Choosing a broker is a highly individual process; nobody can make that choice for you. What you want to trade, how frequently, how much you’re willing to pay, and what functionality you want are all important considerations.

Tastyworks and Interactive Brokers are two excellent options. Suppose you’re looking for a broader range of assets than what Tastyworks provides. In that case, you may open an account with Interactive Brokers. However, options traders may benefit from Tastyworks’ cheap commission rates and excellent customer service. Because of their advanced features and cheap margin rates, professional traders choose Interactive Brokers’ platform. It all comes down to your required features and how much you are ready to invest in the platform.

tastyworks Overview

When it comes to stock, futures, and options trading, tastyworks is a top online discount broker. Unlike large discount brokerages, it provides a flat cost on all trades, significantly reducing prices. It has several advanced features for professional traders.

tastyworks is a low-cost internet broker that leverages cutting-edge technology and caters mainly to options traders. Traders may still engage in stock, options, and futures trading on this platform, so few will likely find it wanting in financial diversity.

Its browser-based, mobile, and desktop apps are all viable entry points and provide an online account. Equal access to trading, pricing, and account information are provided via these interfaces.

What’s more, the browser and desktop versions are pretty comparable. An experienced trader who has utilized the live trading option will find the trading dashboard to be highly familiar and user-friendly. Live Tastytrade streaming is included right into this program! No need to leave the tastyworks platform for the trader to keep an eye on things.

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Options and prices for placing trades may be accessed easily on the platform. The trader can also build portfolios and watchlists and see the trading activity of other tastyworks users in real-time.

Expert traders will like the trading platform’s multi-account access features. Charts and tables provide the trader with a wealth of information upon which to base their trading decisions.

tastyworks is available in both a web-based and a desktop version, the latter of which is compatible with all major browsers. The app is compatible with the iPhone 6 and any Android device.

tastyworks provides several email addresses and a live chat feature for its traders, in addition to the more traditional methods of contact (phone and email).

Interactive Brokers Overview

When it comes to internet brokerages in the USA, Interactive Brokers (IB) is among the biggest and most well-known. It all began in 1978, long before the Internet was commonplace.

Active or professional investors and traders may save money using Interactive Brokers‘ full suite of investing tools. Commissions on purchases of U.S. equities and ETFs are either free or very modest.

More than a hundred different kinds of orders may be placed. Both traditional and algorithmic trading are at your disposal, along with access to 150 markets across 33 countries at some of the lowest margin rates in the industry. Cryptocurrencies may be purchased at some of the market’s lowest costs.

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Thomas Peterffy, the company’s creator, used to trade options on the American Stock Exchange and created an algorithm to help him get the best possible deal.

IB created the first fully automated method for sending market orders in 1987. The company’s first online trading platform was launched in 1994.

That is to say, Interactive Brokers has been around for some time. Let’s say you’d want to partner with a firm with an extensive background in the financial markets. If so, IB is the one you need to prioritize.

The business now provides many exchange options. Trader Workstation is the most well-known of them.

Trader Workstation lets you keep track of your open positions, set alerts, and manage watchlists.

WebTrader is an additional platform provided by IB. The technology behind Trader Workstation and WebTrader is one of the main distinctions between the two platforms. Trader Workstation uses the Java platform, whereas WebTrader uses the HTML protocol.

WebTrader, unlike Trader Workstation, can be used even if you’re behind a firewall. In addition, Trader Workstation has a significantly more complex learning curve. Military personnel is the target audience.

tastyworks vs. Interactive Brokers Service & Feature Comparison

Costs

Both tastyworks and Interactive Brokers currently provide zero or almost zero commission on stock trades for most accounts; however, tastyworks does charge a small cost on options and futures trades, $1 and $2.50, respectively. The maximum commissions for options transactions on Tastyworks are something to keep in mind. They capped the price of each leg at $10. Doesn’t matter how many options are involved in the deal. If you trade 50 single-leg puts in one transaction, the commission will be capped at $10 instead of the usual $50.

