A futures broker or futures trading broker refers to a brokerage firm that facilitates the buying and selling of futures contracts on behalf of clients. These brokerages serve as intermediaries between traders and futures exchanges.

Futures are standardized financial contracts that obligate a buyer to purchase, and a seller to sell, a specified quantity of an underlying asset (or its cash equivalent) at a predetermined price on a specified future date. These contracts can be based on a wide variety of underlying assets, including commodities (like wheat, oil, or gold), financial instruments (such as interest rates or stock indices), and currencies.

In addition to executing trades, futures brokerages may offer a range of services including market research, trading advice, advanced trading platforms, educational resources, and margin lending. In fact, a futures trading account can be categorized as either a margin account, which allows for leveraged trading, or a cash account, where traders can only trade with the cash they have deposited.

In this article, we have grouped the best brokers and platforms for investing and trading in futures.

In choosing them, we considered the following factors:

  • The overall quality of the broker
  • The commissions charged by the broker on futures
  • The ways of investing in futures offered by the broker
Table of Content

Summary

Futures Brokers Commission per contract
DEGIRO $0,75
Interactive Brokers $0,85
Fineco $0,95
Saxo Bank $6,00
eToro Variable spread
IG Markets Variable spread
Forex.com Variable spread
Admirals Variable spread
Tickmill $1,25
Coinbase $0,07 (micro)

Warning

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

What are the best futures trading brokers?

Below our curated list of the best futures trading brokers, with details of features and characteristics.

  • DEGIRO is a European broker that allows you to trade futures.
  • On DEGIRO you can trade futures on indices, stocks, commodities, and fixed income.
  • Futures trading costs are €0.75 per contract on DEGIRO.
  • DEGIRO offers many account types, but the only ones that support futures are the DEGIRO Active accounts and the DEGIRO Trader account.
Investing involves risk of loss
  • Interactive Brokers allows trading a large number of futures on over 30 North American, Asian, and European exchanges.
  • IB offers a large number of futures on the crypto, forex, stock, and index markets.
  • IB’s fees per futures contract decrease as volume increases.
  • For U.S. futures, IB charges commissions per contract of $0.85, which decrease to $0.25 if more than 20,000 contracts are purchased per month.
  • IB also offers a large number of e-mini futures, with commissions starting at US$0.10 per contract and increasing to US$0.25 as volume decreases.
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • On Fineco you will be able to trade IDEM, EUREX, and CME futures.
  • Among them you will be able to trade futures on the US market and also the European market.
  • On Fineco you will also be able to find e-mini futures so you can open trading positions with lower volumes.
  • Commissions start at $0.95, and decrease as trading volumes increase: below €499 traded the commission is maximum, between €499 and €1,499 it is intermediate, and the minimum is obtained for volumes above €1,500.
  • Fineco allows a margin of up to 1% to be used on futures.
(Your money is at risk)
  • With Saxo Bank you can trade over 300 futures on more than 20 global exchanges.
  • Commissions on Saxo Bank on futures vary by country of residence of the trader, by account type, and by trading volume.
  • On the Saxo Bank Classic account, futures loads a $6/trade fee, while it is $3/trade fee on the Platinum account, and $1.25/trade fee on the VIP account.
  • For those trading volumes above 5,000 contracts per month, pricing is customizable.
72% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • On eToro you can trade futures on commodities markets.
  • Futures at eToro focus primarily on soft commodities, but there are also futures on metals and the energy sector.
  • In total, you can trade over 10 different futures on eToro.
  • eToro charges a spread on futures, and this means that the fees are variable, and change based on the state of the market.
77% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • At IG Markets you can trade over 15 CFD futures on stocks, commodities and bonds.
  • The only commission charged on futures by IG is the spread, which is not fixed but varies according to the state of the markets.
  • Thanks to CFDs on futures, you can go both long and short with IG Markets.
  • By trading Futures in CFDs, overnight fees will be charged at market close if the trade is left open.
70% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • Forex.com allows you to trade futures on over 10 different exchanges.
  • Futures offered by Forex.com include the forex, crypto and commodities markets.
  • Forex.com futures fees are not fixed but vary based on the state of the market.
73% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • A total of 10 commodities and index market futures can be traded on Admirals.
  • Admirals charges spreads instead of charging fixed fees, and these vary by market and futures contract traded.
  • To trade futures on Admirals you must download the MT5 platform.
76% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • Futures trading on Tickmill is dedicated to UK resident clients.
  • Tickmill offers trading on over 80 futures on 7 different exchanges.
  • Futures markets offered by Tickmil include the forex, index, and commodities markets.
  • Fees on Tickmill futures are $1.30 per standard contract, and $0.85 per micro contract.
73% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange that also offers futures trading.
  • There are 5 futures offered by Coinbase. These are, Ethereum, Bitcoin, US500, FAANG Stocks, and Oil.
  • On Coinbase futures can also be found as micro and nano for lower trading costs.
  • Fees vary by futures traded, but typically start at $0.07 per contract traded when trading mini-futures.
Your capital is at risk

How much money does it take to trade futures?

