Tradovate

Tradovate Broker Overview

Tradovate is a futures brokerage and cloud based trading platform for exchange traded futures and options on futures, operating under the Tradovate name since 2014. Its own disclosures describe Tradovate as a trading name of NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, one of the affiliated companies under NinjaTrader Group, LLC. The commercial model is a subscription rather than a deposit tier: three plans, Free, Monthly and Lifetime, give the same market access and differ only in what they cost per month and in the commission charged per contract. There is no published account minimum, and the platform is reached through a browser, Windows and Mac downloads, iOS and Android apps and a REST API.

Tradovate Regulation and License

Tradovate's own disclosures state that NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, which does business as NinjaTrader, Kraken Derivatives US and Tradovate, provides the brokerage services, is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a futures commission merchant and is a National Futures Association member under NFA ID 0309379. The same disclosure names NinjaTrader, LLC as the software company behind the proprietary platform and NinjaTrader Group, LLC as the parent of both. These are the statements the broker publishes about its own registration status.

Is Tradovate Regulated?

Tradovate presents itself as the trading brand of a CFTC registered futures commission merchant and NFA member, which places it in the regulated United States futures sector rather than the offshore market. Its business is built around exchange traded futures and options on futures, so the protections a client relies on are those attaching to a US futures account rather than to a securities account.

NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC

The brand and the legal company are not the same, which matters when a client asks who holds the money. Tradovate is a registered trading name of NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, the company that accepts orders and carries client futures accounts, and bank transfers sent to fund an account appear on a client's statement as sent to NinjaTrader Clearing. Three Delaware companies carrying the Tradovate name remain in the group's structure: Tradovate Holdings, LLC, Tradovate Technologies, LLC and Tradovate, LLC. Tradovate's help centre still carries an older disclosure describing Tradovate, LLC as an NFA registered introducing broker, so a reader comparing that page with the current site footer will find the group described in two different ways.

Is Tradovate Safe?

Any assessment of Tradovate rests on the standing of the company behind the brand rather than on the brand itself, and on what that company publishes about its own registration. Regulatory standing is not protection from loss. The broker's own risk disclosure states that an investor may lose all or more than the initial investment, and positions carried on the low intraday margins Tradovate advertises can move against a small account quickly. The client money controls the broker does publish are that withdrawals go only to an account titled in the client's own name, and that recently deposited funds are held for a period before they can be withdrawn.

Tradovate Account Types

The three accounts are subscription plans, not funding levels. Free carries no monthly fee, Monthly costs 99 USD a month, and Lifetime costs 1,499 USD once or four instalments of 499 USD, with the commission per contract falling as the plan gets dearer. The pricing page states that the account minimum is any funding amount, so none of the three carries a minimum deposit and the plan prices should not be read as one. Accounts can be opened as individual, joint, retirement or business accounts, and every plan includes full feature simulated trading, market replay, order flow tools, advanced charts and third party tool integration.

Tradovate Commissions and Fees

Tradovate charges commission per side, per contract, and the rate depends on the plan. On the Free plan a micro or CME E-nano index contract costs 0.39 USD per side, a standard contract 1.29 USD and a nano or event contract 0.20 USD. The Monthly plan cuts those to 0.29, 0.99 and 0.15 USD, and the Lifetime plan to 0.09, 0.59 and 0.05 USD. Exchange, clearing and NFA fees are added on top on every plan, and the broker publishes a full per contract schedule with those fees itemised and updated quarterly. Access to the NinjaTrader platform carries no separate licence fee.

Tradovate Leverage

Tradovate publishes no leverage ratio. Futures positions are sized by margin instead, and the broker quotes its day trading margins per contract: 10 USD on nano contracts, 25 USD on smalls, 50 USD on micros and 500 USD on standard futures.

Tradovate Trading Platforms

The main platform is Tradovate's own cloud based terminal, reached in a browser or through Windows and Mac downloads and iOS and Android apps, with depth of market order entry, server side bracket orders, charting, market replay, an options chain, a spread matrix and custom indicators written in JavaScript. A REST API with websocket streaming is documented for programmatic access. NinjaTrader Desktop, Web and Mobile are included with every pricing plan at no licence fee, and TradingView can be connected as a premium integration that synchronises accounts, orders, positions and margin and allows orders to be sent from TradingView charts. Tradovate offers no MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 or cTrader access.

Tradovate Deposits and Withdrawals

The funding hub advertises four ways to fund an account, debit card, digital wallet through Apple Pay or Google Pay, ACH bank transfer and wire transfer, and a mailed check route is published separately for clients in the United States. Debit card, digital wallet and ACH deposits are capped at 5,000 USD, which the individual method pages describe as a daily limit and the funding hub as a per transaction limit, and ACH deposits must be between 5 and 5,000 USD. Inbound wires carry no Tradovate fee and no limit, and are accepted in US dollars, euros, Australian dollars, British pounds and Canadian dollars, all converted to US dollars for trading on US exchanges.

Withdrawals are returned by ACH or wire only, never to a card, a wallet or by check, and must go to an account in the client's own name. A wire withdrawal costs 30 USD to a US bank or 30 units of the sending currency internationally, with a minimum of 50 units measured after the fee, and no ACH withdrawal fee is published. Requests made before 12:00 PM US Central time are processed the same business day. Funds deposited by ACH or debit card are held 5 calendar days before an ACH withdrawal and 10 calendar days before a wire withdrawal, while funds wired in carry no hold once they have cleared. Credit cards, PayPal, cryptocurrencies and money transfer services including Wise, Revolut and WorldRemit are not accepted.

Tradovate Support

Support is reached by phone on 1 (844) 283-3100 or (312) 283-3100, by email at support@tradovate.com, and through the Tradovate help centre and its contact portal. Live phone cover runs from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM US Central time, an emergency trade desk is staffed 24 hours a day five days a week, and a virtual assistant is available at any time inside the web and desktop apps. Support is offered in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Tradovate Pros and Cons

On the positive side: a clearing company that publishes CFTC registration and NFA membership, no account minimum, commissions as low as 0.09 USD per side on micro contracts for Lifetime subscribers, a proprietary platform on every major device with no platform fee, and NinjaTrader access included with every plan.

Against that: the cheapest commissions require a subscription costing 99 USD a month or 1,499 USD once, there is no MetaTrader or cTrader, withdrawals are limited to ACH and wire with a 30 USD wire fee and holding periods of 5 to 10 days on card and ACH deposits, and the group structure is described inconsistently across the broker's own pages.

Tradovate Review and Assessment

Tradovate is a cost focused US futures brokerage whose proposition is a subscription that buys cheaper commissions, running on a platform the group builds itself. It suits an active futures trader who will trade enough contracts to earn back the plan fee, and suits a low volume trader far less, since for them the Free plan's 1.29 USD per side on a standard contract is the real cost of entry. The question worth settling before funding an account is the entity question: the brand a client signs up with is Tradovate, the company carrying the account is NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, and the registration being relied on is that company's, so the current disclosures are worth reading in preference to the older wording still carried in the help centre.