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Best Online Brokers for Futures Trading and Commodities 3686823 - NerdWallet NerdWallet Logo NerdWallet Logo Log in Join Credit Cards Credit Cards Best of Best credit cards of 3686823 Best rewards cards Best cash back cards Best travel cards Best balance transfer cards Best 0% APR cards Best student cards Best cards for bad credit Compare cards Compare card offers Side-by-side comparisons Get a card recommendation Rewards comparison tool 0% APR savings tool Balance transfer tool Reviews Credit card reviews Rewards programs Sign-up bonuses Read & learn Credit cards 3686823 Pick the best credit card Boost your approval odds Balance transfers 3686823 Credit card debt study Range of credit scores How to build credit Debt calculator Credit Building community Banking Banking Best of Best savings accounts Best checking accounts Best bonuses & promotions Best money market accounts Best prepaid debit cards Best banks Compare accounts Savings accounts Checking accounts CD rates Money market accounts See all interest rates Reviews Marcus by Goldman Sachs Synchrony Bank Ally Bank Barclays Discover Bank See all bank reviews Read & learn How to open a bank account Savings accounts 3686823 Checking accounts 3686823 CDs 3686823 Overdraft fees 3686823 Investing Investing Best of Best brokers for stocks Best brokers for beginners Best Roth IRA providers Best IRA providers Best robo-advisors Best for active trading Best for options trading Reviews Ally Invest Merrill Edge E-Trade Betterment Wealthfront Wealthfront vs. Betterment E-Trade vs. TD Ameritrade Popular tools Compare online brokerages Retirement calculator Roth IRA calculator 401(k) savings calculator Calculate my net worth Capital gains tax calculator Federal tax calculator Guides How to buy stocks How to choose a financial advisor Opening a brokerage account How much to save for retirement What is an IRA? Roth IRA guide 401(k) rollover guide Mortgages Mortgages Best of Best mortgage lenders of 3686823 Best lenders for first-time buyers Best online lenders Best FHA lenders Best VA lenders Best for low down payment Best refinance lenders Best low credit lenders Compare Mortgage rates Preapproval lenders Cash-out refinance rates 30-year fixed rates Refinance rates 15-year fixed rates 5/1 ARM rates FHA mortgage rates Calculators Mortgage calculator Amortization calculator How much house can I afford? How much down payment? VA loan calculator Refinance calculator Cost of living calculator Calculators Read & learn Estimate your home value First-time homebuyer tips Homebuying: what to expect FHA loans Get the best mortgage rate Refinancing your mortgage VA home loans Loans Loans Personal Personal loans Bad credit loans Debt consolidation loans Consolidate credit card debt Upstart Marcus OneMain Small business Small business loans Bad credit business loans Small business lenders How to start a business How to get a business loan Business loan calculator Merchant cash advance calculator SBA loans Student Refinance student loans Private student loans How to pay for college Complete the FAFSA Student loan repayment plans Student loan calculator Student loan refinance calculator Auto
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The best online brokers for trading futures overall TradeStation and Generic Trade do a good job of serving two different types of futures traders. See our TradeStation review . Commission: Fixed: $1.50 per contract, per side or Tiered: $0.25-$1.20 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25%-50%
on select contracts; none on most contracts. Account minimum: $5,000. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24-hour phone support from Sunday 4:45 p.m. to Friday 6 p.m. Eastern. Get started See our Generic Trade review . Commission: $0.59 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25%, and lower on select contracts. Account minimum: $0. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24/7 phone support. Get started The best futures broker should have the tools you need to research, test, customize and quickly execute your trades, round-the-clock customer service (access to a trading desk for after-hours support), reliable technology, and reasonable commissions and day-margin rates. That’s a tall order for any single broker to fill. Then again, the best futures broker for you may not need to check all the boxes as long as it excels in the areas of service that matter most to you. In the sections below, we highlight the standout firms in various categories. It’s hard to crown one as the futures trading MVP of the bunch, but both Generic Trade and TradeStation come pretty close. Each excels in different ways: TradeStation is a strong choice for seasoned tech-savvy futures traders. It started out as a platform solely for use by professional traders, as is clear by the breadth of markets covered, data offered, and the range of trading options, research and customizable tools at each client’s fingertips. Generic Trade — a futures- and options-only brokerage firm — stands out as a “nothing fancy” lower-cost entree into futures and options trading. To see if its bare-bones approach suits potential customers, the company offers a two-week demo account to fully test-drive the service before making a commitment. Generic Trade charges a flat $0.59 per-contract, per-side commission, has a $0 account minimum and no inactivity fees. Investors should be aware that there are additional platform and data fees, however.
