Privacy Policy
FIRSTRADE is committed to protecting our clients' personal and financial information. In the course of providing brokerage services, we collect certain information about our clients to ensure seamless transactions and to comply with regulatory requirements. Our Privacy Policy provides transparency about the types of information we collect, why we collect it, and how we use it. We also explain how we may share this information with third parties, such as affiliates or service providers, to facilitate our services or as required by law. By adhering to the principles outlined in our Privacy Policy, we aim to foster trust and confidence with our clients, ensuring that their personal and financial information is treated with the utmost care and confidentiality.
Firstrade Privacy Policy (PDF)
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
While providing the Services, FIRSTRADE collects or receives the following types of information from you:
- Identity data such as your full name, Social Security number/Tax Identification number, date of birth, and any other personal information connected to identifying you from government-issued identification documents.
- Contact data such as residential/mailing address, telephone numbers, and email address.
- Financial data such as such as your bank account and payment card details, and information about your employment, income, account balances, financial transaction history, credit history, tax information, and credit scores.
- Profile data such as such as your username and password, your knowledge assessment results, your interests, preferences, feedback, and survey responses.
Information we collect automatically through the Services:
- Usage Information. We collect information about your activity on our Services, which includes device identifiers (like IP address or mobile device identifiers), pages or features you use, time and date of access, and other similar usage information.
- Transactional Information. When you receive, submit, or complete a transaction via the Services, we collect information about the transaction, such as transaction amount, type and nature of the transaction, and time and date of the transaction.
Information we collect from other sources:
- Vendors and Business Partners. We collect information about you from companies that we do business with, such as name, contact data, inferences about your preferences and attributes, as well as inferred fraud risk, from identity verification and fraud prevention partners.
- Financial Account Linking. We may receive financial account information about you from third-parties, such as your financial institutions. For example, FIRSTRADE offers account linking and aggregation services through Plaid, Inc. ("Plaid"). By utilizing these services, you acknowledge and agree that the terms of Plaid's Privacy Policy (currently located at https://plaid.com/legal/#end-user-privacy-policy) will govern Plaid's use of such information, and you consent to Plaid's Privacy Policy.
- Connected Services. If you link, connect, or log in to your FIRSTRADE Account with a third-party service (e.g., Google, Apple), the third-party service may send us information such as your profile information from that service. This information varies and is controlled by that service or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service.
- Advertising Data. We collect information in connection with our ad campaigns that surface on other platforms, such as the ads you click on and other interactions with our ads.
- Credit Information. We may receive credit-related information about you from third parties, such as credit bureaus. For example, if you apply for a credit card with FIRSTRADE, we may collect your credit history and credit scores from credit bureaus and other partners.
HOW WE USE AND SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
The information we gather is utilized for the purposes outlined below, or as specifically communicated to you at the time of collection:
- Provide and maintain our services, which encompasses processing account applications, verifying your identity, ensuring the functionality of our platform, offering support, recording transactional details, and managing billing and accounts.
- Deliver transactional and relational communications to you, including confirmations, invoices, technical updates, customer support responses, software enhancements, security advisories, support messages, and transactional information.
- Communicate with you about offers and personalized content tailored to your interests, including newsletters, product announcements, partner offerings, surveys, contests, sweepstakes, events, and advertisements customized to your preferences.
- Monitor and enhance the performance of our services through usage analysis and research and development efforts.
- Organize and oversee contests, sweepstakes, and promotional campaigns, as well as manage the processing and distribution of entries and rewards.
- Safeguard the safety and integrity of our services, business operations, and user community by investigating and preventing fraudulent or unlawful activities.
- Uphold our legal rights and defend against legal claims, including enforcing contracts and agreements.
- Adhere to relevant laws and regulatory obligations, including those applicable to regulated broker-dealers and money services businesses.
COOKIES
FIRSTRADE uses cookies to enhance navigation and functionality of our website, to securely verify your identity, and to personalize aspects of your experience on our website. We also use cookies to let us know how visitors are using our website, so that we can improve our website and your experience on it. You do have control over cookies. Most browsers can be set to notify you when a cookie is being placed on your computer. You can also set most browsers to refuse to accept cookies, although this may affect your Internet experience. You can also erase cookies that are already on your computer. For more information on working with cookies, you should consult the User Manual, FAQ, or Help function of your specific browser and operating system software.
We use cookies to provide you with the best possible experience on our website. By using our website, you agree to our Cookie Policy.
ANALYTICS, TRACKING AND ADVERTISING
We use third-party advertising and analytics services to better understand your online activity and serve you targeted advertisements. For example, we use Google Analytics and you can review the “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services” linked here: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ for information about how Google processes the information it collects. These companies collect information about your use of our Services and other websites and online services over time through cookies, device identifiers, or other tracking technologies. The information collected includes your IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent, links clicked, and conversion information. We and our third-party partners use this information to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of content, and deliver advertisements targeted to your interests on our Services and other platforms, as well as to provide advertising-related services to us such as reporting, attribution, analytics, and market research. For more information about interest-based ads, including to learn about options for opting out of having your web browsing information used for targeted advertising purposes, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices. You should also review your mobile device settings and controls for features that allow you to opt out or opt in to having certain information collected for behavioral advertising purposes. Please note, as a self-directed broker-dealer, we do not advertise on behalf of specific securities or investment options on our Services.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION
FIRSTRADE employs reasonable, industry-standard security measures to safeguard information within our control against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include maintaining appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards. We restrict access to personal information on a need-to-know basis and limit the amount and type of information available for download or transmission. Regular audits are conducted to ensure the efficacy of our system. However, it's important to acknowledge that no security system is entirely impervious. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent hackers from unlawfully accessing this data or that our database and systems will remain immune to cyber-attacks. FIRSTRADE retains your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, to meet our legal and regulatory obligations, including compliance with our records retention practices, and as permitted to serve our legitimate interests.
