terms of service, or did not listen to guidance and instructions for how to get their money back.

Big online brokerages like Moomoo have millions of users, and the vast majority of users are not posting complaints on BBB.org. The high ratings of the Moomoo app might be a better indication of what life is really like for most Moomoo customers.

Moomoo offers several ways to contact customer service:

• By phone: 1-888-721-0610 (open during trading days from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET).
• By email: [email protected]
• 24/7 online chat

Moomoo's website doesn't provide as many details about its account security measures as some other brokerages, but Moomoo does offer multi-factor authentication. With multi-factor authentication, you can set up your account to help keep hackers, scammers, and fraudsters away from your money, by requiring multiple forms of identity verification to access your account.

For example, Moomoo offers device lock, verification codes via SMS, and Moomoo Token to protect your account's transaction security.

Moomoo is an investment and trading platform with more than 21 million users. Founded in 2018, Moomoo's goal is to provide a mix of user-friendly features with advanced capabilities, so investors at all levels of experience can invest like professionals.

At The Motley Fool Ascent, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and account types; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and highly rated mobile apps. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology