Online Brokers & Trading Platforms For International Investors

Warren Buffett once said “Unless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50% without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market.”

If you trade stocks or other assets, you have no doubt found that many brokerages only accept US residents. Fortunately, there are some reputable online brokers & trading platforms for international investors from other countries. Below are a few brokers that are accessible, affordable, and easy to use.

*Please note, the following are brokerages that accept clients from multiple countries. If you live in America, please read our article Online Brokers & Trading Platforms For US Residents.

Interactive Brokers is one of the most comprehensive investment platforms. It has an extensive collection of research reports, analytics and trading tools, financial calculators, written educational materials, and tutorials.

The brokerage has over 2 million client accounts, $12 billion equity capital, and almost $2 million in daily trade values. It boasts margin rates up to 49% lower than the industry standard. Its platform is widely available — Interactive Brokers offers accounts to residents of over 220 countries. 

You can trade stocks, bonds, options, futures, forex, mutual funds, spot currency pairs, and more. You can access 150 markets, 33 countries, and 27 currencies from a single, integrated account. Unlike many other brokers, Interactive Brokers permits direct trading of cryptocurrencies, and fractional shares trading of U.S. and European stocks.

The brokerage does not have an account minimum. If you are an inexperienced investor, you should sign up for “IBKR Lite,” which offers $0 commissions on US exchange listed stocks/ ETFs, and set fees of $0.65/contract for options, and $0.85/contract for futures. Interactive Brokers also offers over 18,000 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

If you are an active trader looking to execute sophisticated trading strategies, you should sign up for “IBKR Pro.” You will have access to advanced features such as interactive robo-advisors, mutual fund/ETF replicators, and the company’s SmartRouting tool. As a pro user, you will encounter tiered pricing. For example, commissions for stocks/ ETFs range from 0.0005-0.005, options $0.15-$0.65/contract, and futures $0.25-0.85/contract.

Interactive Brokers has a lot of products and materials to wade through, so it may not be ideal for beginners. Fortunately, you can take advantage of the company’s 3-month trial to figure out if Interactive Brokers is the right fit for you.

TD Ameritrade is a respected full-service broker that attracts a wide range of investors from over 100 countries. It is especially attractive if you are new to online trading, because of its intuitive trading platform and excellent customer support. 

Casual investors use the company’s TD Ameritrade path, and more active investors gravitate towards its thinkorswim® trading platform. Both perform well on desktop and mobile devices, and can be optimized to fit your particular needs and preferences. 

With TD Ameritrade, you will have access to stocks (long and short), bonds (corporate, municipal, Treasury, and CDs), futures/commodities, OTCBB (penny stocks), single and multi-leg option contracts, Bitcoin futures, and foreign currency exchanges. It also offers over 1,600 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

TD Ameritrade does not offer fractional share trading, which may be a drawback if you are looking to add portions of high-priced securities to your portfolio. Additionally, TD Ameritrade does not allow cryptocurrency trading. You can only access the crypto market indirectly, by investing in funds, over-the-counter (OTC) trusts, and Bitcoin futures.

The broker provides users with superb educational materials, premium research tools, calculators with backtesting capabilities, and powerful screening features.

The brokerage has relatively low fees. It charges $0 for equities/ETFs, $0.65/contract for options, and $2.25/contract for futures. 

TradeStation traditionally targeted experienced, active traders looking for high-quality market data and fast trade executions. However, it has now become a reliable trading platform for casual investors as well. The broker offers accounts to residents in almost 35 countries.

If you are a beginner, you can use the “YouCanTrade” education service to learn more about the financial markets and the TradeStation platform. You can then use TradeStation’s demo tool to test your trading strategies with real-time market data — without risking capital.

With TradeStation, you can trade equities, ETFs, options, futures, OTCBB (penny stocks), and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC) online. You can trade mutual funds and bonds (corporate, municipal, Treasury, and CDs) with help from a broker. The company does not permit forex trading. 

Its easy-to-use web and mobile apps feature one-click and drag-and-drop trading. The company prides itself on providing quality executions, superb charting, thorough technical analysis, and state-of-the-art order routing and trade automation technology. 

TradeStation has no account minimum. It offers commission-free stock and ETF trades. However, if you are a high-volume trader, you should note that free trades are limited to 10,000 shares per trade. The broker charges $0.005 per share on larger orders. TradeStation charges $0.60/contract for options and $1.50/contract for futures.

tastytrade is one of the fastest-growing online brokers. International accounts with tastytrade are available to residents of over 50 countries.

Its platform was designed by the creators of TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim® platform, but with a stronger focus on options trading. Its web-based system, desktop program, and mobile app are all customizable and user-friendly — especially if you are an experienced stock, options, or futures trader. 

The platform can be somewhat intimidating if you are a beginner, but the company has a huge library of resources and educational content to help you get up to speed. In fact, the company produces ten hours of live, original programming every weekday to share financial news, stock market information, and investment strategies with its users. You can also learn from other traders. tastytrade allows users to follow individual traders in real time and replicate their trading strategies.

With tastytrade, you can trade stocks, options, futures, and cryptocurrency. If you are looking for conservative fixed-income assets, you are limited to U.S. treasury bonds, because the platform doesn’t offer corporate or municipal bonds. Additionally, tastytrade does not permit fractional share trading. 

Advanced features include a smart order routing system, real-time portfolio statistics, volatility screeners, and interactive charting tools. Anything options traders need to trade derivatives is built into the platform. For example, you can track a trade from start to finish, and analyze the risk profiles of multiple open positions. That being said, because it is so focused on options, tastytrade is somewhat lacking when it comes to equity analysis and third-party research resources.

tastytrade has no account minimum, and customers do not pay any commissions for exchange-traded equities. The brokerage has a unique options pricing scheme that makes it the most affordable option for high-volume, high-frequency option traders. Tastytrade charges a $1 base commission to open an options position, it is capped at $10 per leg, and there is no cost to close an options position. Futures cost $1.25/contract to open and close positions. 

Firstrade Securities was founded in 1985 in Flushing, Queens. It originally catered to the neighborhood’s Chinese immigrants, and the company continues to provide trading tools and support in traditional and simplified Chinese (in addition to English). Firstrade attracts many international investors, and accepts clients from almost 30 countries.

Firstrade is a good option for beginner and intermediate traders. Its intuitive trading platform, Firstrade Navigator, is available on the web and as a tablet app. You can view your positions, balances, and trades all on one screen, and customize the platform by dragging and dropping charts, trackers, and market information. The platform also includes an “OptionPlay” tool for option traders to analyze potential gains and losses and develop complex options strategies.

With Firstrade, you can trade stocks, options, funds, and fixed income assets. It has also integrated approximately 40 different cryptocurrencies into its platform. However, Firstrade does not offer forex, futures, or futures options. 

The broker’s educational resources are limited to basic introductory articles from outside sources. Fortunately, clients are given access to free research from Morningstar, Benzinga, Zacks and Briefing.com to get a better grasp on current market conditions.  

Firstrade has some of the lowest brokerage fees around. It has no account minimum, and does not charge commission on stock and ETF trades. Firstrade also provides over 12,000 commission-free mutual funds. Finally, Firstrade is one of the few brokers that doesn’t charge a per-contract fee for options trades. 

The brokers discussed above are some good options if you live abroad but want access to the stock market. Be sure to research each company on your own to see if their platforms suit your style of trading. You will also need to read each broker’s application guidelines to determine if traders from your country of residence are eligible for accounts.