Coming face to face with our latest Cobra Trading Review won’t scare you one bit. Bullish Bears looks into the offers of this broker. Read on to see what we found out!
Cobra Trading, founded in 2004, caters to active traders and particularly high-volume traders. The brokerage provides a selection of advanced trading platforms and attentive customer service. Also, the firm offers competitive commissions and margin rates. Additionally, Cobra Trading offers pre- and post-market trading from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm EST.
Table of Contents
Cobra Trading Review Introduction
We wrote this cobra trading review because we know how important it is to find the best brokerage firms. You need to love the broker you choose, if you don’t love your broker…something isn’t right! Our trading service goes through different brokers and gives our opinions on them as we want our members to have the best broker for their trading style. When you’re learning how to get started in stocks, you’re not always thinking about the importance of choosing the right broker for you. That being said, check out our cobra trading review below.
They offer individual and joint, JTWROS (joint tenants with right of survivor-ship), accounts.
Also, the brokerage accepts traditional and Roth IRA accounts. Cobra also offers trust, corporate, LLC, and partnership accounts.
The minimum to open an account is $25,000 with a maintenance minimum of $10,000. For a domestic, pattern day trader, the account minimum is $30,000.
And the minimum goes up to $50,000 for a foreign, pattern day trade account. Then afterward, the maintenance requirement for any day trading account is $25,000.
Comparatively, the account minimum is on the high side, as many brokerages require lower or even no account minimum. However, Cobra Trading addressed this by creating Venom Trading; which requires a lower minimum amount of $5,000.
If Cobra Trading’s minimum is prohibitive for you, then check out Venom Trading. Fund your Cobra Trading account via check, wire transfer, or automated customer account transfer (ACAT).
Cobra Trading is FINRA- and NFA-registered and a member of the SIPC. Additionally, Cobra Trading’s clearing firm, Wedbush Securities, provides excess SIPC coverage via Lloyd’s of London.
Though Cobra Trading is registered with the NFA (National Futures Association), the brokerage only offers futures trading through Venom Trading.
Platforms
Cobra Trading offers traders the choice of multiple sophisticated platforms. Each one is a powerhouse.
It’s almost as if they couldn’t pick one from among the best platforms. So instead they just decided to offer several of them and leave the choice to you.
A lot of brokerages offer free platforms, but these are often rudimentary and less than ideal for active traders. However, Cobra Trading caters to active traders and hence offers powerful platforms.
All the platforms provide direct access trading, hotkeys, advanced charting, and everything you expect from a robust platform.
Cobra TraderPro ($100/mo.)
This platform costs the least but still delivers. It offers real-time level II market data, portfolio management, news, watch lists, and custom alerts.
And it provides stop orders and a short locate monitor. Also, Cobra Trading waives the monthly fee for traders who trade 200,000 shares per month.
DAS Trader Pro ($125/mo.)
This highly customizable platform offers advanced order types, point-and-click trading, basket trading, and multi-account management.
It offers advanced analytics, technical studies, and a real-time market scanner. Also, Cobra Trading waives the monthly fee for traders who trade 250,000 shares per month.
For more details on the platform, see our DAS Trader Pro Review.
Sterling Trader Pro ($200/mo. or $230/mo. with options)
The platform offers real-time level II market data, basket trading, stop order, and portfolio management.
And it offers news, watch lists, and custom alerts. Also, Cobra Trading waives the monthly fee for traders who trade 300,000 shares per month.
RealTick Express ($200/mo.) & RealTick Pro ($350/mo.)
The award-winning platform offers real-time global data, analytics, sophisticated data centers, and powerful research capabilities.
Pro is full-featured with all the bells and whistles, while Express is a more streamlined version.
As with the other platforms, Cobra Trading waives the monthly fee for high-volume traders. Express is free with 300,000 shares traded per month.
Likewise, Pro is free with 500,000 shares traded per month. Note that prices don’t include market data and routing fees.
Cobra Trading Review Final Thoughts
In your search for a broker, you’re bound to find enough of them to make your head spin. Enthusiastic beginning traders may end up suffering from a common 21st-century disease called “information overload”.
But don’t worry, there’s a simple way to prevent this happening to you. And there’s also a cure. If you know what’s most important to you while searching for a broker, half the battle is won.
So here’s my ounce of prevention for you. Start by prioritizing your criteria. Things like the types of investment options, the commissions per trade, the minimum required to fund the account.
Also consider the asset allocation advice, interest on funds sitting as cash, the quality of customer support, and your own personality type of course. You may even consider credible third-party referrals.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Cobra Trading offers low commission rates, especially for high-volume traders
- The rate for equities starts at $.004 per share but goes as low as $.002 per share
- If you trade 250,000 shares or fewer a month, then the $.004 per-share rate applies
- Above that, the more shares you trade, the lower the rate goes
- Likewise, the rate for options is also multi-tiered
- It's $0.50 per contract if you trade 2,000 or fewer contracts per month
- However, the rate goes as low as $0.30 per contract if you trade over 10,000 contracts per month
- Note that there is a $1 minimum commission for all trades of equities and options
- Cobra Trading charges a competitive margin rate of 5.25%
Also, there is no fee for broker-assisted trades, which is uncommon and a pleasant surprise.
Investors cannot purchase shares of Cobra Trading because the company is privately held.
