When stock, bond and ETF commissions are zero, that suggests that an online brokerage is being paid third-party commissions to route order flow to specific middlemen. Increasingly efficient markets and the rise of algorithmic and high-frequency trading have made day trading harder for individuals. Counterbalancing this is the fact that never before have such powerful platforms, tools and data been available for independent day traders.

However, higher minimum deposit requirements are required for day traders. Dan Blystone has over a decade of experience in the trading industry. He started as a floor clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CME in the currency futures pits.

Then progressed to working as a proprietary trader off the floor trading the bund overnight. Later, Dan worked as a retail futures broker. He founded TradersLog. com, which has received tens of millions of page views to date. Dan worked with many leading industry experts on creating educational webinars and archiving them on their YouTube channel.

Select Region. United States. United Kingdom. advisor Investing Best Online Brokers For Day Trading Advertiser Disclosure Updated: Nov 1, , am. Dan Blystone. Reviewed By. editor Reviewed By. Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Read more. Buying Guides. Interactive Brokers — Best Online Broker for Day Trading TD Ameritrade — Best Day Trading Platform for Education Lightspeed Trading — Best Online Broker for Trade Execution Cobra — Best Day Trading Platform for Customer Service TradeStation — Best Day Trading Platform for Strategy Cobra — Best Day Trading Platform for Short Selling Methodology What Is Day Trading?

What Do Professional Traders Look for in an Online Broker? Direct Access Brokers vs. Brokers Selling Order Flow The Risks and Rewards of Day Trading Next Up in Investing. FEATURED PARTNER OFFER. Trade in a variety of assets including stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. eToro offers trading tools to help both novices and experts. Learn More Via eToro's Website.

Best Online Broker for Day Trading Interactive Brokers. Our ratings take into account the range of fees, features and tools offered by each online broker platform. Open Account Via InteractiveBrokers' Secure Website. Why We Picked It. Interactive Brokers earned the top spot in our listing thanks to its powerful Trader Workstation platform, easy access to a vast selection of global markets and rock-bottom trading commissions.

The Trader Workstation platform is robust and feature rich. Interactive Brokers offers highly reliable trade execution. Charges low commissions and fees, and offers the lowest margin rates in our tests. Customer service can be hard to reach. IBKR Pro option charges a monthly maintenance fee. The tiered pricing plans are somewhat complex. Best Day Trading Platform for Education TD Ameritrade.

Open Account Via TD Ameritrade's Secure Website. TD Ameritrade has top rankings in our listing of the best online brokers for its mobile app and its beginner-friendly options. Plenty of In-depth educational resources for new day traders. Thinkorswim platform is free. Paper trading is available. Does not offer direct access trading for stocks.

Some fees are slightly higher than peers. Does not offer fractional shares. Best Online Broker for Trade Execution Lightspeed Trading. In the world of day trading, a split second can make the difference between a profitable trade and a loss. Fast and reliable execution of trades. Powerful scanners geared to day trading. Dependable customer service. High minimum account balance. Limited educational and research materials.

Commissions and fees could be lower. Best Day Trading Platform for Customer Service Cobra. Founded in , Cobra Trading is geared toward professional and institutional traders. Phone support calls answered fast. Free broker assisted trades. Knowledgeable, highly trained customer service reps. High minimum deposit. Substantial platform fees. Best Day Trading Platform for Strategy TradeStation.

TradeStation gets an honorable mention in our listing, thanks to its combination of long-tested trading technology and in-depth research resources. Excellent day trading strategy development tools. Supports excellent research and education resources. Rock-bottom trading commissions. Receives payment for order flow. Customer service was inconsistent in our tests. Best Day Trading Platform for Short Selling Cobra. Short selling is a key strategy deployed by day traders. Multiple short locate sources.

Good customer service. Competitive commissions. Substantial platform fee. Does not offer international markets. What Kind of Financial Advisor Do You Need? Investing Basics: How To Buy ETFs Top 10 Investing Trends of How To Invest With a Robo-Advisor The Best Safe Investments For Your Money.

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Here is a list of our partners who offer products that we have affiliate links for. Are you sure you want to rest your choices? cancel ok. Although not a technical indicator persay — looking for support and resistance levels is a great way to identify pricing trends as a day trading forex newbie. In a nutshell, support lines show us a specific pricing level that has historically protected a currency pair from falling further down. On each occasion, the price of the pair has bounced upwards upon approaching this level.

As such, traders would view 1. As this has repeated itself on several occasions, traders will likely view this as a residence level and thus — a sell order will be placed just below this price point. As the name suggests, moving averages provide an overview of the average price of a forex pair over a specific timeframe.

The most utilized timeframes are the day and day moving averages. The form shows us the average price of a currency pair of the past 50 days and the latter at days. This would indicate that the forex pair is about to enter a bullish market. So now that we have covered the best technical indicators to use when day trading forex — we can now dive into strategies. Irrespective of whether you are a complete novice or a seasoned forex trader — demo accounts are one of the best tools you can have by your side.

This is because you can day trade forex in real-time market conditions without needing to risk any money. Instead, your chosen forex broker will give you an allocation of paper trading funds.

This allows you to test out your day trading skills in a truly risk-free environment. Then, once you are confident that your strategies have the potential to make you consistent profits, you can then switch over to a real money account. Even if you are an experienced forex trader, demo accounts are superb for backtesting new systems.

The next day trading forex strategy to consider as a newbie is that of bankroll management. In fact, this will ensure that you keep your trading stakes sensible and thus — avoid burning through your brokerage account balance.

This strategy will first require you to select a maximum stake percentage. After all, even the most profitable forex day traders will go through losing periods — so bankroll management ensures that you protect your previous gains.

This will ensure that you never lose too much money on an unsuccessful trade. The most effective way of doing this is to place a stop-loss order on each and every position that you place. For those unaware, a stop-loss order instructors your chosen forex broker to automatically close a position when it goes down by a certain amount. This trading tool is offered by top-rated broker eToro and it allows you to day trade currencies passively.

This is because you will copy the positions of successful forex traders of day trading like-for-like. Your stakes will be at a proportionate amount — as per what you invested into the trader. When utilizing the Copy Trading tool at eToro, you will have thousands of potential investors and the best forex traders to follow in choosing from.

The platform makes the research profile simple, as you can search for a trader based on your preferred metrics. Another great strategy to consider as an inexperienced forex day trader is to avoid minors and exotics and instead focus on major pairs. These are forex pairs that always consist of a strong currency that is traded against the US dollar.

All of the aforementioned pairs have a number of core characteristics that are highly suited for newbie traders. For instance, majors attract the most liquidity, which in turn, means that spreads will be much lower than other pair types.

In fact, many ECN brokers in the online space allow you to trade major forex pairs at a spread of 0. Even more importantly for beginner day traders, major forex pairs are home to super-low volatility levels.

This means that you will avoid larger pricing swings — which ultimately, can be a major headache for traders that are new to the forex arena. Unlike the traditional stock markets, the forex trading industry is accessible 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. However, if you attempt to buy and sell currencies over the weekend, you will find that trading volumes are much lower.

This has the undesired result of paying higher spreads. Plus, as trading volumes are modest over the weekend, pricing gaps is a regular occurrence. This means that there will often be wilder pricing spikes, so you might need to close a trade at a less favourable level. With this in mind, the best time to trade forex is during standard market hours — which runs from 5 p.

EST on Sunday — through to 4 p. EST on Friday.. This takes into account the global nature of the forex trading arena, with the Asian markets opening proceedings and the week closing in the US. Relatively new to forex day trading and still not sure whether this investment scene is right for you? If so, below we cover the main benefits of day trading forex from the comfort of your home. As a retail client — which means that you do not come from a professional trading environment, entering the forex industry as a newbie has never been easier.

The best forex brokers in this space also allow you to start trading with a small amount of capital. Ultimately, in the time it will take you to read this guide in full — you could have placed your first forex trade! Unlike other investment sectors, fees in the forex trading scene are super low. Crucially, the best brokers in this space often allow you to buy and sell currencies on a spread-only basis — meaning that you will not be required to pay any trading commissions. Furthermore, the spread itself on major currency pairs has never been more attractive — even for casual traders.

For example, the best platforms in this space offer commission-free trading at a spread of less than 1 pip. Alternatively, you might even consider opening an ECN account, which offers 0 pip trading alongside a small flat commission. Either way, entering and exiting a forex trade is something that can be done in a low-cost environment. When you invest in a traditional asset like stocks or mutual funds — you are riding all of your hopes on the markets increasing in value.

