Guardian Trading vs Cobra Trading has a clear winner for most day traders: Cobra. It opens at $10,000 instead of $30,000, and its platform fee is lower and dropped sooner. Guardian wins only if you have $30,000 or more and short hard-to-borrow stocks every day.

Which Is Better, Guardian Trading or Cobra Trading?

Cobra is better for most traders. Guardian is better for a well-funded short seller.

Both run DAS Trader Pro and Sterling Trader Pro. Both give you direct routing. Both charge about the same per share. So the choice comes down to three numbers:

  • How much you have. Guardian wants $30,000 to open. Cobra wants $10,000.
  • How much you trade. Cobra drops its platform fee at 200,000 shares a month. Guardian drops it once you've paid $599 in commissions, which is about 400,000 shares at its published rate.
  • What you short. Guardian owns its locate list. Cobra borrows Wedbush's.

If the first two numbers are small, Cobra wins. If you have the money and the third number is your whole strategy, Guardian earns a look.

What Is the Minimum Deposit for Guardian Trading and Cobra Trading?

Guardian requires $30,000 to open an account. Cobra requires $10,000, and asks you to keep $9,000 in it.

The wording on each site: Guardian, "We require a minimum initial funding level of $30,000 to open an account." Cobra, $10,000 to open and $9,000 to maintain. Below that, Cobra sends you to its Venom brand, which starts at $3,000.

So the gap is $20,000 before you've placed a trade. For a trader with $15,000, Guardian isn't an option. That settles it for a lot of people reading this.

Does the PDT Rule Still Apply at Guardian and Cobra?

No. The pattern day trader rule ended on 4 June 2026. Neither broker's minimum has anything to do with it any more.

FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-10 removed the day-trade count and the $25,000 requirement. Brokers now check your margin during the day instead. Firms have until 20 October 2027 to finish the switch. The only rule left is the $2,000 margin account minimum.

Why does that matter here? Because neither broker's website has caught up.

Guardian's disclosures page still describes the old rule, "$25,000 on any day in which the customer day trades", and says nothing about the change. Cobra put up a page saying it "intends to be ready on day one", that it "may set higher minimums", and that it plans an account for the new $2,000 minimum. Its FAQ still says $10,000, though.

What that means for you:

  • Guardian's $30,000 and Cobra's $10,000 are house rules, not regulations.
  • At either broker you can now day trade without the three-trades-a-week cap.
  • You can still get a margin call. Go over your margin during the day and don't fix it in five business days, and the broker can freeze the account for 90 days.

Guardian vs Cobra Commissions per Share

Both start at $0.0015 a share. Guardian adds a $0.25 minimum per order. Cobra has no minimum.

Guardian publishes a table: $0.0015 a share under 500,000 shares a month, $0.0012 from 500,000 to a million, and "contact for pricing" above that. Options are $0.45 a contract. Its homepage says "as low as $0.0005", but the table is what you get until you negotiate. The pricing page says so: "reduced commissions are applied via negotiation."

Cobra publishes a floor: "as low as" $0.0015 a share, options from $0.30, no order minimums. Get the real number for your volume in writing before you send money.

Say you trade 100,000 shares a month. The order size decides who's cheaper:

  • 500 orders of 200 shares: Guardian $150, Cobra $150. A 200-share order costs $0.30, so the minimum never kicks in.
  • 1,000 orders of 100 shares: Guardian $250, Cobra $150. A 100-share order would cost $0.15, so Guardian charges its $0.25 minimum on every one.

Guardian is cheaper only above 500,000 shares a month, and only if you never trade small orders. Below that, they cost the same or Cobra costs less.

What Are the Platform Fees for DAS Trader Pro at Each Broker?

DAS Trader Pro costs $150 a month at Guardian and $125 at Cobra. Guardian drops the fee once you've paid $599 in commissions that month. Cobra drops it at 200,000 shares.

The full list:

  • Guardian DAS Trader Pro: $150, dropped at $599 in commissions. Includes Nasdaq Level 1 and the main tapes. Add-on data runs $5 to $250, with $100 of add-ons waived once you pass the bar.
  • Guardian DAS Professional Trader: $215, dropped at $899 in commissions.
  • Guardian Sterling Trader Pro: $275, dropped at $999 in commissions.
  • Cobra DAS Trader Pro: $125, dropped at 200,000 shares. Market data is billed on top.
  • Cobra Sterling Trader Pro: $150, dropped at 200,000 shares. The web and mobile add-on is never waived.

Turn the commission bar into shares and it's about 400,000 a month. Cobra's line is half that. A trader doing 150,000 shares a month keeps paying Guardian for the software and pays Cobra nothing.

That's $1,800 a year. It's the biggest cost difference between these two brokers, and neither pricing page puts it in those words.

Which Broker Has Better Short Locates?

Guardian's locates come from its own borrow desk. Cobra's come from its clearing firm's list plus paid third-party locates. Ask both for a quote on the stocks you short before you decide.

