TradeStation Logo

Business investment accounts at TradeStation

Your expert
Adam N.
Fact checked by
Gyula L.
Updated
Dec 2024
Personally tested
Data-driven
Independent

Can you open a business investment account at TradeStation?

Are you a business owner looking for a place to park your company's excess cash? Brokerage accounts are great for that, giving you the chance to earn yields on low-risk assets or even on cash.

TradeStation is a reliable broker to deposit your company's money, but there are better alternatives when it comes to costs or robustness of service. Check the best of these, or read on for details and comparisons.

TradeStation is not the best for a corporate account
Adam
Adam Nasli
Regulation • Fighting Scams • Market Analysis

I've reviewed dozens of brokers with retail investors in mind, but now I decided to size up whether they're also suitable for businesses. TradeStation left me with mixed feelings:

  • TradeStation is a trustworthy broker that also offers investor protection.
  • Trading fees at TradeStation are low; it also charges an inactivity fee.
  • Sadly, you can't earn interest on your uninvested cash at TradeStation.
  • See the top brokers for business investment accounts for better alternatives.

Before we begin, let's see if TradeStation is available in your country

Yes, you can open an account at TradeStation if you live in the United States!

Visit broker

Overall score
4.2/5
Minimum deposit
$0
Stock fee
Low
Options fee
Average
Inactivity fee
yes
Account opening
1 day
Want to unlock your perfect broker match?
Sign up to receive and save your personalized broker recommendations!

TradeStation is a trustworthy broker

Choosing a legit and reliable broker is a top priority if you're a private investor. And maybe it's even more so if you're looking to manage and invest the cash holdings of a business that is responsible for the financial security of its employees and the prosperity of its shareholders.

We at BrokerChooser only recommend brokers that are regulated by at least one top-tier financial authority. Regulation by these bodies should ensure that the broker complies with relevant legal requirements and operates in a fair and transparent way. This, in turn, helps to protect account holders like you and maintain the integrity of financial markets as a whole.

TradeStation has a long track record, having been around since 1982

Solid regulation is a must; but using a broker with sound and sustainable business practices can add another layer of security for your company's funds. Ideally, you'd want your broker to remain in business for at least as long as you keep your money there.

But how can you tell that in advance? In our view, a long and unblemished track record is a good sign of a broker's durability. So if you want to sleep well, choose a well-established broker to park or invest your company's funds.

TradeStation offers investor protection

If something does go wrong with your broker, it's good to have a mechanism in place that can help you recover some or all of your funds. Thankfully, some countries and regions - including the US, the UK and the EU - operate investor protection schemes designed to protect securities and cash you keep in brokerage accounts. This is similar to how national deposit protection funds help guarantee bank deposits in case of bank failures.

Thankfully, such investor protection is available for clients of TradeStation, at least under the relevant jurisdictions. Check the table below for details, and to see how TradeStation compares to some close competitors in other regulation-related respects.

Broker
Top-tier regulators
TradeStation
SEC and FINRA in the US
tastytrade
SEC and FINRA in the US and member of the NFA. ASIC in Australia.
Interactive Brokers
FCA in the UK, SEC in the US, and ASIC in Australia
Regulation and investment protection at TradeStation vs competitors

Visit broker

Trading fees at TradeStation are low

If you don't just want to park your company's excess cash on your TradeStation account but also plan to invest part or all of it, you will likely face some trading fees. These can be flat or percentage-based fees, or a combination of the two.

In the table below, I collected trading fees for some asset types typically favored by corporate account holders, such as ETFs (exchange-traded funds), mutual funds or bonds. In these examples, I calculated fees for a $2,000 trade in the case of stocks, ETFs and mutual funds; and for a $10,000 trade in the case of bonds.

