How We Score Brokers — DayTradeGPT Methodology

The Formula AI Score = (Execution × 0.20) + (Cost × 0.20) + (Reliability × 0.15) + (Tools × 0.15) + (DayTraderFit × 0.20) + (Trust × 0.10)

Execution Speed

20%

What it measures

Fill quality and order routing transparency. Brokers that route orders directly to exchanges (rather than selling order flow to market makers) give traders better price improvement and faster fills — critical for scalpers and momentum traders.

Data source

SEC Rule 606 disclosures, which every broker must publish quarterly. These reports show the percentage of orders routed to market makers (payment for order flow) versus exchanges and dark pools. Filed on EDGAR.

How it scores

We take the broker's market maker routing percentage from their most recent 606 report. Lower routing to market makers = better direct market access = higher score.

Score = 99 − market_maker_routing_pct
Example: IBKR routes 8% to market makers → Score = 99 − 8 = 91

If a broker's 606 data is unavailable or pending, they receive a neutral score of 75 until updated.

Cost

20%

What it measures

Total cost of trading across stocks, options, and margin borrowing — the three expense categories that matter most to active day traders.

Data source

Broker fee schedules published on each broker's website, manually verified monthly by our team.

How it scores

Three components, weighted and normalized against the industry:

Cost Score = (Stocks × 0.40) + (Options × 0.30) + (Margin × 0.30)

Stocks: $0 = 99, $1/trade = 80, $5 = 40, $10 = 20
Options: $0/contract = 99, $0.65 = 85, $1 = 70, $2 = 40
Margin ($10K): <6% = 95, 6-8% = 80, 8-10% = 60, >10% = 40

Reliability

15%

What it measures

Platform uptime and stability. For day traders, an outage during market hours can mean missed entries, stuck positions, and real financial loss.

Data source

Public status pages operated by each broker (e.g., status.robinhood.com, status.fidelity.com). We check these daily for reported incidents.

How it scores

Rolling 30-day window. We count the number of reported incidents (outages, degraded service, partial failures).

Score = 99 − (incidents × 6)
Floor: 40 (even heavily-impacted brokers get a minimum)

0 incidents = 99, 1 = 93, 5 = 69, 10+ = 40

If a broker's status page is unreachable, we carry forward the previous day's score and flag it for manual review.

Platform & Tools

15%

What it measures

The quality and depth of the trading platform — charting, Level 2 data, hotkeys, API access, screeners, and order types available to active day traders.

Data source

Hand-curated by the DayTradeGPT team. We evaluate each platform quarterly based on feature availability, usability, and trader community feedback.

How it scores

An editorial score from 0-99 assigned by our team after platform review. Factors include: Level 2 data quality, hotkey customization, charting depth, API availability, scanner/screener tools, and order routing options.

Score = admin_curated_tools_score (0-99)
Updated quarterly · Last review: 2026-04-17

Day Trader Fit

20%

What it measures

How well-suited the platform is specifically for day trading workflows — short selling, PDT rules handling, mobile trading, futures access, and real-time data.

Data source

Broker documentation, feature pages, and published account policies.

How it scores

Composite of five sub-factors, each scored 0-99 then weighted:

Day Trader Fit = (ShortLocate × 0.25) + (PDT × 0.25) + (Mobile × 0.15) + (Futures × 0.15) + (Level2 × 0.20)

Short Locate (25%): Quality and availability of the borrow desk for short selling.
PDT Handling (25%): How the broker manages Pattern Day Trader rules — flexibility, margin options, workarounds.
Mobile Rating (15%): App store rating normalized to 0-99 scale.
Futures Access (15%): Whether futures trading is available and at what cost.
Level 2 Data (20%): Depth-of-market data availability and quality.

Trust & Support

10%

What it measures

Regulatory standing, customer protection, and recent news sentiment — the factors that determine whether you can trust a broker with your capital.

Data source

SIPC membership records, FINRA BrokerCheck regulatory history, and Google News RSS feeds scored for sentiment by Gemini AI.

How it scores

SIPC membership is a gate requirement — non-SIPC brokers receive a score of 0. Beyond that:

Base = 99
Subtract 10 per FINRA regulatory action in past year
Blend: (Regulatory × 0.70) + (News Sentiment × 0.30)

News sentiment scored 0-99 by Gemini AI using 5 recent headlines
Most brokers score 45-65 on sentiment in a normal week

Data Sources

Source	Type	Update Frequency	Link
SEC Form 606	Order routing disclosure	Quarterly	EDGAR
Broker Status Pages	Uptime / incident tracking	Real-time (checked daily)	Per-broker (linked on detail pages)
Broker Fee Schedules	Commission & margin rates	Monthly (manual refresh)	Per-broker websites
Google News RSS	News sentiment	Daily	Google News
FINRA BrokerCheck	Regulatory history	Quarterly	BrokerCheck

Changelog

v2.0.0 2026-04-17 Launched Broker Power Rankings with six-metric AI Score

Affiliate Disclosure

DayTradeGPT participates in affiliate programs with several brokers. When you open an account or make a qualifying trade through links on this site, we may receive a commission at no cost to you. Affiliate compensation does not influence our AI Scores or rankings. Our scoring algorithm uses publicly-available data (SEC 606 disclosures, broker status pages, commission schedules, news sentiment) and is computed without reference to affiliate relationships. The full methodology, including weights and data sources, is published on this page.

Not Financial Advice

DayTradeGPT provides educational and informational content only. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Day trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance of any broker or platform does not guarantee future results. Consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.