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Depending on the volume of your trades, Interactive Brokers will charge you the same for low volume and a slightly lower rate for significant volume.

Account Types

A lack of account options is a prevalent complaint about more recent internet brokerages. tastyworks on the other hand, has no such issue. It allows you to set up several investment accounts to meet your specific demands.

The many types of tastyworks accounts are as follows:

• Individual Accounts
• Retirement Accounts
• Entity Accounts
• Joint Accounts

Individual cash, margin, and joint accounts are all available to foreign consumers at tastyworks. Besides the United States, tastyworks now offers its services to dealers in dozens of other nations.

Education and Research

If you have access to a comprehensive trading platform, you should use the included resources to your advantage. Additional information, such as price movement and market depth, may be gained from level II quotations. You may gain a lot of insight into the market by watching the bids of other investors.

Dow Jones and Thomson Reuters provide the foundational data used by Interactive Brokers. The platform would facilitate connections to other online banking portals for an additional fee. On their PC interface, you may pay extra to acquire level II quotations.

Doing one’s homework is essential, especially for active traders, if one wants to make profitable transactions. The educational and scientific potential presented by Tastyworks is phenomenal. They manage to balance serious subject matter with levity and interest. Traders on Tastyworks have access to a wealth of resources thanks to tastytrade, tastyworks’ sister site. Videos on the site can be seen live or on demand whenever convenient.

Both brokers provide the basics for making sound selections. Still, Interactive Brokers allows you to go deeper into the data for an extra price. The increase to level II quotations might be worthwhile for day traders. tastyworks gives its users access to a wealth of supplementary learning materials.

Range of Investments

When it comes to investing, Interactive Brokers has a wide selection to choose from. You may trade not just stocks and options, but also bonds, mutual funds, warrants, ETFs, and futures in the foreign exchange market. In addition, Interactive Brokers caters to investors all over the world; their platform provides access to more than 120 international marketplaces. 

tastyworks is not like other online brokers because it specializes in commission-free stock and ETF trading. When using tastyworks, you may continue to invest in stocks and ETFs at no cost. However, options and futures traders are the company’s target customers, so passive investors should go elsewhere.

Managed & Self-Directed Accounts 

Both surveyed brokerages provide self-directed accounts. Although Interactive Brokers does provide managed accounts for professional money managers, neither company offers these accounts to the general public.

tastyworks offers a variety of account types for self-directed traders, including joint, individual, retiree, company, and trust. Comparable services are provided by Interactive Brokers, which also provides a broader selection of services to institutional investors.

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Trading Technology

Trader Workstation, Interactive Brokers’ flagship platform, is among the industry’s most advanced software applications. Professional trading tools, direct-access routing, charting tools, screeners, and integrated research are all a part of this high-tech platform.

The Trader Workstation is the most feature-rich platform available, but it’s also one of the most difficult to learn. This may be a daring move in the early stages of your career. For new and experienced traders alike, Interactive Brokers’ WebTrader provides a convenient web-based alternative.

While the Trader Workstation’s interface is more complex, the WebTrader offers the same trading capabilities. There are several charting tools and right-click trading available, and the graph may span the whole width of your desktop monitor.

You’ll need to install the desktop version of tastyworks to access all of the trading tools available to you. Aside from a standard suite of trading tools and close to a hundred technical studies, the platform’s adaptability is its crowning feature. It permits multiple user accounts and has four graph types and an almost infinite palette. You may customize the layout of the offers page to best suit your needs.

Compared to the desktop version, the tastyworks browser platform is nearly identical, except for order execution. This includes providing access to the same watchlists, basic charting, and a continuously updated list of transactions by the Broker’s clients.

The trade ticket does not have any complicated order kinds. You may forget about using direct-access routing with this system. Market, limit, and stop orders are all included on the ticket. There are really no other options. Until a specific date and GTC, the given time-in-force choices are incorporated.

