Interactive Brokers also offers low commissions and margin rates for futures trading, starting from $0.85 per contract, per side, plus exchange, clearing, and NFA fees. The margin requirements vary depending on the contract and market, but they are generally lower than the industry average. Interactive Brokers also offers a tiered pricing plan for high-volume traders, which can reduce the commissions further.
However, Interactive Brokers is not beginner-friendly, as its platform is complex and requires a steep learning curve. Interactive Brokers also has restrictive trading permissions and account minimums, which may limit some traders from accessing certain markets and products.
TradeStation: Great Platforms and Low Commissions
TradeStation is another online broker that specializes in active and experienced traders, offering trading and investing services for various asset classes, including futures. TradeStation’s futures trading platform is available in both desktop and web versions, as well as a mobile app. TradeStation’s platform is user-friendly and customizable, offering a range of trading tools and order types, such as charting, scanning, backtesting, automation, and more.
TradeStation also offers competitive commissions and margin rates for futures trading, starting from $0.85 per contract, per side, plus exchange, clearing, and NFA fees. TradeStation also offers two pricing plans for futures trading, depending on your trading frequency and platform access. The TS GO plan offers lower commissions but limited platform features, while the TS SELECT plan offers full platform access but higher commissions.
TradeStation also offers access to a wide range of futures contracts and markets, including micro and small-sized contracts, which are ideal for beginners and traders with smaller accounts. TradeStation also offers educational resources and customer support for futures traders, such as webinars, articles, videos, and a community forum.
Plus500: A Beginner-Friendly Futures Trading Platform
Plus500 is an online broker that offers trading services for various financial instruments, such as CFDs, forex, stocks, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies. Plus500’s platform is simple and easy to use, offering a web-based and a mobile app version. Plus500’s platform does not offer many advanced trading tools and order types, but it does offer some useful features, such as risk management tools, alerts, and indicators.
