Tastytrade Review 2024: Pros & Cons (2024)

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In the jungle of online trading platforms, tastytrade is the cheetah. It stalks opportunities, watches for danger, and then chases down its prey lightning-fast for the kill.

Tastytrade’s platforms are ideal for frequent options and futures traders, thanks to their efficient workflows, useful risk management tools, killer design, and online content that make you feel like you’re on a trading desk.

Overall Summary

Feature
Overall
Investment Options
Commissions & Fees
Mobile Trading Apps
Platforms & Tools
Research
Customer Service
Education
Ease Of Use

Investment options

Traders will find more than enough to keep them busy through the trading day, but if you want to sock money away in a CD ladder or mutual funds, you won’t find those products here. Tastytrade's platforms fully support listed stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrencies, futures, and options on futures. Some investments can be bought over the phone or held in accounts, but might not appear on the platform. Treasurys will appear on the desktop but need to be bought by calling the order in.

Cryptocurrency: Pricing is excellent (see below). Tastytrade offers eight coins for crypto trading: Cardano, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Polkadot, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana. New York customers may only trade Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Tasty doesn’t support short positions, redeeming coins, or transferring crypto in or out of the account.

Feature
Stock Tradinginfo	Yes
Margin Trading	Yes
Fractional Sharesinfo	Yes info
OTC Stocksinfo	No
Options Tradinginfo	Yes
Complex Options Max Legsinfo	4
Bonds (US Treasury)info	No info
Futures Tradinginfo	Yes
Forex Tradinginfo	No
Mutual Funds (Total)info	0
Crypto Tradinginfo	Yes
Crypto Trading - Total Coinsinfo	8
Traditional IRAsinfo	Yes
Roth IRAsinfo	Yes
Advisor Servicesinfo	No

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Commissions and fees

The sizzle on the tastytrade steak is its options and crypto pricing, thanks to very low caps. Tastytrade's per-contract commission is 23% less than Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, and Fidelity, and tastytrade charges a maximum commission of $10 per leg.

Stocks and ETFs: Stocks and ETFs trade commission-free.

Options: Stock and ETF options are charged $1 per contract to open, with a maximum of $10 per leg to open, and nothing to close. For comparison purposes, that’s $0.50 per contract each way, which is a shade cheaper than the $0.65 per contract charged by Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, and Fidelity. But the $10 maximum charge per leg can lead to sweet savings on larger trades.

Options on futures are charged by the round trip, but there’s no maximum commission. Options on futures are $2.50 per contract. On micros, they are $1.50.

Penny stocks: Penny stocks aren’t supported at tastytrade.

Futures: Unlike the stock options and equity options pricing, these are charged on both sides of the trade and don’t have a maximum amount. Futures are $1.25 per contract, micros are $0.85, and Smalls are $0.25.

Cryptocurrency: Crypto is charged 1% of the trade for both the buy and the sell. But, as with stock options trades, the maximum charge is $10. Big-time crypto traders will appreciate the cap.

Feature
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trades	$0.00
Penny Stock Fees (OTC)info	N/A
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options (Base Fee)	$0.00
Options (Per Contract)	$0.50 info
Options Exercise Fee	$5.00
Options Assignment Fee	$5.00
Futures (Per Contract)	$1.25
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	N/A info
Broker Assisted Trade Fee	$0

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See Also

When Should You Quit Tradingtastytrade vs Webull 2024Tastyworks Review: Is This Trading Brokerage Legit?Tastytrade Help Center

Mobile trading apps

Tastytrade’s biggest strength is its desktop platform, but there’s enough tap-happy finger trading goodness on the mobile app to drum up some serious blisters. Tap. You’re long. Tap and drag. You’ve canceled and replaced an order. Tap again. UR out. It’s that sort of an experience. The client dashboard and market news are new and very, very welcome.

Ease of use: The app is easy to use, but not intuitive. It’ll take some time before you navigate the app efficiently. Once you become familiar with the desktop platform, the app will make perfect sense. It’s super fast, and complex options orders are a snap to enter.

Watch lists: Watch lists can be scrolled both horizontally and vertically, something to keep in mind with many of tastytrade’s features. Personal watch lists sync across devices. You can pick and choose which columns are displayed.

Charting: On the mobile app, charts are crisp. Horizontal view is supported, as is zooming in and out. You can’t mark up charts with studies or annotations on the app, unlike the gazillion options available on the desktop.