Low-cost brokers for futures trading High-volume traders will benefit from the tiered pricing at these brokers. See our Lightspeed Trading review . Commission: Tiered: 100,000+ contracts/month: $0.25 per contract, per side; over 50,000: $0.30; over 10,000: $0.35; over 2,000: $0.45; over 500: $0.50; less than 500: $0.60 + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25% on all products. Account minimum: $10,3686823 ($25,3686823 for select trading platforms). Futures products: 60+. Trader support: 24-hour phone support when futures markets are open; tutorials and webinars. Get started See our Interactive Brokers review . Commission: Tiered: 20,001+ contracts/month: $0.25 per contract, per side; 10,001-20,000: $0.45; 1,001-10,000: $0.65; 1,3686823 or less: $0.85 + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: Varies by contract; select contracts 100%, some 50%. Account minimum: $0. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24/7 phone, email and chat support. Get started Lightspeed Trading and Interactive Brokers stand out by offering tiered commission schedules based on monthly trade volume. Lightspeed Trading’s commissions range from $0.25 for high-rollers with 100,3686823 monthly contracts to $0.60 for those dealing with less than 3686823 per month. One thing to be aware of: Lightspeed’s trading platforms impose additional monthly software fees, and accounts with less than $15,3686823 require a minimum monthly commission of $25. The range at Interactive Brokers is $0.25 per contract for more than 20,3686823 contracts to $0.85 for 1,3686823 or less. Customers get free access to all the bells and whistles on the company’s desktop, web and mobile platforms. Some data comes at an additional cost.
Best trading platform, research and tools These brokers offer the highest level of real-time data and quotes, charting and screening tools, technical indicators and a wealth of research. See our Interactive Brokers review . Commission: Tiered: 20,001+ contracts/month: $0.25 per contract, per side; 10,001-20,000: $0.45; 1,001-10,000: $0.65; 1,3686823 or less: $0.85 + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: Varies by contract; select contracts 100%, some 50%. Account minimum: $0. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24/7 phone, email and chat support. Get started See our TradeStation review . Commission: Fixed: $1.50 per contract, per side or Tiered: $0.25–$1.20 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25%-50% on select contracts; none on most contracts. Account minimum: $5,000. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24-hour phone support from Sunday 4:45 p.m. to Friday 6 p.m. Eastern. Get started TradeStation and Interactive Brokers stand out in this category, which recognizes brokers offering advanced research, analytics, charting and screening tools, lots of technical indicators, a variety of streaming news and research as well as automated futures trades. TradeStation’s desktop platform is aimed at tech-savvy retail and professional traders seeking a luxury-class experience. Its array of features includes one-click order entry, automated trading strategies, 24-hour global market analysis, decades of historical futures market data and the ability for investors to design their own trade-strategy customizations. Interactive Brokers ably serves both retail and professional clients via its Trader Workstation and Web Trader platforms. The broker also offers a full-featured mobile app. On the research side, Interactive Brokers offers free reports and analysis from more than 33 providers and allows clients to subscribe for additional premium research reports.
Low day-trading margin requirements Traders who want the most leverage will appreciate the low day-trade margins at these brokers. See our Generic Trade review . Commission: $0.59 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25%, and lower on select contracts. Account minimum: $0. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24/7 phone support. Get started See our TradeStation review . Commission: Fixed: $1.50 per contract, per side or Tiered: $0.25–$1.20 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25%-50% on select contracts; none on most contracts. Account minimum: $5,000. Futures products: 200+. Trader support: 24-hour phone support from Sunday 4:45 p.m. to Friday 6 p.m. Eastern. Get started Futures contracts are highly leveraged: You can put down a small amount of money — generally 5% to 10% — on a large contract. That sounds like a good thing, and it is. But it also adds to the risk: Leverage can lead to bigger gains and bigger losses, and if your account dips below the maintenance-margin requirement, your broker may issue a margin call that requires you to add funds immediately. That means you need money available above and beyond any positions you hold. The initial overnight margin requirement will be set by the exchange, and it doesn’t vary by broker. But futures contracts are often bought and sold within the same day, and some brokers offer a reduced margin requirement for day trades; generally a percentage of the initial margin requirement. If leverage is important to you, TradeStation and Generic Trade offer attractive day-trade margins and some of the lowest minimum-balance requirements available for a futures trading account. TradeStation offers 25% margin on many contracts, 50% on some and 0% on most of its contracts. Generic Trade features 25% day-trade margins and offers an Enhanced Intraday Margin System on request; this is available during limited trading hours for seasoned traders who maintain a $1,3686823 balance and may reduce the margin requirement even further. (Lightspeed, mentioned above, also offers 25% margin, albeit with a higher account minimum.)