This is unconducive for short-term day traders, as the only way you can make money is if the price movement of the asset rises. However, in the case of the forex arena, you can profit from both rising and falling markets. This is because you have the option of placing a buy order if you think the exchange rate of the pair will rise. Or, you can place a sell order if you think the opposite will happen. The best online brokers allow you to trade assets with leverage — meaning you can increase the value of your stake.

With that said, regulated brokers are capped in how much leverage they can offer retail clients. The good news is that major forex pairs attract much higher limits than other asset classes. In particular, this is ideal for entry-level forex traders that only have access to a limited amount of capital.

Forex is one of the most regulated sectors of the financial markets. After all, not only do big banks and financial institutions trade currencies — but casual retail clients too.

As such, national regulators keep brokers in check to ensure that inexperienced traders are well protected. For example, eToro is regulated by three major authorities — namely, ASIC, CySEC, and the FCA.

This means that the forex broker is required to keep client money protected in segregated bank accounts and keep crime away from the platform via KYC Know Your Customer processes. Ultimately, by trading currencies at a regulated brokerage site — you can be sure that you are doing so in a safe and secure environment. Plus, as a retail client, you will benefit from negative balance protection.

This means that losing trades that have been leveraged can not result in you owing the broker any money. One of the best forex day trading systems to consider as a newbie is to sign up for a signal service. For those unaware, forex signals are offered by seasoned currency traders that perform technical and fundamental analysis throughout the day. When the trader has identified a trading opportunity, it will instantly send a signal to its member base.

You will also be provided with exit positions through a suggested stop-loss and take-profit price. This allows you to day trade forex without needing to perform any analysis yourself and thus — it ideal for newbies. If this is something that interests you, one of the best providers that we have come across is Learn2Trade.

By joining its premium signal service, you will receive three forex signals per day. Prices start at just £35 per month, but you can get this down further by signing up for a longer plan. There is no guarantee that you will make money using signals with this provider. As we have discussed throughout this guide — if you want to day trade forex online — you need to have an account with a safe and low-cost broker.

Your chosen platform not only needs to offer competitive fees, but heaps of forex markets and of course — support for your preferred payment method. In the sections below, you will find a selection of the best forex day trading platforms for beginners. eToro is a great online broker to day trade forex — especially if you are a newbie. The trading platform itself is clean, crisp, and super easy to navigate — so the process of placing forex orders is seamless.

The platform — which is used by over 20 million traders, offers dozens of forex markets. This covers all major and minor currency pairs, alongside a huge selection of exotics. When day trading forex at this broker, you will not be charged any commission.

Instead, eToro operates on a spread-only basis, so you only need to cover the gap between the buy and sell price of the currency pair in question. eToro is also home to the previously discussed Copy Trading tool — which again, is ideal for newbies.

To recap, this allows you to copy the forex positions of an experienced trader — meaning no research or analysis is need to be performed by yourself. eToro is also a great option if you are planning to diversify into other asset classes. This is because eToro also offers stocks, ETFs, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. And of course — eToro is a safe and regulated broker — not least because it is licensed by three reputable financial bodies.

com is one of the best forex day trading platforms for those with little to no experience in this industry. Much like eToro, the online trading platform offered by the broker is simple and seamless to use. Once you are set up, you will also be able to use the Capital. com demo account. As we explained earlier, this allows you to buy and sell currencies without needing to use your own money. In terms of supported markets, you will find over forex pairs at Capital. com — which is huge. Spreads on major pairs are particularly attractive, which start at 0.

You will also have access to leverage facilities — with limits depending on your country of residence. This will allow you to trade directly with other forex market participants, which will result in you getting industry-leading spreads.

For example, Vantage FX offers spreads of 0 pips on major forex pairs when trading via its ECN account. The platform is also one of the best high leverage brokers in the online forex scene — with limits going as high as on major currency pairs. In choosing Vantage FX as your go-to forex day trading platform — you will also have access to a commission-free account. This means that you will pay a slightly higher spread, but will avoid commissions when entering and exiting a position.

On top of forex, Vantage FX also offers markets on indices, energies, precious metals, and share CFDs.

You might be using an unsupported or outdated browser. To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website. Professional traders are a demanding bunch. Day traders earn their living by entering and closing out multiple trades in a day in pursuit of profits. This strategy requires fast and reliable trade execution, the lowest possible commissions and access to customer service when things go awry.

