Best brokers for futures of March 2024 (2024)

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Tony Dong

Farran Powell

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“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

Stephanie Steinberg

Verified by an expert

“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

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Updated 6:38 p.m. UTC Feb. 21, 2024

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Like stocks, futures are traded on an exchange. They can track underlying assets, including commodities like oil, precious metals like gold, agricultural products like soybeans, financial instruments like stock indexes, bonds and currencies, or even cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

“A good futures broker should provide their clients with expertise, excellent customer support, low fees and an easy-to-use, intuitive trading platform,” said Sam Boughedda, equities trader and writer at AskTraders.com.

To find the best brokerage for futures trading in 2024, our ranking considered factors such as fees, trading platform capabilities, customer service and educational resources offered.

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Best online brokers for futures

Interactive Brokers.
E-Trade.
Charles Schwab.
tastytrade.
TradeStation.

Interactive Brokers

Blueprint Rating

Futures commission open fee

$0.85

Futures commission close fee

$0.85

What you should know

Interactive Brokers is an excellent platform for futures trading due to its breadth of offerings. Investors can trade in agriculture, currency, energy, equity, bond, metal and volatility futures from over 35 market centers worldwide.

While IB Trader Workstation is the firm’s go-to platform for sophisticated traders, investors at all levels can still trade futures on a more straightforward online client portal or on the go via the IBKR mobile app. The platform also offers a variety of value-added tools and educational services, such as futures arbitrage and interest rate tables, as well as webinars.

Finally, Interactive Brokers features some of the lowest futures commission fees at $0.85 for open and close for less than $1,000 in monthly volume trading. For heavily active traders, tiered commission rates are available, which can lower fees further.

Pros and cons

Pros

A meager futures commission and a close fee of $0.85.
A wide range of futures types and markets are available.
A low margin interest rate of 6.58% for up to $100,000.

Cons

Traders’ Workstation can be complex for beginners.
Customer service support via chat or phone is only available 24 hours Monday to Friday, with chat available from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. (EST) on Sundays.
No in-house research is available.

More details

Account minimum: $0.
Broker-assisted commission: $0.

E-Trade

Blueprint Rating

Futures commission open fee

$1.50

Futures commission close fee

$1.50

What you should know

E-Trade’s futures trading capabilities span a variety of contracts listed on several exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange. For those with smaller account sizes, E-Trade also has Micro and E-mini futures available.

With E-Trade’s platform, users will enjoy support from licensed futures specialists, along with 24-hour access (six days a week) to futures markets. For fees, E-Trade charges a flat $1.50 price per contract for both futures and options on futures, excluding cryptocurrency futures.

Futures trades can be made on the Power E-Trade desktop platform or mobile app. The brokerage also has a great value add in the form of the E-Trade Futures Research Center, which offers streaming real-time quotes, heatmaps and professional insights.

Pros and cons

Pros

Low futures commission and close fee of $1.50.
No account minimums or inactivity fees.
E-Trade Futures Research Center offers a strong value add.

Cons

Charges a $75 account transfer fee.
Does not offer deposits with a bank card.
A higher margin interest rate of 13.2% for deposits under $10,000.

More details

Account minimum: $0.
Broker-assisted commission: $25.

Charles Schwab

Blueprint Rating

Futures commission open fee

$2.25

Futures commission close fee

$2.25

What you should know

Charles Schwab offers an extensive range of futures types on its platform, including financial, currency, energy, grain, metal, livestock and food futures, in addition to options on futures. For those with smaller accounts, Schwab also offers CME Group Micro E-mini futures contracts, which have lower cost and margin requirements. For a flat $2.25 commission per contract trade, Schwab’s fee structure offers transparency and no hidden charges.

The firm also offers a variety of leading research, news and education offerings, including the Futures Research Center and “Looking to the Futures,” which consists of Schwab’s daily analysis and perspective on the futures market. Futures traders can use either Schwab’s desktop StreetSmart Central platform or the StreetSmart Mobile app.

For customer support, Schwab has trading specialists available 24/7.

Pros and cons

Pros

Dedicated round-the-clock customer service support is available via phone and live chat.
Strong research, news and educational offerings.
A wide range of futures are available.

Cons

No email-based customer support.
Doesn’t offer a paper trading simulator.
A higher margin interest rate of 12.58% for deposits under $10,000.

More details

Account minimum: $0.
Broker-assisted commission: $25.

tastytrade

Blueprint Rating

Futures commission open fee

$1.25

Futures commission close fee

$1.25

What you should know

Known for its innovative approach and focus on active trading, tastytrade offers a good platform for futures traders. On tastytrade, you can apply for futures trading privileges, typically approved within one to two business days. Once enabled, you can access various futures contracts — including energy, metals, agriculture, volatility, livestock, cryptocurrency, indexes, currencies, and interest rates — available on the desktop, mobile or web-based platform.

Tastytrade also has strong educational content through tastylive, which offers resources like the multilesson beginner futures course for new traders.

