Best Broker for Day Trading

What are the best brokers for day trading and day trading platforms? If you plan to actively trade the financial markets with hundreds of buy and sell orders per month, you need the best day trading broker. Fast order executions make a massive difference for your daily profit. The faster the orders are executed by using the best trading platform, the better the profitability potential.

This list contains the best online brokers for for active traders. Let’s discover the best day trading platforms, lowest commission rates and the best customer support.

Transparency: We may get compensated when you click on links in this article.

Best Day Trading Platforms and Brokers

• Cobra Trading
• Interactive Brokers
• Lightspeed Trading
• CenterPoint Securities
• SpeedTrader

1. Cobra Trading

Cobra Trading was founded in 2003 by Chadd Hessing. The direct-access broker is fast, has the best commission rates and defined customer service as their priority. Traders can open and close trades via phone at no additional cost.

Cobra Trading is located in Texas and member of FINRA, NFA and SIPC. Traders can choose between three powerful day trading platforms; CobraTraderPro, DAS Trader, and Sterling Trader Pro.

Typically, the commissions per share start at $0.003, with a trading volume between 0 to 100k shares per month.

Special Offer: Here you get a 33% commission discount with Cobra Trading (for life) (Bonus: 1 month of free access to DAS Trader and Sterling included).

I wrote a comprehensive Cobra Trading review where I guide you through Cobra Trading’s platforms, commissions, and other benefits like short locate lists, low margin rates etc.

2. Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers has the best API for automated trading. Clients can build custom trading apps, integrate trading to existing front-end applications, develop commercial trading software solutions and access stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, funds and more in 33 countries across 150 markets.

Interactive Brokers offers several different trading platforms for traders and investors. Their flagship trading platform is the Trader Workstation. It is an excellent platform for active investors and traders looking for a flexible user interface with extensive customizable features.

In addition, their IBKR GlobalTrader application for iOS and Android is perfect for novice investors looking to expand their portfolios overseas. Finally, they recently released the new web-based IBKR EventTrader platform, which lets investors and traders trade their opinion on “yes or no” questions using CME Event Contracts.

A significant benefit that they offer is their extensive range of order routing capabilities, with over 100 order types and algos, from basket orders, all or none, dark ice, bracket orders, hidden, if touched, market, limit, and sweep to fill orders to scaling capabilities and more.

Another advantage of Interactive Brokers is the fully-integrated paper trading account. New traders should use this tool for a couple of weeks to get used to the platform by placing orders with simulated cash.

Interactive Brokers offers two pricing plans for clients: IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro. IBKR Lite caters to retail investors looking for commission-free trades on US stocks and ETFs, while IBKR Pro caters to active traders looking to achieve the best price execution with each trade at a low cost.

IBKR Pro clients can choose between fixed and tiered commission structures, where the commission on US stocks is between USD $0.0005 and $0.0035 per share for tiered pricing:

• ≤ 300,000 shares = $0.0035 per share
• 300,001 – 3,000,000 shares = $0.0020 per share
• 3,000,001 – 20,000,000 shares = $0.0015 per share
• 20,000,001 – 100,000,000 shares = $0.0010 per share
• > 100,000,000 shares = $0.0005 per share

Alternatively, users pay $0.005 per share for fixed pricing (including exchange fees).

Click here for more details and to get started with Interactive Brokers.

3. Lightspeed Trading

Lightspeed Trading is what the name stands for – lightning-fast. The trading platform is one of the fastest ones with tons of customization options. You need at least $25,000 to open an account with them, which is fine since you want to day trade, and the SEC requires to have $25,000 in your account to day trade. That also means that Lightspeed is not for long-term investors or people who want to try the world of trading in general.

As with any day trading platform, at first, things seem to be complex. Take your time to go through all educational videos first, and make small steps. Setting the right hot-keys, order routings, and pre-configured position sizes are crucial for success.

The commission entry-level at Lightspeed Trading is at $0.0045 per share plus exchange fees if you stay under 249.000 shares per month. In most cases, that means that the costs are a bit higher than with Interactive Brokers. But on the other hand, Lightspeed is fast and has an excellent platform.

The trading platforms’ fees are a bit hidden on the website, but you can find them at the bottom of the platform comparison. The inhouse LS Trader costs $130 per month, while Sterling Trader costs about $250 per month. The LS Trader costs will be waived if you generated at least $130 in commissions in the previous month. There is no way to get the Sterling Trader costs waived. Try a demo if you are uncertain and read the full Lightspeed Trading review.

4. Centerpoint Securities

Centerpoint Securities is a low-cost day trading broker. They have one of the best short-sale locate lists, which enables day traders to short nearly every stock. Commission rates are as low as $0.002 per share. The entry-level for trading volumes lower than 300.000 shares per month is $0.0040 plus routing fees. Therefore, Centerpoint Securities is right in the middle between Interactive Brokers and Lightspeed Trading.

