If you trade with day trading strategy, there are several things that must be considered. Here is a list of 10 top US brokers suitable for day traders.

Recommended US Brokers for Day Traders

As the name suggests, day trading refers to the practice of opening and closing trading positions within a single day before the market closed. It's easy to distinguish this type of trader from let's say, swing traders who can hold their position for several days or even weeks, or long-term traders who open their positions for several months or even years.

Day traders can open a few positions a day on different currency pairs relying on trading signals from technical indicators, price action, and fundamental news releases all at the same time. The time frame they usually use is usually between 15 minutes to one hour. With this distinct strategy, day traders tend to have their own criteria and specific needs when choosing a broker.

The following US forex brokers are highly recommended for you as day traders:

  1. Interactive Brokers LLC
  2. Thinkorswim
  3. Lightspeed Trading
  4. Advantage Futures
  5. Options Xpress
  6. TradeStation
  7. OptionsHouse LLC
  8. SpeedTrader
  9. Infinity Futures
  10. OANDA

There are a few main significant factors that are always considered by day traders in determining their choice of broker. In this article, we will break down the criteria of a good broker for day trading and explain why the brokers above could be included in the category.

 

Important Criteria for Day Traders

There are several factors to consider when choosing a broker for day trading. This is because day trading requires you to be responsive in identifying and seizing opportunities consistently. The frequency of trading is much higher compared to position trading or swing trading. Here are some criteria that should be present in your chosen broker.

  • Commission Fee per Transaction: In choosing a broker, day traders would go for brokers that offer low commission fees. This might be beneficial for day traders to ensure more profit.
  • The Quality of the Trading Platform: Day traders normally open and close positions at a high frequency, so the difference in order execution speed even in seconds will affect the price level of the order, which in turn will impact the amount of profit or loss that they will get.
  • Customer Support: Sometimes, network disruption and other problems can happen even in the most trusted broker, so day traders need to be able to directly contact customer service to solve the issue.

The brokers that will be explained in the next section not only ensure the 3 main criteria for day trading but also provide more tools and other trading conditions to optimize day traders' strategies.

 

1. Interactive Brokers LLC

  • Commission: 0.1 pips for currencies, $0 per share for US residents
  • Trading platform(s): Trader Workstation (TWS), IBKR GlobalTrader, IBKR Mobile, IBKR EventTrader
  • Customer support: Email, phone support, chat room, send documents, community forum, clients poll, etc.

Interactive Brokers LLC. is a financial service company that has been listed on the Nasdaq exchange (code: IBKR). This broker was founded in 1977 with a headquarter in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Today, this broker has been recognized globally and is widely used by hedge fund managers, professional traders, and large institutions. Several awards have also been attributed to Interactive Brokers for being the best broker in certain fields over the last few years.

The brokerage company uses Traders Workstation (TWS) as their main trading platform. It comes with trading tools required to do multi-layered trades and makes it easier to control your entry and exit, so you can minimize slippage and maximize speed. Such a feature would benefit day traders as they are typically required to be ready for quick changes in the market and are prone to execution problems.

Not only that, Interactive Brokers also provides a very low margin interest, which is excellent for day traders.

Leverage
1:100
💼 Regulation
💲 Min Deposit
$10000
Year Established
1977

Segregated accounts
Managed accounts
Free education
Wire transfer

Interactive Brokers is a direct market access broker that provides execution, clearance, settlement, and prime brokerage for customers. Since it was found 41 years ago by Thomas Peterffy, the company has grown internally to become one of the premier securities firms with over $7 billion in equity capital.

First acknowledged as a popular broker for advanced traders, Interactive Brokers launched a second tier of service called IBKR Lite for more casual investors in 2019.

The IBKR Lite provides services on over 125 market destinations worldwide and gives direct access (online) trade execution and clearing services, both to institutional and professional traders for a wide variety of traded products including stocks, options, futures, forex, fixed income, and funds worldwide. Interactive Brokers Group and its affiliates execute over 859,000 trades per day.

Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Interactive Brokers has over 1,400 employees in the USA, Switzerland, Canada, Hong Kong, UK, Australia, Hungary, Russia, Japan, India, China, and Estonia companies. IBKR is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and is registered in the New York Stoch Exchange (NYSE).

Interactive Brokers offers a wide range of product-centered tools like the OptionTrader and Probability Lab for simplified single and complex multi-leg option trading; FXTrader for forex trading, Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator for helping traders find a lower cost on ETF alternatives, also fixed-income screeners for corporate and agency bonds. Overall, trading with Interactive Brokers would be provided with the most useful and updated tools to maximize trading and investing goals.

