Day Trading at Fidelity
Fidelity Investments is more than just a resource for long-term investing. The brokerage offers advanced software free of charge, which is perfect for day traders.
Active Trader Pro
While you can day trade using Fidelity’s website and mobile app, the most sophisticated tools are on Active Trader Pro. This desktop application has excellent features for short-term traders.
For example, Active Trader Pro has various trade tickets found under the Trade & Orders tab in the top menu. The conditional ticket includes OCO, OTO, OTOCO, and contingent orders, with triggers like bid, ask, 52 week high, and day volume.
A multi-trade ticket lets you send multiple orders simultaneously. You can create a bracket order with stop and limit orders attached. The flexibility of these orders extends to trading across different accounts.
The Trade Armor ticket displays a graph with support and resistance lines next to the order form. You can set limit and stop prices for a bracket order by dragging buttons up or down on this graph.
The directed ticket allows you to choose a specific market maker from a menu of options for order routing. It offers 10 destinations, including an automatic selection for the best available venue. Below the ticket are Level II quotes, with customizable color settings for the top five price levels.
Apart from stocks and ETFs, options are also available for day trading on Active Trader Pro through a dedicated order form.
The charting capabilities are extensive, featuring comparisons, indicators, drawing tools, and a save function. The layouts are also savable, enhancing the customization of the trading experience.
Crypto Day Trading at Fidelity
Fidelity allows trading in two cryptocurrencies—bitcoin and Ethereum. These can be traded daily without the typical $25,000 account minimum.
Previously, Fidelity limited crypto trading to its mobile app, but it has recently extended this feature to its website. In the app, you must switch to Beta mode from classic mode using a toggle in the More tab.
On both the website and the app, you can only place market and limit orders for cryptocurrencies, which cannot be shorted.
Fidelity Day-Trade Settings
Fidelity’s website helps you track day trades by entering “Trading Profile” in the chat box on the bottom-right corner.
Fidelity provides margin accounts, which can also be enabled for IRAs to facilitate short-term trading. Some trade tickets include a dropdown menu to choose between cash or margin, if the account supports margin trading.
Webull as Alternative
While Fidelity offers many tools for day and swing trading, it lacks a few features that Webull includes. For instance, Webull supports a much broader range of cryptocurrencies—38 in total, such as:
- Enjin Coin
- Gala
- Tezos
- Loopring
Webull also offers stop-limit orders for cryptocurrencies, which can be traded on its desktop platform, unlike at Fidelity.
For securities trading, Webull’s desktop platform includes a toggle for pattern day-trading protection, which Fidelity doesn’t offer. A PDT account at Webull can also be reset, another option not available at Fidelity.
In terms of software, Webull matches Fidelity’s offerings with sophisticated tools accessible via its website, mobile app, and desktop application. The standard trade ticket at Webull integrates bracket orders, and entry orders can include checked or unchecked boxes for stop loss and take profit options.
Charting on Webull is comprehensive and includes a right-click menu on the website and desktop platforms, similar to Active Trader Pro.
Like Fidelity, Webull supports extended-hours trading for stocks and ETFs, but starts earlier in the morning at 4:00 am, compared to 7:00 am at Fidelity. Both platforms offer IPO trading and fractional shares.
Webull’s limitations include the absence of trading in foreign stocks and restricted margin use in its tax-advantaged accounts.
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Updated on 1/1/2025.
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