Our Verdict
TradeStation is the winner of this contest. Choose TradeStation if you’re seeking advanced trading tools and detailed analytics. You’ll find the TradeStation platform preferable if you:
- Are an active trader community.
- Work best with advanced charting capabilities.
- Need a robust suite of tools for trading.
- Detest paying commissions for stocks, options, and ETFs.
And, yes, Public.com is incredible, too. The platform is designed with simplicity and transparency, making it a suitable option especially if you’re a beginner or a casual trader. You’ll find the platform helpful if you value community learning. You can follow other investors and share insights on Public.com’s community forum. Probably, that’s why it bears the name “Public.com”. You never can tell.
But in all: the choice between the two platforms largely depends on your investment needs, preferences, and experience you have in trading.
Why Choose TradeStation
Who TradeStation is Best For
Register with TradeStation if you:
- Want to Invest Your Money: TradeStation serves as a broker from which you can trade on stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and more. You’ll find the platform helpful if you desire to build your wealth in the long run.
- Seek Advanced Trading Tools and Features: Discover a wide range of sophisticated tools you can use for trading. You’ll find tools like extensive historical data, real-time market data, and advanced charting—all at your fingertip.
- Desire a Professional-Grade Trading Experience: If you’re a professional money manager, you’ll find that TradeStation is the right place for you. The platform gives you a professional-level kinda trading experience.
- Need a Variety of Investment Options: The platform supports a wide spectrum of asset classes, such as stocks, ETFs, options, and more, allowing you to diversify your portfolio. With these options, you can also engage in different trading strategies—all within one platform.
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Who TradeStation isn’t Right For
Avoid TradeStation if you:
- Need a Simple Platform: Remember that TradeStation is designed with advanced traders in mind. You’ll find the platform overwhelming considering its complex features, tools, and customization options.
- Seek a Budget-friendly Platform: While TradeStation offers commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs, you’ll need additional fees or subscriptions to access certain market data, which can add up to your overall costs.
- Are Not an Active Trader: TradeStation is primarily designed to help you in active trading. You are at a disadvantage if you’re a less active trader. The platform would charge you for inactivity fees should your account stay dormant for a while.
Why Choose Public.com
Who Public.com is Best For
Choose Public.com if you:
- Cherish User-Friendly Interface: The simplicity you’ll find on the Public.com platform will make you fall in love with trading, especially if you’re a newbie. The platform is designed for easy navigation, with straightforward tools, and devoid of complex features.
- Seek Commission-Free Trading: Like many other modern platforms, you can trade stocks and ETFs on Public.com without paying commissions. That means you don’t have to worry about transaction costs eating into your profits.
- Want No Payment for Order Flow (PFOF): Keep in mind that Public.com does not accept payment for order flow. What this means is that you’re not paying a dime to route your orders to market makers on Public.com.
- Love to Learn Trading: Aside from being a simplified platform where you can trade as a newbie, the platform provides educational resources with which you can improve your knowledge over time.
Who Public.com isn’t Right For
Avoid Public.com if you:
- Seek Detailed Analytics: Mind you, Public.com is beginner-friendly, offering straightforward trading solutions. If you’re seeking extensive data, research tools, and in-depth market analysis, you might find Public.com very restrictive.
- Want a 24/7 Trading Experience: You can’t trade on Public.com outside standard market hours unless you subscribe to a premium plan. This can be frustrating for you especially if you’re an active trader, and are under budget.
- Are an Advanced and Active Trader: If you’re an active trader, you might want to consider other platforms such as TradeStation. You won’t find features like detailed charting, or advanced order types.
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TradeStation vs. Public.com: The Main Difference
| TradeStation | Public.com |
Ideal For | ● Trading multiple assets. ● Commission-free trading. ● Advanced traders. | ● Beginner traders. ● Commission-free trading. ● Non-traditional traders. |
Pricing | Commission: Zero commission of stocks and ETFs. Margin Rates: Get as low as 6% margin rates to increase your buying power. Service Fee: $5 per item for return mail fee, and $50 for un-cashed check. | Commission-free: Trade without paying commissions. Premium: Pay $8/month to access enhanced data, trading features, and VIP account management.
|
Account Integration | TradingView NinjaTrader Banks
| Plaid Social media. Banks. |
TradeStation vs. Public.com: Product Offerings
TradeStation
TradeStation caters to different types of investors and provides a variety of product offerings. Below are product offerings you can find on the platform:
- Stocks
- Options
- Futures
- Future Options
- ETFs
- Mutual Funds
- Educational resources
Public.com
Public.com offers a variety of features you can choose from. Its product offerings include:
- Stocks
- Options
- Bonds
- Bond Accounts
- Treasuries
- High-Yield Cash Account
- Investment Plans
- Crypto
- ETFs
- Educational resources
TradeStation vs. Public.com: Standout Features
TradeStation
TradeStation comes with a robust feature set you may find appealing, especially as an experienced trader. Check out some standout features that make TradeStation a powerful platform:
- Has sophisticated packages for charting and technical analysis from technical indicators to custom studies to drawing tools…helping you gain access to in-depth market analysis.
- Comes with the RadarScreen® real-time scanning tool that offers customizable filters and alerts to help you identify trading opportunities as they come, and to allow you to monitor thousands of symbols simultaneously.
- Provide a proprietary programming language tool—EasyLanguage®—that helps you create unique indicators, strategies, and trading systems, especially if you’re an algorithmic trader, or need highly tailored tools.
- Offers a wide range of asset classes, with sophisticated order types and risk management tools, making it a great choice if you’re a trader who deals in derivatives.
