LightSpeed Trader Review: The New York-based Lightspeed is a division of Lime Brokerage. The company started in 1994. They offer lower rates for high-volume trades. As a result, they attract very active traders. This includes Institutions and Hedge Funds. The lowest rate for stocks is $0.001 per share. That’s a good deal! However, that’s if you trade over 250,000 monthly shares, which is about 12,000 daily. Needless to say, brokers‘ fees and commissions make a difference, especially to the bottom line of those trading substantial numbers.
We have used many different brokers in our trading community, but LightSpeed must be at the top. It’s our favorite broker by far when it comes to day trading. We love how interactive, quick, customizable, and easy their platform is to use. You don’t need another charting platform because their charts are top-notch.
Table of Contents
LightSpeed Trader Review Introduction
Is LightSpeed the best day trading platform? It’s at least one of the best. They are a reliable broker that offers a high-speed execution rate on trades, powerful technology built for high-volume trading, and low-cost fees on stocks and options. It would be best to be comfortable with your chosen broker because it’s the hub of everything trading. Buying and selling stocks, as well as options, charting, and style, are all important.
Lightspeed Trader and Lime Brokerage offer more than a lower-cost trading solution. As their name implies, speed executions of trades are part of their proposition. I wouldn’t call it a USP, however. USP is also known as Unique Selling Proposition.
Many other platforms claim the same. Please look at our recent Speedtrader review to see what I mean. Nonetheless, let’s take a look under the hood of Lightspeed. As a result, you can be the judge.
LightSpeed Trader Promo Code
Bullish Bears Members Promo: *Use promo code BULLISHBEAR
Receive:
Commissions – $3.00 per trade or $.003 per share/$0.50 min.
Options – $0.30 per contract
$5,000 minimum deposit (cash accounts only, web/mobile platform only)
$10,000 minimum deposit (NPDT or cash accounts, eligible for LightSpeed Trader)
For more information on opening a demo account or opening an account with LightSpeed, please get in touch with Rob Livson at rlivson@lightspeed.com
LightSpeed Accounts
Let’s take a look at the accounts in this Lightspeed review. Lightspeed Trader offers individual, joint, partnership, corporate, LLC, trust, and registered hedge fund accounts. Furthermore, they offer traditional, Roth, and SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) IRA accounts.
In addition, Lightspeed offers account types, such as:
- DVP/RVP (Delivery versus Payment/Receipt versus Payment)
- CMTA (Clearing Member Trade Agreements)
- SMA (Separately Managed Account)
- Portfolio Margin
- Regulation T Margin Account
You can fund your accounts via ACH, domestic or international wire transfer, or check.
However, new traders opening a small trading account may find Lightspeed’s minimum fund requirements daunting.
Currently, the minimum amount is $10,000 for Web Trader platform accounts. Then, it jumps to $25,000 for Lightspeed Trader, Sterling Trader, and RealTick platforms accounts.
IRAs are one of the exceptions. Depending on the platform, you can open an account for as low as $2,000. Portfolio Margin accounts require a minimum of $175,000 unless you use the Livevol X platform. Then it’s $110,000.
Paper Trading
Lightspeed Trader has a great paper trading platform and gives you a demo. If you go to their website,e you can try a demo before you fund an account. We want to suggest doing this. It will help you get their platform’s feel before trading with real money. ThinkorSwim has one of the best paper trading platforms in the industry, but LS is neck and neck with them, and they are much better for day trading.
We’ve had experience using several brokers, and LS is far easier to set up than other brokers. Interactive Brokers were a nightmare to set up, and you had to hunt around to get answers. Their customer service was also sub-par. TD Ameritrade has a great paper trading platform with endless features, but it is cumbersome and difficult to set up.
It only took us an hour or two to set up our Lightspeed platform, and we didn’t have to search endlessly for Lightspeed tutorials to get started. They also have quick tutorial videos on their website that get right to the point, which is very helpful. We did the same in our Lightspeed tutorial course. Also, check out our Lightspeed Review.
Paper trading is a great way to understand how the LS platform works in the real world. Just be aware that it is a paper trading platform, and order fills might be slower in live market action, but not by much. But, again, their order execution speeds are impressive. So, we encourage you to get your platform up the way you’d like in live market action, then practice making a few hundred trades before trading with real money.
