tastytrade Review 2024

Trusted by AwardBroker

Regulated by the top-tier SEC and FINRA in the US
Founded in 2017
Investor protection is $500k (securities up to $500k, cash up to $250k)
Clean track record: no major regulatory incidents or fines

17,222 people picked this broker at AwardBroker in the last 6 months

Our take on tastytrade

tastytrade (formerly known as tastyworks) is a US options and stockbroker. tastytrade is great for options trading, as its trading platform is primarily designed to trade options and trading fees are low. Furthermore, great educational and research materials are on hand to support your learning and your trading efficiency.

tastytrade focuses mainly on options and futures. You can trade US stocks and ETFs as well, but the process is a bit complicated compared with other brokers. The trading platform is great for options trading, but can be intimidating for a newbie, especially as there's no demo account. There is no withdrawal fee if you withdraw funds via a linked bank account.

On the downside, bank transfer (wire) withdrawal is expensive, and credit/debit card deposit is not possible.

AwardBroker gave tastytrade a 4.5/5 rating based on analyzing 600+ criteria and testing the broker's services by opening a live account.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ Low trading fees ❖ Great educational materials ❖ Good research tools	❖ Limited product selection ❖ Few deposit and withdrawal options ❖ No demo account

tastytrade summary

Snapshot of key data

🗺 Country of regulation	USA
💰 US stock fee	Free stock and ETF trading
💰 Inactivity fee charged	No
💰 Withdrawal fee	$0
💰 Minimum deposit	$0
💵 Available base currencies	USD
💵 Conversion fee of deposits in non-base currency	Only USD-denominated assets are available
💳 Deposit with bank card	Not available
🕖 Time to open an account	1 day
🎮 Demo account provided	No
🛍️ Products offered	Stock, ETF, Options, Futures, Crypto

For a more comprehensive, in-depth look at the broker's services and features, simply expand on the sections below.

Fees

Score: 4.1/5

tastytrade has low trading fees and there is no inactivity fee. On the other hand, you have to pay a high withdrawal fee for wire transfers and margin rates are quite high.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ No inactivity fee ❖ Free stock trading ❖ Low options fees	❖ High margin rates for stock trading ❖ Withdrawal fee for bank (wire) transfers

Assets	Fee level	Fee terms
US stock	Low	Free stock and ETF trading
EURUSD	–	FX not available
Mutual fund	–	Not available
Inactivity fee	Low	No inactivity fee

tastytrade trading fees

tastytrade trading fees are low.

The unique pricing advantage of tastytrade is that

equity option commissions are capped at $10 per leg.
there is no commission for trading stocks and ETFs.

We compared the fees at tastytrade with two similar brokers we selected, TradeStation and Interactive Brokers. These competitors were selected based on objective factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed comparison of tastytrade alternatives.

Stock and ETF fees

tastytrade offers stock and ETF trading, charging zero commission.

	tastytrade	TradeStation	Interactive Brokers
US stock	$0.0	$5.0	$1.0

USE STOCK FEE CALCULATOR

If you plan to trade stocks on margin, you should check tastytrade's margin rates.

Trading on margin basically means that you borrow money from your broker and can purchase more shares than you could with just the available cash in your account. However, you'll have to pay interest on this borrowed money – this is called the margin rate, and It can account for a significant portion of your overall trading costs.

tastytrade margin rates are high.

	tastytrade	TradeStation	Interactive Brokers
USD margin rate	11.0%	13.5%	6.8%

tastytrade's margin rates are volume-tiered. There is a base rate, and a premium or discount depending on the margin amount. The base rate is set at tastytrade's discretion; at the time of our review, the base rate was 10%.

Debit balance	Rate %	Base rate + / –
$0 – $24,999	11.00%	Base rate + 1.00%
$25,000 – $49,999	10.50%	Base rate + 0.50%
$50,000 – $99,999	10.00%	Base rate
$100,000 – $249,999	9.50%	Base rate – 0.50%
$250,000 – $499,999	9.00%	Base rate – 1.00%
$500,000 – $999,999	8.50%	Base rate – 1.50%
$1,000,000 +	8.00%	Base rate – 2.00%

Options fees

tastytrade options fees are low for trading stock index options.

Note that tastytrade charges a flat $5 fee/leg for exercise and assignment (irrespective of how many shares are exercised or assigned).

	tastytrade	TradeStation	Interactive Brokers
US stock index options	$7.5	$11.0	$6.5

The fees for the Single-Listed Exchange Proprietary Index Options are cheaper: for example, it's $0.65 per contract on the SPX and $0.18 on the NDX indexes.