DAS Trader Pro and Sterling Trader Pro are the platforms offered. DAS Trader pro costs $120 per month while the base terminal fee will be waived if >200k shares are traded in any given month. Sterling Trader Pro costs whopping $250 per month, and the costs will only be waived if you trade more than 500k shares in any given month.

Centerpoint Securities requires you to fund your account with at least $30,000. Read the Centerpoint Securities review for all facts.

5. SpeedTrader

SpeedTrader is a direct access stock broker for day traders. Similar to Interactive Brokers, Lightspeed Trading, and Centerpoint Securities, SpeedTrader does not sell orderflow. They give you direct market access and charge a little commission in return. SpeedTrader exists for over 20 years now, and they are one of the most popular day trading brokerage firms out there. 

The price per share can be as low as $0.0025 plus routing fees, while the entry point with <250k shares per month traded is $0.0044.

SpeedTrader Pro is the inhouse day trading platform solution which is based on DAS Trader’s technologies. Within the platform, 25 routing options are available along with stock scanners, watch lists, and 100 hot-key options. The platform costs $104 per month, where Level 2 data is already included. Clients who generate commissions of $499 per month can use SpeedTrader Pro for free in the next month. Proceed by reading the SpeedTrader review.

Best Broker for Day Trading: Comparison

Best Broker for Day Trading: Conclusion

Choosing a day trading broker is different from choosing the best online stock broker for beginners. If you know my other articles about brokerage firms, you know that since 2019, most prominent retail brands offer commission-free trading. It began with Charles Schwab and other brokers like TD-Ameritrade, and E-Trade immediately followed.

Those brokers still make money even if they do not charge commissions. That’s because they sell the order flow to 3rd parties. That means that once you click on a buy or sell button, your order will not be routed to the stock exchange or market maker. Instead, it gets routed to the 3rd party order routing systems first. In exchange for providing liquidity to the 3rd parties, the broker receives compensation (PFOF broker list.)

While zero commissions sound benefiting at first, it is not for day traders because the order execution is not that fast anymore. If you go through the list below, then most of the brokerages mentioned have commissions. They are reasonably low, but they exist. In exchange for the commission, your orders get routed to the stock exchange directly without delay.

Another thing to consider is the pattern day trader rule. If you want to execute more than three orders in a 5-day rolling period, you need $25,000 in your account. Otherwise, your account get’s locked, and you can only close open positions.

Finally, you need to be aware of the fees for the day trading platform and the real-time data subscription fees. Both will be charged every month. While you can avoid day trading platform costs when trading frequently, the real-time data will always be charged by the stock exchange. But no worries, as long as you are a private investor, those fees are reasonably low.

How to choose a day trading platform and broker

Finding the best online brokers for day trading is easier said than done. There are many dependencies to think about before making a decision. Trading strategies, type of stocks to trade, the pattern day trading rule, trading costs, paper trading platforms, the minimum deposit and supported financial instruments are just a few examples.

Day trading involves risk, and you need trading experience to become successful by using analysis tools, an advanced trading platform, technical indicators for technical analysis, a pattern day trading account and good day trading strategies to become profitable.

Here are the things to consider on how to chose a day trading platform and a broker.

Evaluate if you have $25,000 available to fund a day trading account

Day trading means that you buy and sell security like stocks on the same day. If you do it only 3 times in a 5 business day range, you can even day trade with small accounts. But real day trading means trading thousands of shares with hundreds of orders per week.

As defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, you need to have a margin account and maintain an account size of $25,000. Otherwise, your account will get locked for day trading activities. How much money do you have? Outside the United States, things are different in some countries. Still, if you open an account with a broker in the United States, then you have this hurdle in front of you and handle it by providing and maintaining sufficient funds.

Define how often you want to trade and what share sizes

Stock trading, options trading and futures trading can be done with any broker. But it makes a massive difference about the best day trading platform for you if you either plan to trade frequently or not. The more you trade, the more likely you will use the best direct access broker to route your orders based on the trading strategy used for your favorite stock exchange. Active traders, experienced traders, and professional traders most often go this route.

That’s because even using a stock trading platform in the retail brokerage segment will not serve your expectations about order execution speed. On the other hand, if you trade not that often and prefer to have online trading platforms with some trading tools to analyze the stock markets or buy mutual funds and exchange traded funds, a brokerage account with a retail broker does the job well. Do you want to short stocks? The best brokers for short selling are direct access brokers since they have the largest list of easy-to-borrow shares and a better chance of locating hard-to-borrow shares for a reasonable price.

Decide whether to use retail online brokers or direct access brokers

Retail brokers like TD Ameritrade and Robinhood offer zero commissions. But they will sell the order flow resulting from client orders to third parties. Direct access brokers directly route your order to your preferred stock exchange or ECN. Investors most often decide for the retail broker while day traders focus on high-speed executions using direct market access.

See Also:

• Best Broker for Pre Market Trading
• Best Options Trading Platform
• Best Futures Trading Platform

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