Best Stock Trading Platforms for Sterling Trader Pro (2024 Review)

A list of the Top Trading Platforms for Sterling Trader Pro for April 2024

Selecting which platform to make trades is a personal choice.

If you want to get all the advantages of Sterling Trader Pro for your personal portfolio or your clients, then choose a platform that allows access to the tools, execution speed and advanced charting.

1. IG
2. ActivTrades
3. CenterPoint Securities
4. Lightspeed
5. Cobra Trading
6. Capital Markets Elite Group

Description of the Best Trading Platforms for Sterling Trader Pro for April 2024

IG is a great share trading platform for beginners thanks to its user-friendly interface and extensive educational resources.

Pros of IG include a wide range of trading instruments and markets, as well as the ability to access multiple account types and trading platforms. The platform also offers a demo account for beginners to practise trading strategies before investing real money.

However, IG isn’t the cheapest share trading platform, with relatively high trading fees and a minimum deposit requirement of £250 when paying by credit/debit card or PayPal.

In terms of additional fees, IG charges a commission fee for share trading, starting from £8 per trade. There’s also a custody fee of 0.25% per year for holdings of £250 or more.

Overall, IG is a solid choice for beginners looking for a user-friendly platform with extensive educational resources, but investors should be aware of its fees and minimum deposit requirements.

Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of IG retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with IG. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

ActivTrades is a traditional CFD broker and has been trading for more than 20 years on 140 markets. ActivTrades is authorized and regulated by the FCA, CSSF and SCB.

Its strong points include:

• No minimum first-time deposit
• No commissions
• Several payment methods for deposits and withdrawals
• Tight spreads from 0.5 pips

It offers one of the best execution speeds in the industry with low latency below 0.004s.

It utilizes the most advanced technology to improve users' trading efficiency – users can automate trades, build integrations and create trading apps using ActivTrades' market-leading CFD and spread betting technology.

Exceptional trading infrastructure is available on ActivTrader and MetaTrader 4 and 5.

ActivTrades invests deeply in specially developed educational materials for its clients – including webinars, regular outlooks, manuals, etc.

Type of offers: ActivTrades focuses on well-developed products in its trading portfolio. Customers can choose from over 1,000 CFD or spread betting instruments across forex, indices, shares, commodities, financials and ETFs.

It also offers investing solutions for its institutional partners.

Spread betting allows UK residents ONLY to trade the prices of financial instruments, including forex, indices, commodities and LSE shares.

Spread betting and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread betting and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

CenterPoint Securities has been operating since 2000. It is a well-known, respected platform that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

It offers competitive pricing and brokerage fees, alongside great tools for accessing hard-to-find stocks.

There are three plans available to traders, and the pricing per share and per trade depends on the plan and the volume of trades – with discounts starting when you trade 4,000,000 per month:

• Standard plan – Between $0.002 and $0.004 per share
• AllinAll plan – Aimed at institutional traders and priced between $0.0065 and $0.0045 per share
• Ticket plan – Between $3.95 and $5.95 per trade, which is perfect for high-value trading

The minimum deposit for traders who want to use the CenterPoint Securities platform with Sterling Trader Pro is much higher than other platforms because it is aimed at professional traders – so you’d need to deposit at least $30,000.

The fees for using Sterling Trader Pro with CenterPoint Securities are between $120 and $300, but if you meet the minimum trading volume, these fees can be waived.

It is important to remember that both the CenterPoint Securities Platform and Sterling Trader Pro are aimed at high-net-worth investors – being too expensive for most small traders – but it is one of the best brokerages for shorting stocks.

Lightspeed is a direct access online brokerage that has a simple-to-use interface and standard pricing across the board.

Using Lightspeed with Sterling Trader Pro, you can trade stocks, options and futures.

The starting cost of trading is $0.0045 per share, with a minimum $1 routing fee. For bigger volume traders, the per-trade price of $4.50 might be more appropriate.

Options start at $0.60 per contract, while futures start at $1.29 – but they reduce on a sliding scale depending on volume.

It’s cheaper than some of the other brokers that allow access to Sterling Trader Pro, with a minimum deposit of only $10,000.

However, it caters to active, professional and institutional traders through fast executions, reliable markets and dependable platforms.

Although the more attainable minimum deposit might seem as if it is suitable for beginners, Lightspeed does not cater for new traders, as there is no education provided, the tools are not beginner-friendly and the only way to get a demo account is to speak to the customer services team.

For experienced traders, the simple, customizable interface and direct access to the Sterling Trader Pro markets make for faster executions and dependable technology.

Founded in 2003, Cobra Trading is regulated by FINRA, the National Futures Association (NFA) and the SIPC.

This direct-access broker is simple to use for the established and experienced trader, with access to shorting opportunities and hard-to-find stocks and shares.

With Cobra Trading, you can decide to use the Cobra TraderPro platform to access stocks, indices and futures. However, using Sterling Trader Pro is fast and effective through Cobra Trading.

For shares, the price is between $0.004 and $0.002 – the more volume that is traded, the lower the fee (although there is a standard $1 commission). For options, you can expect fees of $0.50 to $0.30 per contract.

