Optimus Futures Flow Review

Optimus Futures Flow Ratings at a Glance

Optimus Futures Product Offering

Optimus Futures is a regulated futures brokerage offering traders access to over 10 order routing data providers and exchanges, six Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) or clearing houses and a selection of over 35 trading platforms. The brokerage boasts high-end trading technology and a variety of data feeds for futures, options, forex and Bitcoin derivatives from these exchanges. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of its core product and service offering.  

Future Trading

Optimus Futures provides traders access to different types of futures markets. These include:

Micro future trading: Micro futures are smaller-sized contracts with minimum upfront capital requirements and lower day trading margins, designed to make futures and options trading more accessible to undercapitalized retail traders. Optimus Futures boasts 20 micro future contracts across multiple derivatives, including stock indices, Bitcoin, Energy, currencies and the US Treasuries Yields. Contract sizes range from 1/10th to 1/5th of the standard contract size but can be as high as 1/50 for micro Bitcoin futures contracts. It is 1/10th the standard contract size for the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil and all the four micro E-mini futures ( S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and DJIA). 

The three micro metals futures (gold, silver and palladium) and seven micro FX futures (including EUR/USD, GBP/USD, JPY/USD and CAD/USD) can be either 1/10th or 1/5th the size of the standard contract. Optimus Futures charges $0.25 commissions on all micro futures contracts, and the day trading margin for MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) can be as low as $40. Despite these lower fees and margin requirements, traders enjoy the same capital efficiency, flexibility and diversification potential as standard futures.

Event-based contract: An event contract is a unique asset class that enables traders to participate in Yes or No trading, depending on the outcomes of specific events. Optimus Futures' event-based contracts are smaller-sized, daily-expiring products that allow you to trade your perspective on whether the price of major futures markets will increase or decrease by the end of each day's trading session. For instance, you can make a prediction, choosing "Yes" or "No," on whether you believe the S&P 500 futures will close up or down on a specific trading day. 

This type of trading is characterized by predefined risk, meaning that the price you pay per contract represents the maximum you can both lose and make per trade. Furthermore, it is 0DTE and doesn't require rollover. "0DTE" stands for "Zero Days to Expiration," implying that the contract expires and is settled on the same day they are traded. Optimum Futures offers event contracts on 10 of the most popular global futures markets, including the four equity or stock indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and DJIA), energy (WTI crude oil and natural gas), metals (gold, silver and copper) and FX (EUR/USD). The margin can be as small as $20 per contract and the commission is $0.25. 

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs): Day trading futures in an IRA is a unique approach to growing your retirement savings, offering a way to manage your investments within a tax-advantaged account actively. This strategy allows traders to harness the potential of short-term market movements while enjoying tax benefits, creating an intriguing blend of day trading and long-term financial planning. Optimus Futures provides you with all the necessary tools and help to enjoy day trading futures in your IRA. 

These advantages encompass competitive $0.50 per side commissions, enabling cost-effective trading within your IRA. Low day-trading margins provide the flexibility for high leverage, empowering you to day-trade futures in your retirement account effectively. Its robust trading platform is integrated with multiple data providers, enabling the broker to deliver streaming real-time quotes and historical market data directly from the exchanges. Optimus Futures supports traditional, Roth, rollover, SEP and Simple IRAs. Getting started is hassle-free; select a custodian and open an account with your preferred clearing firm. The broker will assist in completing the necessary paperwork to establish your new IRA. 

Managed futures: Managed futures refers to a type of investment strategy where a professional money manager, known as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), makes trading decisions on behalf of investors. These managers trade a variety of futures contracts in an attempt to generate returns and manage risk. It's a form of alternative investment that can provide diversification and exposure to various asset classes and markets. Optimus Futures provides comprehensive managed futures brokerage services. This includes helping clients choose a CTA, setting up a trading account for the CTA to oversee and continuously managing the trading activities of the Managed Futures Program. This allows investors to access professional futures trading strategies while receiving expert guidance and oversight.

Trading Platform 

Optimus Futures delivers top-notch trading platforms with a range of data feeds that guarantee swift trade execution, ideal for day trading and swing trading of futures contracts. Its proprietary platform, Optimus Flow, is intuitive, with various interactive and customizable panels to build your perfect trading screen. The platform offers diverse, impressive functionalities, such as live market data with Level 2 insights, highly detailed charting down to the tick level, unlimited simulated trading, robust strategy back-testing capabilities with live data, chart drawing tools and 40+ technical indicators. 