Velocity Clearing, Guardian's parent, clears its own trades. Its locate tool, Velocity Locates, sits inside DAS and Sterling. You'll check the price per share and take the shares yourself. Locates are billed the next trading day. Overnight borrows are priced as shares times price times rate, divided by 360, and Guardian says flatly: "No, we do not offer any overnight borrow discounts."

Cobra clears through Wedbush or Curvature. Robert Morse of Lightspeed explained what that means on Elite Trader: "Cobra is an Introducing Broker to Wedbush, same as Lightspeed, so the same ETB list and locates list. In addition, we offer third party locates which have a fee."

So Cobra's list is shared. Its edge is the person on live chat who'll work the locate for you, and the Locate Monitor inside the platform.

Neither publishes a locate price, because the price changes by stock and by hour. On a crowded low float, nobody has enough shares. As one CenterPoint user put it on the same forum, "the problem is locating enough to make it worthwhile in a crowded space."

The test that beats any review: pick three stocks you actually short. Ask both brokers for a locate quote on the same morning. The one that finds the shares is your broker.

What Are the Most Common Day Trading Broker Complaints?

The same six complaints come up on Trustpilot and Elite Trader for every direct-access broker. Here's how Guardian and Cobra do on each.

  1. Locate prices marked up, shares not there. TradeZero's Trustpilot page has 3,086 reviews and "Locate for stocks is a scam" (August 2026) is a typical one. Guardian owns its list. Cobra rents Wedbush's and adds paid third-party locates. Neither shows a price until you ask.
  2. Orders not filling. Both use DAS with direct routing. Guardian lists more than 30 routes, including dark pool and ALGO routes, with ECN rebates. Cobra doesn't publish a route count.
  3. Fees for everything. A Lightspeed review from February 2025: "They charge fees for everything. Very high locate and overnight borrow fees." Guardian has the $0.25 order minimum, data add-ons up to $250, and no overnight borrow discounts. Cobra bills market data on top of the platform fee and its fees differ by clearing firm.
  4. Support that goes quiet. Cobra has live chat and four Trustpilot reviews from July 2026, all positive: "Fast trades, clean interface, and no issues so far." Guardian has no Trustpilot page. Its only public review, on Slashdot from 2022, is one star: "Very dishonest. Broker lies over the phone." One review from four years ago proves nothing on its own. But it is the only one, and that says something too.
  5. Margin calls sent in error. No public complaints about either. Both sites still describe the old PDT margin call process.
  6. Slow withdrawals. Guardian charges $25 for a domestic wire and $50 for a foreign one, and $75 to transfer out. Cobra's fees depend on which clearing firm you picked, and Curvature doesn't take cheques.

Guardian Trading Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Self-clearing through Velocity, so the locate list and the borrow desk are its own.
  • A full published commission table with real tiers, not just a floor.
  • More than 30 routes, including dark pool and ALGO routes, plus ECN rebates.
  • No inactivity fee listed.

Cons

  • $30,000 to open, now a house rule with no regulation behind it.
  • $0.25 minimum per order, which punishes small orders.
  • The platform fee is dropped at $599 in commissions, about 400,000 shares a month. Most traders never get there.
  • Data add-ons cost $5 to $250 a month on top.
  • Its disclosures still describe the old PDT rule, three months after it ended.
  • The only public user review is one star.

Cobra Trading Pros and Cons

Pros

  • $10,000 to open, and Venom from $3,000.
  • Platform fee of $125 for DAS, dropped at 200,000 shares.
  • No order minimums.
  • Live chat for locates, and a choice of clearing firm.
  • Published a plan for the post-PDT rule change, and says it's building a $2,000 account.

Cons

  • "As low as" pricing has to be negotiated.
  • Its locate list is Wedbush's, shared with Lightspeed, plus paid third-party locates.
  • Market data and the Sterling web and mobile add-on are never waived.
  • Fees depend on which clearing firm you chose, so there are two answers to every fee question.

Which Broker Should You Open?

Cobra, for nearly everyone reading this.

Under $30,000, it's the only one of the two you can open. Above that, most traders still do under 400,000 shares a month, and at that volume Cobra costs less every month because its platform fee is gone and Guardian's isn't. Small orders tip it further, because Cobra has no per-order minimum.

Pick Guardian only when you have $30,000 or more and short hard-to-borrow stocks every day. Then get a locate quote from both on the same morning, on the stocks you actually trade, and let that decide.

Sources: Guardian Trading disclosures, Guardian Trading equities and options pricing, Guardian Trading platform pricing, Guardian Trading stock locates and borrows, Cobra Trading FAQ, Cobra Trading pricing, Cobra Trading PDT rules, FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-10, Elite Trader: best short locate, Elite Trader: CenterPoint vs Cobra, Trustpilot: TradeZero, Trustpilot: Lightspeed, Trustpilot: Cobra Trading, Slashdot: Guardian Trading reviews.