Trading

Get expert advice on finding the right broker, learn to trade stocks, and understand how to evaluate the markets.

A woman stands at a desk with three computer screens day trading

standret / Getty Images

If you're looking to invest and trade stocks for the long term, then one of the best online brokers is all you need. But if you're looking to day trade, you'll want to do your research and find a platform that fits your trading style best.

Investopedia identified 26 trading platforms and then collected over 2,300 data points to determine which are the best for day traders. The best day trading platforms that made our list provide excellent apps for analyzing indicators and executing trades on a variety of securities including stocks, cryptocurrency, options, forex, futures, and more. 

Best Day Trading Platforms

Frequently Asked Questions
  • What’s the difference between trading and investing?

    Investing takes a long-term approach to the markets, while trading involves short-term strategies to maximize returns daily, monthly, or quarterly. Investors are more likely to ride out short-term losses, while traders will make transactions that can help them profit quickly from fluctuating markets.

  • How do I start trading?

    How much money you need to begin trading depends on the type of securities you want to buy. Stocks typically trade in round lots, or orders of at least 100 shares. To buy a stock priced at $60 per share, you will need $6,000 in your account. A broker may let you borrow half of that money, but you still need to produce the other $3,000. To trade options and futures, those trade by the contract. A contract represents some unit of the underlying security. In the options market, one contract is good for 100 shares of the stock.



  • Do day traders make money?

    Results vary widely depending on various trading strategies, risk management practices, and amounts of capital available for day trading. According to University of California researchers Brad Barber and Terrance Odean, they found that many individual investors hold undiversified portfolios and trade actively, speculatively, and to their own detriment.1 Day traders also can be hit with high brokerage fees and other charges that cut into their profits.



  • How does trading and the stock market work?

    The prices of shares on a stock market can be set in a number of ways. The most common way is through an auction process where buyers and sellers place bids and offers to buy or sell. A bid is the price at which somebody wishes to buy, and an offer (or ask) is the price at which somebody wishes to sell. When the bid and ask coincide, a trade is made.

  • How do you make money with options trading?

    Options allow for potential profit during both volatile times, which is possible because the prices of assets like stocks, currencies, and commodities are always moving. No matter what the market conditions are there is an options strategy that can take advantage of those conditions to profit, while taking on the risk of losing money as well.

Key Terms

Market Analyze with Digital Monitor focus on tip of finger
How To Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)
Young white woman with hand on chin at a laptop in an office
How to Swing Trade
Cryptocurrency Large Investor Holding Coin Asset
How to Buy SafeMoon Crypto
Over the shoulder view of young Asian woman checking financial trading data with mobile app
4 Best Futures Trading Platforms
Dunning-Kruger Effect Illustration
Dunning-Kruger Effect: Meaning and Examples in Finance
 Coins moving from one mobile phone to other
How To Buy Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Frustrated Man Looks at Laptop Screen
How Information Bias Can Lead to Poor Investing Decisions
Young lady using a banking app on her phone
Robinhood vs. eToro 2024
Woman looking at a chart on a monitor
Should You Quit Your Job to Trade Stocks?
Traders at their computers working in the NYSE
Benefits for Active Traders Who Incorporate
Pre-Market Routine Sets Stage For The Trading Day
A Day in the Life of a Professional Forex Trader
Needle in a Haystack: Stock Message Boards
A close-up of a woman's hands using a calculator, while she sits at a desk with several documents displaying financial charts.
How Much Money Do You Need to Start Trading?
An Introduction to Trading Types: Fundamental Traders
What Is Hedging and How Does It Work?
Beginner's Guide to Hedging: Definition and Example of Hedges in Finance
Trading Account: A place where traders can trade securities and monitor their investments.
Trading Account: Definition, How to Open, and Margin Requirements
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
The Roles of Traders and Investors
Businessman feeling exhausted
Common Investor and Trader Blunders
Investor looking at stock market chart on monitor to evaluate their trading plan.
Trading Plan: Definition, How It Works, Rules, and Examples
An investor works at night using a laptop and writes notes in a notebook to develop a trading strategy for the next day.
What Is a Trading Strategy? How to Develop One
Want to Trade Stocks in College? 5 Tips to Start
Cash Trading Definition, Rules, vs. Margin Trading
A investing couple talk to a financial advisor and compare potential funds by looking at the performance of the fund manager.
Trading Effect
A young investor sits at a table with a laptop and a cup of coffee as they work late into the night to trade cryptocurrency.
What Is After-Hours Trading, and Can You Trade at This Time?
Is There a Catch to Free Stock Trading?
Spot Trade: Buying or selling a financial instrument at its current market price for immediate delivery.
What Is Spot Trading and How Do You Profit? How It Works
Young traders analyzing computer data.
20 Rules Followed by Professional Traders
What It Takes to Become an Elite Trader
Traders working on the floor of the NYSE
The Art of Selling a Losing Position
Hero
Investopedia Anxiety Index
Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro
Rio Hedge
Entrepreneurs working on documents at table.
When to Use Fundamental, Technical, and Quantitative Analysis
Supertrend Indicator
Supertrend Indicator: What It Is and How It Works
Trader looking at his phone in front of his desk with multiple monitors and programs.
Top Technical Analysis Tools for Traders
A woman sits on the ground leaning against her couch reading a book
Top 7 Books to Learn Technical Analysis
Stock trader using trading software to manage investments.
7 Technical Indicators to Build a Trading Toolkit
A couple of stock traders sitting at home with stock charts showing technical indicators on laptop screens, using notebook to learn about technical analysis.
Best Ways To Learn Technical Analysis
Understanding a Candlestick Chart
Understanding Basic Candlestick Charts
The Most Reliable Indicator You've Never Heard Of
Financial analysts in an office with multiple computer monitors displaying charts and other data.
Fundamental vs. Technical Analysis: What's the Difference?
Doji and spinning top
What Is a Candlestick Pattern?
Debunking 8 Myths About Technical Analysis
Woman holding a smartphone and pointing at the screen
Inside the Rare But Powerful Triple Tops and Bottom Technical Analysis Patterns
Portfolio
Average Return: Meaning, Calculations and Examples
Hand of a Stockbroker Buying and Selling Shares Online
Market Indicators That Reflect Volatility in the Stock Market
Man Working on Construction Plan at Desk
How to Build a Trading Indicator
finger pointing to moving averages superimposed over a candlestick chart on a monitor.
How to Use a Moving Average to Buy Stocks
Stock trader with a smartphone in hand examines technical indicators in front of a computer monitor.
Technical Indicator: Definition, Analyst Uses, Types and Examples
Metrics: Measures of quantitative assessment commonly used for assessing, comparing, and tracking performance or production.
Metrics
What Technical Tools Can I Use to Measure Momentum?
Wood Textured Graph Bars
What Is T-Distribution in Probability? How Do You Use It?
ETF Analysis: The iPath S&P 500 VIX Futures
Midsection Businessmen Analyzing Charts On Laptop In Office
Advanced Candlestick Patterns
The Rectangle Formation
Relative Strength: Definition in Investing and Stock Analysis
Exponential Moving Average vs. Simple Moving Average: What's the Difference?
Using Technical Indicators to Develop Trading Strategies
Industrial ETFs Bouncing Off Key Support
Divergence vs. Convergence What's the Difference?