CONTROL YOUR INFORMATION
You have various options to oversee and regulate the information collected and processed by FIRSTRADE, including the following:
- You can access and modify your information through your Account. If you notice any inaccuracies or incomplete data, you may request corrections, which we will endeavor to process promptly. Please note that while we make commercially reasonable efforts to fulfill such requests, complete removal or modification of information from our subscription databases may not always be feasible. If this occurs, we will provide an explanation for why the requested changes were not possible.
- You have the option to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information at any time if you have an Account. Simply contact us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800. However, please be aware that if you choose to withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with all features or aspects of our existing services. It's important to note that withdrawing consent does not affect our ability to collect, use, transfer, process, and disclose personal data when permitted or required under applicable laws in any jurisdiction.
- You have the option to delete your Account at any time. Upon deletion, your personal information will be removed according to our standard data retention practices. Additionally, you can request the deletion of all your personal information by contacting us. We will endeavor to fulfill deletion requests within a reasonable timeframe as allowed by law. However, please note that we may be unable to delete certain data that we are legally obligated to maintain, such as information required by regulators for auditing or substantiation purposes.
- Control access to your device data by adjusting settings. You have the option to revoke our mobile app's access to specific stored device information through your device's settings. For example, you can withdraw permission for the app to access your contact list or photo gallery.
- Adjust your communication preferences. To discontinue receiving promotional emails from us, simply click the "unsubscribe" link provided in those emails. However, please note that you may still receive service-related or other non-promotional communications, such as account notifications, receipts, security notices, and other transactional or relationship messages.
- Manage mobile ad tracking. You have the option to configure your mobile device to restrict ad tracking. Doing so will prevent us from accessing your advertising ID or IDFA. However, please note that we will continue to share other personal information with our advertising partners in accordance with this Notice.
- Opting out of specific data sharing. You have the ability to control how we share your data with our marketing partners to enhance our Services' marketing across various sites and apps by reaching out to us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800. Once disabled, we will cease sharing personal information with these partners for such purposes.
TRANSFER OF INFORMATION
With the exception of using our services outside the United States (such as when traveling), our services are primarily tailored for use within the United States. If you are located outside the United States, by using our Services you agree to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States. In providing our Services, your information may be processed in the United States or in other countries that might not offer data protection standards equivalent to those of the United States or your home jurisdiction.
US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS
For California Residents
In accordance with California law, we will not share information we collect about you with nonaffiliates, except as allowed by law. For example, we may share information with your consent or to service your account. Among our affiliates, we will limit information sharing to the extent required by California law.
Under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), citizens have certain rights regarding their Personal Information:
- Right to know: You can request information about the personal data we collect, use, disclose, and sell. Contact us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800. We'll verify requests and provide reports free of charge, limited to two per consumer annually.
- Right to request deletion: Ask us to delete personal information we've collected from you. Contact us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800. We'll verify requests before proceeding.
- Right to opt out of selling personal information: We don't sell your personal information to third parties. However, we allow third parties to collect information for advertising and marketing purposes through our Services. Refer to "ANALYTICS, TRACKING AND ADVERTISING Analytics" for details.
- Nondiscrimination: We won't discriminate against California residents who exercise their privacy rights.
- Authorized agent: You can use an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf. The agent must provide written proof of authorization and follow the appropriate process for requests.
- California Shine the Light Law: We don't share your personal information with other businesses or third parties for their own direct marketing.
- Do Not Track notice: We don't respond to "Do Not Track" signals. Third parties may collect personal information about your online activities across different apps or websites when using our Services.
Vermont Residents
We will not share information we collect about you with non-affiliated third parties, except as permitted by law, such as to process your transactions or to maintain your account. In addition, we will not share your creditworthiness information with our affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates for marketing purposes. To limit this type of information sharing, please contact us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800.
For Nevada Residents
We are providing you with this notice pursuant to state law. You may be placed on our internal Do Not Call List by contacting us via email service@firstrade.com or call 1-800-869-8800. Nevada law requires that we also provide you with the following contact information: Bureau of Consumer Protection, Office of the Nevada Attorney General, 555 E. Washington St., Suite 3900, Las Vegas, NV 89101; Phone number: 702-486-3132; Email: BCPINFO@ag.state.nv.us
UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE
This Notice may be updated or revised at any time, with or without prior notice. The latest version will be posted on our website. Your continued use of our Services indicates your consent to the revised version.
CONTACT US
For questions, comments, or suggestions regarding FIRSTRADE's Privacy Policy, or your personal information, please reach out to us by phone at 1-800-869-8800 or via email at service@firstrade.com.