The chart can be expanded, but there aren’t any additional features like drawing tools, comparisons, or technical studies once it’s at that size.

Compared to tastyworks, the number of available order types and time frames on the Interactive Brokers platform is far more extensive. However, the Trader Workstation from Interactive Brokers might be too complex for the average trader to use.

The desktop platform options have pros and cons, but tastyworks may be the superior choice if you’re set on using one. Let’s pretend you’ve found a web browser platform that suits your needs. In that situation, the WebTrader from Interactive Brokers is the way to go because it provides a more comprehensive set of trading tools and research in a more user-friendly layout.

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Mobile Apps

The charting capabilities of the Interactive Brokers mobile app are superior. The horizontally-displayable graph includes technical research and a variety of display formats.

Not only that but there are also helpful tools like iBot and watchlists. Unlike tastyworks, the Interactive Brokers app order ticket supports a wider variety of complex orders.

Customers of tastyworks may trade stocks and options using the Broker’s intuitive mobile app. In my experience with the order ticket system, I found it to be quite user-friendly. It had big, easy-to-read buttons that made navigating the interface a breeze.

But unfortunately, charting has been neglected altogether.

However, tastyworks now has Touch ID, which makes signing in from an Apple smartphone much more accessible.

While trading appears simple on both platforms, tastyworks was optimized for mobile use. It sacrificed some of its most helpful desktop features in the process.

tastyworks is a wonderful choice to make fast trades using a mobile app. If you only ever trade from your mobile device, though, Interactive Brokers is your best bet.

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Other Features

Customer Service

Although both firms provide helpful assistance to their clients, Interactive Brokers is open Monday through Friday, all hours, to better serve its customers. Given the availability of trading financial instruments around the clock, this is to be expected.

Extended-hours Trading

A trader must be able to access the market outside regular trading hours. The opportunity to profit from significant price changes is at its highest within this time frame.

The pre-market time for Interactive Brokers is from 4:00 am EST till the opening bell. However, the after-hours session begins at the sound of the closing bell and continues for another six hours.

The pre-market session for tastyworks begins when the opening bell strikes at 7:00 am Eastern Standard Time (EST), and the after-hours session begins two hours after the closing bell sounds.

Individual Retirement Accounts: 

The IRAs at both companies are identical. For IRA distributions, tastyworks is the only company that charges a one-time fee. It is $60.

DRIP Service: 

In a tastyworks account, dividends from stocks and ETFs can be reinvested automatically in the form of new shares. Although it is limited to equity dividends, Interactive Brokers offers a dividend reinvestment program.

Banking Tools: 

Unlike tastyworks, Interactive Brokers offers a debit card option to its customers.

Fractional-Share Trading: 

You must use whole dollars at Interactive Brokers when purchasing stocks and ETFs.

tastyworks vs. Interactive Brokers: The Bottom Line

After weighing the pros and cons of tastyworks and Interactive Brokers, a decision must be made. Interactive Brokers is the place for a serious professional platform. The features we’ve covered so far make it easy to see why its software is better than tastyworks.

Extra features and compatibility with various timeframes and orders are included. This firm has the most cutting-edge tools for technical traders and chartists.

The commission structure of Interactive Brokers is advantageous for high-volume traders in several ways. Interactive Broker is a good option for international traders and those interested in bonds, currencies, and mutual funds.

Because of its focus on options trading, tastyworks is a good choice if that’s what you’re after. Experts in options trading will share their knowledge with you, which you may use to your benefit.

Even while tastyworks tries to provide a novel and engaging brokerage style, it cannot compete with the vast majority of trading services that Interactive Brokers provide. To get started in options trading, try out tastyworks. You will find great utility in it. However, Interactive Brokers is the most acceptable option for professional traders that want cutting-edge tools and services.

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