With the current increase in activities as well as participation of self-directed traders in the commodities futures market. Finding a good quality, online futures broker with cheap rates, can be exhausting, yet important.
The fees and commissions in trading are very significant and can reduce a trader’s profit or increase their losses.
I have been involved, traded futures and options, as well as used multiple trading platforms for over 10 years and will provide a summary of the top, cheapest online discount futures and options broker
Some of the well-known companies spend a lot in advertisement and getting their brand name out there. The cost is then transferred to the traders who end up paying more in commissions and fees. While the cheaper brokers keep their overhead costs low, so they can afford to charge very low commissions.
For traders, an ideal broker needs to have
- Very low commissions to trade futures & options.
- Free or very cheap, stable and reliable trading platforms.
- Easily contactable customer service or support.
- PitBase ( Pitbase.com )
Commission: $1.50 per side
Pit Base is one of the cheapest online futures & options brokers, as well as one of the top brokers that provide fast execution to traders. Pit Base is able to maintain such a low commission for traders by minimizing overhead and marketing costs, while concentrating on making their traders happy.
At Pit Base. All traders are welcome, regardless of trading volume.
$2,000 minimum opening account balance
Trading Platforms: Their trading platforms are free, excellent, stable and easy to use. It comes with live streaming charts and quotes and the ability to place a trade or cancel all outstanding orders with just one click, among other things.
As a day trader, I still use this broker because of how fast and real-time their products are.
Easily contactable customer service: In a generation where phones send you to answering machines, asking you for extensions or keeping you on hold with some elevator music, before being able to speak to someone. This guys really impressed me. I am yet to have a problem reaching someone at this company. Besides having a human being immediately pick up the phone when I called as opposed to a machine asking me to dial more digits, I have also been able to get my questions answered through the online live chat on their website, surprisingly on a weekend.
For these reasons and some others, I believe Pit Base is the top online futures broker. Hope they keep it up.
- Trade Station (tradestation.com)
Commission: $1.50 per side
Trade station has a low commission rate and also offer opportunities to trade futures. Trade station places its trades through RJ Obrien, one of the largest futures trading commission in the business.
$5,000 minimum opening account balance
Trading Platforms:
Their trading platform is also easy to use with live streaming quotes and also provide charts. With their platform, you can sort or rank symbols based on indicators.
Easily contactable customer service:
As a former customer, it was easier for me to reach them via email. You get assigned to an account representative making any other rep you get on the phone reluctant to help. I actually had an experience with my initially assigned account rep, who preferred to go home early than to provide assistance to me, a new customer at the time. I had to ask for a new account rep.
- Apex Futures (apexfutures.com)
Commission: $1.99 per side
The commission Apex Futures charge can also be considered low, compared to the rates charged by majority of brokers in the industry.
Trading Platforms:
Apex provides real-time quotes and charts.
Easily contactable customer service:
They are contactable with online chat features, except on weekends.
- Think or Swim by TD Ameritrade (thinkorswim.com)
Commission: $2.25 per side
Thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade, is a company whose commercials you might have seen on various financial networks. I use TD Ameritrade to trade stocks. I wish their commissions in securities trading is lower. I had some unhappy incidents involving unexpected and surprising fees of $35 on several occasions.
Trading Platforms:
Web based platform with quotes
Easily contactable customer service:
I expect to be kept on hold after navigating through the voice machine in before speaking with someone. I once had a rep hang up on me as I tried to figure out why I was being charged a fee so much, it put me on margin call. I called back and spoke to another rep that explained everything and gave me a reason not to worry.
- E Trade
Commission: $2.99 per side
E-Trade is another company whose commercials you might have seen on various TV networks
Trading Platforms:
Web based platform with quotes
Easily contactable customer service:
Not a fan of companies that make you talk to a machine just to try and reach a human being or to solve a problem. Even worse, when the machine misunderstands your words.
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