ViewTrade Form CRS

Form CRS (Customer Relationship Summary)

ViewTrade Securities, Inc. (“ViewTrade” or the “Firm”) is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a broker-dealer and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Brokerage and investment advisory services and fees differ, and it is important for you to understand the differences. Free and simple tools are available to research different firms and financial professionals at Investor.gov/CRS, which also provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investing.

What investment services and advice can you provide me? 

Our brokerage services include the buying and selling of securities and investment products. These include stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, variable annuities, and more. If you open a brokerage account, you will pay us a transaction‐based fee, generally referred to as a commission, every time you buy or sell an investment. There is no minimum amount required to open an investment account, but we may recommend some investments which require a minimum investment.

When we provide brokerage services, we may recommend investments, or you may select them, but the ultimate decision regarding an investment strategy or the purchase or sale of an investment will be yours. Although we do not provide ongoing monitoring of your account, we will review your account before every recommendation to ensure we act in your best interest. 

Through our clearing Firm we will provide you with account statements on a quarterly or monthly basis. We may be able to provide you with additional services to help you reach your goals, but you may pay more.

It is important to understand our products and services are limited as there are other account types and investment products which we do not offer that may benefit your portfolio. In addition, there could be other firms who offer the same or similar investment options or services for a lower cost.

For more detailed information on the products and services we offer, including limitations, visit https://viewtrade.com/regulation-best-interest-disclosures-supplement/ 

What fees will I pay? 

When you transact in a brokerage account, you will pay a transaction-based fee. This fee is based on the specific transaction, not the value of your account. With certain investments such as stocks or exchange-traded funds this fee is called a commission.  For other investments, such as a bond, this fee might be part of the price you pay for the investment, which is also known as “mark-up” or “mark-down”.  With mutual funds this fee is usually referred to as a “load” and reduces the value of your investment.

Certain investments, such as mutual funds also impose additional fees that will reduce the value of your investment over time.  Also, with certain investments you may have to pay fees, such as surrender charges, when you sell the investment. From a cost perspective, you may prefer a transaction‐based fee if you do not trade often or if you plan to buy and hold investments for longer periods of time. In a brokerage account, more transactions result in us charging you more fees.  Therefore, we could have an incentive to encourage you to engage in transactions. You may also pay other fees for things like account maintenance and wire transfers.

You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying. 

For more detailed information regarding fees and cost of your account visit: https://viewtrade.com/regulation-best-interest-disclosures-supplement/

What are your legal obligations to me when providing recommendations? How else does your firm make money and what conflicts of interest do you have? 

When we provide you with a recommendation, we must act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the recommendations, we provide you. Here are some examples to help you understand what this means. 

In a brokerage account, when our interests’ conflict with your interests, we must tell you about them and, in some cases, take steps to reduce or eliminate these conflicts. Conflicts may result in you paying more for your investments that you would if the conflict did not exist.  

In a brokerage account, we make money by buying and selling you securities and investment products.  Because we get paid when you complete a transaction, we could have an incentive to encourage you to make larger investments and more frequently. Certain products, such as mutual funds, include continuing payments to us, known as “trails”. We could have an incentive to recommend investment products that include trails, even if other investments available to you have lower costs or may perform better.  

We also receive shared revenue and payments from some third parties which incentivizes us to do business with them. For some products we receive higher compensation than on other products. We could have an incentive to encourage you to buy products or investments that pay us more, even if other options might be better for you. We can buy investments from you, and sell investments to you, from our own accounts (called “acting as principal”). We can earn a profit on these trades, so we have an incentive to encourage you to trade with us.

For more detailed information and a complete list of our conflicts of interest and a description of all the ways we make money, visit https://viewtrade.com/regulation-best-interest-disclosures-supplement/

How do your financial professionals make money? 

For brokerage accounts, your financial professional is paid a percentage of the selling compensation (commissions, markup, markdowns, loads – as described above) as well as trailing compensation. 

Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history? 

Yes, you can visit Investor.gov/CRS for a free and simple search tool to research more information about our Firm and your financial professional.

You can find additional information regarding our brokerage services by visiting our website, https://www.viewtrade.com  If you need any other up-to-date information or would like a copy of our relationship summary sent to you, call us at (561) 620-0306