Trading tools: With tastytrade's futures and options focus, it’s a good thing that risk management and order entry are front and center. Profit and loss diagrams are clear and you can adjust trades right on the graph. Dropdown option strategies quickly populate the order ticket fields and you can point and drag options legs until the probability of profit estimate, implied volatility and max gain/loss fit your plan.

Video content: Videos from tastylive, tastytrade's affiliated education network (which was itself formerly called tastytrade — a bit confusing, but stick with us), are available in the app. Don’t miss them. They are informal, even irreverent at times, and teach sophisticated topics while they comment on market action. They are as good a group of trading mentors as anyone could hope for.

Tap for a demo of tastytrade's app.

Feature
iPhone Appinfo	Yes
Android Appinfo	Yes
Apple Watch Appinfo	No
Stock Alertsinfo	No
Charting - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Charting - Technical Studiesinfo	0
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	No
Watch List (Streaming)info	Yes
Watch Lists - Create & Manageinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Column Customizationinfo	Yes

Other trading platforms and tools

Tastytrade has a leg up (options traders — get it?) on its competition when it comes to efficient workflow and attractive design. We expect traders will be happiest on the desktop application, but there’s also a very functional browser-based platform. Some other brokers have platforms that are easier to master, others will allow you to trade more instruments, and there are brokers that provide more tools, but tastytrade stands out for how well it serves its target customers.

Like the mobile app, fundamental data and market news are readily accessible on the desktop platform and all platforms have useful client dashboards with market news. Mega props, tasty.

Platforms overview: Tastytrade's user interface is designed for efficient navigation and working well on one screen. You can enjoy a leisurely coffee at Starbucks and trade from your laptop without wishing you had six more 27” screens behind that venti Americano. The tradeoff for this smaller space is less customization than, say, Charles Schwab’s thinkorswim or Interactive Brokers’ Trader Workstation.

Tastytrade has gutsy graphic designers, too. Not many brokers would use red and black as their primary design colors, but it helps tastytrade stand out from the crowd. I like it. It appeals to my anything-goes trader mentality, or at least the one I like to pretend I have.

Web platform: The browser-based platform is similar to the desktop platform, but doesn’t have quite the laser-like legibility. If your glasses have lenses as thick as the Hoover Dam (as mine do) you may even prefer the browser. For trading while traveling or at work (we won’t tell), the web platform is absolutely fine and a cut above many competitors. The charts are great and you can maintain a journal, a nice feature we’d love to see every broker offer.

Charting: On the desktop, the charts are crisp and, unlike the mobile, highly customizable. There are hundreds of technical studies and 19 drawing tools, all anyone could possibly need. The chart window can be subdivided into four independent charts. Charting on the browser platform isn’t as rich as the desktop and comes off like a work in progress.

Tastytrade trading tools: The desktop supports clicking and dragging on several views to adjust orders. The profit/loss tool caters to options and can support multiple strategies. Watch lists sync across all platforms, and it’s easy to edit the watch lists and edit column views. Fundamental data is sorely lacking. We like how stock news is presented, in a readily available column.

Options trading: Futures and options are where tastytrade stands out, combining ease of use with advanced analysis and sophisticated profit and loss diagrams. Traders get tremendous value for that low options pricing.

Feature
Active Trading Platforminfo	tastytrade
Desktop Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Desktop Platform (Mac)info	Yes
Web Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Trade Journalinfo	No
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	33
Charting - Indicators / Studiesinfo	308
Charting - Drawing Toolsinfo	31
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	7
Charting - Save Profilesinfo	Yes
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysisinfo	No
Streaming Time & Salesinfo	No
Trade Ideas - Backtestinginfo	No

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Research

My biggest pet peeve about tastytrade when last reviewed was its skimpy financial data and news. I understood that tasty wants to keep the platform lean and quick, but I still prefer to know the basics of what I’m buying or selling. Happily, the broker recently added financial statement data and stock news feeds.

There’s a new dashboard view that splashes market news, account performance, and new feature announcements. I think they’re smart adds and they don’t detract from efficient trading. They’re just there when you want them.

Having shared that welcome news, the research is still thin. If you like to peruse stock research reports or shop for ETFs according to tracking errors and expense ratios, you might want to keep an account with another broker.