SERVICES |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| DESCRIPTION | Bullish Bears offer trade rooms in our Discord. Our chat rooms include penny stocks, large caps, options, and futures | We offer stock signals and trade alerts through our watch lists and Discord bots using Tradytics | Swing trade and day trade watch lists with hand-picked symbols that have the best chance of breakouts. These are stocks to watch |
| INCLUDED | Trading courses • Live streaming • Discord • Real Time Teaching • Scanners & Bots Trade Rooms | Watch lists • Symbols • Support and resistance levels • Discord bots and scanners Trade Alerts | Swing trade watchlist • Day trade watchlist • Alert levels mapped out • Watch lists updated daily Watch Lists |
LightSpeed Trader Platforms
Let’s look at the trading platforms in this Lightspeed Trader review.
Livevol X – This free platform is suited to nonprofessional traders. It can be used on multiple monitors. Livevol X features include multi-leg order execution, Level II quotes, and data analytics. Risk, position, and trade analysis are also included. It’s a useful tool for derivatives traders and offers 24/7 exchange access.
Lightspeed Trader – Overall, it’s customizable and functions on multiple screens. Orders are sent rapidly to over 100 routing destinations. There are features like advanced charting capabilities, the Lightscan search tool, Level II quotes, risk controls, and custom orders, to name a few. That makes the Lightspeed Trader platform more suited for active traders.
Web/Mobile Trader – The free Web/Mobile platform is for traders on the go. It’s accessible from a browser or mobile device. It would be best if you had an internet connection. You can view real-time data and execute orders from your Mac, PC, tablet, or phone. The platform is good for nonprofessional traders. However, it is less than ideal for day traders. Level II quotes are not available on this platform.
Sterling Trader Pro – This platform is designed for professional and institutional traders like the “Pro” in the name. Hotkeys and load order entry make it instantaneously fast. It’s full-featured and highly customizable. It includes Level II quotes, real-time profit and loss information, advanced charting capabilities, and portfolio management tools.
Realtick Pro & Express
RealTick Pro and Express – For highly experienced traders, the RealTick platform is the most sophisticated. It’s designed for use by hedge funds, registered investment advisors, and active traders.
This platform provides access to both Level I and Level II streaming data. RealTick is Lightspeed’s futures trading platform. Two options are offered: RealTick Pro and RealTick Express. Just go to Lightspeed to compare platforms.
Order Execution
Lightspeed Trader is among the best brokers in the industry for lightning-fast order executions, which are great for day traders. Order fills and speed is critical when day trading. You want to get in and out of a trade quickly while getting the best fills. Some minor slippage could mean the difference between a winning or losing trade, which could cost you thousands of dollars per year.
Brokers such as TD Ameritrade or E-Trade entice new day traders because of their low fees and alluring charting platforms. Still, they aren’t designed for day traders regarding order executions. Also, they don’t have as good montage window customization when placing trades. Those platforms are more cumbersome. TD Ameritrade makes it more difficult when it comes to placing limit orders. When you click on their “Trade” tab, the trade screen removes the charts entirely, which is terrible when making split-second trading decisions.
The great news is that the Lightspeed Trader platform takes away all this pain with its highly customizable montage windows. You can place orders without hijacking your charts, allowing you to be completely focused when trading.
LightSpeed Trader Fees and Pricing Review
- Fees vary depending on the number of trades. Lightspeed’s fees drop considerably for high-volume traders.
- $2.50 per trade over 10,000 trades, $2.75 over 3000 trades, $3.00 over 1500 trades, $3.50 over 750 trades, $4 over 250 trades, $4.50 under 250 trades
- $0.0010 Over 15,000,000 per share of stocks and ETFs
- $0.0015 Over 6,000,000 shares
- Over 3,000,000 shares $0.0020
- $0.0025 Over 1,000,000 shares
- $0.0035 Over 250,000 shares
- Under 249,999 shares **$1 minimum
- Options Pricing: $0.20 over 100,000 contracts, $0.25 over 50,000 contracts, $0.35 over 10,000 contracts, $0.45 over 2000 contracts, $0.50 over 500 contracts, $0.60 over 500 contracts
- Futures Fees: $1.29 per side, options – $1.79 per side
Get updated pricing here.
Customer Service
We have high standards when it comes to customer service since we’ve used and currently still use other brokers in our trading community. But, again, we use TD Ameritrade as the pinnacle of customer service. We’ve called TD hundreds of times, and their customer service is top-notch.