- Allows trading on major cryptocurrencies with the same advanced tools you use for other asset classes—giving you a unified experience.
- Delivers a fully customizable desktop platform where you can set up multiple monitors, custom layouts, and workspaces to tailor your trading strategies.
- Backtests your trading strategies by leveraging decades of historical data, to see if you can simulate trades and strategies across different market conditions.
- Supports a variety of order types, such as conditional orders, trailing stops, and bracket orders with which you can execute complex trading strategies.
Public.com
Public.com has several standout features that make it a unique and appealing platform you can consider to work with and build your investment portfolio. checkout some of the key features:
- Allows you to trade stocks and ETFs without paying commissions, so you don’t have to worry about starting your investment journey with high costs.
- Offers fractional shares in which you can invest in expensive stocks starting from $1, without necessarily buying a full share of high-priced stocks.
- Curates a wide range of stocks and ETFs based on different topics and values so you can trade with purpose, and make investments that align with your interests and values.
- Lets you buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies alongside other investments, allowing you to diversify your portfolio.
- Has a variety of educational content, such as videos, articles, and more, designed to help you build your investment knowledge.
- Integrates social media features directly into the Public.com platform so you can follow other experienced investors, view their portfolios, and discuss strategies that can help you grow.
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Pros and Cons of TradeStation
Pros
- Takes no commission stock, options, and ETF trades.
- Exists for active traders community.
- Has a wide range of advanced tools.
- Offers top-notch trading platforms.
- Provides an extensive research hub.
Cons
- Charges a fee for mutual funds.
- Offers low interest rates on funds you didn’t invest.
- Has a steep learning curve for plans and pricing.
Pros and Cons of Public.com
Pros
- Offers novel investment options.
- Charges no fee for order flow.
- Delivers a daily podcast tagged “The Open.”
- Has a simple, and straightforward user interface.
Cons
- Offers no margin trading, mutual funds, and IRAs.
- Delivers hastily written learning materials.
- Takes a fee for tipping the broker.
TradeStation vs. Public.com: Customer Reviews
By outperforming TradeStation, Public.com wins the trophy in the customer review section.
TradeStation has a user rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars on NerdWallet while holding a 2.3 out of 5 stars rating on Trustpilot, coming from 228 users. On Stockbrokers.com, TradeStation has a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating, while on Forbes Advisor, the platform scores 39 out of 5 stars.
However, Public.com has a 4.6 out of 5-star rating on NerdWallet, 4.2 out of 5 stars on Finder.com, and 4.0 out of 5 stars on Investing.com.
From both reviews, you can tell that Public.com has scored from 4 upward, making it a clear winner. But, you don’t just base your trust on customer reviews. Factor in your financial goals and preferences to get things going the right way.
TradeStation vs. Public.com Competitors
When comparing TradeStation and Public.com, you must factor in the companies’ competitors, so you can have a broader option to choose from. Read on to find out more.
Robinhood: Choose Robinhood if you’re seeking a simple trading platform that takes no commissions for trading stocks, ETFs, and options—just like Public.com. Recently, the company added cryptocurrency trading to its list of offerings, allowing you to choose your trading assets.
When investing with Robinhood, you don’t have to bother about commission charges. You also don’t pay fees for opening or maintaining an account.
However, there are three regulatory organization fees Robinhood pays for trading which is passed on to you. You have the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), issuing banks, and the Options Clearing Corporation. Learn more about these charges on Robinhood’s price page at https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/trading-fees-on-robinhood/.
TD Ameritrade (Now Acquired by Charles Schwab): Like TradeStation, this platform offers advanced trading and research tools, a robust desktop, and futures and options trading, making it ideal for you, if you’re an advanced trader.
You’ll find this platform particularly interesting for its paper trading, no commission fees on stocks and ETFs, wide market access, and excellent learning resources.
However, keep in mind that TD Ameritrade doesn’t charge you a commission for trading online. It takes $0.65 per option contract, has no account or trade minimums, and also has no hidden fees. If you need a detailed breakdown of its trading fees, visit https://www.schwab.com/pricing.
Fidelity: Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced trader, Fidelity has room for you. While offering commission-free trading on U.S. stocks, and ETFs (like most trading platforms), you can access options and mutual funds for long-term investing.
Fidelity’s strengths lie in the fact that it offers you strong research tools, a user-friendly interface, and excellent customer support.
When it comes to pricing, Fidelity is similar to TradeStation and Public.com for offering $0 commissions on trades. You’ll enjoy a $0 commission fee for online U.S. stocks, ETFs, and options trades.
Pro Tips
- Identify your financial goal, risk tolerance, and trading time. This way, you can know what time of the day to trade, the amount you’re willing to risk per trade, and the kind of assets you want to trade on.
- Stay committed to your trading plan. Avoid deviating from your goals, especially based on emotions, or market noise.
- Compare both platforms. This helps you know what platform aligns best with your financial goals, and the features you need most.
- Don’t put your eggs in one basket. Diversify your portfolio across different asset classes, sectors, or markets to minimize risk.
- Keep up with the market trends and news to keep you equipped to make sound investment decisions.
- Manage your emotions by taming your fear and greed which are two major factors that can tamper with your trading life.
- Take time to recess, and step away from the market, especially when you’re stressed. This helps you to clear your mind and come back with a fresh perspective.
Recap
Both TradeStation and Public.com offer a wide range of trading and investment assets—from which you can choose from. If you’re seeking a platform with more advanced tools and features, TradeStation might be suitable for you. However, if you want a simple, straightforward platform that is beginner-friendly, you may want to try Public.com. The choice is yours to make, based on your financial goals and needs.
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