Futures
- Available in brokerage and eligible IRAs
- Trade futures listed on CME, ICE US, and CFE
- Micro and E-mini contracts now available
- Support from licensed Futures Specialists
Why trade futures?
Near around-the-clock trading
Trade 24 hours a day, six days a week
No pattern day trading rules
No minimum account value to trade multiple times per day
Ease of going short
No short sale restrictions or hard-to-borrow availability concerns
Capital efficiencies
Control a large amount of notional value with relatively small amount of capital
Start investing today
Pro-level tools, online or on the go
You can trade on your desktop or mobile device anytime during the 24/6 futures trading sessions with the award-winning Power E*TRADE and Power E*TRADE app.4
- Trade futures alongside equities, ETFs, and options on the same platform without moving funds between accounts
- Use ladders on the web and mobile app to view real-time contract prices and directly trade, cancel, or modify orders
- Formulate trading strategies with 100+ technical studies and full suite of drawing tools
Feel the pulse of the markets
E*TRADE Futures Research Center is powered by the CME Group—one of the world’s largest futures exchanges.
- Learn why many sophisticated traders rely on futures, including portfolio diversification, liquidity, leverage, and more
- See what’s hot with a streaming real-time quotes heatmap
- Get insights from seasoned professionals on indexes, energies, metals, FX, and interest rates
Licensed Futures Specialists
Frequently asked questions
To trade futures, you must have a margin-enabled brokerage account or eligible IRA account. To get started
If your linked margin brokerage account already has sufficient funds, there is no need to make additional transfers to separately fund futures trading. The minimum margin requirement for futures positions held overnight will be automatically transferred to your E*TRADE futures account, including commission and fees, and any deficiency funds required to satisfy margin calls. Conversely, any excess margin and available cash will be automatically transferred back to your margin brokerage account where SIPC protection is available.
E*TRADE currently absorbs all CME Group and CFE quote fees for non-professional clients. ICE U.S market data fees are passed through to clients.
If a futures position is held overnight, customers must margin their futures account with 100% of exchange minimum margin requirements. Futures account intraday margining for all products except Bitcoin is 50% of initial margin requirements. These requirements can be increased at any time.
Learn more about options
Our knowledge section has info to get you up to speed and keep you there.