Broker
Trading fees class
TradeStation
Low
tastytrade
Low
Interactive Brokers
Low
Trading fees at TradeStation vs competitors

No interest on uninvested cash

Trading profits are the most typical way to earn money if you hold a brokerage account, but an increasing number of brokers now also pay interest on your uninvested cash. This makes some brokers a viable alternative to bank accounts even for businesses, at least as far as interest earned on deposits is concerned.

Unfortunately, you can't earn interest on your uninvested cash at TradeStation, so the only reason to open a corporate account with them is to invest your excess cash in ETFs, funds, bonds or other instruments. Otherwise, stick with a bank account or choose a broker that offers interest on cash.

Broker
Cash interest class
TradeStation
Zero
tastytrade
Zero
Interactive Brokers
Below average
Interest paid on uninvested cash at TradeStation vs competitors

Visit broker

Opening and maintaining your corporate account at TradeStation

Opening a bank account for your business can be a pain, with lots of paperwork and an inevitable visit to a brick-and-mortar branch. Opening a business investment account at an online broker is much easier, but it does take a bit of time and varying degrees of hassle.

Once your account is up and running, you may face additional costs unrelated to trading and investing. These can include an inactivity fee, charged if you fail to use your account for an extended period of time; or withdrawal fees charged when you take out money from your brokerage account.

Check the table below for these and other aspects that can affect your experience at TradeStation when holding a corporate account.

Broker
Inactivity fee
TradeStation
tastytrade
Interactive Brokers
Miscellaneous fees and features at TradeStation vs competitors
TradeStation account opening

For a more detailed overview of TradeStation's fees, account opening experience, funding options and platform features, check our full TradeStation review.

Choosing our own business investment account

So why - and how to - choose a business brokerage account? Bank accounts are the default choice for most businesses to park their cash reserves, but brokerage accounts may offer better returns at similarly reasonable risk, and it's relatively easy to open one and carry out transactions. Here's how we went about it ourselves at BrokerChooser.

As any prudent business, we wanted to keep our cash reserves safe while also earning a modest return. We were looking for a broker with solid regulation that also offered investor protection for invested assets and cash. It was also important for us to choose a broker (and assets) where we'd be able to quickly convert our investments to cash (two days max). And obviously, we were looking for brokers that were available in the country where our company is registered.

Once settling on a broker, it's up to you to craft your investment policy, based on your risk tolerance, the size of your cash reserves and other factors. In our case, we wanted to avoid foreign currency exposure and find assets (and broker accounts) in the same currencies as our cash reserves. We sought to diversify our investments and set a maximum % that we would invest into a single asset. We also looked to minimize costs; and pledged to review our investments from time to time.

Of course we're not here to give you advice on what assets to invest in. Like many companies in our situation, we eventually zeroed in on a combination of money-market and bond ETFs on US and EU markets, while also leaving some cash uninvested so that we could earn simple interest.

Overall score
4.2/5
Minimum deposit
$0
Stock fee
Low
Options fee
Average
Inactivity fee
yes
Account opening
1 day
Want to unlock your perfect broker match?
Sign up to receive and save your personalized broker recommendations!

The best brokers for business accounts

Before settling on TradeStation, I suggest you check out BrokerChooser's list of the best brokers for business investment accounts to see if you can find a better provider.

So how did we pick the best brokers for business accounts? Our expert team of analysts looked at hundreds of features and data points at 100+ online brokers to see which ones have products suitable for low-risk cash management, the most robust regulation, the lowest trading fees, the highest interest on uninvested cash and the best overall user experience.

Visit broker

Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.

Got questions?
Engage with our growing community of traders and investors like you to find your answers.
Join now

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

author
Adam Nasli
Author of this article
I bring extensive financial expertise as one of BrokerChooser's earliest team members. Personally, I tested nearly all 100+ brokers on our site, opening real-money accounts, executing trades, assessing customer services, and providing firsthand assessment. My professional background includes roles in the banking sector and a degree from Central European University, where I teach finance. My passions lies in in-depth research of the financial industry, building trading algorithms, and managing long-term investments.
Media mentions