Feature
Research - Stocksinfo	Yes
Stock Research - ESGinfo	No
Stock Research - PDF Reportsinfo	0
Screener - Stocksinfo	No
Research - ETFsinfo	Yes
Screener - ETFsinfo	No
Research - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Screener - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBBinfo	No
Research - Bondsinfo	No

Education

There’s not much education on tastytrade, at least not the same sort that you’ll find at Charles Schwab or Fidelity. Tastytrade assumes that anyone logging on to the platform has at least an intermediate level knowledge level. Instead, you get an ongoing stream of commentary and programming that feels as if you found trading mentors.

Learning center: There’s a nascent learning center that has a ton of platform tutorials and a few educational pieces that are burdened with too much jargon. Pure novices will find the education intimidating. Tastytrade’s affiliate network, tastylive, provides educational content on its website that covers the full range from beginner to expert trading.

Videos: The live video feed embedded in all the platforms is where you can level up your trading chops. You learn through watching traders discuss the markets and what they think is important. While doing that, they goof around, they tease each other, and maybe a few less-than-pristine words are uttered. It’s entertaining as well as informative. My only gripe is that the video player can take a while to initially load. It’s worth the wait.

Feature
Education (Stocks)info	Yes
Education (ETFs)info	Yes
Education (Options)info	Yes
Education (Mutual Funds)info	No
Education (Bonds)info	No
Education (Retirement)info	No
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Videosinfo	No
Webinarsinfo	Yes
Webinars (Archived)info	Yes
Progress Trackinginfo	No
Interactive Learning - Quizzesinfo	No

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Customer service

To score Customer Service, StockBrokers.com partners with customer experience research firm Confero to conduct phone tests from locations throughout the United States. For this year's testing, 135 customer service tests were conducted over six weeks, with wait times logged for each call.

Customer service representatives were asked for assistance or details for prospective customers in several areas of broker services, including account opening, trading tools, apps, rollovers, active trading, and more. Here are the results for tastytrade.

• Average Connection Time: 1-2 minute
• Average Net Promoter Score: 7.8 / 10
• Average Professionalism Score: 6.5 / 10
• Overall Score: 7.37 / 10
• Ranking: 10th of 13 brokers

Banking services

Tastytrade is not a bank brokerage, and traditional banking services aren’t currently offered — but you guessed that by now, didn’t you? Given its target market of active traders, we don’t expect to see tastytrade-branded travel rewards programs anytime soon.

Feature
Bank (Member FDIC)info	No
Checking Accountsinfo	No
Savings Accountsinfo	No
Credit Cardsinfo	No
Debit Cardsinfo	No
Mortgage Loansinfo	No

Final thoughts

If you trade options, futures and crypto, tastytrade is an outstanding choice. Long term investors, mutual fund buyers and Warren Buffett wannabes will find other brokers cater better to their needs.

Here are our three top takeaways for tastytrade for 2024:

1. Tastytrade's platforms are speedy, the tools are useful, and the workflow is efficient.
2. Options and crypto pricing are outstanding for larger trades.
3. Tastytrade goes its own way, and we think they’re doing it right.

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Is tastytrade a good broker?

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How much does it cost to open a tastytrade account?

Does tastytrade have a monthly fee?

How much are tastytrade withdrawal fees?

Tastytrade does not charge for ACH withdrawals.

• Domestic wires: $25
• Foreign wires: $45
• Domestic check: $5
• Foreign check: $10
• Dividend check: $5
• Outgoing domestic overnight checks: $50
• Outgoing foreign overnight checks: $100

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What is the difference between tastyworks and tastytrade?

About tastytrade

tastytrade 2024 Results

For the StockBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards, announced on Jan. 23, 2024, all U.S. equity brokers we reviewed were assessed on over 200 different variables across eight areas: Commissions & Fees, Investment Options, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education, Ease of Use, and Overall.

StockBrokers.com also presented “Best in Class” awards to brokers for additional categories Beginners, Options Trading, Futures Trading, Day Trading, IRA Accounts, Investor Community, Penny Stock Trading, Bank Brokerage, High Net Worth Investors, and Customer Service. A “Best in Class” designation means finishing in the top five brokers for that category.

For more information, see how we test.

Category awards

	Commissions & Fees	Day Trading	Futures Trading	Investor Community	Options Trading
Rank #1			check		check
Streak #1			1		2
Best in Class	check	check	check	check	check
Best in Class Streak	1	2	2	2	2

Industry awards

	#1 Desktop Futures Trading Platform	#1 Desktop Options Trading Platform
Rank #1	check	check
Streak	1	1

StockBrokers.com Review Methodology

Our mission at StockBrokers.com is simple: provide thorough and unbiased reviews of online brokers, based on an extraordinary level of hands-on testing and data collection. Our ratings and awards are based on this data and our in-house experts’ deep authority in the field; brokers cannot pay for preferential treatment. Here’s more about trustworthiness at StockBrokers.com.

Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools for U.S. investors, collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process; this makes StockBrokers.com home to the largest independent database on the web covering the online broker industry. We test all available trading platforms for each broker and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables. All research, writing and data collection at StockBrokers.com is done by humans, for humans. Read our generative AI policy here.

As part of our process, all brokers had the annual opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy. Brokers also were offered the opportunity to provide executive time for an annual update meeting.

Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.

tastytrade fees and features data

The data collection efforts at StockBrokers.com are unmatched in the industry. The following tables show a deeper dive into the offerings available at this broker. You can also compare its offerings side-by-side with those of other brokers using our Comparison Tool.

In addition to meticulous annual data collection by our in-house analyst, every broker that participates in our review is afforded the opportunity to complete an in-depth data profile. We then audit each data point to ensure its accuracy.

Trading fees

Feature
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trades	$0.00
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	N/A info
Options (Base Fee)	$0.00
Options (Per Contract)	$0.50 info
Futures (Per Contract)	$1.25
Broker Assisted Trade Fee	$0

Account fees

Feature
IRA Annual Fee	$0.00
IRA Closure Fee	$60.00
Account Transfer Out (Partial)info	$75.00
Account Transfer Out (Full)info	$75.00
Options Exercise Fee	$5.00
Options Assignment Fee	$5.00

Margin rates

Feature
Margin Rate Under $25,000	11%
Margin Rate $25,000 to $49,999.99	10.5%
Margin Rate $50,000 to $99,999.99	10%
Margin Rate $100,000 to $249,999.99	9.5%
Margin Rate $250,000 to $499,999.99	9%
Margin Rate $500,000 to $999,999.99	8.5%
Margin Rate Above $1,000,000	8%

Investment options

Feature
Stock Tradinginfo	Yes
Margin Trading	Yes
Fractional Sharesinfo	Yes info
OTC Stocksinfo	No
Options Tradinginfo	Yes
Complex Options Max Legsinfo	4
Futures Tradinginfo	Yes
Forex Tradinginfo	No
Crypto Tradinginfo	Yes
Crypto Trading - Total Coinsinfo	8
Mutual Funds (No Load)info	0
Mutual Funds (Total)info	0
Bonds (US Treasury)info	No info
Bonds (Corporate)info	No
Bonds (Municipal)info	No
Advisor Servicesinfo	No
International Countries (Stocks)info	0

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Order types

Feature
Order Type - Marketinfo	Yes
Order Type - Limitinfo	Yes
Order Type - After Hoursinfo	Yes
Order Type - Stopinfo	Yes
Order Type - Trailing Stopinfo	No
Order Type - OCOinfo	Yes
Order Type - OTOinfo	Yes
Order Type - Broker Assistedinfo	Yes

Beginners

Feature
Education (Stocks)info	Yes
Education (ETFs)info	Yes
Education (Options)info	Yes
Education (Mutual Funds)info	No
Education (Bonds)info	No
Education (Retirement)info	No
Retirement Calculatorinfo	No
Investor Dictionaryinfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Videosinfo	No
Webinarsinfo	Yes
Webinars (Archived)info	Yes
Progress Trackinginfo	No
Interactive Learning - Quizzesinfo	No

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Stock trading apps

Feature
iPhone Appinfo	Yes
Android Appinfo	Yes
Apple Watch Appinfo	No
Trading - Stocksinfo	Yes
Trading - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Trading - Simple Optionsinfo	Yes
Trading - Complex Optionsinfo	Yes
Order Ticket RT Quotesinfo	Yes
Order Ticket SRT Quotesinfo	Yes

Stock app features

Feature
Market Movers (Top Gainers)info	Yes
Stream Live TVinfo	No
Videos on Demandinfo	No
Stock Alertsinfo	No
Option Chains Viewableinfo	Yes
Watch List (Real-time)info	Yes
Watch List (Streaming)info	Yes
Watch Lists - Create & Manageinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Column Customizationinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	33

Stock app charting

Feature
Charting - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Charting - Can Turn Horizontallyinfo	Yes
Charting - Multiple Time Framesinfo	Yes
Charting - Technical Studiesinfo	0
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	No
Charting - Stock Comparisonsinfo	No

