There are countless trading platforms out there, but they’re not all created equal. This is especially the case when it comes to day trading. Beginning day traders can benefit from various platforms, whether brokers or educational platforms.
But what exactly are the best day trading platforms for beginners? Keep reading to learn more about day trading platforms for new investors, including overviews of six that are worth your time, including TradeStation, Edgewonk, and TopStepTrader.
Best Day Trading Platform for Beginners 101
First, what should new investors look for in a top-tier day trading platform? There are dozens of factors, but here are a handful of the most important ones to consider:
- Value – What value does the trading platform provide? Does it provide legitimate educational resources from experienced and successful traders? If it’s a broker, does it offer you the range of tradeable assets that you want? It’s always important to assess the value that a given day trading platform offers, especially when you’re paying for it.
- Commissions and fees – Day traders frequently get in and out of assets quickly, meaning they can potentially rack up large fees and commissions. When considering a broker, it’s a good idea to double-check that they do not charge commissions for each trade, which has become more and more standard in recent years.
- Reliability and user-friendliness – Whether a broker or trading idea newsletter or course, a site you’re paying your hard-earned money for should have an intuitive and user-friendly interface. They should also be reliable. As a day trader, you need to be able to count on your platforms and support to be there for you at any given moment.
- Range of product offerings – If an educational platform, how diversified and comprehensive are the lessons? Depending on your needs, you may want much more than the very basics or only one type of trading strategy. And if it’s a broker you’re considering, what assets do they offer for trade? Again, depending on your unique needs, you want to ensure that you have access to what you want to trade, whether that’s crypto, forex, commodities, etc.
- Account security – No matter if you’re investing $10 or $100,000, you want to know that your account is secure. The top day trading platforms will have encrypted payment pages and good security to ensure that your personal information is kept safe.
- Customer support – If you have an issue with your account, the last thing you want is to spend weeks waiting for a return email. The best day trading platforms for beginners provide responsive support in a variety of ways, whether through FAQ, a knowledge resource area, live chat, email, phone support, and more.
The best day trading platforms for beginners will rank high in these various categories (among others). By quickly double-checking a platform against these factors, you’ll be in a good position to pick a high-quality day trading platform.
We’ve also kept these factors in mind while assembling a list of the best day trading platforms for new investors. Read on to learn about them and why they made our exclusive list.
6 of the Best Day Trading Platforms for Beginners
TradeStation
TradeStation has been around since 1991 and is utilized by many day traders of all skill levels. In fact, the Cruz brothers behind TradeStation developed EasyLanguage, a coding language for non-specialists. This allows any user to write a trading strategy in EasyLanguage.
TradeStation offers direct-market access, which is key for day trading as it means faster order execution. The average order clocks in at less than 0.04 seconds, which means lightning-fast entries and exits.
TradeStation also boasts helpful educational resources for beginners and is compatible with TradingView, a leading charting software that many day traders use. Traders also benefit from a slight discount on options trades with TradeStation, at $0.60 per-contract fee rather than the more standard $0.65.
While TradeView used to cater to money managers and professional brokers, it’s done a great job in providing beginning day traders with the tools and resources they need to succeed.
Learn More
Edgewonk
When getting into day trading, it’s important to constantly assess your trading strategies. Are they working? Are you actually making money? Could they be optimized or should you try something completely different?
Fortunately, there are great tools out there for day traders to do just this. Beginning day traders may especially appreciate Edgewonk, which is a digital trading journal. Founded in 2012 by Rolf Schlotmann and Moritz Czubatinski, Edgewonk is all about providing traders with the education, tools, and resources they need to successfully day trade.
With this in mind, Edgewonk offers trading journal software that gives traders the tools they need to analyze their own trading performance and make data-driven decisions. Edgewonk has many great features that will help beginning day traders step up their game. A few of these include the ability to assess the role of emotions in your trading, the ability to visualize your win rate over time, and a trading simulator that means you can trial strategies without risking real money.
Learn More
TraderVue
TraderVue is similar to Edgewonk in that it’s another great trading journaling software. Beginners perhaps more than other day traders should carefully monitor the success (or lack thereof) of their trades so that they can optimize their trading strategies.
TraderVue has been around since 2011 and now serves more than 100,000 traders. It’s grown its user base quickly in large part thanks to its top-tier analytical tools. Emotion plays a large part for too many traders, but TraderVue’s software helps you assess and improve your skills in a more objective way.
There are many neat features offered by TraderVue, including the ability to auto-import your trades from whichever broker you prefer. This flexibility and convenience is great and makes tracking your trading success much easier. There are also nifty tagging and filtering features that allow you to organize your trades however you prefer.
Overall, Tradervue is a well-established journaling software that can greatly benefit new day traders who would like to objectively assess and optimize their trading strategies.
Learn More
Tradenet
Education is important for a lot in life, and day trading is no different. While many people learn on their own, there’s a lot to be gained from trying out a top-tier educational platform like Tradenet.
Tradenet provides a comprehensive day trading platform with educational materials that will help beginner traders elevate their game and better understand diverse trading strategies.
The great thing about comprehensive platforms like Tradenet is the ability to keep learning as they cover the basics all the way up to the most advanced topics. There are both “self-study” courses and individual courses, as well as 1-on-1 coaching and a community chat room. Taken together, they can help any beginning day trader build knowledge and grow more confident in their day trading strategies.
Learn More
TopStepTrader
Even the best beginning day traders who excel at getting wins may be limited by a lack of capital. Fortunately, there are funded trading platforms, also known as prop firms, that provide capital to talented traders.
One of the best funded trader programs around is offered by TopStepTrader, which offers funded accounts to traders all around the world. Many traders are succeeding with TopStep, as more than $2 million in profits was withdrawn in 2020.
While some prop firms are less than reputable, TopStepTrader boasts a 4.5/5 rating on Trustpilot (out of more than 1,500 reviews), so you can have confidence that this is a legitimate service.
To utilize prop firms such as TopStepTrader, you’ll have to go through a process to show your ability to make consistent profits as a day trader. So, depending on your ability level, you may need to educate yourself and learn effective trading strategies first.
Learn More
Humbled Trader
Humbled Trader exists to help beginning day traders learn how to make consistent profits. While this isn’t a sexy “get rich quick” mentality as offered by many sites, Humbled Trader is backed by Shay Huang, a well-known YouTuber who has had great day trading success.
Day traders who sign up for Humbled Trader receive immediate access to their entire comprehensive trading course, the Humbled Trader Academy, as well as much more. With over 12 hours of video, this course will teach you everything you need to know as a beginning day trader.
There are also live streams and live chats, coaching sessions and webinars, a chat room and Discord channel, as well as a daily stock watchlist. Taken together, Humbled Trader offers a variety of great resources for beginning day traders. Although it’s not cheap, this educational platform is well worth it for many people who want to become full-time day traders.
Learn More
Best Platforms for Beginning Day Traders | Which Is Best for You?
Beginning day traders should pick the platform that works best for their needs and preferences. Whether selecting a broker, educational platform, or another service, it’s also a good idea to review some of the top factors highlighted in this article’s first section.
In general, beginning day traders should choose platforms that offer some tangible value, whether that’s great broker features or a comprehensive educational academy. This will allow for a path to investment expertise that will help you make smarter, more informed (and more successful) trades.