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Best Brokers For Day Traders in 2024
Review of the best brokerage firms for day trading. Top day trading accounts for stocks, options, and futures markets.
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Day Traders
A lot is needed to make a living out of the day trading on the markets. Knowledge, experience, and right trading tools are the most important factors. It is also
imperative to minimize the cost of trading as it might consume a large portion of a trader profits. In an ideal world, there is a brokerage firm that offers both
the lowest possible pricing and the best trading platform and research tools for active traders. Unfortunately, in the reality the best tools and the lowest costs will
be in different companies.
We believe that a successful day trader needs two brokerage accounts. The first account should be with a company offering
$0 commission pricing. The second account will provide access to the best trading, research and charting tools which are
usually found in the more expensive brokerage houses.
Best Brokers For Day Trading
Below we list our picks for 2024 best brokers for day-trading. Both of these firms are offering fast trade executions.
- WeBull for the cheapest commissions - $0.00 per trade on all products and no account fees.
- Charles Schwab for the fantastic set of trading platforms and research tools.
It takes 10 minutes to open a day-trading account at Webull ($0 minimum opening deposit) or Charles Schwab/Thinkorswim ($0 minimum opening deposit).
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| Investments | Commissions |
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| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Options | $0 |
| Mutual funds | not offered |
| Treasury Bills, Notes, Municipal and Agency Bonds, Zeros & Strips | not offered |
| Investments | stocks, options, ETFs |
| Minimum deposit to open account | $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account |
| Fees | Webull fees |
| Promotion |
Webull promotions
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With rock bottom $0 commission on all stock, option, crypto, and ETF trades, Webull is now the top broker for day traders looking for
the lowest pricing. They also offer some of the lowest margin rates in the industry.
Webull's mobile app is already among the best on the market, and they have a desktop trading platform that is
improving fast.
Webull Review
Up to 75 FREE fractional shares when you make a deposit at Webull.
Visit Webull Website
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| Investments | Commissions |
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| Stocks and ETFs | $0 |
| Options | $0.65 per contract |
| Mutual funds | $0/$49.95/$74.95 to buy, $0 to sell |
| Futures | $2.25 per contract |
| CDs, Corporate Bonds, Municipal Bonds, Government Agencies, Zero-Coupon Treasuries,
including STRIPS and Mortgage-Backed Securities | $1 per bond, $10 minimum, $250 maximum |
| Preferred Stocks and REITs | $0 |
| Commercial Paper and Foreign Bonds, Unit Investment Trusts | call for pricing |
| Investments |
stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, Treasury issues, options, CDs, insurance, ETFs,
forex, annuities, non-U.S. securities and ADRs, WEBs and Canadian foreign orders
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| Charles Schwab minimum deposit to open account | $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account |
| Fees | Charles Schwab fees |
| Promotion link | Charles Schwab promotions |
Charles Schwab commission is $0 per trade. What we really like about the firm is their
Thinkorswim trading platform, that allows trading stocks, options, forex and futures from the same place. The platform is the best in the industry for day traders,
and it is free of charge. Thinkorswim provides instant trade executions, and it is a must-try for any day trader.
Because of Thinkorswim, Charles Schwab has been rated one of the top brokers
for active traders for the last few years. Read complete Thinkorswim platform review.
Charles Schwab Review
$0 commissions + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
Visit Schwab Website
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Becoming A Daytrader: It's Simple, But It's Not Easy
When people discover that I am a professional trader, they usually want to know “what's the secret?” and they are inevitably disappointed with my answer. I always respond that there is no secret; in fact, trading is simple. Simple, but not easy.
Through discussions and interactions with other traders, I've concluded that everyone goes through a similar process on the way to becoming a person who derives their income from trading the market. Not the exact same in terms of time and effort, but the stages correspond. I'll share the steps I went through with the hope that others can recognize where they are and also see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Nothing To It
When I first started trading, it looked as though there should be nothing to it. Price either goes up or it goes down, doesn't seem like rocket science, lets get at it. I placed a lot of trades and took a lot of risks...if a trade started to go against me, I would reverse my position. Then the price would reverse and I'd go back to my original position only to see the price reverse again. Ten days of this tail-chasing and money losing exercise was enough to convince me that perhaps there was more to this than I had first thought.
The Search
I spent the next 2 years reading countless books, visiting websites and chat rooms, purchasing systems and basically immersing myself in anything and everything market related. I toyed with every indicator under the sun, from Fibonacci lines to moving averages. I would test a system for a week and if it didn't produce results, I'd move on to the next one. I would try to pick the exact turning points in the market and would chase losing trades. Basically, I tried everything, but no one thing long enough to see if it actually worked.
After committing more time and effort than I ever thought I'd have to and blowing out 2 fully funded brokerage accounts, I was on the verge of packing it in.
Epiphany
One day I looked at the littering of notes on my desk and realized that I had tried no less than 5 different systems in the last 8 days. The proverbial light bulb came on over my head: maybe it's not the system that is making the difference. Perhaps no one and no thing can predict what the market will do in the next few seconds or the next half an hour. This revelation led me to delve in to the psychology of trading and I began to work on my own system and develop my own method of trading.
I stopped looking at results on a trade by trade basis and took a longer view, I no longer got frustrated when a trade lost, I just closed it and went on to the next one. I actually truly accepted that I could not predict the market and things began to fall into place.
Rolling
The next year was a slow but sure climb to the ranks of profitability. I was making trades whenever they fit my criteria. I was taking losses just as freely and easily as I was taking wins. My winning trades were finally allowed to run to their conclusion and my losers were closed quickly. I began to break even most days and most months...I was growing more confident with my system and was conscious that I was on the right path. I was still working hard and thinking through every trade and slowly I began to make more money than I would lose on a consistent basis.
Boredom
Once I saw my account growing steadily month after month, the boredom started to creep in. Trading became no longer exciting, it was just like anything else in life that a person is good at or does as a job, it gets boring. Once you have a proven method of trading that is profitable, it tends to become mundane.
I guess in conclusion, the more appropriate answer to the “what's the secret?” question is that the journey to becoming a successful trader is
simple, but it's not easy.
Updated on 9/4/2024.
Arthur Chachuna is a professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of Brokerage-Review.com.
He has been an avid investor for 25 years, and has a background in both applied math and programming.
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