The LSE Directory / CFD and forex brokers
Tradovate is a Chicago-based US futures brokerage and trading platform. It gives retail and active futures traders cloud-based access to CME Group, ICE, Eurex and Coinbase Derivatives futures markets through web, desktop and mobile apps, plus tools such as a Market Replay feature for testing strategies against historical data and third-party charting integrations. Its defining differentiator is a membership-style commission structure rather than the flat per-trade or per-contract pricing most futures brokers use. Traders choose between a no-monthly-fee plan billed at a higher per-contract rate, a $99-per-month plan with a lower per-contract rate, and a one-time $1,499 lifetime plan with the lowest per-contract rate; the idea is that active traders who clear enough contract volume come out ahead by paying for a tier instead of paying per trade. Day trading margins start at $50 with no funding minimum, and a REST and WebSocket API is available for automated trading, though only on live funded accounts, not demo or evaluation accounts. Tradovate was founded in Chicago in 2015 by Rick Tomsic, who had previously founded futures brokerage Open E Cry in 2001 and held executive roles at optionsXpress, Charles Schwab and GAIN Capital. NinjaTrader Group acquired Tradovate Holdings, LLC for 115 million dollars in a deal announced January 12, 2022; Tomsic subsequently joined NinjaTrader as Chief Strategy Officer and a board member. Brokerage and clearing services for Tradovate accounts run through NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, doing business as NinjaTrader, Tradovate and Kraken Derivatives US, which is registered with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant and is an NFA member under NFA ID 0309379. In March 2025, crypto exchange Kraken agreed to acquire NinjaTrader Group, Tradovate's parent, for 1.5 billion dollars, a deal both companies described as the largest transaction to date combining a crypto platform with a US retail futures business; it was expected to close in the first half of 2025. Separately, in May 2025 the NFA fined NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC 250,000 dollars, settled without admission of wrongdoing, over anti-money-laundering program and supervision failures after investigators found close to 500 accounts from countries on the firm's own internal blocked list had remained open.