As a popular and regulated broker in the US, Interactive Brokers has won some awards. Recently, they were awarded by the Barrons as the 2019 Best Online Broker, which is categorized as the best broker for mobile, international, and frequent traders. Besides, they also won an award as Top Performing Broker by the Preqin Service Providers, and Best Overall Broker by Investopedia (Best for Low Costs, Best for International Trading, Best for Options Trading, Best for Day Trading, and Best for Penny Stocks). The awards are not only achieved during 2019. Since 2005, Interactive Brokers has won lots of awards regarding its best services for clients.

To optimize clients' trading speed and efficiency, Interactive Brokers provides some powerful suites of trading platforms. Below is the list:

  • Client Portal
    A one-stop destination to check quotes and place trades, see account balances, Profit and Loss, as well as key performance metrics, funding, and reporting.
  • Desktop TWS
    A flagship platform designed for active traders and investors who trade multiple products and require power and flexibility. Opening an account in Interactive Brokers and using this platform allows traders to utilize the most advanced algorithms and trading tools, as well as a library of tools and asset-based trading layouts for optimum customization.
  • IBKR TWS for Mobile
    The IBKR TWS for Mobile is made for traders who want to easily trade and monitor their IBKR account on-the-go from either iOS or Android device (tablet or smartphone).
  • IBoT
    IBoT is a robot for finding information and placing orders using clients' own words. IBot is available on TWS for Desktop, IBKR Mobile, and Client Portal.
  • IBKR WebTrader
    IBKR WebTrader is made for traders and investors who prefer a simplified interface.
  • IBKR APIs or IBKR Pro
    This trading platform is provided especially for traders and investors who want to write their trading software or automated trading programs; third-party software users.

Overall, Interactive Brokers has always been a great choice for those who want to find out a credible and regulated broker for trading. Offering lots of trading platforms, Interactive Brokers has committed to provide their best services for both novices and professionals, since it is suited to every clients' needs.

 

2. Thinkorswim (by TD Ameritrade)

  • Commission: A $0.65 per contract fee applies for options trades. A $6.95 commission applies to trades of over-the-counter (OTC) stocks, which includes stocks not listed on a U.S. exchange.
  • Trading platform(s): Web platform, thinkorswim web, thinkorswim desktop, thinkorswim mobile app.
  • Customer support: Phone calls, Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM, fax, email, and mail.

Apart from being a broker, Thinkorswim also provides learning courses about investment. This company was first established in 1983 under the name Telescan, Inc. with a headquarter in New York and branches in Chicago, Draper, as well as Palo Alto.

Not only forex, but Thinkorswim also offers stock trading, options, and futures. The company provides a proprietary trading platform that is well known for its features, especially for technical analysis support.

Now when it comes to service variety, Thinkofswim presents one of the most accomplished trading services among other brokers. Some of the main benefits are access to the Federal Reserve Economic Data for free and other features that could allow day traders to customize their charts, perform backtesting, or receive constant updates.

Not only that, but this broker also provides a squawk box with live commentary for the S&P 500 index and the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

3. Lightspeed Trading

  • Commission: Dicounted options commission at $0.60 per contract (with a $1 minimum).
  • Trading platform(s): Eze EMS Pro, Eze EMS Express, Sterling Trader Pro, Sterling Vol Trader, SILEXX OEMS, Wex.
  • Customer support: Email, phone call, scheduled phone call, FAQ, video tutorials, document center, face-to-face meeting.

Lightspeed Trading was founded in 2006, headquartered in New York City. They offer stocks, options, futures, and ETFs trading with customizable platforms.

There are many features that would be beneficial for US day traders such as low margin, educational resources, level II quotes, and direct access routing. The only real weakness is the fact that this broker enforces the SEC's pattern-day-trader rule which requires a minimum balance of $25,000 USD for day traders.

 

4. Advantage Futures

  • Commission: Commissions and fees are based on trading volume and margin utilization.
  • Trading platform(s): TT (Trading Technologies) web, app, desktop.
  • Customer support: Email, phone call, market knowledge center, seminar center, economist series, industry insight series, etc.

Advantage Futures was established in 2004 in Chicago. This broker is widely known for futures trading. According to the official website, this broker requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 USD to open an account and accepts international clients (not only from the US).

One of the main advantages of day traders is supportive customer service. If you want to exit a trade, you can contact the 24-hour Global Execution Desk to execute the order immediately.