Traders will enjoy custom timeframes, times and sales analysis, a dynamic DOM trader, multiple bracket order options, precise tick data, lightning-fast execution and an extensive set of tools to elevate your trading experience. While this premium account offers you access to the full features of this cutting-edge future trading broker, you can sign up for a 14-day free demo account to access all the available tools and features, including:

• Depth of market (DOM) surface for comprehensive tracking of liquidity changes within the order book as well as trading activity of participants via the Heatmap view
• Volume analysis tools and advanced charts, including cluster charts, volume profiles, volume impact indicators, time statistics and histograms for deep price analysis 
• TPO profile chart, which displays price distribution over specific time intervals, helping traders identify price levels where the market has spent the most time
• Automated journaling to help you easily upload your trades with a single click from the platform to their trading journal and a web-based journal that grants you access to your trade history anywhere and on any device.
• Power Trades, which is useful for detecting and identifying the execution of a large number of orders in a very short time to catch the price change
• Strategy backtesting with live data that allows you to simulate your automated trades and use data to check the prior performance of assets
• Market Replay where you can trade previous sessions using different scenarios and see the results in real-time, allowing you to make better decisions next time

Optimus Flow provides many other advanced features and a professional design tailored to meet the needs of high-level traders and experienced investors. However, suppose you prefer a third-party trading platform. In that case, Optimus Futures API seamlessly integrates with over 40 trading platforms, including TradingView, TrendSpider, MetaTrader 5 and FireTip, offering you the flexibility to select the platform that best suits your trading needs. 

While many brokers typically dictate the choice of data feeds and clearing firms for their clients, Optimus Futures allows traders to choose from its selection of about 10 data feed providers, each with distinct features and pricing. These providers cater to various trading styles, with multiple options suitable for institutional and high-frequency traders as well as cost-conscious individuals. Furthermore, advanced traders and larger firms can choose from multiple clearing firms to optimize their capital efficiency and trade execution. Optimus Futures also provides automated trading solutions for traders who prefer hands-off trading or wish to develop their custom strategies using programming languages like C++, C, Java and more.

Educational and Research Resources 

Excellent educational resources provide traders with valuable knowledge, enabling them to make informed decisions, reduce errors and seize opportunities in complex and ever-changing markets. Optimus Futures prioritizes learning and takes adequate measures to ensure both beginners and experienced traders have access to vital educational resources. There's a self-help trading guide, webinars and a futures trading blog with comprehensive insights into futures trading suitable for traders at every level. Additionally, the trading podcast provides a wealth of audio and video episodes covering essential topics like trading psychology, risk management and day trading strategies. 

Optimus Futures CEO and Co-Founder Matt Zimberg hosts a live YouTube program known as "The Matt Z Trading Show," where he delves into various trading topics and responds to questions received through social media. You can access relevant information on the various trading platforms from the libraries. Depending on your specific clearing house, you can also access market news and research. Optimus Futures' future trading community provides another interactive and learning space for traders with discussions on trading-related and technical topics. Optimus Futures actively participates by monitoring software improvements, addressing questions and offering valuable and timely feedback to users.

Optimus Futures provides highly efficient technical support across multiple channels, including phone, email and live chat. The customer support representatives are highly professional, knowledgeable and ready to address your concerns and proffers a solution. For a more hands-on approach, the broker also provides remote desktop support, enabling technicians to log in remotely and diagnose any application issues. The Help Center boasts numerous short articles on various topics across general questions, account opening, trading and trading platform guides. This allows users to access relevant information without needing to contact customer support. 

You can find answers to most of your questions on the broker's robust futures trading community comprising Optimus' technical team, other customers and a network of partners. Optimus Futures also maintains an active presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram, providing another means of engaging with the team and potentially asking questions. The broker has a rating of 4.4/5 on Trustpilot. Reviewer comments were overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the company for its remarkable trading conditions, service offerings and responsive support team.

Optimus Futures prioritizes the safety and protection of clients' funds and the privacy and security of users' data. It is regulated by the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The NFA is a derivative self-regulatory organization that works with other regulatory agencies, such as CFTC, to ensure compliance with ethical standards and customer protection rules. Optimus Futures maintains a strict adherence to the core customer protection rule, CFTC 1.25, which requires the segregation of customer funds from the funds of the clearing firm.

This means your funds are held separately in segregated accounts, either in a bank account specifically named Customer Segregated Funds Account or in investments approved under CFTC 1.25. The clearing firms or the Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) utilized by Optimus Futures exercise prudence when investing customers' balances. Regarding data privacy, Optimus Futures implement various measures to protect personally identifiable information. This includes restricting access to personal information only to those who require it to provide products or services to users.

The broker maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect users' data and periodically tests its security technology to ensure effectiveness. Optimus Futures maintains strict compliance with U.S. federal standards for data protection. While user data might be shared within the company for purposes such as providing services, improving products or offering products and services that may be of interest, it doesn't sell it or release such data to a third party except as permitted by law, requested by the user or as outlined in its privacy policy. 

