SpeedTrader Review

Is SpeedTrader good for day trading?

SpeedTrader is a US brokerage for active equity day traders and short sellers. Reviewed:

Best for:

Equity day traders and active short sellers

Standout feature:

SpeedTrader Pro, powered by DAS Trader

Stock commissions:

$0.0025 a share at the first tier, down to $0.0009

Short selling:

Integrated locates with 10+ advertised sources

Pro software:

$125 a month before commission offsets

ActiveWeb minimum:

$2,500

SpeedTrader Pro minimum:

$10,000

Main drawback:

Poor economics if you do not trade enough to use the infrastructure

Yes. SpeedTrader is designed for traders who need direct control over order routing and execution. Orders can be sent to exchanges, ECNs, dark pools, smart routers and other destinations. The route schedule includes dozens of choices for both taking and providing liquidity.

That control can help scalpers and momentum traders. A hotkey can combine share size, price offset and route in one command instead of requiring several manual inputs.

SpeedTrader also supports pre-market and after-hours trading from 4:00am to 8:00pm Eastern. That covers the periods when small-cap stocks often make their largest moves.

SpeedTrader Pro is the standout feature

The flagship desktop platform is a customised DAS Trader Pro environment. It includes real-time Level 2, Time and Sales, advanced charts, multiple-monitor support, stock scanners and more than 100 hotkey options.

The platform is built around execution rather than general investing. A typical intraday setup can run a scanner, chart, Level 2 window, route selector, hotkey system and position management tools without moving between applications.

The main benefit is reducing the number of actions between seeing a setup and getting an order into the market.

That workflow matters to traders making dozens of decisions in a session. It offers less value to someone who trades occasionally or does not need direct routing.

SpeedTrader offers a 14-day simulated trial, which lets you test the interface before funding an account.

ActiveWeb is the lower-cost entry point. It runs in a browser, supports multiple screens and direct routes, and costs $40 a month while commissions remain below $199. The fee is waived when monthly commissions reach at least $199.

If DAS, Level 2 and integrated locates are central to your strategy, Pro is the product that matters.

The minimum deposit only tells part of the story. The more important question is which platform you need. Sterling Trader Pro is also listed as coming to the brokerage, but the current service should be judged on the tools available now rather than future platform plans.

Is SpeedTrader good for short selling?

Short sellers have a strong reason to consider it. The Pro terminal includes an integrated locate tool, so hard-to-borrow requests can be handled without leaving DAS. Its short-selling material advertises:

• More than ten locate venues
• Free locates where available
• A large easy-to-borrow inventory
• Hard-to-borrow requests
• Real-time locate pricing
• Access from 4:00am to 8:00pm Eastern

Those are company claims rather than a guarantee that every ticker will be available cheaply. The useful comparison is not how many stocks a broker claims it can short. It is the availability and price on the actual names appearing on your watchlist.

A position can involve:

• Commission
• Route or ECN fee
• Locate
• Overnight borrow, if held
• Software and data

On hard-to-borrow small caps, the locate can easily matter more than the basic commission.

Overnight borrow charges vary by security and can change substantially from one session to the next.

How much does SpeedTrader cost?

Stock commissions start at $0.0025 per share for monthly volume below one million shares. The rate falls as volume increases:

The published per-share stock schedule has no minimum order fee. Options pricing also falls with volume, from $0.35 per contract at the first tier to $0.25 for higher-volume customers.

Those rates make more sense for traders moving serious monthly volume than for occasional users.

Routing can cost more than the commission. Direct access gives you control, but each destination has its own pricing. Some charge when an order removes liquidity and offer rebates when it adds liquidity. ARCA is listed with a $0.0025 a share fee for taking liquidity and a possible $0.0020 rebate for adding it.

1,000-share cost example:

Commission at the first tier:

$2.50

Route removing liquidity at $0.0025:

$2.50

Combined:

$5.00

That total excludes regulatory, software, data and borrow costs.

A liquidity rebate can reduce trading costs, but a good fill matters more than chasing a rebate. Routing is part of the overall trade economics, not a separate optimisation exercise.

SpeedTrader Pro costs up to $125 a month, with the fee falling as monthly commissions increase:

A lower-volume account pays more for the same workstation, while market-data subscriptions remain separate costs.

The inactivity fee is easy to miss. Accounts making fewer than 15 trades per quarter can be charged $30 quarterly. A genuine day trader will usually clear that threshold quickly, but the fee confirms that SpeedTrader is not designed for an account that sits unused.

Other listed charges include:

Is SpeedTrader safe?

SpeedTrader, Inc. is a US broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC, with CRD number 107403. FINRA's order-routing database lists the firm under that registration.

The brokerage works with Axos Clearing and Curvature for account-clearing arrangements. SIPC protection applies to eligible customer assets if a member brokerage fails and customer property is missing. It does not cover losses from unsuccessful trades.

Who is SpeedTrader best for?

SpeedTrader is best suited to an experienced equity day trader who already knows why they want DAS, Level 2, direct routes and hotkeys. Momentum and scalping strategies fit the platform naturally. Short-biased traders also have a reason to investigate it because locate requests are built into the flagship terminal and inventory is sourced across multiple venues.

Low-volume customers are the weakest fit. The software charge, data costs and inactivity fee matter more when trading activity is limited. The lowest commission tier also requires enormous volume: the $0.0009 rate starts above 25 million shares a month.

Short access still needs to be tested against the names you trade. A large number of locate sources does not guarantee that the specific hard-to-borrow stocks on your watchlist will be available at a reasonable price.

Direct routing also adds complexity. If you do not understand why you would choose ARCA, EDGX or a smart route in a particular situation, much of the value of having dozens of destinations disappears.

Choose SpeedTrader when your process depends on DAS Trader, direct routing, hotkey execution and hard-to-borrow access.

If those tools do not improve your trading process, the added cost and complexity are difficult to justify.