	Commission to open trade	Commission to close trade
Options on stocks	$1.00/contract, max $10.00 per leg	free
Options on micro futures	$1.50/contract	free
Options on Smalls Futures	$0.18 – $0.65 /contract	$0.18 – $0.65 /contract

Futures fees

tastytrade futures fees are low.

	tastytrade	TradeStation	Interactive Brokers
US micro e-mini stock index futures	$8.5	$5.0	$2.5

Crypto fees

The commission is currently set to 1% of your total crypto purchase to open and 1% of your total crypto sale to close a trade.
The above commissions are capped at $10, per order ticket.

Non-trading fees

tastytrade has low non-trading fees.

It doesn't charge you a general account fee, an inactivity fee, a custody fee or a deposit fee.
ACH withdrawal is free, but the wire withdrawal fee is quite high: it is $25 for wire transfers within the US and $45 for international wire transfers.

	tastytrade	TradeStation	Interactive Brokers
Account fee	No	No	No
Inactivity fee	No	Yes	No
Deposit fee	$0	$0	$0
Withdrawal fee	$0	$35	$0

How we ranked fees

We ranked tastytrade's fees as low, average or high based on how they compare to those charged by all the brokers reviewed by us.

There are two basic types of broker fees:

Trading fees are charged when you trade and may include commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, such as withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

Account opening

Score: 5/5

tastytrade account opening is user-friendly, fast, fully digital, and involves no minimum deposit.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ Fast ❖ Fully digital ❖ No minimum deposit	None

Can you open an account?

Yes, you can open an account at tastytrade if you live in the United States!

the United States

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tastytrade accepts customers from many countries. These include almost all EU countries, most South and Central American countries, as well as India, Indonesia and New Zealand, among others.

What is the minimum deposit at tastytrade?

The required tastytrade minimum deposit is $0.

If you have a margin account, you need $2,000 minimum equity to trade on margin.

Account types

tastytrade offers two account types for individuals: cash and margin accounts. With a margin account, you can use leverage, which means you can borrow money from the broker to trade.

Retirement accounts are available for US citizens. You can choose from traditional, self-employed (SEP), Roth or beneficiary (inherited) IRAs.

Based on ownership, you can open the following account types:

Individual account – account owned by an individual
Joint account – account owned by more than one person
Corporate and trust account – account owned by a legal entity (available only in the US)

In our tastytrade review, we tested the individual margin account, called ‘The Works'.

How to open your account

tastytrade account opening is fast and fully digital. Our account was approved after 1 day.

tastytrade account application takes 10-15 minutes and is fairly straightforward. You need to provide the following information:

Account type
Personal information
Employer information (name, address, phone number)
Financial knowledge
Name of your primary bank
Digital copies of your ID and proof of address

tastytrade review – Account opening

Deposit and withdrawal

Score: 1.3/5

tastytrade‘s deposit and withdrawal functions are easy to use and there's no deposit fee. However, you can use only bank transfer, and withdrawals can be expensive, especially for non-US clients.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ No deposit fee ❖ User-friendly ❖ Free ACH withdrawals in the US	❖ Credit/Debit card not available ❖ High fee for wire withdrawals

Account base currencies

At tastytrade, the only available base currency is USD.

Broker	Number of base currencies
tastytrade	1
TradeStation	1
Interactive Brokers	27

If you have a personal bank account in a currency other than USD, then you will be charged a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

tastytrade charges no deposit fees.

However, non-US citizens can only use bank transfers, known as wire transfers in US banking lingo.
If you are from the US, you can also use

ACH (automated clearing house)
check
account transfer from another broker (ACAT)

Due to US regulations, US citizens cannot use credit cards to fund their brokerage accounts. They can only use debit cards, where available.

Broker	Bank transfer
tastytrade
TradeStation
Interactive Brokers

A bank transfer can take several business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

We tested the non-US wire transfer, and it took 3 business days.

According to tastytrade' website, ACH transfers take 4 business days. When linked via Plaid, the transfer takes 1 business day; when linked via micro-deposits, 4 business days.

Some US bank accounts can be linked to tastytrade, making instant transfers possible.

tastytrade review – Deposit and withdrawal – Deposit

tastytrade withdrawal fees and options

tastytrade withdrawal costs $45 for non-US wire transfers and $25 for wire transfers within the US. ACH withdrawals are free of charge.

