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Best Online Brokers for Futures Trading and Commodities

6 Best Online Brokers for Futures Trading and Commodities

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Chris Davis is a Managing Editor on the Investing team. As a writer, he covered the stock market, investing strategies and investment accounts, and as a spokesperson, he appeared on NBC Bay Area and was quoted in Forbes, Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart and Lifewire, among others. His work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Newsday and TheStreet.

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Arielle O’Shea leads the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for nearly 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Arielle O’Shea leads the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for nearly 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

Our deep, independent analysis of online brokers sorts through key account details to find and evaluate the information investors want when choosing a futures trading platform.

Over 60 investment account providers reviewed and rated by our expert Nerds.

More than 50 years of combined experience writing about finance and investing.

Hands-on testing of the account funding process, broker websites and trading platforms.

Dozens of objective ratings rubrics, and strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity.

To see our full methodology and learn more about our process, read our criteria for evaluating brokers.

Futures trading is a complicated business, even for experienced investors, and so is shopping for a futures and commodities broker. It’s not just about contract fees and trading platforms (although both are important factors to consider).

Trading in futures requires looking for a broker that offers the highest level of real-time data and quotes, an intuitive trading platform, excellent charting and screening tools and a wealth of research — plus the ability to leverage your account with reduced day-trading margin requirements. All of that, and you still want low costs and high-quality customer support.

These are the features and services we focused on in our rankings, concentrating on the world of online discount brokers that serve self-directed traders (not pros) seeking to quickly execute their own futures strategies.

Best Online Brokers for Futures Trading and Commodities

NinjaTrader

TradeStation Futures

Interactive Brokers Futures

E*TRADE Futures

Webull Futures

Charles Schwab Futures

Fees

$0.35 - $1.29

Lower price plans available

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

Over 100 futures products available.

Low commissions.

24/5 customer support.

Must pay for market data subscriptions to trade most contracts.

Interface can be unintuitive.

NinjaTrader offers experienced futures traders more than 100 trading products, low commissions, good customer support and a powerful trading platform. It's not great for beginners, however, and requires pricey market data subscriptions for most trades.

Fees

$0.25 - $0.85

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

Tiered and fixed pricing options.

Low futures trading commissions.

Access to a large selection of exchanges and asset classes.

Website can be difficult to navigate.

Interactive Brokers' futures offering scores among the highest in our analysis, thanks to the broker's flexible low pricing and professional-level trading platforms and tools.

Fees

$0.25 - $1.50

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time.

Low futures trading commissions.

Low minimum margin requirements.

CME exchange only.

Small number of tradable products compared with competitors.

Webull is a well-rounded broker that appeals to the mobile-first generation of investors with a slick interface, low futures trading commissions and an impressive selection of trading tools. Advanced futures traders may find its small selection of tradable products limiting.

Want to compare more options? Here are our other top picks:

ON THIS PAGE

How do I get started trading futures?

To trade futures, open an account with a broker that supports futures markets. The broker will probably ask about your net worth, your investing experience, and how much money you make.

Can futures trading be profitable?

Yes, but investing in futures is a strategy that has a few caveats. It comes with risk, as do all investing strategies. But futures trading is even riskier: You’re making a bet on the direction a market is going to go, an outcome that is difficult for even professional analysts to predict correctly. In other words: You can do a lot of research, feel confident in your prediction and still lose a lot of money very quickly.

How much money do you need to start trading futures?

It depends on the broker. You'll need to cover the broker's fees, plus regulatory and exchange fees. In addition to that, your broker may have other requirements, such as a certain amount in your margin account.

Last updated on February 17, 2026

Methodology

NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers by assets under management, along with emerging industry players. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.

We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).

For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.

NerdWallet's Best Online Brokers for Futures Trading and Commodities

About the author

Chris Davis is a Managing Editor on the Investing team. As a writer, he covered the stock market, investing strategies and investment accounts, and as a spokesperson, he appeared on NBC Bay Area and was quoted in Forbes, Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart and Lifewire, among others. His work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Newsday and TheStreet.

Published in:

About the editor

Arielle O’Shea leads the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for nearly 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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