To start trading futures, an investment of at least $300 is generally needed.

With this amount each trader, considering the maximum leverage of 1:10, will be able to have the margin needed to invest in a good portion of the futures on the market.

The amount to be invested, however, can be lower or higher depending on the minimum margin allowed by the broker for certain categories of assets (such as index futures).

Types of futures contracts

The main types of futures contracts are:

  • Futures on stock indices, such as the S&P 500
  • Futures on currencies, such as the EUR/USD exchange rate
  • Futures on commodities, which in turn are divided into Hard (such as precious metals) and Soft (such as coffee and wheat)
  • Bond futures, such as government bonds

Can leverage be used to trade futures?

Futures can be traded with leverage up to 1:10 depending on the broker’s policy.

Trading with 1:10 leverage means multiplying the market exposure of one’s investments by 10, thus causing greater losses or gains depending on the outcome of the trade.

In other words, investing $100 will allow one to invest in a futures contract that is worth $1000, but the gains and losses from trading the latter will be projected onto the $100 invested.

So if the futures contract closes at $990, i.e. loses 1% of its value, the trader will lose $10 on the $100 invested (i.e.10%), and not just $1 as would have happened if he had not used leverage.

Pros and cons of investing in futures

Pros

The main advantages of investing in futures include the transparency of the market, the fact that it is a market based on tangible assets, and that it is virtually impossible to manipulate market prices.

In fact, futures prices vary based on tangible future events and scenarios that can tangibly alter supply-demand laws. This characteristic makes futures one of the most transparent assets in which to invest.

Cons

However, investing in the futures market is one of the most complex assets to carry out effectively.

Each futures asset, even if part of the same category, is regulated by different market laws. To predict the change in valuation on coffee and soybean futures contracts, two totally different types of valuation must be carried out.This requires not only knowledge of technical analysis, but also requires individual knowledge of how coffee and soybean crops work, which countries produce the most, what are the ideal conditions for getting a better or poorer crop, what are the main varieties and what natural needs they have, and much more.

How long do futures contracts last?

Futures contracts have a monthly maturity.

This means that there is one futures contract for each month. If you don’t want to trade a futures with such a low maturity, you can invest in the following months’ futures.

In other words, if it is early January and you want to invest in a long-term futures, you can buy April, September or December ones depending on how long you are willing to keep the position open.

Can I trade futures without a broker?

Trading futures always requires an intermediary, whether it is a bank or a broker.

In fact, futures are a complex market to access without having a brokerage entity.

As with stocks, futures are listed on particular exchanges that accept order requests only from institutions.

If you do not want to open a trading account with a broker, you can ask your bank if they offer investment services. If so, your bank may give you the ability to buy and sell futures through their systems.

However, always consider the fact that brokers generally offer much more competitive fees than banks.


filippo ucchino

About The Author

Filippo Ucchino
Co-Founder - CEO - Broker Expert
Filippo is the co-founder and CEO of InvestinGoal.com. He has 15 years of experience in the financial sector and forex in particular. He started his career as a forex trader in 2005 and then became interested in the whole fintech and crypto sector.
Over this time, he has developed an almost scientific approach to the analysis of brokers, their services, and offerings. In addition, he is an expert in Compliance and Security Policies for consumers protection in this sector.
With InvestinGoal, Filippo’s goal is to bring as much clarity as possible to help users navigate the world of online trading, forex, and cryptocurrencies.

Trading CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies involves a high degree of risk. All providers have a percentage of retail investor accounts that lose money when trading CFDs with their company. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money and whether you understand how CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies work. Cryptocurrencies can widely fluctuate in prices and are not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Your capital is at risk. The present page is intended for teaching purposes only. It shall not be intended as operational advice for investments, nor as an invitation to public savings raising. Any real or simulated result shall represent no warranty as to possible future performances. The speculative activity in forex market, as well as in other markets, implies considerable economic risks; anyone who carries out speculative activity does it on its own responsibility.
ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: InvestinGoal is completely free to use for all. Though we may receive a commission from brokers we feature, this does not impact the results of our reviews or rankings which are conducted with complete independence and objectivity, following our own impartial methodology. Help us continue to provide the best free broker reviews by opening your account with our links. Please read our Advertiser Disclosure to learn more.
2FC Financial Srl
Via Filippo Argelati, 10,
Milan, Italy
20143

VAT No. IT10004450960
Copyright © 2023 InvestinGoal.com – All rights reserved. / Privacy and Cookie Policy / Basic Terms of Use / Risk Warning / Sitemap