Forbes Advisor evaluated a total of 21 online brokerage platforms in order to help you choose the best online brokers for day trading. Our side-by-side tests placed the greatest importance on low commissions and fees, best-in-class platform and technology and highly responsive customer service to find the best trading platforms available.

Trade in a variety of assets including stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies eToro offers trading tools to help both novices and experts Learn More. Trade in a variety of assets including stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies eToro offers trading tools to help both novices and experts Best Online Brokers for Day Trading of November FEATURED PARTNER OFFER Best Online Broker for Day Trading Interactive Brokers 4.

Ratings are determined solely by our editorial team. Open Account. Why We Picked It Interactive Brokers earned the top spot in our listing thanks to its powerful Trader Workstation platform, easy access to a vast selection of global markets and rock-bottom trading commissions. These features and more make Interactive Brokers the preferred trading platform for professionals at hedge funds and investment firms.

In our research, we found that Interactive Brokers stood out by charging substantially lower fees than its rivals in several areas. We also noted lower commissions for futures trading, and the lowest margin rates among the platforms we surveyed. We were impressed by the flagship Trader WorkStation platform and the quality of order execution.

Trader WorkStation offers highly customizable alerts, watchlists and sophisticated charting. It features advanced order types. Traders can stay on top of the news with the latest reports from Reuters, Dow Jones and a variety of other sources on the platform.

Trader WorkStation includes essential features for day traders, such as hot keys, which allow traders to rapidly place preset orders with the stroke of a single key.

Traders also have access to Level 2 quotes, which show the best bid and ask prices from each market participant. This is a streaming record of all stock transactions made throughout the trading day, including trade size, price and time.

A total of markets in 33 countries are available for trading. Interactive Brokers clients can trade global stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds all from a single platform. Accounts can be funded in multiple currencies and assets can be denominated in multiple currencies. Penny stocks and fractional share trading are also available. Quality of order execution is of paramount importance to day traders.

Direct market access is available for both stocks and options, allowing traders to decide how they want their orders to be routed. To facilitate optimal order execution, Interactive Brokers created a software product called Smart Routing, which continually scans competing markets and automatically routes orders directly to the best ECN or market center.

Why We Picked It TD Ameritrade has top rankings in our listing of the best online brokers for its mobile app and its beginner-friendly options.

The latter can also pertain to new day traders learning the ropes, since TD Ameritrade has the most extensive educational resources of any day trading platform in our survey. Educational content is offered in multiple formats, ranging from immersive courses to videos, articles, webcasts and even live events.

Paper trading is an excellent tool for testing and refining your plan of action in the market. The paperMoney simulator on the thinkorswim platform allows you to apply your day trading strategies in live market conditions without risk. Scanners within the platform are available to identify interesting stocks for day trading. TD Ameritrade offers what it calls advanced order routing technology, and the majority of market orders executed are filled at a better price than the nationally published quote.

However, this broker receives payment for order flow and direct routing for equities orders is not currently available. Why We Picked It In the world of day trading, a split second can make the difference between a profitable trade and a loss. As its name suggests, Lightspeed Trading has worked hard to ensure that customers can execute their trades and receive market data as rapidly as possible, with a tight focus on serving professional and institutional traders. The Lightspeed Trader platform has been stripped down to focus on data and order execution, without unnecessary bells and whistles.

The platform is ultra-low latency, highly stable and intimately customizable. The technology and features of Lightspeed Trading are designed to enable traders to seize market opportunities lightning fast.

Scanners are a key tool that helps day traders find volatile stocks or stocks that are near key price levels. Time and sales data and Level 2 quotes are available for both stocks and options. The platform has a short location feature that indicates whether a stock is easy to borrow for short trading, would require extra effort to locate or is not available at all for borrowing. The Social Sentiment tool leverages data from Twitter and social media to capture financial market sentiment about a specific security.

As a direct access broker, customer orders can be routed to over destinations, including exchanges, market makers and dark pools. Orders can be configured and executed efficiently with keyboard shortcut hot keys. Charts are also optimized for speed. Lightspeed performed well in our customer service tests. We were able to quickly reach a representative and not left on hold. Their team offers personalized support, and clients can choose to be assigned an account representative to work directly with them.

After three months, a lump sum in cash is given for half of the commissions generated. Why We Picked It Founded in , Cobra Trading is geared toward professional and institutional traders. Cobra Trading shines in several areas, including short selling, commission rates and customer service. In our tests customer service was very good across the board. We received fast, helpful responses via phone, email and human chat.

