SpeedTrader Review

Is SpeedTrader good for day trading?

Yes. That is the core audience. Orders can be sent directly to exchanges, ECNs, dark pools, smart routers and other destinations rather than leaving every routing decision to the broker, and the route schedule contains dozens of choices covering both liquidity-taking and liquidity-providing strategies.

For a scalper or momentum trader, that control is useful. A hotkey might combine share size, price offset and route into a single command rather than requiring several manual inputs.

SpeedTrader also supports pre-market and after-hours activity from 4:00am to 8:00pm Eastern, giving small-cap traders access to the periods where some of the most volatile moves happen.

SpeedTrader Pro is the standout feature

That matters because the software is built around execution rather than general investing. A typical intraday setup runs scanner, chart, Level 2, route, hotkey and position management without moving between applications.

There is also a 14-day simulated trial, useful for testing the interface before funding an account.

ActiveWeb is the cheaper entry point. It runs in a browser, supports multiple screens and direct routes, and costs $40 a month while commissions stay below $199. Generate at least $199 and the software charge is waived.

So the useful question is not just what the minimum is. It is what balance you need for the platform you actually want. Sterling Trader Pro is also listed as coming to the brokerage, but judge the current service on what is actually available rather than future platform promises.

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.

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, falling as activity increases:

There is no minimum order fee on the published per-share stock schedule. Options pricing similarly falls with volume, from $0.35 per contract at the first tier to $0.25 for higher-volume customers. These rates make considerably more sense for someone moving serious monthly volume than an occasional trader.

Routing can cost more than the commission. Direct access gives control, but destinations have their own economics: some charge when an order removes liquidity and pay rebates when it adds. ARCA is listed with a $0.0025 a share fee for taking liquidity and a possible $0.0020 rebate for adding it.

Conversely, repeatedly providing liquidity can produce rebates. That does not mean chasing rebates at the expense of a good fill. It makes routing part of the overall economics.

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

Someone generating more than $499 in monthly commissions effectively removes the base software charge. A lower-volume account pays much more for access to the same workstation, and market-data subscriptions still add separate costs.

The inactivity fee is easy to miss. Accounts making fewer than 15 trades a quarter can be charged $30 quarterly. For the intended audience that is unlikely to matter, since a genuine day trader clears 15 trades quickly. Its existence reinforces the point: this is not an account you open and barely touch. Outgoing ACAT transfers cost $75, domestic wires $30 and international wires $75.

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 continues to list the firm under that registration.

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

Who is SpeedTrader best for?

The strongest fit is an experienced equity day trader who already knows why they want DAS, Level 2, direct routes and hotkeys. Momentum and scalping strategies fit naturally, and short-biased traders have a clear reason to investigate, because locate requests are integrated into the flagship terminal and inventory is sourced across multiple venues.

Low-volume customers are the weakest fit. The base workstation charge, data costs and inactivity fee structure all make more sense once someone is trading consistently. The lowest commission rates also require enormous volume: anyone seeing $0.0009 a share should recognise that tier starts above 25 million shares a month.

Short access needs real-world testing too. The number of locate sources looks strong, but a dedicated short seller should still compare availability and cost across a sample of the hard-to-borrow names they actually trade.

Finally, direct routing creates 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.