TradeStation - Trade & Invest Reviews

by TheCredibleSource

TradeStation is nothing special and disconnects all the time. Options data doesn’t load sometimes or loads and then the connection times out.

this app margin department can constantly change their requirements and never notifies customers that requirements are changing. They issue margin calls and then liquidate your position. Calling and talking to someone is equally off putting as their answers seem canned. No notification is passed through the application to notify you of these issues, and when they’re resolved (I.e. you do what is asked, customer support never follows up to assure you that everything is taken care of).

by Wsbforvendetta

Horrible customer service horrible user experience Robin Hood, Webull and TD Ameritrade are better brokerage apps.I sent them money last week to use it on a particular day for a trade they will not give me access to that money or some type of marginal current credit to use for trade they have withdrawn the money from my account when I asked to get a admin approval to use my own money they denied me so I won’t be able to use till the next day but the whole reason why I deposited the money last week was to use it today and they lack customer service flexibility. I don’t believe this company could grow with this type of customer service. Every brokerage has their issues but I can’t continue with this if they’re not willing to change for the better.

by Margingameover

I got my first Margin call my balance went under 25k so they decided to only allow me to close out trades. I closed out my trade and my was over 25k and I still wasn’t able to trade. I had wait a few days to continue trading . I resume my trading a few days later as my account went under 25k momentarily i was stoped from making trades again . I waited a few days and I still wasn’t able to trade even tho my account was over 25k . The platform does not tell why you can’t trade you need to call the trades desk for answers . Is it been about 2 weeks and I still can’t trade at this point pulled out all of my cash and put in Robinhood where I can trade freely. This platform was a horrible experience me .

by Pvstocks

I’m a big fan of the desktop platform but the mobile app has severe latency issues, especially when trying to place an order. Every time I do so a big spinning wheel appears for at least 4-5 seconds saying “retrieving positions” when in fact I have no positions in my account. I’m just trying to place an order quickly. Also there seems to be no way to disable the order confirmation pop-up which again adds to the latency of placing an order. Overall this is a terrible experience if you are a savvy trader looking for speed. And it is definitely not my network since other apps on my phone work great. Please fix these issues this app!

by Oncorhynchus Kisutch

The web platform cannot be used without reviewing pending agreements, which links to instructions to download the desktop application. That is not much different than if the buy or sell button logged out instead. They do Bribery-for-Order-Flow with Citadel. Only reason I created an account is because they accept cryptocurrency deposits.

Update: lowered to 1 star. Agreements are found at download center, but there are worse issues. Equities trading is logged out whenever the Client Center is opened. It is too stupid to allow any fees to be added to BCH withdrawals, like sending an envelope with no stamps. Horrendous. Must never have been tested. Completely crippled.

by ChrisR19

The desktop version of Trade Station is superior to anything else out there I have ever used and I have tried every well known platform out there, however..... the mobile app lacks very basic things that are included in many other brokers mobile apps like the following:

#1. Under orders tab, there is no way to view order fill history on orders over 24hrs old. This requires the user to go online or the desktop to get information like “fill time” or to look at old position details.

#2. No option risk analysis. When placing an order with options, there is no Max P/L or spread analysis like you would get with most other mobile apps.

#3. No “Show Order” on chart for older positions. If you want to see a horizontal line of a fill you got a few weeks ago, you need to draw it yourself. This goes back to the order tab issue.

#4. Very limited Technical Analysis tools. You get about 10 upper studies and 10 lower studies. Would be nice to see all standard indicators or maybe even the ability for custom indicators like TOS allows.

#5. No tick charts, range charts or renko charts. This is provided by many other lower end brokers.