Optimus Futures offers affordable and transparent pricing structures. The minimum amount needed to open an account depends on your selected clearing house (or FCM) — Ironbeam, ADMIS, Wedbush, TradeStation and Philip Capital. For instance, opening an Ironbeam account requires just $500, and you can start trading with as little as $100 for Nanos, $500 for Micros and $2,000 for E-Minis. The account minimum for ADMIS is $10,000, while all other clearinghouses require $5,000. The commissions are charged per side; when you buy or sell a futures contract, that's one side (or half turn). 

However, when you open and close a position, it's two sides (or round turn). The actual charges depend on the number of contracts. The starter commission for standard futures contracts is $0.75 per side ($0.25 per side on micro contracts) if you trade 0-20 contracts per day. The commissions per side can drop as low as $0.10 per side ($0.05 for micro futures ) if you trade over 1,000 contracts daily. These charges exclude exchange charges, clearing fees and NFA fees. 

It typically ranges from $0.10 to $0.5 per side and contract. However, some providers like FireTip, GAIN Futures and TradeStation do not charge routing fees. The exchange fees are charged directly by the exchanges (CME, ICE, NYMEX) to your brokerage account in return for providing market access. It is also assessed per transaction and varies depending on the market and product being traded. *CME exchange fees are often the highest, with prices like $1.18 for a single S&P 500 EMini contract. Some exchanges and trading platforms also charge a flat data fee for streaming real-time market data. You're liable for a compulsory $0.02 NFA fee. 

The day trading margins, or intraday margins, are determined by the clearing firms and are typically provided as a percentage of the initial margin or a nominal amount. The specific margin requirements vary based on factors such as market volatility, open interest, customer credit profile and the level of funding in your account. The margin for standard futures contracts is $500, but holding a contract overnight requires at least $10,000 per contract in your account. 

For micro futures contracts, the margin is $100 but can go as low as $40. Micro Stock Indices are 10 times smaller in size, making them an ideal choice if you're just getting started with little capital. Optimus Futures provides multiple deposit options, including checks, ACH and wires. There are no deposit fees, but withdrawal fees apply. The specific withdrawal method and prices depend on the chosen clearing house. If you're a newbie, the Optimus Futures self-guide can help you better understand the available platforms, data feeds, margins and more.

Additionally, Optimus Futures provides a range of free services and features with every account, including a free platform with Order Flow called Optimus Flow, a free trading journal, a free real-time news subscription and alerts through Optimus News, streaming real-time data for quotes and charts, low day trading margins and 24-hour trade desk access.

Optimus Futures offers a user-friendly platform for traders seeking to optimize their futures trading strategies, backed by a wide array of data feed providers and clearing firms. Traders can either use its impressive proprietary trading platform or choose from a range of trading platforms with advanced features, including MT5, which makes for flexibility, enhancing the user experience. The broker offers multiple futures contracts like micros and event contracts as well as IRAs and managed futures to satisfy diverse futures traders. 

Automated trading is available for hands-off traders, while developer support is offered for those who wish to create custom trading strategies. The broker emphasizes education with a blog, podcasts and a responsive futures trading community to help traders stay informed. Top-notch customer support and hassle-free remote desktop assistance ensure traders have the technical help they need. Registration and onboarding are hassle-free, and the broker takes adequate measures to protect users' funds and data privacy. All these features significantly boost user appeal, making Optimus Futures a well-rounded choice for futures trading.

Optimus Futures vs. Competitors

Optimus Futures has a few competitors like AMP Global and NinjaTrader in the future trading brokerage industry. Like Optimus Futures, these brokers offer low account minimums, competitive commissions and aggressive leverage. However, unlike these competitors, Optimus Futures is strictly dedicated to futures trading and offers a full-featured proprietary futures trading platform for free. Its excellent educational and research resources, combined with the selection of free trading tools and top-notch customer support services, are its core competitive advantage. 

Optimus Futures is one of the few discount futures brokers offering a comprehensive solution for futures traders, thanks to its low fees, robust native platform, third-party integrations and user-friendly website. The broker's partnerships with multiple FCMs provide traders access to diverse future markets and trading platforms. The implication is that Optimus Futures can cater to a diverse range of derivative traders, including beginners and experienced traders, as well as retail and institutional clients. However, beginner traders might initially struggle with the platform's depth and complexity, especially compared to more retail-focused alternatives. Nevertheless, there is a wealth of educational resources available to assist them in navigating the complexities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer: *Only available on the Optimus Flow platform powered by Optimus Futures. Commissions, FCM Clearing, Exchange and NFA fees apply to all order types.

**Day Trading Margins are offered to most clients and are available during any open session as long as a $100 balance is maintained for those trading Micros and $500 for those trading Standard contracts. If you fall below these levels, you may be liquidated. Day Trading margins may be subject to change at the discretion of the broker or its affiliated FCM, depending on market conditions. Lower day trading margins may subject you to higher commissions.