I've recently become interested in trading options, and my first experience was with a brokerage called Tradestation. They provided me an excellent experience, so I thought I'd write my own Tradestation review. I should point out that I signed up with them because of the detailed review of Tradestation that I found here.
How Much Does It Cost to Use Tradestation?
Like any brokerage online, Tradestation charges commissions and fees. They also have minimum account balances and everything else you'd expect from a financial institution. But how much are those fees, and how well do their fees compare to other brokerages?
Since I'm only interested in trading options, I'm looking at the fees that are charged for those. The company has 2 pricing structures in place--one is called "flat fee trading", and the other is called "cost per contract".
Your cost per trade ranges from $4.99 to $9.99, depending on how many trades you make per month. The more trades you make, the lower the fee. The additional cost per contract ranges from 20 cents to 70 cents, again based on the volume of your trading.
Traders who do the lowest volume (fewer than 10 trades per month) pay the higher cost. Traders who do the highest volume (greater than 200 traders per month) pay the lowest cost. To make the most money possible, you'll probably be trading heavily.
Your minimum deposit is $5000. They also charge a fixed monthly fee of $99.95, but that's waived if you maintain a balance of $100,000 or more, OR if you make more than 50 optiosn contracts per month.
What Do You Get for Your Money by Using Tradestation?
Their platform has more bells and whistles than any other brokerage online. I've seen their feature rich software described as the gold standard by which other brokerages measure themselves. Is it worth it to be able to take advantage of all those features?
Neophytes are likely to be overwhelmed by all of the features, but trading options isn't for the faint-hearted. If you're not willing to put in the study and effort to learn how to use these tools, you should probably just invest your money in an index fund and then go fishing.
Of course, one of the features offered by the site are video tutorials which explain how to use these features. So don't feel like you can't take advantage of their stuff just because you're a beginner. If you're willing to learn, then the site is willing to teach.
One of the most important aspects of their toolset is the ability to get your trades executed almost instantly. When it comes to trading, speed matters. (This isn't a buy-and-hold approach, after all, where speed doesn't make as much of a difference.)
The community is one of my favorite features, too. It took a little while to become accepted as a fully-fledged member there, but it was worth it. The other members have been really helpful to me.
Do They Have Good Customer Service?
The quality of a business's customer service department matters a lot to me. Tradestation earns high marks here, too. Every time I needed a question answered, I got my answer quickly and with a minimum of frustration. Every time I had a concern or a complaint, they addressed it professionally and made the situation right.
You can contact them over the phone, via email, or via their Website's live chat functionality. The customer service department opens at 8:30am and closes at 6:30pm. Times are Eastern Standard.
Conclusion
Tradestation is a good company to work with, but they're not for everybody. If you're a beginner, you might be able to find more beginner-friendly places to start trading with. On the other hand, if you're an experienced trader who's going to do a lot of volume, you'll have a hard time finding a better company to deal with. Also, if you're willing to commit to learning, Tradestation offers a lot of resources to help.
They get an A+ in my book.
How about you? Do you have experience with this brokerage? Were you as impressed with them as I am? Why or why not?
Like any brokerage online, Tradestation charges commissions and fees. They also have minimum account balances and everything else you'd expect from a financial institution. But how much are those fees, and how well do their fees compare to other brokerages?
Since I'm only interested in trading options, I'm looking at the fees that are charged for those. The company has 2 pricing structures in place--one is called "flat fee trading", and the other is called "cost per contract".
Your cost per trade ranges from $4.99 to $9.99, depending on how many trades you make per month. The more trades you make, the lower the fee. The additional cost per contract ranges from 20 cents to 70 cents, again based on the volume of your trading.
Traders who do the lowest volume (fewer than 10 trades per month) pay the higher cost. Traders who do the highest volume (greater than 200 traders per month) pay the lowest cost. To make the most money possible, you'll probably be trading heavily.
Your minimum deposit is $5000. They also charge a fixed monthly fee of $99.95, but that's waived if you maintain a balance of $100,000 or more, OR if you make more than 50 optiosn contracts per month.
What Do You Get for Your Money by Using Tradestation?
Their platform has more bells and whistles than any other brokerage online. I've seen their feature rich software described as the gold standard by which other brokerages measure themselves. Is it worth it to be able to take advantage of all those features?
Neophytes are likely to be overwhelmed by all of the features, but trading options isn't for the faint-hearted. If you're not willing to put in the study and effort to learn how to use these tools, you should probably just invest your money in an index fund and then go fishing.
Of course, one of the features offered by the site are video tutorials which explain how to use these features. So don't feel like you can't take advantage of their stuff just because you're a beginner. If you're willing to learn, then the site is willing to teach.
One of the most important aspects of their toolset is the ability to get your trades executed almost instantly. When it comes to trading, speed matters. (This isn't a buy-and-hold approach, after all, where speed doesn't make as much of a difference.)
The community is one of my favorite features, too. It took a little while to become accepted as a fully-fledged member there, but it was worth it. The other members have been really helpful to me.
Do They Have Good Customer Service?
The quality of a business's customer service department matters a lot to me. Tradestation earns high marks here, too. Every time I needed a question answered, I got my answer quickly and with a minimum of frustration. Every time I had a concern or a complaint, they addressed it professionally and made the situation right.
You can contact them over the phone, via email, or via their Website's live chat functionality. The customer service department opens at 8:30am and closes at 6:30pm. Times are Eastern Standard.
Conclusion
Tradestation is a good company to work with, but they're not for everybody. If you're a beginner, you might be able to find more beginner-friendly places to start trading with. On the other hand, if you're an experienced trader who's going to do a lot of volume, you'll have a hard time finding a better company to deal with. Also, if you're willing to commit to learning, Tradestation offers a lot of resources to help.
They get an A+ in my book.
How about you? Do you have experience with this brokerage? Were you as impressed with them as I am? Why or why not?