#6. No calendar events on chart like dividend, earnings, etc.

this app has been around for a long time(since 1980’s) and in the era of mobile life, it would great to see them step up and get on the competitions level with there mobile app to provide the mentioned features.

by JVann-1

TradeStation is nowhere as powerful as some of the most popular apps. You are limited to 3 chart studies and 2 lower indicators. You are also very limited on the study options. They also recently rolled out with where you can’t be logged in on the desktop platform or TradeStation at the same time. Even if one is live and the other is sim/paper account. But the order execution is fast. It’s just okay at the moment. Future updates to make it as customizable as the most popular app, will make this a 5 Star app. Right now it’s not practical. I primarily trade futures with this app.

by Matsegubbbbbben

The most annoying bug is that I am not able to maintain the quotes list. I delete two-three items, then TradeStation freezes and the deleted tickers show up again. This “feature” has occurred in the last three versions of TradeStation . A year ago this was not an issue. I also don’t like the order entry of OCO Type since the stop orders are defaulted incorrectly. Should be higher than the entry limit sell short order and lower than the limit buy order. Please make sure your developer have basic understanding of order types or make sure your business analysts verifies your developers work. Do you have a test team involved prior to deploying new versions of TradeStation? Any regression testing procedures in place? That’d be nice. Thanks

by Etugdgjb

I realize that the world is not normal these days and that we all need to exercise extra patients. However, I think two weeks is long enough to wait for a human to acknowledge a request.
I submitted a request to weeks ago for access to option trading. I received a Robo email saying that they got my email and that pretty much they get back to me as soon as they could. Well, I still haven’t heard from anyone. I did try to call but of course no phone service due to COVID-19. At this point trade stations customer service is garbage!
I am normally an understanding person and I try to give folks the benefit of the doubt. I just feel strongly that two weeks, it’s actually been longer now, is ample time to wait for a response. This is literally costing me thousands of dollars!!!!!!!

by CedarOats

this app is a fine platform for any kind of trading you’re into. The desktop application is awesome but all other applications (web, iPad, iPhone) are not good at all. The layout of TradeStation is not intuitive, the charts and studies could be better (you can’t even change sell and buy colors on an RSI study) and the balance and position report is just humerus. Today I am reporting a loss even though I sold my position for a gain. It makes no sense.

If you plane to trade on a PC, this app is great! The fees are super low, the platform is responsive and it has unlimited customization. Anything else and it’s not worth the time or stress.

I tried to put in a buy on the iOS app and there was so much delay, I tried to cancel it. The order said it had been cancelled but 15 minutes later I got a notification that it had just went through? Thankfully I ended up making money on the position but this shouldn’t happen.

Do not trade on the iOS app. It is not reliable, it is slow, and sometimes it won’t even open at all. Then you have to delete it and reconfigure your charts to how you had them before. Think or swim is such a better platform and something this app should strive to be like.

2 stars only because of the great margin rates, trading fees and pc platform.

You can do better, this app.

by Wstander

Your app is a loser. Please compare to think it swim.

Positives:
Charts- clean with studies etc.
Close All Positions button

Negatives:
ALMOST NO INTEGRATION WITH THE DESKTOP

1. I just want to see my WATCHLISTS (quote lists). This is the most basic mobile app functionality: ability to watch names when you’re on the go

2. I want to run MY scans. Not the hot lists. Again, monitor on the go.

3. No Alerts

4. It kicks you off the desktop if you login. (Don’t have this problem in Think or Swim)

This is especially a problem because the desktop must run to get historical data since it’s not in the cloud (lame). Also the scanning and alerting doesn’t run with the desktop is offline (super lame). And lastly I want the mobile app as a backup in case the internet fails, my trading computer fails, or, may be it’s easier to execute an options trade on the mobile app vs the desktop.

4. Crypto is a completely separate, and petty subpar product. It is not integrated. Not even the login.

I think the core use cases for a mobile trading aap are monitor, be alerted, take action.

by Nmkjuy

First off, the only reason I went with this app is because of its integration with Trading view…I’ve held it for months and am now transferring out.

I downloaded both the mobile app and desktop app, the desktop app is clunky as best…never saves the positions of your set up and I’m constantly switching them around as it appears to be random where the windows go every log in.

The tools it provides you are nice, and the short locate is good, never used their charts as I traded with trade station…

Worst broker ever…I trade full time and own a company, mid day today they restricted me from trading out of nowhere, citing I owed them $115 for a margin call…When I was fully liquidated and up 1k in realized gains for the day.

