Best Swing Trading Platforms 2023

E*TRADE, one of the oldest online brokers, founded in 1982, was our choice for overall best broker for ease of use when we last reviewed best brokers for beginners, and this holds true for swing trading, too. E*TRADE offers a platform that is intuitive and easy to use, but also provides sophisticated tools for swing trading, such as stock screeners, charting, and the flexibility to enter conditional orders such as one-cancels-the-other orders that allow a swing trader to take a profit or loss at specific levels. Another helpful feature on E*TRADE, especially for those new to trading, is a demo account that allows traders to try out their trading strategies without putting their capital at risk. 

E*TRADE supports futures trading that provides access to a wide range of additional markets to trade, but the platform does not currently allow direct trading of foreign exchange or in cryptocurrencies. Further, E*TRADE does not support fractional trading for self-directed accounts, which means those with less capital in their accounts may not be able to trade shares of high-priced stocks without taking excessive risk. Also, E*Trade charges relatively high margin rates for stock trading, as it currently charges 13.20% for accounts with a balance between $25,000 and $49,999. These limitations aside, however, E*TRADE makes it very easy to swing trade, and the platform provides excellent tools for trading the markets it supports.

TD Ameritrade’s predecessor, First Omaha Securities, was one of the first firms to break ranks with the brokerage industry when fixed commissions were eliminated by the SEC in 1975. The firm continues to be an innovator in online brokerage, and was purchased by Charles Schwab in 2019. 

TD Ameritrade provides a wide range of tools for swing traders. This includes good trading platforms with charting, screening, and other analytical tools for traders to use in identifying markets to trade and honing trading strategies. Further, TD Ameritrade’s award-winning thinkorswim® platform provides some of the best options analysis tools available in an online brokerage. 

TD Ameritrade does not just have broad and deep educational content; it also has interactive instruction that helps traders build on their knowledge. Further, this instruction is coupled with excellent customer service that includes 24/7 telephone support and access via email, social media, X (formerly Twitter) direct messages, Apple Business Chat, or Meta’s messaging. Traders can also access customer support for thinkorswim via chat directly through the app.

TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim also supports demo trading so swing traders can test their strategies before risking their actual capital. Aside from stock, options, and futures trading, however, those interested in foreign exchange or cryptocurrency trading will have to look elsewhere, as these markets are not available on TDAmeritrade. Further, the platform does not support fractional trading, which may prevent traders with less capital from swing trading higher-priced shares. 

Another consideration for swing traders is TD Ameritrade’s relatively high margin rates, which at 13.75% for an account with a balance between $25,000 to $49,999 is more than double the rate available elsewhere. Outside of these limitations, TD Ameritrade is still a solid choice for swing traders that will take long stock positions, and its educational and customer support is second to none in the industry. 

IBKR was the first company to use a hand-held trading device on an exchange floor, and the company continues to be at the forefront in trading technology. IBKR is the go-to choice for the most advanced traders that have a high volume of activity. Further, to better cater to smaller traders and investors, IBKR has also established a commission-free option for stock trading, and has added helpful educational content. 

Technical analysis is a vital tool for swing traders, and while charting is available on competing platforms, IBKR has excellent charts with superior functionality that includes a wide range of studies and indicators to include on charts, as well as the ability to customize indicators. Further, IBKR allows traders to trade directly from charts, not just hit a button to open an order ticket. IBKR’s charts will show positions and orders on the charts, and order levels can be adjusted by simply dragging the level higher or lower on the chart. Other features available on IBKR include access to the widest range of assets and markets around the world, fundamental data, advanced order entry tools, paper trading, backtesting of strategies, and the ability for Pro users to control how their stock and equity orders are routed. 

IBKR, with its primary customer base of advanced and institutional traders, offers superior flexibility to its traders in regards to order types and order execution. In addition to having access to all trading vehicles and markets across the globe, IBKR offers tremendous flexibility to traders in regards to the types of orders that can be used, and how stock and options orders are executed. 

While many brokers provide users with conditional orders, IBKR’s conditional order functionality is very advanced, and allows traders to set up orders that trigger if any number of criteria, such as fundamental and/or technical levels, are met. In addition, IBKR gives traders the flexibility to use conditional orders to manage their positions to easily take losses or profits without the trader needing to closely monitor their position. While staying glued to the screen is critical for day traders, many swing traders want the ability to identify their markets, set their levels, and let technology take care of the execution, and IBKR delivers as best in class for this. 

In addition to the flexibility of establishing trading triggers and customizing orders, IBKR Pro customers can also customize how their stock and options orders are routed, which will often lead to superior order execution in contrast to commission-free brokers that do not allow order routing. IBKR Lite customers, which receive commission-free stock trading, do not have the option to route their own orders. IBKR Lite customers, however, still benefit from IBKR’s proprietary order routing system that provides excellent fills for commission-free customers. 

Unlike many online brokers that primarily cater to investors, but also provide trading services to its customer base, IBKR’s primary customer base is advanced traders. For these customers, the use of margin to leverage trading returns is a key concern, and many choose IBKR for its margin rates, which are the lowest available. Many of the other online brokers charge much higher margin rates to their customers who short stocks. In some instances, IBKR’s competitors charge twice the rate for margin trading.

Margin rates are scaled based on account size. For accounts with a value between $25,000 and $299,000, IBKR’s margin rate is just 6.33%. For accounts between $300,000 and $1.5 million, IBKR charges just 6% margin. Fidelity and Schwab charge more than 13% margin for accounts between $25,000 and $49,000, and E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade charge more than 13% for accounts of this size. The breakpoint at $300,000 for all four of these other brokers results in margin rates of 11.33% or higher. 

The gap in these rates can make a significant difference in overall market returns for traders using margin. There is simply no competition among the large online brokers with IBKR when it comes to low margin rates for traders.

IBKR maintains these competitive margin rates for its IBKR Lite customers too, so those traders using the commission-free platform for trading stocks also benefit from IBKR’s very low margin rates.

Tradestation provides traders with many options for customization, such as the ability to link multiple trading app windows so they all update for the same security, providing the ability to quickly see technical, fundamental, and news information. With charting, the trader can enter and update orders directly from the chart. Tradestation also provides excellent stock screeners to help traders identify trading opportunities based on multiple user-chosen criteria. It also offers multiple conditional order types, including the ability to place a buy or sell limit order with a one-triggers-the-other that can automatically enter another conditional one-cancel-the-other order so the trader can establish a position and set up stop-loss and profit-taking levels for their trade. 

Tradestation offers backtesting and automated trading using its proprietary EasyLanguage that helps traders customize indicators and trading strategies, and offers backtesting so traders can hone their trading methodologies before putting them to use in the market. Further, this trading analysis can provide a “pass/fail” to give traders confidence that their automated strategies are sound before they put their capital at risk. For options trading, Tradestation offers risk/reward analysis and spread trading. Tradestation also accommodates customers with application program interface (API) connections to third-party apps. Regarding order execution, Tradestation utilizes proprietary order routing that results in excellent fills.