Best Futures Brokers for Beginners: What One Trade Really Costs (2026)
Buying and selling one Micro E-mini costs $1.24 at one broker and $5.24 at another. On a contract that moves $1.25 a tick, that gap is the whole game.
By Pavel Penev, MScFounder, TradeWize · 10+ years trading the marketsEvery futures broker quotes a commission. Some say $0.25 a contract. Some say $2.25. But the commission is only one of four fees on every trade.
So we took the two most traded stock index futures in the world, the E-mini S&P 500 (ES) and the Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES), and priced one round turn at seven brokers. A round turn is one buy and one sell.
The short answer
All fees in, one MES round turn costs $1.24 at Interactive Brokers, $1.52 at Tradovate and $5.24 at Charles Schwab. On ES, Robinhood is cheapest at $4.30. If you trade micros often, the broker matters a lot. If you trade one ES a week, it barely matters at all.
What this article is, and isn't
This is a comparison of published prices, not a recommendation. TradeWize isn't a broker, has no affiliate links on this page and gives no personal financial advice. Every rate was read off the broker's own website on 2026-10-10, and every source is linked at the end. Futures use leverage and can lose you more than you put in, so check the broker's page before you trade.
The four fees on every futures trade
Each time you buy or sell one contract, you pay four things. Brokers call each buy or sell a side.
- The commission. This is the broker's price, and it's the only one that really differs.
- A clearing fee. Most brokers fold it into the commission. tastytrade and TradeStation list it on its own line.
- The exchange fee. CME charges it on every contract, and every broker passes it on. It's $1.38 a side on ES and $0.35 on MES for retail traders.
- The NFA fee. The US futures regulator charges $0.02 a side.
So a broker advertising "$0.25 a contract" is telling you one line of four, for one side of two. Always add the rest before you compare.
What seven brokers charge
| Broker | Commission per side | 1 ES | 1 MES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers (IBKR Pro, up to 1,000 contracts a month) | $0.85 a contract, $0.25 on micros | $4.50 | $1.24 |
| Tradovate (Free plan) | $1.29 a contract, $0.39 on micros, no monthly fee | $5.38 | $1.52 |
| tastytrade (standard rate) | $1.00 a contract, $0.75 on micros, plus $0.30 clearing | $5.40 | $2.84 |
| Robinhood (without Gold) | $0.75 a contract on every size ($0.50 with Gold) | $4.30 | $2.24 |
| TradeStation (up to 500 contracts a month) | $1.75 a contract, $0.50 on micros, plus $0.10 clearing | $6.50 | $1.94 |
| E*TRADE (standard rate) | $1.50 a contract on every size | $5.80 | $3.74 |
| Charles Schwab (standard rate) | $2.25 a contract on every size | $7.30 | $5.24 |
Rates read off each broker's own pricing page or fee schedule on 2026-10-10, at the entry tier a new customer pays. Totals are buy plus sell, and include the broker's clearing fee, CME's exchange fee and the $0.02 NFA fee on each side. Market data and platform fees aren't included.
The cheapest broker depends on the contract. On ES, Robinhood wins at $4.30, because it charges the same $0.75 on every contract. With Gold, it drops to $0.50 a side.
On MES, that flat rate stops being cheap. Interactive Brokers charges $0.25 on micros and wins at $1.24. Robinhood costs $2.24, and Charles Schwab, which also charges one rate for every contract, costs $5.24.
On an E-mini, the exchange takes the most
Here's the line-by-line cost of one ES side at Interactive Brokers: $0.85 commission, $1.38 exchange fee and $0.02 NFA fee. CME takes more than the broker.
That's true at 4 of our seven brokers. Every ES round turn costs $2.80 before the broker charges anything. So the gap between the cheapest and dearest broker is only $3 a round turn.
Count the cost in ticks
A tick is the smallest move a contract can make. On both contracts it's a quarter of an index point. That's worth $12.50 on ES and $1.25 on MES.
So the same fee hurts ten times more on a micro. A round turn on ES costs well under one tick at every broker, from 0.3 to 0.6 ticks. On MES it costs 1 tick at Interactive Brokers and 4.2 ticks at Charles Schwab.