The software fee for using Sterling Trader Pro is $200, but this is waived for users that trade at least 300,000 shares per month.

To get the basic data package in addition to the monthly software fee, there is a $99 charge, plus $12 for each further software add-on.

As with CenterPoint Securities, the initial deposit is $30,000. However, to be able to use all the functionality of the broker, you must maintain a balance of at least $25,000.

There are multiple trading applications that can be used on Cobra Trading, but there is no access to simple platforms like MetaTrader – another reason why these brokers are aimed at professional traders making large trades in large volumes.

Cobra Trading offers comprehensive charting and tools that are perfect for institutional traders and professionals, as well as day traders who can meet the minimum requirements in terms of volume to get the most out of the platform with fast trades.

A relative newcomer to the broker market, Capital Markets Elite Group (CMEG) is based in Trinidad and Tobago. There is no regulation for this broker through FINRA, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or SIPC – which can be a benefit, but might concern some traders.

This broker is unregulated, so the services they provide are "not intended for US citizens and residents", whether using Sterling Trader Pro or not.

As it’s unregulated, CMEG has no pattern day trading (PDT) rules – so there is no need to keep a $25,000 minimum in the margin account if you make more than four day trades in a five-day period.

There is a managed portfolio available, which can be set as core, conservative, moderate or aggressive.

In the Standard account, there are several account fees to consider – from an inactivity fee that kicks in if you make fewer than three trades a month to a $25 per call charge. To be able to use Sterling Trader Pro, you need to have an active account.

The software fees for using Sterling Trader Pro are significantly cheaper through CMEG at just $99, with rebates depending on monthly commissions, and access to Sterling Trader Mobile available at an extra charge of $25 per month.

The small minimum deposit – starting at just $500 – might make it seem ideal for newer investors, but the high leverage options can make it very easy to lose money, especially with expensive commissions.

The unregulated nature of CMEG makes it less safe for inexperienced investors, but for day traders who could come under scrutiny for PDT, this could be perfect.

What Is Sterling Trader Pro?

Sterling Trader Pro was created by Sterling Trader Tech, the leading provider of professional trading technology solutions.

Users of Sterling Trader Pro can access a winning combination of fast, stable technology with great customer service for trading global equity, equity options and futures markets.

As an advanced desktop program, Sterling Trader Pro is a white-label software that professional trading firms and broker dealers can put their own stamp on by using simple APIs.

There is also a browser and a mobile version available, which have similar functionality for trading and speed.

Sterling Trader Pro is designed for use by active, experienced traders, with limited tutorials and educational tools, aside from a demo account.

As one of the most widely used professional trading management suites, it has several advanced trading tools as standard, including:

• Basket trading
• Professional-level charting
• Research tools
• Access to foreign exchanges
• All CME and Bovespa futures contracts
• Watch lists
• Level II quotes

To use Sterling Trader Pro, your broker will charge a platform fee of $100–$300, depending on the company you use. Some brokers will waive the fee if you trade more than a certain monthly volume (usually around 300,000 shares).

Level I data is available at no extra charge, but Level II data (which is more comprehensive) is chargeable as a monthly add-on, at about $30 per month.

With Sterling Trader Pro, you can customize your views, make lightning-fast trades and even assign hot keys to complete trades at the push of a button.

Which Needs Does Sterling Trader Pro Address?

There are any number of in-house platforms that traders can use to make their trades. However, Sterling Trader Pro is designed to make it easy to personalize, executing trades quickly and in the most appropriate way.

It is designed to be used by professional traders. This means there are tools that can be used to locate hard-to-borrow shares – so a wider portfolio can be achieved and managed.

The charting tools available in Sterling Trader Pro are popular with active traders, and some professionals prefer its windows and views compared to similar tools in other applications.

In almost all cases, the choice to use Sterling Trader Pro instead of similar platforms is based on the speed of trades, through direct access rather than a third party or non-direct access trade. This means that traders who rely on speed and volume can get the best out of their trading.

Which Is the Best Platform?

There are pros and cons to each platform that allows access to Sterling Trader Pro, so choosing the right one for your trading style and needs is important.

The small minimum deposit needed to use CMEG with Sterling Trader Pro might make it seem ideal for experts, but there is a lack of transparency and tools that makes it less than ideal in most cases. It is also unregulated.

Between the other three, there aren’t many differences other than personal preference, but all things being equal, it would seem that either CenterPoint Securities or Lightspeed might be the most appropriate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Sterling Trader Pro, one of the most popular stock trading software programs, is used by many proprietary trading firms and professional traders.

It is one of the most widely used platforms in the world, especially for trading equities, options and futures.

There are several platforms that allow access to the functions of Sterling Trader Pro, so if this is your chosen software, you need to bear that in mind. However, it is not advisable to choose your broker on this aspect alone.

WikiJob does not provide tax, investment or financial services and advice. The information is being presented without consideration of the investment objectives, risk tolerance or financial circumstances of any specific investor and might not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investing involves risk including the possible loss of principal.