Tradovate
on Mac.

Tradovate is one of the few futures platforms with a Mac desktop app, and it runs in Safari too. The catch is the account: Tradovate only trades Tradovate accounts. Here’s what it includes, what it costs, and how to choose between a Tradovate and a Rithmic account at a prop firm.

By Lightwick · Updated October 9, 2026

The short answer

Mac app: Yes. Tradovate offers desktop platforms for Mac and Windows, a browser version, and iPhone and Android apps.
Accounts: Tradovate brokerage accounts and Tradovate-based prop firm accounts. It can’t connect to a Rithmic account.
Cost: Free, $99 a month, or $1,499 once for a brokerage account, with lower commissions on the paid plans. Prop accounts get the platform through the firm.
Lightwick: Connects to Rithmic and TopstepX, not Tradovate. If your account is on Tradovate, use Tradovate’s own Mac app.

Desktop, browser, or phone

The Mac desktop app

Download it from Tradovate’s devices page. It gives Tradovate a window of its own, outside your browser tabs, and you sign in with the same Tradovate credentials.

In a browser

Tradovate runs in any modern browser at trader.tradovate.com, which makes it easy to trade the same account from more than one Mac.

On your phone

The iPhone and Android apps are useful for checking positions and managing orders away from your desk.

What’s included

For a futures day trader, the parts that matter most are on Tradovate’s platform page:

Brackets held at the server. Up to 10 target and stop levels per position, with OCO bracket orders and trading directly from the chart.
Order flow views. Bid-ask chart types that show volume at the bid and ask inside each candle, and volume profile with custom profiling.
Practice and review. Market Replay to step through past sessions, and more than 40 built-in indicators.
Custom indicators. Written in JavaScript and shareable through the Tradovate community.

Brokerage pricing

For your own Tradovate brokerage account, you choose a plan that trades a fee for lower commissions. Commissions below are per side, from Tradovate’s pricing page; exchange, clearing, and NFA fees are extra.

Tradovate plans and per-side commissions
Plan	Fee	Micro / standard contract
Free	No monthly fee	$0.39 / $1.29
Monthly	$99 a month	$0.29 / $0.99
Lifetime	$1,499 once, or four payments of $499	$0.09 / $0.59

The Monthly plan saves $0.30 a side on standard contracts, or $0.60 a round trip, so it covers its $99 fee at about 165 round trips a month. On micros the saving is $0.10 a side, which takes about 495 round trips.

At a prop firm: Tradovate or Rithmic?

Many firms, including Apex and Tradeify, offer both. The choice decides which Mac apps you can use for the life of that account, because the providers are separate and accounts generally can’t be converted.

Choose Tradovate if

You want Tradovate’s Mac app or NinjaTrader Web in a browser, or you want to trade from TradingView. NinjaTrader says only Tradovate-based prop accounts work with NinjaTrader Web and Mobile.

Choose Rithmic if

You want native Mac Rithmic apps such as Lightwick, MotiveWave, or Bookmap, or Windows platforms like Sierra Chart and ATAS. Rithmic accounts also need market-data agreements signed before the first login; see the Rithmic on Mac guide.

Stage changes can switch provider too. Take Profit Trader, for example, runs its Test and PRO accounts on Rithmic or CQG but its live PRO+ accounts on Tradovate. Our prop firm guides list each firm’s options.

Trading from TradingView on a Mac

TradingView has a Mac app, and a Tradovate-based prop account can trade from it. Tradovate Prop’s August 2026 guide says to open TradingView, click Trade, select NinjaTrader, choose Demo, and sign in with the credentials your firm issued.

Your firm controls whether TradingView is switched on for your account. For prop and evaluation accounts, it is included in the firm’s plan at no extra cost. A Rithmic account can’t take this route, which is one more reason to decide which tools you want before choosing a provider.

Common questions

Is the Tradovate desktop app native to Apple silicon?

Tradovate doesn’t say. Its Mac installer is built on Electron, the framework many desktop apps use to package a web interface, and the devices page lists one Mac download without mentioning Apple silicon. It runs on M-series Macs either way; if it were an Intel build, macOS would run it through Rosetta.

Can I switch my prop account from Tradovate to Rithmic?

Usually not. Apex, for example, says its Rithmic, Tradovate, and WealthCharts accounts are separate and cannot be converted between providers. Choose the provider when you buy the account.

Does Tradovate have footprint charts?

Tradovate’s platform page lists bid-ask chart types that show how much traded at the bid and ask at each price, plus volume profile. Its pricing page includes Order Flow+ among the tools in every plan, and Tradovate Prop describes Order Flow+ as including TPO and footprint charts. What a prop account includes is up to the firm.

Can I use NinjaTrader with my Tradovate login?

Yes. Tradovate’s plans include access to NinjaTrader Desktop, Web, and Mobile, and Tradovate Prop logins also work in NinjaTrader Prop. On a Mac, NinjaTrader Web works in the browser; NinjaTrader Desktop still needs Windows.

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