 

5. OptionsXpress

  • Commission: If you execute fewer than 35 options trades during a quarter, then you pay $1.50 for each contract, with a minimum fee per trade of $14.95. If you execute more than 35 options trades during a quarter, then it will reduced to $1.25 and the minimum fee is lowered to $12.95.
  • Trading platform(s): XTend.
  • Customer support: Phone call, email, live chat.

OptionsXpress is a US-based broker that operates under the Charles Schwab Corporation and is headquartered in Chicago. This broker is suitable for traders looking to trade stocks, options, ETFs, and more.

OptionsXpress uses a free trading platform called Xtend that offers streaming quotes and market data, charts, scanners, time and sales, and advance orders.

Another feature that might be interesting for day traders is the Virtual Trading platform that provides real-time streaming charts which might be useful for practicing orders and fine-tuning your strategies without any risk to deal with.

 

6. TradeStation

  • Commission: $0 trade commissions and a wide range of tradable securities, including cryptocurrencies.
  • Trading platform(s): Desktop, Web Trading, mobile apps, Futures Plus, TSCrypto.
  • Customer support: Virtual assistants, FAQ, support online forum, live chat, phone call, email.

Tradestation Group Inc. is a broker and software company for trading analysis. This broker was founded in 1982 under the name Omega Research Inc. and is headquartered in Plantation, Florida.

This broker offers stocks, forex, options, and futures products. Its trading platform is called TradeStation, which has received many awards for its complete analysis and automatic trading features suitable for day traders.

 

7. OptionsHouse LLC

  • Commission: Fixed fee of $5 for up to five options contracts in a single-leg trade, additional contracts cost $1 each. And fixed fee of $8.50 for single-leg trades, plus $0.15 per contract.
  • Trading platform(s): OptionsHouse Trading Platform, Trade Generator.
  • Customer support: Phone call, email, etc.

Despite having merged with TradeMonster in 2014, this broker still keeps the original name, OptionsHouse. This broker offers options and stock products with a scanner feature on the trading platform that could help day traders finding a good trading opportunity in the market.

 

8. SpeedTrader

  • Commission: Per-share commission starts at $0.0009/share.
  • Trading platform(s): SpeedTrader Pro, SpeedTrader ActiveWeb, iSpeedTrader.
  • Customer support: Phone call, live chat, email.

Living up to its name, SpeedTrader is superior in terms of speed. This broker provides a high-speed trading platform with large lot sizes (up to millions). The head office of this broker is located in New York.

For day traders, the main benefit that you can get is that this broker offers stocks and options at a fairly low commission.

 

9. Infinity Futures

  • Commission: $2.25 per buy or sell contract (negotiable for active traders)
  • Trading platform(s): InfinityAT.
  • Customer support: Phone call, email, etc.

Infinity Futures was established in 1995 and headquartered in Chicago. At the moment, this broker only offers futures and options products with a trading platform called InfinityAT.

Day traders can get many advantages from this broker such as a stable and high-speed trading platform, low commissions, flexible leverage, weekly webinars, and phone support services.

 

10. OANDA Corporation

  • Commission: The platform calculates the commissions based on your account type and the trade volume. The pricing starts from $0 and goes up to $50 in commissions per 1 million traded.
  • Trading platform(s): OANDA Trade Web, mobile and tablet app, TradingView, MT4.
  • Customer support: FAQ, OANDA Assistant, phone call, email, live chat, webinars, etc.

OANDA is globally recognized as a broker with a user-friendly web and low fees. This broker was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Its main products are forex and financial market information services. OANDA has quite a few selections of trading platforms. One of them, fxTrade, is claimed to have high-speed execution which is important for day traders.

🌐 Website
www.oanda.com
Leverage
1:20
💼 Regulation
💲 Min Deposit
$0
Year Established
1996

Islamic Accounts available
US traders are welcome
Negative balance protection
Segregated accounts
Compensation scheme
VPS Affiliate program
Trading via API
Education
Webinar
Swap
Wire transfer
Skrill
Neteller

Traders looking for brokers with accurate precision, OANDA can be an option. That is because OANDA is a broker that provides quotes with 5-digit accuracy and active price movements that follow market developments. Order execution speed is also faster in this broker.

It provides benefits for novice traders, as they can trade with smaller volumes using the calculation system based on currency value, unlike other brokers adopting the lot system.

Founded in 1996, OANDA was built by Dr. Michael Stumm who is a lecturer in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, Canada, along with his colleague, Dr. Richard Olsen of The Olsen Ltd., which is one of the leading econometric research institutes. They have a head office in San Francisco, United States.

