4 Best Futures Trading Platforms

Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978, and was the first company to use a hand-held computing device on an exchange floor. Since its inception, the company has strived to deliver its customers the best and most sophisticated trading tools available. Historically, the company has catered to the largest international traders because of their need for a single platform that can handle trades in markets around the world using different trading vehicles. 

While IBKR has also developed tools to appeal to less sophisticated traders, such as introducing IBKR Lite to offer commission-free trading of stocks, the company continues to create advanced features for its professional trading clients. IBKR welcomes customers from around the world, which is something not all brokers do.

Among IBKR’s advanced features is the ability to backtest trading ideas, sophisticated options analysis tools, and a very wide array of order methods that includes one-cancels-other (OCO) and a multitude of conditional orders. In addition to these drop-down order entry tools, IBKR also allows traders to develop their own trading algorithms using a multitude of fundamental and technical indicators. Traders can develop automated entry and trade management instructions for trading all markets, including futures. Further, IBKR also has excellent order execution, including the ability to route equity orders. IBKR’s Adaptive Algo can also be used for futures to find the best execution on a market order. 

When it comes to futures trading, IBKR is built for big traders. This isn’t just in terms of the volume discounts that only start after 1,000 contracts. IBKR also has higher margin requirements than other brokers. This acts as a risk management tool, ensuring you can handle a 1% to 2% swing in the underlying stock price. It is also another clear signal that IBKR is meant for larger professional traders. 

Read Our Full Interactive Brokers Review.

NinjaTrader was established in 2003 to service active self-directed futures traders. In March 2023, NinjaTrader introduced new cloud-based, mobile, and web platforms that allow for seamless trading across all its platforms. In January 2023, the company announced a custom-built trading tool to support event-based futures. NinjaTrader platforms are free to use, and there is also simulated trading available without having to fund the account. The platform has excellent, customizable charting and real-time analysis. It also supports trading directly from charts. Further, the platform supports multiple apps and third-party add-ons.

Margin at NinjaTrader is aggressive, providing users with $50 intraday margin on equity index E-mini futures, and just $500 for standard futures contracts. NinjaTrader sets intraday margins at four times its standard rates for new positions established 15 minutes before and five minutes after key economic data releases. The low intraday margin is a significant reason for our decision to name NinjaTrader as our best broker for dedicated futures traders, as other futures brokers require high initial and maintenance margins for all futures positions. NinjaTrader only uses these higher initial and maintenance margins for positions held overnight, which is very appealing for active traders.    

While the platform does not support equity trading or options trading on equities or futures, these markets can be traded through the NinjaTrader platform via other brokers’ APIs, including Interactive Brokers. Similarly, foreign exchange trading can be accomplished with pass-throughs to FXCM. Live futures trading on NinjaTrader, however, requires a data subscription that, while inexpensive, still represents another cost to the trader. Finally, we like that NinjaTrader offers 24-hour support during the trading week.

Read Our Full NinjaTrader Review.

E*TRADE, one of the first online brokers, was established in 1982 and bought by Morgan Stanley in 2020. The company has been a consistent innovator and has continued to keep its platforms up to date with the times. While better known as more of a retail brokerage operation for those self-managing their own accounts, E*TRADE supports futures trading. The company’s robust platform, which supports multiple U.S. asset classes in a consolidated platform, appeals to both new investors and experienced traders.

While professional traders may choose online futures brokers with more bells and whistles, E*TRADE’s platform provides a solid futures trading experience. E*TRADE offers desktop, web, and two mobile platforms that are intuitive–especially considering how much content is available for trading and learning about markets. 

E*TRADE futures trading requires 50% margin for day trades, but 100% for positions held overnight. For positions in individual retirement accounts (IRAs), day trading futures requires 100% of margin, and 200% of margin for positions held overnight. While E*TRADE’s futures commission rates are higher than some of the brokers more focused on futures trading, many customers will be happy to add futures trading functionality to their existing E*TRADE account.

E*TRADE’s futures page provides information on markets available and commissions, as would be expected, but it also offers articles such as “Five reasons why traders use futures,” “How can I diversify my portfolio with futures?,” and “How do I manage risk in my portfolio using futures?,” as well as a link to E*TRADE’s information library. From these articles, novice futures traders can access additional helpful content, such as information about expiration and settlement. 

Read our Full E*TRADE Review.

Founded in Florida in 1982, TradeStation is designed for more advanced traders. The platform offers excellent charting, analytics, and trade management that includes control over order routing and advanced order capabilities.

For futures trading, TradeStation offers pretty competitive commission rates of $1.50 per side. Further, there are lower margin rates for intraday futures traders. Although the platform can take some time to learn, it is reasonably intuitive for traders with experience. Other features of the platform include simulated trading so customers can feel comfortable with the system and futures trading before putting real capital on the line.

In addition to futures, TradeStation supports trading in multiple asset classes, such as stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, options, futures, and options on futures. TradeStation offers free data for non-professionals for all of these markets. We did find that TradeStation’s customer service did not score as high as other futures brokers. Because of the strength of its desktop platform with its robust backtesting and availability of data, however, we have chosen TradeStation as our best desktop platform for futures. 

Read Our Full TradeStation Review.