Our Take

Lime Trading stands out in the industry as a broker that is only acting on behalf of their clients to execute client trades. In other words, L꧙ime is not holding inventory in the securities that its clients buy and sell like a broker-dealer would. Lime Trading Corp., is a registered broker-dealer but acts as a broker in an age⭕ncy capacity. 

Lime Trading’s platform uses algorithmic trading to react to market events faster than the competition, thereby increasing the profitability of trades—also known as low-latency trading. Lime Trading primarily offers direct market access and platforms designed for day traders🐻 and anyone wanting to invest in the market using high-frequencꦉy trading (HFT).

Introduction

Lime Trading was established in 2000 when its founders were looking for a brokerage firm to meet their needs but could not find one, so they took matters into their own hands and created one. After gearing its services toward a competitive group of financ💝ial institutions, Lime is now expanding access to independent traders who value quality execution. 

Score Priority was a diverse financial technology, trading, and brokerage firm offering a full suite of services for active retail, professional, and institutional clients before acquiring the Lime low-latency execution platform from Lightspeed Financial Services in 2020. Lime was a natural fit to better serve high-frequency traders with hedge fund-level technology and Score Priority chose to rebrand as Lime Financial after integrating those capabilities. We’ll tak🐼e a closer look to help you decide if Lime Trading is the right investing platform for𝓀 you.

Pros & Cons

Pros Explained 

• Unlimited $0 commission trading on U.S.-listed stocks and EFTs: Lime Trading offers low-latency trading technology to individual, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:high-frequency traders, starting with a base-level account.
• Hedge fund-level technology: Lime Trading is unique in the industry, offering investors sophisticated features, such as charts, watchlists, screeners, portfolio tabs, option chains, and margin and short trading. 
• Low-latency trading platform: Lime Trading's platform uses algorithmic trading to react to market events faster than the competition, thereby increasing the profitability of trades.

Cons Explained 

• Not meant for entry-level investors: While all of the technology and platform features are top-notch, it would be overwhelming and confusing for novice investors.
• No proprietary or third-party research: This is another indicator that users on this platform must be well-versed in how to invest and what they want to invest in, as all research and information must be found outside of this platform.
• High minimum account balance: To start trading, an account must have a minimum balance of $1000; margin accounts must have a minimum balance of $2,000.

Usability

Lime Trading offers a straightforward dashboard that gives users an overview of current market news, market sectors, and portfolio holdings. Investors are even able to set up their own list of favorite stocks to follow to further customize their user experience. Investors can log in from either desktop or mobile platforms to keep tabs on their account from anywhere. While there are several ways to customize the dashboard with regard to stocks, there is currently no choice but to add screeners for ETFs, options, or fixed income.

Trade Experience

The trading dashboard has many options for the investor to customize, such as screeners, notifications, alerts, and favorites. Lime offers investors the ability to place traditional orders, trade options, and short stocks. Placing a market order, limit order, or conditional order is easy from the main trading dashboard. There is also a nice trade-from-chart feature, and you can move the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:one-cancels-the-other (OCO) prices with your mouse.

For the more advanced investor, Lime offers convenient indicators, such as the HTB designation for stocks that are 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:hard to borrow. If this is something that you are looking to do, Lime Trading has made its 𓂃platform a one-stop shop by locating the stock and giving you a quote on it, so you won’t even need to leave the platform.

For high-frequency traders, speed of trading is important, and Lime highlights low-latency trading on its platform. Sterling Trader Pro goes through the Lime framework. Metatrader 5 is a powerful testing tool, but its third-party downloadable web and mobile components have limited backtesting when used in th🌠e Lime platform.

Mobile Trade Experience

Switching from thꦏe account and portfolio dashboard to the trading screen is simple via a desktop computer; there is a tab at the top of the screen to make this transition easy. Just click “Go to Trading” at the top of your dashboard and you will be taken to the trading screen where you can then monitor the market, place an order, or open an option chain. No such tab appears on the mobile app.

However, investors can go into their dashboard, click on a particular stock, then they will have the option to place a “new order” by clicking the green button at the bottom of the screen. Currently, there is only the capability to place a new market, limit, or condition order. No 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:multi-leg option orders are available on the mobile platform at this time. However, investors can close the in🔥dividual legs of multi-leg strategies on mobile.