Tastytrade is highly competitive in terms of fees. While standard futures contracts charge $1.25 for opening and closing commissions, micro futures are discounted to $0.85, while small futures only cost $0.25.

Pros and cons

Pros

A competitive commission of $1.25 can be discounted further for micro and small futures contracts.
Strong focus on education with comprehensive course offerings.
Free ACH deposits and withdrawals.

Cons

Does not offer 24/7 customer service support.
Charges a $75 account transfer fee.
Charges a $25 domestic and international wire fee.

More details

Account minimum: $0.
Broker-assisted commission: $0.

TradeStation

Blueprint Rating

Futures commission open fee

$1.50

Futures commission close fee

$1.50

What you should know

Known for its highly customizable platform, TradeStation offers a dynamic and immersive trading experience. The platform excels in its range of over 600 futures contracts and futures options products, including commodities, indexes and currencies. Its sophisticated charting tools, real-time market data and extensive backtesting capabilities empower traders to make informed, data-driven decisions on the fly.

You can also use TradeStation FuturesPlus, an institutional-grade futures options platform with no extra platform fees, free market data and easy order entry. TradeStation also offers a variety of resources to help new futures traders get up to speed.

Pros and cons

Pros

Powerful, highly customizable platform.
Low $1.50 commission per contract for opening and closing.
No minimum deposit requirement.

Cons

No 24/7 customer service support.
Charges inactivity fees.
Charges a $125 account transfer fee.

More details

Account minimum: $0.
Broker-assisted commission: $0.

Compare the best brokers for futures

Broker	Futures commission open fee	Futures commission close fee	Account minimum
Interactive Brokers	$0.85	$0.85	$0
E-Trade	$1.50	$1.50	$0
Charles Schwab	$2.25	$2.25	$0
tastytrade	$1.25	$1.25	$0
TradeStation	$1.50	$1.50	$0

Methodology

We have reviewed and researched some of the largest online brokerages in the U.S. to rank the best available today.

For our rankings, we sent a digital survey of more than 70 queries to each company we reviewed. Our researchers verified the survey data and confirmed any missing data points by contacting each company directly and via online research.

Among all the brokerages considered, the six that made our list excelled in areas across 10 major categories (with weightings): range of offerings, trading costs, account minimums and fees, features, advisory services, insurance, customer service, education/research, security, margin interest rates and cash interest, and portfolio analysis.

Within each major category, we considered several subcategories, combining them to give an overall score for that category which we then weighted to calculate an overall ranking of the brokerages.
Data points were scored on a 0.00 to 1.00 scale. The top raw score was 0.79, curved to a 5-star rating as the highest possible score.

The insurance category reviewed whether the brokerage has Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Securities Investor Protection Corp. protections, additional asset protections, and additional insurance.

Why other online brokers didn’t make the cut

Futures traders have a unique set of needs for brokerages: a combination of low fees, a wide range of offerings, and strong research and analysis capabilities.

Fees played a large role in the rankings. We eliminated brokerages with higher-than-average per-contract fees or less transparent fee structures for futures trades.

The range of offerings played an important role too. Brokerages offering exposure to various futures types across many markets and geographies scored higher. These firms offer greater versatility and flexibility for futures traders.

Futures traders are highly active, making many trades a day. An ideal brokerage must have strong charting, technical analysis and research capabilities to support this. Additional value-added services like paper trading simulators and heat mapping can help futures traders achieve their objectives.

We are also focused on firms with more extensive customer service support capabilities, especially those that offer 24/7 access. This is important, given that futures trade 24 hours a day, six days a week, and traders may benefit from access to professional help when they need it.

Finally, our rankings considered some accessibility factors general to all brokerages — not just for futures. This included account minimums, inactivity fees, margin interest rates, account transfer or closure fees, and wire transfer fees.

Final verdict

Futures trading offers a unique avenue for retail investors to speculate and hedge risk. Our rankings put Interactive Brokers at the top of the list of the best overall brokerages for futures trading, thanks to a combination of competitive fees and a range of offerings.

Regarding fees, investors can save significantly depending on their volume by opting for Interactive Brokers’ fixed-rate or volume-tiered pricing. The breadth of offerings covers futures and futures options from several exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific across agriculture, currency, energy, equity index, fixed-income, metals and volatility types.

Finally, Interactive Brokers offers various value-added features, including specialized futures trading tools, a U.S. futures market scanner, daily futures arbitrage and interest rate tables, and various futures webinars from Traders’ University.

Types of futures contracts that you can trade

The types of futures contracts you can trade depend on the specific brokerage. Investors can generally find futures contracts for energy commodities, precious metals, agricultural products, stock indexes, interest rates, volatility, bonds, currencies and even cryptocurrencies. Here are a few types and some of the products they feature:

Energy commodities

Crude oil. Contract examples include West Texas Intermediate and Brent Crude.
Natural gas. Henry Hub Natural Gas futures.
Gasoline. Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending, or RBOB, futures.