Trading platforms overview

Feature
Active Trading Platforminfo	tastytrade
Desktop Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Desktop Platform (Mac)info	Yes
Web Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Trade Journalinfo	No
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	33

Trading platform stock chart features

Feature
Charting - Adjust Trades on Chartinfo	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studiesinfo	308
Charting - Drawing Toolsinfo	31
Charting - Notesinfo	Yes
Charting - Index Overlaysinfo	Yes
Charting - Historical Tradesinfo	Yes
Charting - Corporate Eventsinfo	Yes
Charting - Custom Date Rangeinfo	No
Charting - Custom Time Barsinfo	No
Charting - Automated Analysisinfo	No
Charting - Save Profilesinfo	Yes
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysisinfo	No
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	7
Charting - Custom Studiesinfo	Yes

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Day trading features

Feature
Streaming Time & Salesinfo	No
Streaming TVinfo	Yes
Direct Market Routing - Stocksinfo	No
Ladder Tradinginfo	Yes
Trade Hot Keysinfo	No
Level 2 Quotes - Stocksinfo	No
Trade Ideas - Backtestinginfo	No
Trade Ideas - Backtesting Advinfo	No
Short Locatorinfo	Yes
Order Liquidity Rebatesinfo	No

Investment research overview

Feature
Research - Stocksinfo	Yes
Research - ETFsinfo	Yes
Research - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBBinfo	No
Research - Bondsinfo	No
Screener - Stocksinfo	No
Screener - ETFsinfo	No
Screener - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Screener - Bondsinfo	No
Misc - Portfolio Allocationinfo	Yes

Stock research features

Feature
Stock Research - PDF Reportsinfo	0
Stock Research - Earningsinfo	No
Stock Research - Insidersinfo	No
Stock Research - Socialinfo	No
Stock Research - Newsinfo	Yes
Stock Research - ESGinfo	No
Stock Research - SEC Filingsinfo	No

ETF research features

Feature
ETFs - Strategy Overviewinfo	No
ETF Fund Facts - Inception Dateinfo	No
ETF Fund Facts - Expense Ratioinfo	No
ETF Fund Facts - Net Assetsinfo	No
ETF Fund Facts - Total Holdingsinfo	No
ETFs - Top 10 Holdingsinfo	No
ETFs - Sector Exposureinfo	No
ETFs - Risk Analysisinfo	Yes
ETFs - Ratingsinfo	No
ETFs - Morningstar StyleMapinfo	No
ETFs - PDF Reportsinfo	No

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Mutual fund research features

Feature
Mutual Funds - Strategy Overviewinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Performance Chartinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Performance Analysisinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Prospectusinfo	No
Mutual Funds - 3rd Party Ratingsinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Fees Breakdowninfo	No
Mutual Funds - Top 10 Holdingsinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Asset Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Sector Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Country Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - StyleMapinfo	No

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Options trading overview

Feature
Option Chains - Basic Viewinfo	Yes
Option Chains - Strategy Viewinfo	Yes
Option Chains - Streaminginfo	Yes
Option Chains - Total Columnsinfo	20
Option Chains - Greeksinfo	5
Option Chains - Quick Analysisinfo	Yes
Option Analysis - P&L Chartsinfo	Yes
Option Probability Analysisinfo	Yes
Option Probability Analysis Advinfo	Yes
Option Positions - Greeksinfo	Yes
Option Positions - Greeks Streaminginfo	Yes
Option Positions - Adv Analysisinfo	Yes
Option Positions - Rollinginfo	Yes
Option Positions - Groupinginfo	Yes

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Banking features

Feature
Bank (Member FDIC)info	No
Checking Accountsinfo	No
Savings Accountsinfo	No
Credit Cardsinfo	No
Debit Cardsinfo	No
Mortgage Loansinfo	No

Customer service options

Feature
Phone Support (Prospect Customers)info	Yes
Phone Support (Current Customers)info	Yes
Email Supportinfo	Yes
Live Chat (Prospect Customers)info	Yes
Live Chat (Current Customers)info	Yes
24/7 Supportinfo	No

About the Editorial Team

Disclosure: *The $4,000 bonus offer is available with a $500,000 to $999,999 deposit. Visit info.tastytrade.com/tasty-offer for full details, terms, conditions, and restrictions. Offer expires 03/31/2024. tastytrade, Inc. is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA, NFA, and SIPC.