Range of Offerings

At Lime Trading, you may trade in stocks, ETFs, and options. Lime Trading no longer offers trading on OTC stocks. Existing clients who currently hold these types of stocks can only liquidate these positions. Because Lime is an agency broker, it i𓆉s not holding inventory in any of the securities that an investor buys or sells, thereby opening up the market to investors. However, there are some limits to what investors can access through Lime’s platform. Lime doesn’t support fractional share trading, or forex, crypto, international stocks, or bonds.

Investment products offered at Lime are:

• Stocks—long or short sales (over 5,000 on an easy-to-borrow list) 
• Exchange-traded funds (EFTs)
• Single and multi-leg options (up to 4 legs)

Order Types

In addition to Lime’s market access and low-latency ordeღr execution, users have the ability to enter the following order types:

• Traditional market orders 
• Limit orders
• Stop limit orders
• Take-profit (T/P) orders  
• Conditional orders

Trading Technology

Lime Trading offers several trading platforms. Its goa💖l is to provide low-latency trading technology for systematic traders. Lime’s focus is on high-throughput performance, secure hosting and colocation at major data centers, and customized algorithms and smart order routers. 

Lime Trading breaks down its trading 💫platforms into either API trading or screen trading. API trading enables the investor to automate trading based on their own codes, while screen trading utilizes Lime Trading’s platform to place tra🍬des. 

Lime offers the following platforms for trading.

Screen Trading

• Lime Trader (mobile)
• Lime Trader (web)
• TakeProfit (web)
• Sterling (Lime Pro)
• CQG

API Trading

• Market Data Source
• Trading REST API and Python SDK
• Lime Direct API and Fix Protocol
• Hosting and Colocation
• Individual Setup 

Before an order is eligible to be placed on the exchange for execution, the brokerage firm is responsible for a mandatory pre-trade risk check (Rule 15c3-5) to ensure that an order is not violating any predetermined thresholds. Lime’s pre-trade risk check is much faster than the competition, taking only single-digit microseconds to complete, as compared to other brokers, whose pre-trade risk check can take much longer and potentially cause missed order fills.

Lime’s algorithmic trading platform allows quantitative traders access to several markets, fast execution, customizable settings, and execution reportin🔥g.

Costs

Here’s a rundown of Liꩵme Tradinඣg’s commissions and fees.

Stocks, ETFs, ADRs

• Smart routing execution: $0 commission 
• High-quality execution: Direct market access pass-through fees vary based on industry volumes:
• $0.0030 for less than 1,000,000 equities executed per month 
• $0.0025 for up to 2,000,000 equities executed per month
• $0.0020 for up to 5,000,000 equities executed per month
• $0.0018 for up to 10,000,000 equities executed per month
• Customized pricing over 10,000,000 equities executed per month

Options

• Smart routing execution: $0.50 per contract 
• High-quality execution: Direct market access pass-through fees vary based on industry volumes:
• $0.60 per contract for less than 5,000 options executed per month 
• $0.40 per contract for less than 10,000 options executed per month
• Customized pricing over 10,000,000 equities executed per month

A complete list of fees is transparently displayed on Lime Trading’s website.

Sterling Trader Pro (Lime Pro)

Users must pay a $230 per month platform fee.

Commission Schedule

• $0.0030 for up to 500,000 monthly share quantity 
• $0.0025 for up to 1,000,000 monthly share quantity
• $0.0020 for up to 2,000,000 monthly share quantity
• $0.0018 for up to 4,000,000 monthly share quantity
• $0.0015 for up to 20,000,000 monthly share quantity 
• $0.0010 for up to 50,000,000 monthly share quantity
• $0.0007 for up to 100,000,000 monthly share quantity
• $0.0005 over 100,000,000 monthly share quantity
  
  
• Lime Smart Routing fee per share (optional) $0.0005: All levels
• Margin rate: Federal funds target rate +4%

Investors are able to view a complete pricing list and additional fees for Sterling Trader Pro on Lime’s website.