Withdrawing money can be done the same way as making deposits, i.e. only via wire transfer for non-US citizens, plus ACH and check for US citizens. The user interface for wire transfer withdrawal is customer-friendly and easy to use.

Broker	Bank transfer
tastytrade
TradeStation
Interactive Brokers

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from tastytrade? In our experience, bank transfer withdrawal can take at least 3 business days.

How do you withdraw money from tastytrade?

Select the account to withdraw from.
Link your bank account.
Set the transaction date/frequency.
Enter the amount to be withdrawn.
Confirm the withdrawal.

Web trading platform

Score: 3.4/5

The tastytrade web platform is great for experienced traders, especially for options trading. However, it takes time to figure out how its functions work, and its customizability is limited.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ Clear fee report ❖ Price alerts ❖ Two-step (safer) authentication for certain functions	❖ Limited customizability (for charts, workspace) ❖ Not suited for beginners

Trading platform	Score	Available
Web	3.4stars	Yes
Mobile	4.2stars	Yes
Desktop	3.9stars	Yes

tastytrade uses its own trading platform. It is targeted mainly for options and futures traders, with stock trading only as a secondary focus.

Look and feel

The tastytrade web trading platform is great for advanced traders, but it is hard to navigate as a beginner. It's a well-designed platform that's reasonably easy to use after a bit of practice. It's also equipped with a strong options trading panel, though the platform is not customizable.

tastytrade review – Web trading platform

Login and security

tastytrade provides a safer, two-step login.

Two-step authentication is required for the following actions within the account:

Email changes
Password changes or forgotten passwords
Money movements (initiated from within your tastytrade profile)

To use this security feature, you'll need to download an authenticator app, like Authy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 2FAS Authenticator.

Search functions

The search functions are OK.

If you know the ticker, you're good to go. However, if you want to search for, say, various emerging market ETFs and start typing ‘Emerging', the results will only have ETFs starting with the word ‘Emerging'. So for example the biggest ETF, the iShares MSCI Emerging Market Fund will not be shown because it starts with ‘Ishares' not ‘Emerging'.

tastytrade review – Web trading platform – Search

Placing orders

tastytrade's order management has great functions but it's a bit complicated. It is primarily designed for options trading but can also be used for stock trading. You will find three different order panels: two for options trading and one for stock trading.

You can use the following order types:

Market
Limit
Stop limit
Stop market

If you are unfamiliar with some of these terms or want to learn more, read our overview of order types.

There are also order time limits you can use:

Good 'til cancelled (GTC)
Good 'til date (GTD)

tastytrade review – Web trading platform – Order panel

Alerts and notifications

You can set price alerts and notifications on the tastytrade web trading platform.

It's easy to set up price alerts and order notifications. You can set up alerts for each asset for price and implied volatility (IV). You can also set up email and push notifications, as well as text messages if you are in the US.

There is a great watchlist called the ‘Grid'. You can have an overview of a wide range of assets in one place. All selected stocks have a well organized mini-infographic with some fundamental data. This is also tailored for options trading, as the most visible data points are IV ranks.

Portfolio and fee reports

tastytrade has clear fee reports.

The portfolio report is well structured. Its default setting is options-focused as it shows delta and theta values. However, the columns of the table can be easily customized.
The fee report is also clear. Both the portfolio and fee report can be exported to a CSV file.

Options trading view

For options trading, you can choose between two views: the standard option chain, called ‘Table', and a unique visual trading interface, called ‘Curve'.

Under both views, you can use many predefined strategies:

Vertical
Strangle
Straddle
Option
Iron condor
Covered stock
Butterfly
Jade lizard
Calendar

It looks very complicated at first, but it's a very functional platform once you get the hang of it. For example, it has a list of predefined option strategies, so opening an iron condor takes only two clicks.

You can also drag and drop the different option orders and easily edit the default parameters. We think this is one of the biggest selling points of the platform.

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Show less about Web trading platform

Mobile trading platform

Score: 4.2/5

tastytrade‘s mobile platform is very similar to its web platform. It is well organized but feels complicated, and it also lacks price alerts.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ User-friendly ❖ Touch/Face ID login ❖ Order confirmation	❖ No price alerts

Desktop trading platform

Score: 3.9/5

The desktop platform is very similar to the web trading platform and has extra features such as good customizability. On the other hand, it is likewise not well-suited for beginners.

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
❖ Clear fee report ❖ Good customizability (for charts, workspace) ❖ Price alerts	❖ Not suited for beginners

You can download the desktop trading platform for OSX, Windows and Linux.