Called and stayed on hold for 45 minutes to be told “it is what it is….click”. I’m not letting my account be held ransom for $115 when I’m already liquidated and $1k up. Goodbye.

by MickeeD's

The this app app is amazing. But it needs more work. I have made suggestions such as showing the volume bars on the matrix page similar to the platform so you can see where the most buying volume has happened at certain prices. Other things like being able to take the options page off and making other items available. Also showing the red volume vs the green volume would be a huge plus in future updates. I switch between TD and this app because TradeStation doesn’t provide it all.... YET....?? Keep going developers!

by MRF0BUL0US

I like all the features that this app offers on PC, and I understand that porting it to a phone app is a bit tough, but order entry could use some improvement. It’s not very convenient to place orders when you can’t easily reference the charts.

Also, while the auto-sizing of the chart when scrolling through it is a useful function, there are times when background dragging is preferred instead of auto-sizing. Please give us the option to toggle between the two.

by Swiz Wizzel

I will say the market fills are better than most places. However TradeStation itself is far to laggy and makes it difficult to trade quickly. The time in between each screen is very slow.

Update. Last weeks update has fixed a lot of the connection issues from before so I have added another star as the problem is almost entirely fixed. If anyone needs to hear this, get off RH and come here.

by Ak Appr

Constantly getting disconnected killing accuracy of trades and very frustrating while trying to think clearly. This has to get fixed ASAP!

Already contacted mobile support and heard back about a month ago. Replied to ask status week or so ago haven’t heard anything.

Other than this major issue app is pretty good. Charts are very nice however I would suggest removing or moving all the labels for indicators etc on chart since they’re usually in the way when trying to plot points or see highs. No reason to have them there.

by 1Sparky65

I ve been trading for 14 years, and all those years, after looking at E-trade, Schwab’s, TD-Ameritrade is the best out there. It gives the I formation tick, by tick. It tracks yur profit or loss on the screen. It has the best spread sheet balance of where yur funds are at. It tells yu how much buying power, how much yu have for options, what yur margin balance is, if yu use margin. It even gives yu yur net balance of profit.

It has the ability for you to write your own Easy Language program if you are a programmer. It has so many more function abilities than what I have mention.

this app, has a app to help you track your trade. If you want to trade you can on TradeStation .

Thank you this app for having a wonderful plateform. It’s the greatest.

by _Nicknamed_

The Position screen shows all symbols for my stock purchases but position data is shown for all symbols except two and sometimes three symbols. After one of the symbols with missing data is selected for Chart display (displays correctly) and then return to the Position screen, that symbol shows position data but a different symbol is displayed with missing position data. The P/L Total reflects data only from the displayed positions. I have six winners and nine losers. Random winners and losers show missing data.

by SK-Delta Lover

Please address this bug... It is annoying!

When I logout of my account the login screen has a software coding bug that attempts to log you back instantly using Face ID as you are looking at your phone at the time. Since the iPhone version uses Face ID there's no way to stop this re-logging back in unless you are quick in facing away from the phone screen.

Suggestion: On logout the landing page / screen should not be the login screen. Use some informative screen showing market behavior or watch list that could be personalized.

by Eric The Ms Fan

this app Moble is a very simple and easy to use app. I like the option of clicking and dragging orders and the use of the trading matrix. I noticed that your quotes (watchlist) once created on the mobile app that it wouldn’t show up on the desktop version, etc. I emailed in to support and was told that this wasn’t available yet. They listen! Later on I was emailed that the feature was now available! Awesome.

by Pfedu

My error message states that my account is not associated with an international account, you will be redirected, hit ok, same message, hit ok, same message,,,,repeat....

I have asked tech support to allow me to log into my account. The first fix was to delete and reinstall app on iPad. Done, didn’t work. Second, restore iPad to factory resets. Done didn’t work. Deleted app after factory reset. Done didn’t work.

This has now been over a month with this same problem. The company has no interest in fixing any problems. If you have any tech issues you are on your own. It is very frustrating.

by Thelegendofmari

The this app mobile app is by far the best performing mobile trading experience! It's lightning fast and responsive.

May I please request a feature - when adding a bracket profit or stop loss order, please make it possible to insert respective level either by ticks, %, price or $ value of move and show the $$$ value of the profit taker or stop loss level.

That'd add great convenience instead of manually calculating this.