MetaTrader 5 (Automated Trading)

This platform 𒀰offers unlimited $0 commission trading on U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs

Additional Fees

• Margin interest: 12.50% for up to a $10,000 balance, 10.25% at $250,000 and above
• Inactivity fee: $15 per quarter, waived if you make at least five trades per quarter or maintain a minimum $25,000 balance
• Account transfer fees:
• ACAT incoming transfer: $0
• ACAT outgoing transfer: 12.50%
• ACAT outgoing partial transfer: $11.50
• DWAC delivery: $11.00
• DRS transfer: $10.75
• DTC delivery: 10.50%
• Exercise and assignment fee: $20.
• Wire fees: $35 for domestic and $80 for international; incoming third-party wires are not accepted and will trigger a $25 fee charged to the account
• Send a paper check: $0
• Paper trade confirmations: $3 each
• Paper statements: $5 each
• Live broker fee: $20.

A complete list of miscellaneous fees can be found on the Lime Trading website.  

How This Broker Makes Mꦑoney From You and for You

With fewer brokerages charging commissions these days, it's less obvious how they stay in business. Here are some of the behind-the-scenes ways Lime Trading makes money from you and for you.

• Interest on cash: Idle cash held in your account earns no interest, and Lime Financial offers no cash sweep program.  
• Margin interest: Lime Financial's margin interest rates are about average within the industry. The current rates are as follows: 
• 12.50% on balances less than $10,000  
• 11.50% on balances between $10,000 and $24,999
• 11.00% on balances between $25,000 and $49,999
• 10.75% on balances between $50,000 and $99,999
• 10.50% on balances between $100,000 and $249,999
• 10.25% on balances between $250,000 and $999,999
• Customized pricing for balances over $10,000,000
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Payment for order flow: Some brokers earn money by accepting payments from market makers for directing equity and options orders to them—a practice called payment for order flow (PFOF). According to Lime Trading, the company does not engage in payment for order flow. Rather, investors have the ability to send orders directly to the exchange, as Lime does not trade in-house. The company’s focus is on providing quick and effective order routing to help investors find the best prices. 
• Stock loan programs: Lime Trading does not currently offer a stock loan program. 
• Price improvement: Lime Trading does not disclose its price improvement practices; however, its smart order router expertly evaluates all the venues an investor wants to target and then routes the order to the venues with the highest likelihood of fills. This system is designed to boost order speed and liquidity, aiming to achieve the best price improvements for trades.
• Portfolio margining: Lime Trading offers eligible customers with a balance of $1,000,000 or higher portfolio margining, which computes real-time margin for stock and options trades based on risk instead of fixed percentages.

Account and Research Amenities

Investors have the ability to trade directly from the price chart, customize the platform, and customize the price chart in Lime Trader. These customizations, along with the low-latency and high-volume trading platform, provide investors with services that other brokers simply cannot. Investors looking for research capabilities will find that Lime does not offer any research to investors, either proprietary or from third-party a▨ffiliates.

Stock Screener

Investors can choose ready-made templates when 🐲searching for securities, as well as creating their own. Selections can be made to screen stocks regarding which exchange, security type, and market sector, allowing investors to use both general and comp🍬lex parameters based on fundamental and technical analysis.

ETF Screener

Lime Trading does not offer s💮creeners specific to ETFs.

Options Screener

Lime Trading does not offer an options-💙specific screener.

Fixed Income Screener

Lime Trading does no🐬t offer a fixed income-specific scre🦂ener.

Tools and Calculators

Lime does not offer proprietary trading calculators at this time. However, Lime's hedge fund-style tools and low-latency platform are the pinnacle within the industry.

Charting

Lime offers option charting and historical option pricing on the Lime Trader platform. Investors are also able to view real-time stock charts, both h💫istorically or broken down as precisely as to the minute within a ﷺtrading day.

Trading Idea Generators

Investors can create watch lists, but the platform currently does not offer any ⛦sort of trading ideas generator.

News

Lime does provide news feeds.

Third-Party Research

At this time, Lime does not offer ꦓany third-party or proprietary research to investors.

Cash Management

The company does no♏t offer a money market fund option at this time. 

Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)

There's no option to specify dividend reinvestment when you buy a dividend-paying stock. 

SRI/ESG Research Amenities

Lime Trading does not enable customers to screen based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or socially res🍸ponsible inves꧙ting (SRI) factors.

Portfolio Analysis

Lime Trading doesn't offer any portfolio analysis tools or options from third parties at this time. Unrealized and realized gains/losses are reported in real time, as are margin and buying power. There are no tools to help you calculate the tax impact of future trades.

Education

Lime Trading provides little education about trading and investing strategies beyond an FAQ page. Be💎cause Lime Trading is primarily aimed at the intermediate/experienced crowd, investors who need more education will need to find alternative resources.

Customer Service

• Phone support is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, excluding holidays. Phones are answered quickly by a human.
• Live brokers are available when phone lines are open.
• An AI chatbot at the bottom left of the home page can answer general questions for investors 24/7.
• Lime Trading accepts non-U.S. customers who don't live in OFAC-restricted countries.

Security and Reliability

• Online account information is completely encrypted by proprietary technology. 
• Lime uses a 64-bit block cipher and supports a variable key length of 32 bits to 448 bits. What this means is that a block of your personal data is taken and scrambled with a key created from your password to make it unreadable. 
• Data that is sent to clients is never cached in an unencrypted format on the computer that you are using, so your account information cannot be retrieved from the web browser’s cache files.

Transparency

Lime Trading's pricing structure and fees are fully displayed on the website. However, they can be a bit difficult to understand. Fees are very specific to the type of account you have and the type of trade you are making.

♏ What Type of Account Should I Open at Lime Financial?

Lime Trading has an extensive offering when it comes to account types. Lime Trading offers the following accounts:

• Individual
• Joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JT൲WROS)
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Joint with tenants in c🥀ommon (JTIC)
• Custodial
• Traditional IRA
• Roth IRA
• Rollover IRA
• SEP IRA
• Corporate
• Limited liability company (LLC)
• Partnership
• Sole proprietorship
• Trust

The Bottom Line

Lime Trading’s focus is offering a state-of-the-art technology trading platform to experienced investors. The low-latency platform is perfect for sophisticated, high-volume traders who want direct access to the 🌠markets. Lime’s attention to this niche is evident in its ability to beat the competition by fractions of a microsecond in order to more rapidly execute investors’ orders. 

Thi🌱s focus on the high end of the sophisticated trader market means that Lime Trading doesn’t devote a lot of resources to anything else. You either need their low-latency market access to make money with high-frequency trading, or Lime is not for you. As such, Lime Trading is not recommended for new investors. Many of the intricacies that make this platform unique in the industry and are pivotal to service the niche trader woul💝d only stand to confuse a new investor. 

Score Priority had a focused vision of its target market of active traders, yet didn’t have the technology to fully serve this type of trader. Picking up Lime and rebra𒀰nding as Lime Trading has allowed the company to more adequately and competitively serve experienced, high-volume traders. If you aren’t in that select group, it is best to look elsewhere for a broker to serve your portfolio needs.

Compare Lime Financial to Similar On𒁃line Brokers

H🏅ow We Picked the Best Online🌼 Brokers and Trading Platforms

Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of online brokers and trading platforms is a top priority for Investopedia. We combined our industry research, subject matter expertise, and investor survey data to guide the research and weightings for our 2024 online broker awards. To collect the data, we sent a digital survey with 110 questions to each of the 26 companies we included in our rubric. Additionally, our team of researchers verified the survey responses and collected any missing data points through online research and con🐓versations with each company directly. The data collection process spanned from Feb. 19 to March 19, 2024.

We then developed a proprietary model that scored each company to rate its performance across 11 major categories and 89 criteria to find the best online brokers and trading platforms. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria in the following categori🦩es:

Additionally, during our 2024 research, many of the companies we reviewed gave us live demonstrations of their💮 platforms and services via video conferencing methods and also granted our team of expert writers and editors access to live accounts so they could perform hands-on testing.

Through this all-encompassing𒁃 data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top online brokers and trading ☂platforms.

Learn more about 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:how we review online brokers.