Interactive Broker’s customer service is so-so. You get what you need to be done, but sometimes they are rude or abrasive. They seem to want to get you off the phone.
Speed Trader’s customer service is great, but they rely on DasTrader’s platform. Das Trader is not fun for customer service and tech support questions or issues. I am unsure if they have improved their tech support over the past few years, but they were awful and very rude when we reached out to them several times to set up our platform. They seem to live in the past with their platform and don’t act open to updates and feedback.
Lightspeed, on the other hand, has very good customer service. We’ve contacted them several times, and they are very helpful. But, then again, you don’t need to reach out to them much because their platform is very easy to use, and they have simple tutorials to answer the most pressing questions.
Lightspeed Trader Shorting Review
The Lightspeed Trader platform is great for shorts. Just look for the green letter E on level 2. They have good short locates if the stock isn’t easy to borrow. Just submit your short request, and they will return quickly with the cost of the shares that can be borrowed.
To see if shares are available to short, type the stock symbol into level 2. E: means that the stock is Easy to Borrow. T: means Threshold and can’t be shorted. L: this means that the stock might be able to be borrowed but needs to be located through the Short Request Form.
Charting
A good charting platform is important when day trading—price action is key when making split-second trading decisions. Candlesticks are the most important trading indicator, meaning you must have good charts to look at when entering and exiting a trade.
TD Ameritrade’s ThinkorSwim platform is the pinnacle when it comes to chart. We agree that the ThinkorSwim platform has the best charts, but LS is not too far behind. LS is so much better than Interactive Brokers and SpeedTrader. SpeedTrader uses the Das Platform, and their charts are sub-par. IB’s charts are just awful.
LS’s is below ThinkorSwim and above the other brokers, making them solid overall when trading. You don’t need another charting platform to trade, which is great. Plus, their montage is customizable for charts, and their zoom feature helps get a clean look at the charts.
It’s relatively easy to get your charts set up with LS. You can also layer on indicators as well. Once you get your layout the way that you want it, make sure to save it. Opening and saving layouts are easy to do. In addition, you can customize layouts based on different trading styles and easily interchange them.
Indicators
Indicators are very important when it comes to a trading platform. This is where the importance of a solid charting platform comes in. It would be best to see the indicators clearly on a chart, especially regarding day trading. Speed and accuracy are also critical. If the indicators are seconds off compared to other platforms, this could mess up your trading.
The good news is that the Lightspeed Trader platform has great indicators. They are the same ones that you’d use with other day trading brokers. Studies include simple moving average, exponential moving average, volume weighted average price (vwap), Bollinger bands, relative strength index (rsi), MACD, Fibonacci retracement, and more.
What’s nice is how clean the indicators look on LS charts. They are as good as the ThinkorSwim platform. However, if you compare them to the Das Trader platform, how they look is almost night and day. DAS charting is stuck in the 80s or 90s, which is frustrating.
Final Thoughts: LightSpeed Trader Review
Lightspeed Trader demos are available on request. The company offers tutorials, webinars, and a trading glossary and has an active trading blog. Lightspeed’s customer support is notable in that it has associates who speak English, Chinese, and Spanish.
Lightspeed even offers excess SIPC insurance. Additional options are specialized software for stock, options, and futures traders, trade reporting software, and risk management software.
Regarding risk management, I’ll conclude this Lightspeed review by reminding you that it takes more than a good system and broker to make money in the markets.
I was reading the Market Wizard series of books, looking for the magic formula used by the superstar traders making multi-million dollars. I found that they all had different approaches.
Except for one thing. The secret that’s not a secret. They were all applying ‘money and risk management‘ principles. When trading, watch your risk.
Understand how much you can make while limiting your losses. Taking the appropriate position size for your account will allow you to last long enough to learn to be a profitable trader.
LightSpeed Trader Sign Up
Bullish Bears Members Promo: *Use promo code BULLISHBEAR
Receive:
Commissions – $3.00 per trade or $.003 per share/$0.50 min.
Options – $0.30 per contract
$5,000 minimum deposit (cash accounts only, web/mobile platform only)
$10,000 minimum deposit (NPDT or cash accounts, eligible for LightSpeed Trader)
For more information on opening a demo account or opening an account with LightSpeed, please get in touch with Rob Livson at rlivson@lightspeed.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Investors cannot purchase shares of LightSpeed Trader because the company is privately held.