At Charles Schwab, a micro trade has to move 4.2 ticks your way before you make a cent. That's a big head start to give away on a short-term trade.
Learn it by doing
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Try the free lesson →What it adds up to over a month
Say you day trade 10 MES round turns a day for 21 trading days. That's 210 round turns a month.
| Broker | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers | $260.40 |
| Tradovate | $319.20 |
| TradeStation | $407.40 |
| Robinhood | $470.40 |
| tastytrade | $596.40 |
| E*TRADE | $785.40 |
| Charles Schwab | $1,100.40 |
All fees in, at the entry tier. Market data and platform fees not included.
The same trading costs $260.40 at Interactive Brokers and $1,100.40 at Charles Schwab. The gap is $840 a month, every month, for doing the exact same thing.
When a paid plan pays off
Some brokers sell a lower commission for a fee. Tradovate's monthly plan costs $99 a month and cuts micros to $0.29 a side. Its lifetime plan costs $1,499 once and cuts them to $0.09.
The monthly plan only pays for itself after 495 MES round turns a month, or 165 on ES. The lifetime plan takes 2,499 micro round turns to earn back. Most beginners never get there, so start on the free plan.
Volume tiers work the same way. Interactive Brokers drops to $0.10 on micros above 20,000 contracts a month, and TradeStation to $0.25 above 10,000. Those are rates for very busy traders, not for you yet.
Margin: what a broker asks you to put up
Futures margin isn't a fee. It's money the broker holds while you have a trade open. There are two kinds, and the gap between them is huge.
On Tradovate's margin page, holding one ES overnight needs $28,914.92. That figure follows the exchange's requirement. But to trade it during the day and close before the session ends, Tradovate asks for just $500. On MES it's $2,891.50 overnight and $50 for the day.
A low day margin isn't a gift. ES moves $50 for every point of the S&P 500, and the index can move 50 points in a day. Put up $500 and a normal day can wipe it out several times over. Size by how much you can lose, not by how little the broker asks for.
If you're not in the US
Most of these prices are for US accounts, and several of these brokers only take US residents. Interactive Brokers takes clients in most countries, and NinjaTrader, which owns Tradovate, runs a separate account for European traders.
CME futures trade in dollars. If your account is in pounds or euros, converting the money can cost more than the commission. And some countries have their own index futures, like the DAX on Eurex, with their own fees.
Which broker fits which trader
- Active micro traders: Interactive Brokers is the cheapest per trade, at $1.24 a round turn. Tradovate's free plan is close behind at $1.52.
- ES traders: Robinhood is cheapest at $4.30, and every broker is within a few dollars because CME's fee sets the floor.
- Occasional traders: the broker barely matters. One ES round turn a week costs between $4.30 and $7.30. Pick the platform you find easiest to use.
- Outside the US: Interactive Brokers takes clients in most countries. Compare its currency conversion cost too.
Whichever you pick, check two things the fee table can't tell you. What does live CME market data cost on that platform? And can you set a stop and a target on every order before it goes in?
Which futures broker has the lowest fees?
It depends on the contract. On the Micro E-mini S&P 500, Interactive Brokers is cheapest of the seven we priced, at $1.24 a round turn with every fee in. On the full-size E-mini, Robinhood is cheapest at $4.30.
How much does it cost to trade one futures contract?
One ES round turn costs $4.50 at Interactive Brokers, $5.38 at Tradovate, $5.40 at tastytrade, $4.30 at Robinhood, $6.50 at TradeStation, $5.80 at E*TRADE, $7.30 at Charles Schwab. That includes the exchange and NFA fees.
Is the commission per side or per round turn?
Almost every broker quotes it per side, so you pay it twice on one trade. A "$0.25 a contract" micro rate is $0.50 a round turn before any exchange or NFA fees.
Why are exchange fees so high on the E-mini?
CME charges $1.38 a side on ES for non-members, which covers nearly every retail trader. It's bigger than the commission at 4 of the seven brokers we priced. No broker can waive it.
Can I trade futures from outside the US?
Often, yes, through a broker that takes international clients, such as Interactive Brokers or NinjaTrader's European account. Rules differ by country, and you'll usually pay a currency conversion fee on top.
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