Cost and speed are two primary factors for day traders who are placing a high volume of trades rapidly but to be counted among the best online trading platforms for day traders, more bells and whistles are needed.
Research, screening tools, back-testing simulators, virtual trading platforms, online educational webinars and customer support are all part and parcel of what make a trading platform great.
The good news for traders is that competition among brokers is fierce and many have innovated on cost and technology. A broker in contention for the top spot is tastytrade.
| tastytrade SPOTLIGHT | |
Investormint Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars |
via tastytrade secure site |
Is tastytrade The Best Online Trading Platform For Day Trading?
tastytrade supports trading in stocks, futures, options, and ETFs but not mutual funds.
The team behind tastytrade has been innovating trading software since 2000. Many of the same team who built other world class platforms have been instrumental in making tastytrade one of the fastest, most reliable, and most secure trading platforms in the world.
tastytrade is built by traders for traders. At tastytrade, you can trade stocks, options, ETFs, and futures. What you won’t find at tastytrade is mutual funds.
The philosophy of the executive team at tastytrade is to empower self-directed traders. And tastytrade provides a world class dashboard and user experience to make it easy to dip in and out of the market at the speed you expect and need.
tastytrade makes it easy to trade wherever you are whether on a mobile device, desktop or browser.
The browser interface is among the most robust web-based trading platforms in the industry. You get the same functionality as the downloadable desktop version without any installation requirements.
For day traders who value a flow of stock market ideas, a nice feature of the tastytrade web-based application is the curated experts trade section on the Follow page.
Visualizing trades is made easy using the tastytrade Trade Curve tool. Plus, you get to view the history of your trade when using the Analyze tool.
How Much Are tastytrade Commissions & Fees?
tastytrade commissions and fees are among the most competitive of all brokerage firms. The standout attraction is no commissions costs (excluding clearing fees) on all closing trades.
As expected from a customer-focused broker, tastytrade has a simple pricing structure with no base rates or confusing tiers.
Commissions across the board are low but the eye-catching pricing benefit is zero commissions costs on all closing trades (excluding clearing fees).
| Options Opening Trade | Stock Opening Trade | Futures Opening Trade | All Closing Trades |
| $1.00 (per contract) | $0.00 (unlimited shares) | $2.50 (per contract) | $0.00 (clearing fees apply) |
The small print is that all options trades incur a clearing fee of $0.10 per contract, all stock trades incur a clearing fee of $0.0008 per share, and all futures trades incur a clearing fee of $0.30 per contract.
For any ACH withdrawals or deposits, no fees apply. And no annual maintenance fees are charged on IRA accounts.
It’s best to opt for digital reporting if at all possible because tastytrade does impose a hefty $5 per statement charge for paper monthly and quarterly statements as well as paper tax statements.
Options traders should take note of the $5 cost when exercising long positions or taking assignment on short options contracts.
Other fees to note include single-listed proprietary index option fees:
| Symbol | Description | Fee Per Contract |
| SPX | S&P 500 Index | $0.65 |
| RUT | Russell 2000 Index | $0.18 |
| VIX | CBOE Market Volatility Index | $0.65 |
| OEX | S&P 100 Index (American-style exercise) | $0.40 |
| XEO | S&P 100 Index (European-style exercise) | $0.40 |
| DJX | Dow Jones Industrial Average Index 1/100 | $0.18 |
| NDX | NASDAQ 100 Index | $0.18 |
Check out a complete list of tastytrade pricing here.
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Best Online Trading Platform For Trade Ideas & Strategies?
tastylive features extensive content from tastytrade covering trading strategies, trade ideas, and guest interviews.
Whether you are a day trader, swing trader, technical trader, or even an investor focused on the long-term, a flow of trade ideas can be valuable so you can pounce on opportunities when they arise in the stock market.
tastylive shines when it comes to new ideas and trading strategies. If content is king then tastylive is royalty among brokerages because its content quality, volume and production is second to none in our view.
How prolific is tastylive content? On its tastytrade YouTube channel alone you will find thousands of videos featuring an extensive range of topics. Options traders will enjoy videos on strategies, such as:
- Collar trades
- Covered calls
- Married puts
- Bull put credit spreads
- Bear call credit spreads
- Bull call debit spreads
- Bear put debit spreads
- Straddle
- Strangle
- Ratio put backspreads
- Ratio call backspreads
- Iron butterflies
- Iron condors
If you want to dive deep into gamma scalping, delta-neutral trading, or want to learn about theta options strategies, tastytrade has a depth of content that will knock your socks off.
Stock and futures traders aren’t left out in the cold either. Whether you want to avoid common mistakes before taking the plunge into the markets for the first time, or you want insights into more obscure topics, such as the ratio of metal prices, you are likely to find answers at tastytrade.
The tastylive team also interviews leading traders and business people, so you get much more than a trading platform, you also get a media hub.
A sample list of guests at tastylive in the past include:
- David Katcher of ride-sharing platform Lyft
- Jeremiah Green of Eat Purely
- Jason Weingarten of Yello
- Kathryn Pisco of Unearth The World
- Shirley Yang of Muses
If you wanted, you could probably switch off CNBC and Bloomberg, switch on tastytrade and still get a stream of excellent content, stock market ideas, and stock market insights.
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tastytrade Account Selection
tastytrade supports individual margin and cash accounts, traditional IRA, Roth IRA and international accounts.
As a comparatively new broker, tastytrade offers fewer account choices than some of the major brokers but unless you have complex financial circumstances and numerous account types, you should be all set.
Account types supported include:
| Account Type | Description |
| Individual Cash | You must cover your trade’s purchase price with money in your account. |
| Individual Margin | You can borrow money to trade and use all strategies available on the tastytrade trading platform. |
| Traditional IRA | Retirement IRA accounts are available so you can grow earnings on a tax-deferred basis. |
| Roth IRA | After-tax contributions can be invested and earnings withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free for qualified distributions. |
| International | tastytrade supports international accounts. |
For those looking for Joint Tenants In Common, Joint With Rights Of Survivorship, Custodial UGMT/UTMA, Coverdell, Trust and Corporate accounts, tastytrade plans to roll them out but they’re not yet ready for prime time.
Summary: tastytrade Online Trading Platform
tastytrade may be the new kid on the block of online trading platforms. The same commitment to pioneering technology is evident at tastytrade where fast, accurate, and low cost order execution is prioritized.
Frequent traders will be thrilled that tastytrade charges zero commissions on closing trades (though clearing fees still apply). In our view, tastytrade has content that is unparalleled, and features stock and options education as well as market insights.
Experienced traders should expect tastytrade to build on its existing suite of tools so that over time it rivals powerful platforms such as thinkorswim.
The bottom line is tastytrade is one of the best online trading platforms for day traders, options traders, stock traders, and experienced traders.
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