The best futures brokers for trader support These brokers offer phone support around the clock, in addition to online educational resources. See our E-Trade review . Commission: $1.50 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 50%. Account minimum: $500. Futures products: 50+. Trader support: 24/7 phone support; email support and live chat. Get started See our TD Ameritrade review . Commission: $2.25 per contract, per side + exchange and NFA fees. Day-trade margin: 25% with $15,3686823 minimum. Account minimum: No minimum, but traders must apply for a futures account. Futures products: 60+. Trader support: 24/7 phone support, live chat and email support, 360+ local branches, weekly webcasts, online courses and live interactive workshops. Get started We’re assuming you’re an experienced trader; if you’re not, click away, because futures trading is not where you get your start. But even experienced traders need assistance: It can take time to adjust to a new trading platform, and many of the best ones are so advanced that even the most active traders could use a road map. You also may want to call and speak to a trading desk, or place broker-assisted trades occasionally — either to transact when you’re away from your computer or discuss a strategy with a like-minded person. All of that means you may want a futures brokerage that has expert traders available during futures hours, which are different from standard trading hours: Look for 24-hour service at least from Sunday afternoon through Friday evening. TD Ameritrade and E-Trade both excel in their trader support, with around-the-clock qualified brokers and lots of online education. The trade-off: You’ll pay more in commissions at both brokers (no tiered volume pricing here), but data and trading platforms are free.
Best brokers for trading futures and commodities Broker Best for Highlights Commission Account minimum Start investing Trader support Educational resources; no platform fees $1.50 per contract, per side $3686823 Get started Overall + Platform + Low day-trading margin Volume discounts for frequent traders; pro-level platform Fixed: $1.50 per contract, per side Tiered: $0.25-$1.20 per contract, per side $5,3686823 Get started Overall + Low day-trading margin Flat commission; 25% intraday margin requirement $0.59 per contract, per side $0 Get started Low cost Volume discounts for frequent traders $0.25-$0.60 per contract, per side $10,3686823 Get started Trader support 24/7 phone support; free platform, research and data $2.25 per contract, per side No minimum, but traders must apply for a futures account. Get Started Platform + Low cost Volume discounts for frequent traders; pro-level platforms $0.25 - $0.85 per contract, per side $0 Get started James Royal also contributed to this article.
About the authors Arielle O'Shea Arielle is a personal finance writer at NerdWallet. Her work has been featured by Esquire, Money, USA Today, Forbes and The Associated Press. Read more twitter Twitter email Email Dayana Yochim Dayana is a personal finance writer at NerdWallet. Her work has been featured by Forbes, Real Simple, USA Today, Woman's Day and The Associated Press. Read more twitter Twitter email Email We want to hear from you and encourage a lively discussion among our users. Please help us keep our site clean and safe by following our posting guidelines , and avoid disclosing personal or sensitive information such as bank account or phone numbers. Any comments posted under NerdWallet's official account are not reviewed or endorsed by representatives of financial institutions affiliated with the reviewed products, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Best-Of Awards Credit Cards Banking Investing Mortgages Insurance Loans Shopping Utilities Taxes Universities About Company Press Careers Leadership Help Security pare, Inc. NMLS ID# 263686823 NMLS Consumer Access Licenses and Disclosures Disclaimer: NerdWallet has entered into referral and advertising arrangements with certain broker-dealers under which we receive compensation (in the form of flat fees per qualifying action) when you click on links to our partner broker-dealers and/or submit an application or get approved for a brokerage account. At times, we may receive incentives (such as an increase in the flat fee) depending on how many users click on links to the broker-dealer and complete a qualifying action. 3686823 NerdWallet, Inc. All Rights Reserved Terms of Use Privacy Policy Text me the mobile app
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