They choose brokerages that are fast, have a good execution, are reliable, and have low costs. Platforms for day trading are made to attract traders who are very busy during a typical stock market day. In a typical portfolio, they start with no positions and trade so often that by the end of the day, they have closed all of their deals.
Some day traders do everything by hand, using a chart to make trades hour by hour. Some people set up an automated system that makes buy and sell orders for them. Day traders don’t look at essential information, but they care about liquidity, trading volume, price fluctuations, and breaking trends during the day that can make a big difference in the price of a stock.
As a general rule, a day trader should choose a broker who charges by the share. Investors usually like brokerages that charge for each trade. But traders want to know their real-time margin and buying power every hour. This means that day traders must be able to place orders quickly by choosing their trade size and even skip confirming the trade. People know that day traders also use a lot of money.
Which platform is best for day trading?
We chose brokerages based on how fast and reliable their trade executions were and how helpful they were for day traders, such as letting them place multiple orders at once and choose which trading venues would finish the order. So that day, market participants can buy and sell even faster, and the brokerage should also include custom trading defaults.
Firstrade – Best Overall
Day trading requires you to make trades daily, so looking for brokerages that charge low or no fees and commissions per trade makes sense. Aside from free trade, it’s also important to have good tools for analysis and research. So, if you want to trade stocks without paying fees and use great research tools, Firstrade covers you on all fronts.
You can’t start trading with Firstrade, though, if you don’t have at least $500 in your account, which is the minimum amount needed. Some people may be put off by this fee initially, but it should be seen more as an investor than a fee.
Firstrade differs from some brokerages because it doesn’t have a minimum account size and doesn’t charge fees to trade. Instead, it has a strong and fast trading platform and competitive research tools. In this way, the $500 minimum account balance seems like a small amount to pay for a deposit bonus and a great platform.
TradeStation – The Best Technology
If you trade often, you have probably already used TradeStation. The charting tools on the platform have changed, and you can now use technical triggers in your automated strategies. When it comes to fees, TradeStation is a little behind the times.
But they help compensate for it by having the best tools for charting and trade testing. Using their technical analysis tools, you can see exact forecasts based on past and current data. It’s a great choice for traders who trade a lot and don’t psyche the account minimum because it has many features.
You can also path your orders, use a certain place to trade, or use TradeStation’s smart order routing engine. The best thing about this platform is that you can create, test, and run algorithmic trading strategies focused on a technical trigger.
Interactive Brokers: The Most Reliable Platform
Interactive Brokers have been the go-to framework for day traders for a long time. The brokerage is the best at low-cost trading, and it’s made for people who trade a lot. At the moment, they only charge $0.005 per share on their traditional platform, but IBKR Lite is free per share.
Interactive Brokers, or IBKR, is the platform for day traders who make a lot of trades and want accurate trades that happen quickly. Also, their fees are very low. If you want to trade stocks daily and want the cheapest brokerage, IBKR might be for you. The main goal of the brokerage is to keep fees low and help traders execute faster.
For quick trades, you can use their desktop platform, Trader Workstation, which gives you access to professional algorithmic trading and options for automated trading. You can change any algorithm that fulfills your market orders, which makes it easier to look for opportunities inside a spread and get a few pennies more for your profits.
TradeZero: The Best Tools for Short Selling
TradeZero is among the most interesting new brokerages. It was started in 2015 in the Bahamas. In 2019, the company expanded its operations to the United States by creating a FINRA and SEC-registered broker for U.S. clients. It offers a variety of day trader-friendly features.
TradeZero has advanced record-keeping and drawing tools, level 2 quotes, and lightning-fast execution speed. When you add in commission-free trading, a wide range of investments you can trade, and a good mobile app, it’s easy to see why both day brokers and short-sellers have been using the brokerage more often.
TradeZero makes it easy and quick to open an account, but clients in the U.S. will have to make a minimum deposit of $2,500. On the other hand, many international clients only have to put up $500 to open an account.
The brokerage has a few platforms. The free one, ZeroFree, is pretty good and functional, but the paid platform, ZeroPro, is a better option overall. ZeroPro has a stock screener, complex order types, level 2 quotes, custom layouts, and watchlists. The premium platform costs $59 a month, which is a fair price, given how much you get for your money.
TD Ameritrade – Best For Desktop Trading
TD Ameritrade has a lot to offer the active day trader, including no account minimum, trades with no fees, and various charting tools. TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform is the best way to trade stocks daily.
This stock charting platform can be downloaded and changed in many ways. You can change this as much as you like, and intraday charts will show you quotes in real-time. This platform makes it easy for day traders who prefer to buy it today from the chart.
You can tile the graphs across your screen if you require to look at more than one stock simultaneously. You can also use the thinkScript language to run a trading strategy independently. Think or Swim has 300 built-in strategies, or you can use the technical indicators to make your own.
Leave a Reply