Precious and base metals

Gold. Standard gold futures, which is often seen as a safe-haven asset.
Silver. Often traded for both industrial demand and investment purposes.
Copper. Used in a significant number of industrial applications, including electrification.

Agricultural products

Corn. A staple crop with widespread use in food and ethanol.
Soybeans. Used in food products, animal feed and biofuels.
Wheat. Essential for global food supply, with various grades traded.
Cattle and pork. Commonly traded meat commodities.

Stock indexes

S&P 500 index futures. Reflects the performance of large-cap U.S. stocks.
Nasdaq-100 futures. Based on the Nasdaq-100 index, representing technology and non-financial companies.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures. Tracks 30 price-weighted, large publicly-owned companies in the U.S.

Interest rates

Federal funds rate futures. Financial contracts based on the anticipated Federal Funds Rate, the rate for overnight interbank lending. These futures price market expectations of Federal Reserve monetary policy changes.

Volatility

VIX futures. Based on the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility index (VIX), representing market expectations of near-term volatility.

Bonds

Government bonds. Futures on government-issued bonds like U.S. Treasurys across various maturities.

Currencies

Major currency pairs. Includes futures for EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY, among others.

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin futures. The most widely traded cryptocurrency futures.
Ethereum futures. Derivatives for the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, used in a variety of decentralized finance applications.

The availability of these types of futures contracts depends on the specific brokerage.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

According to our rankings, Interactive Brokers stands out for having the lowest fees for futures trading.

Interactive Brokers offers highly competitive commissions, charging only $0.85 per contract for opening a position and an identical $0.85 for closing it, with a monthly trading volume under $1,000. Additionally, Interactive Brokers doesn’t impose any account minimums, making it an accessible option for a wide range of traders looking for cost-effective futures trading solutions.

No, not all brokerages offer futures trading. This type of trading, known for its complexity and potentially higher costs, is not universally available across all platforms. In particular, brokerages that cater to beginner investors or those focused on buy-and-hold investment strategies may not include futures trading in their offerings.

This is often due to the specialized nature of futures markets and the need for more advanced trading tools and risk management strategies, which might not align with the services or expertise sought by novices or long-term investors.

Data suggests that a significant majority of retail traders, in general, do not achieve profitability. This doesn’t mean profitability in futures trading is unattainable; rather, it highlights that the odds are stacked against traders from the outset.

One of the primary challenges faced by many retail traders is the lack of adequate risk management. Effective risk management is crucial in the volatile world of futures trading.

Additionally, the futures market is inherently competitive, and retail traders are often up against highly experienced and well-capitalized institutions and professional traders. These professionals have not only better tools and more information but also the experience and discipline that come with years of trading, making it a challenging environment for less experienced retail traders.

The amount of money you need to trade futures depends on the type of future you’re trading. Different futures contracts have varying margin requirements, which are set by the exchanges and can also be influenced by your brokerage’s policies.

To illustrate, let’s take the E-mini S&P 500, which is among the more popular and accessible contracts for retail futures traders.

For instance, if the is at 4,700, and assuming the E-mini contract has a multiplier of $50 (which is standard), the value of one E-mini S&P 500 contract would be 4,700 x $50 = $235,000.

However, you don’t need the full value of the contract to trade. Futures are traded on margin, meaning you only need to put up a fraction of the contract’s total value. This is known as the initial margin requirement.

For E-mini S&P futures, this margin requirement can be quite low compared to the contract’s value. For example, if the initial margin requirement is set at 5%, you would need 5% of $235,000, which is $11,750, to hold one E-mini S&P 500 futures contract.

It’s important to remember that while lower margin requirements can increase accessibility, they also amplify potential gains and losses. Margin trading involves significant risk and can lead to losses that exceed your initial investment.

Additionally, margin requirements can change based on market volatility and other factors, so it’s essential to stay informed and manage your risk accordingly.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Tony Dong

BLUEPRINT

Tony Dong is a freelance financial writer with bylines in U.S. News and World Report, the NYSE, the Nasdaq, The Motley Fool and Benzinga. He lives in Vancouver, Canada and is an avid watch collector.

Farran Powell

BLUEPRINT

Farran Powell is the lead editor of investing at USA TODAY Blueprint. She was previously the assistant managing editor of investing at U.S. News and World Report. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including TheStreet, Mansion Global, CNN, CNN Money, DNAInfo, Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money and the New York Daily News. She holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and an MA from the University of Texas at Austin. You can follow her on Twitter at @farranpowell.

Stephanie Steinberg

BLUEPRINT

Stephanie Steinberg has been a journalist for over a decade. She has served as a health and money editor at U.S. News and World Report, covering personal finance, financial advisors, credit cards, retirement, investing, health and wellness and more. She founded The Detroit Writing Room and New York Writing Room to offer writing coaching and workshops for entrepreneurs, professionals and writers of all experience levels. Her work has been published in The New York Times, USA TODAY, Boston Globe, CNN.com, Huffington Post, and Detroit publications.