tastytrade Review 2024

Is tastytrade regulated?

Yes, it's regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the National Futures Association.

Is tastytrade safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• the background of the broker.

How you are protected

Accounts by Australian residents are regulated by the ASIC, while all other accounts belong to tasty's US entity and thus fall under the regulation of the SEC and FINRA.

This matters because this way you are eligible for the US investor protection amount via SIPC, the protection fund. This is a big plus. It protects you against the loss of cash or securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash.

Aside from the SIPC protection, the broker's clearing firm purchased an additional insurance policy, referred to as "excess SIPC." This additional insurance policy becomes available to customers if SIPC limits are exhausted. The additional insurance protects securities and cash up to an aggregate limit of $150 million, subject to sub-limits for any one customer of $37.5 million for securities and $900,000 for cash.

A non-US citizen with tastytrade is treated the same way as a US resident in case something goes wrong. The $500,000/$250,000 amount is substantially higher than what is offered by most European investor protection schemes.

Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual fund and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

Australian clients, however, are not protected by any investor scheme.

Our brokerage experts put together a comprehensive guide on the safety profile of tastytrade.

Background

tastytrade was established in 2017. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully weathered previous financial crises. By this standard, tastytrade is still quite young.

However, tastytrade is audited by PwC, one of the Big Four accounting firms, which is a great sign for its safety.

Find your safe broker

Account base currencies

At tastytrade, the only available base currency is USD.

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.

Here's all you need to know about minimum deposit requirements and depositing money at tastytrade.

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 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.

Read our guide containing all key info on available withdrawal methods and related fees at tastytrade.

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.

Can you open an account?

Visit broker

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.

Read our separate article on how to get your account started with tastytrade.

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

The tastytrade mobile platform is available for both iOS and Android. We tested it on iOS.

Look and feel

The tastytrade mobile trading platform is user-friendly and has a neat and modern design.

Login and security

tastytrade provides a safer, two-step login for its mobile platform.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are OK.

You can search based on the ticker of the asset you're looking for, but you cannot use filters for asset types.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop limit
• Stop market

There are also order time limits you can use:

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

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the tastytrade mobile platform.

This is a major drawback. However, you will receive a push notification on your phone as well, if alerts set on the web/desktop platform are triggered.

Our analysts personally tested tastytrade's mobile trading platform; read the tastytrade mobile app review for a detailed verdict on its performance and features.

Visit broker

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

Look and feel

The tastytrade desktop trading platform is OK. Similarly to the web platform, it is quite complicated and it takes some time to figure out where things are. However, it's still slightly more intuitive and has more customizability options.

Login and security

tastytrade provides a two-step login.

Search functions

The search functions are OK.

Placing orders

The following order types are available on the desktop platform::

• Market
• Limit
• Stop market
• Stop limit

There are also order time limits you can use on the desktop platform:

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

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

tastytrade has clear fee reports.

Visit broker

tastytrade offers stocks, options, ETFs, futures and cryptos. It only covers US markets. We found little information on the exact number of tradable products. tastytrade does not support OTC (over-the-counter) or penny stock trading.
You can also trade T-bills, bonds and notes but you will need to call the broker's trade desk to purchase them.
Overall, tastytrade's market and product range is narrower than that of its closest competitors.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both TradeStation and Interactive Brokers offer more stock markets to trade on.

Stocks and ETFs

Options

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both TradeStation and Interactive Brokers offer more option markets to trade on.

Futures

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both TradeStation and Interactive Brokers offer more futures markets to trade on.

tastytrade has introduced a unique futures product, called Smalls Futures that are listed on the Small Exchange.
Smalls Futures are designed for retail futures traders, as the contract sizes are much smaller and therefore suitable for trading with lower amounts.

Cryptocurrency

At tasty, you can trade cryptos the following ways:

• Bitcoin (/BTC) and Micro Bitcoin (/MBC) futures
• You can buy coins to a hot wallet. Funds will be automatically transferred out from your tasty account to the crypto provider Zero Hash. Trading is done on tastytrade's platform. Your cryptocurrency is not protected under the SIPC or the FDIC. Currently the following coins are supported:

Social trading

tastytrade offers a social trading service. You can follow and copy the trades of tastytrade's team members. These guys are really active, so you will never struggle with not having any trading ideas.

Other products

T-bills, bonds, and notes are also available but you will need to contact tastytrade's trade desk to purchase them.