Unlike the larger firms there is no need to navigate various automated menus before reaching a live representative. The human operated chat is very convenient and something that rival Lightspeed Trading lacks.

All of the customer service agents at Cobra Trading are licensed professionals, many with substantial trading industry experience. It features Level 2 quotes, hot keys and a locator to find stocks to borrow for short trading.

TraderPro offers a decent level of customizable features for trading alerts, news and watch lists. One downside to watch out for are platform fees. Other platform features may also incur fees unless monthly trading volume minimums are met. Why We Picked It TradeStation gets an honorable mention in our listing, thanks to its combination of long-tested trading technology and in-depth research resources.

Since the late s, TradeStation—then called Omega Research—has been known for powerful tools that let day traders develop and back-test their trading strategies against historical market data and generate buy and sell alerts. The TradeStation desktop platform lets day traders back-test, optimize and fully automate their trading strategies in the stock and futures markets. Trading strategy back-testing can draw from over 50 years of historical daily price data.

The TradeStation platform makes it easy to test strategies across different time frames and provides a wealth of statistical data in the performance report, including key metrics such as profit factor and maximum drawdown.

This feature is unique among the ones offered by professional trading platforms. Why We Picked It Short selling is a key strategy deployed by day traders. Cobra Trading is geared towards the needs of professional day traders in the equities and options markets. They also offer futures trading through their Venom Trading division.

Cobra Trading offers a strong range of platforms, competitive commission rates and reliable customer support. One area where Cobra Trading stands out is in making it easy to short sell low priced securities and penny stocks. Easy to Borrow ETB lists are regularly updated by brokerage firms and made up of highly liquid stocks that can be sold short immediately.

However, some stocks favored by day traders are not so readily available for short selling. These are often small cap or penny stocks that are attractive in part because they are highly volatile. Cobra Trading has access to multiple locate sources including those of their clearing firm, Wedbush Securities, which has free HTB hard to borrow locates.

Locate sources are the various securities lending firms where clients can locate and borrow hard to borrow shares. The DAS trading platform offered by Cobra Trading has a locate monitor window where you can check inventory from four different locate sources. Having multiple sources gives traders a better chance of being able to find the shares they may be targeting for selling short.

Forbes Advisor exhaustively tested 21 of the leading US online brokerage services in our search for the best day trading platform. We conducted a hands-on, six-month survey that compared hundreds of variables across six major categories: commissions and fees, platform and technology, range of product offerings, research and education, account security and customer service. We opened live accounts and performed in-depth assessments of the broker platforms and their services.

Testing was led by a seasoned trading industry professional. In choosing the best brokers for day trading, we placed the greatest emphasis on the categories of commissions and fees, platform and technology and customer service. We carefully compared the commission rates, platform fees and account-related costs on the leading platforms. When testing brokerages, we looked for tools specifically helpful to day traders, like advanced charting and order types, and rapid trade execution.

In our customer service tests, we measured the time it took to get a response over the phone, by live chat and by email. We also took into account how well informed and helpful the representatives were and whether they held relevant financial licenses. Day traders enter and exit trades multiple times on any given day to capture profits from short-term price movements in assets like stocks, bonds and exchange traded funds ETFs. They typically close all trades by the end of the day, avoiding the risk of holding market positions open overnight.

Day trading entered the mainstream during the dot-com market boom and bust of the late s, and saw a resurgence of popularity during the Covid pandemic. Once the exclusive domain of Wall Street firms and professional investors, online brokerage platforms have made day trading accessible to anyone with time, money and the willingness to learn the ropes.

The key factors necessary to succeed in day trading are fast, reliable execution of trades and the lowest possible trading commissions. A day trader can have a majority of winning trades, yet still lose money at the end of the day if their commissions outweigh their profits.

Since day traders are continually buying and selling assets, they may rack up substantial costs in the form of trading commissions. Similarly, optimal execution of orders is essential.

Additionally, spreads are also very competitive on eToro — especially in the case of forex, gold, and stocks. TD Ameritrade has top rankings in our listing of the best online brokers for its mobile app and its beginner-friendly options. When a trend is discovered, this allows you to place a suitable trade to profit from your findings. FEATURED PARTNER OFFER. There is an inherent risk involved with the loss of capital, the market moving against the trader, and more.

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