OANDA branch offices can be found everywhere. Some of these offices are located in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, and Canada. With this number of offices spread, OANDA has increasingly attracted the attention of clients worldwide.

OANDA's company is registered under several well-known jurisdictions in financial trading. They are regulated by CFTC and NFA in the US, FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, and many others. Traders do not need to worry anymore about security when trading in OANDA. However, these advantages make trading rules at OANDA more stringent compared to other brokers.

For example, OANDA only allows maximum leverage of 1:20, because the rules in the US and Japan do not allow leverage above that. Besides, the registration procedure is more complex due to various additional requirements that are not submitted by other forex brokers. On top of that, hedging is not allowed in one trading account as the client must open an additional account to hedge.

Nevertheless, OANDA is known for being a leading broker with many advantages offered. OANDA faces increased market risk during periods of price volatility, such as economic and political news announcements. When market spreads increase or decrease, their pricing engine widens or narrows spreads accordingly. That way, traders can get the latest conditions from price movements in the market more quickly.

Prices move very fast in the market. Especially when news releases have a large impact on market volatility. This condition is often exploited by brokers to take advantage of clients with Requotes. However, traders do not need to worry about additional costs when trading with OANDA.

The company never withdraws Requotes so traders can get maximum profit. When traders are unavailable to monitor open positions, they can set take profit orders to lock in profits and Stop Loss orders to help protect against further losses.

As an experienced and well-known online forex broker, OANDA is committed to maintain an efficient trading environment that reduces latency and provid tools to help clients manage the degree of acceptable slippage.

With a fast & reliable trading platform by OANDA, clients' trades are executed in 0.012 seconds. This suits traders who choose brokers based on execution speed.

Because of this exceptional execution service, it is not surprising that OANDA won many awards, including the winner of the world's Best Retail FX Platform at the prestigious e-FX awards. The broker is also voted number 1 for Consistency of filling trades at quoted prices, Execution speed, and Reliability of platforms.

There is no minimum deposit or minimum balance required to open an OANDA account. Deposit and withdrawal can be done easily. OANDA provides a variety of payment method facilities, including Paypal, Wire Transfer, Credit Card, and Debit. Traders can adjust it to the region where they live.

OANDA provides more than 100 trading instruments, including 71 currency pairs, 16 indices, 8 commodities (Brent Crude Oil, Copper, Corn, Natural Gas, Soybeans, Sugar, etc.), 6 Bonds, and 23 Metals.

The fxTrade and MetaTrader platform are available at OANDA. These platforms can be used for Desktop and Mobile. Another plus is they have an OANDA Technical Analysis that exists in collaboration with a technical analysis provider called Autochartist.

With these platforms, clients can monitor price movements easier and automatically recognize patterns created on charts, as well as receive alerts when the awaited patterns appear. Access to this technology can be enjoyed free of charge.

In conclusion, OANDA is an ideal broker for traders in need of fast execution backed by many years of experience. The company is also a good alternative for those looking for a well-regulated broker with flexible trading and deposit conditions.

 

If you are a US day trader, the most familiar names out of the 10 brokers above may be Interactive Brokers and OANDA. Choosing a broker for day trading is a crucial step. With the right broker, you can take a step closer to advancing your day trading career and becoming a professional day trader.

Compare OANDA Interactive Brokers
General Rating 3.11/5
2.43/5
Score
Trustpilot 3.6/5

544 users
3.6/5

2597 users
💼 Regulation
❗ Info
⌛ Established 1996 1977
💲 Min Deposit $0 $10000
⚖ Max Leverage 1:20 1:100
🔢 Spread Fixed Fixed
💸 Commissions -$50/Mil commission for Core pricing
💡 Min Position 0.00001 lot 0.25 lot
💳 Payment Visa, Mastercard, ACH deposits, Bank transfer, Credit/debit cards, Wire transfer, Skrill and Neteller Wire transfer, Check and BPAY
🏢 Office(s) United StatesUnited KingdomJapanBritish Virgin IslandsJapanMaltaSingaporeAustraliaCanada United StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaSingaporeIrelandHungary
🧩 Demo Account
📁 Segregated Account
🕋 Islamic Account
👨‍💻 PAMM Account
📈 Managed Account
💱 Hedging
🇺🇸 US traders
🕛 Swaps
🏆 Trading contests
⚡ Automated trading
💰 Bonus offers
📖 Free education
1️⃣ One-click trading
⏱ Trailing stop
⏳ Pending orders
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