Head-to-head comparison · 2026
3Commas is crypto only, across nine exchanges, from $20 a month. PickMyTrade does futures, stocks, options, forex and CFDs, and no crypto at all.
Price
Price is the least useful part of this comparison, so take it first. 3Commas charges per user account and meters how many exchange API keys can trade at once. PickMyTrade charges $50 a month per broker login and covers unlimited accounts under that login. The two ladders never meet, because the markets do not overlap.
| What you want to automate | 3Commas | PickMyTrade |
|---|---|---|
| Crypto spot on one exchange | Starter, $20 a month or $15 billed annually. Spot only, one active API key | Not offered. PickMyTrade has no crypto |
| Crypto futures across several accounts | Pro, $50 a month or $38 billed annually, which is $456 a year | Not offered |
| Higher limits and a read and write API | Expert, $140 a month or $105 billed annually | Not offered |
| Futures on Tradovate, Rithmic or ProjectX | Not offered at any price | $50 a month, unlimited accounts under one broker login |
| Stocks and options on Interactive Brokers, TradeStation or Tradier | Not offered at any price | The same $50 plan. Tradier options are single-leg |
| Forex and CFDs on TradeLocker or Match-Trader | Not offered at any price | The same $50 plan, one subscription per broker login |
| Free trial | 7 days, needing a payment method, charging unless you cancel before day seven | 7 days, no credit card |
On annual billing 3Commas Pro is $456 against our $500, so they are $44 a year cheaper for a comparable workload. If crypto is your market, that $44 is the least of the reasons to choose them. If it is not, the $456 buys you nothing you can use.
One warning before you compare limits: 3Commas' own pages disagree. The pricing page says five active API keys on Pro and twenty-five on Expert; the help centre says three and fifteen. Its exchange count appears as nine, fourteen, fifteen-plus and twenty-three in different places. Check which figure applies to your account before you buy.
Side by side
| Decision | PickMyTrade | 3Commas |
|---|---|---|
| Markets | Futures, stocks, options, forex and CFDs. No crypto | Crypto only. Its futures are crypto perpetual, dated and inverse contracts, and they start on the Pro plan. Source |
| Where the order goes | Tradovate, Rithmic, ProjectX including TopstepX, Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, Tradier, TradeLocker, Match-Trader. Broker guides | Nine exchanges, listed on its exchanges page. No futures broker, stock broker or forex broker. Source |
| What it automates | TradingView strategy and indicator alerts, and TrendSpider, turned into broker orders. Alert setup | DCA, Grid and Signal bots, a terminal, and webhook and Pine Script execution on every paid plan. Source |
| Accounts per subscription | Unlimited accounts under one broker login. A second, separate login needs its own subscription | Active API keys by plan: one, five and twenty-five on the pricing page, or one, three and fifteen in the help centre |
| Trade copier | A Tradovate admin account to followers with a quantity multiplier each, plus per-account sizing on alerts. Copier guide | Mirrors one alert to several accounts with individual sizing. No leader-to-follower copier is stated |
| Account risk limits | Daily and weekly profit and loss limits per account, trading-time windows, pause, and a news filter on Tradovate. Guide | Stop loss, take profit, trailing, breakeven and multiple targets on every paid plan. No daily or weekly loss limit or trading window is stated |
| Strategy building and testing | Not offered. It executes what your chart decides | Backtesting on one-minute candles, an optimiser, and a separate AI product on its own usage credits |
| Futures handling | Symbol mapping, automatic rollover, and stop and target five ways: points, percentage, price, ticks or total profit and loss | Not applicable. Crypto contracts do not roll over like futures |
| Free trial | 7 days, no credit card, full access | 7 days, payment method required, converting to a paid subscription unless cancelled. Refund policy |
| Published API and journal | Neither is offered | API read-only on Starter and Pro, read and write plus an MCP server on Expert. A journal product exists; its plan is not stated |
| Recent platform change | No comparable event | v1 was deactivated on 11 September 2026, bots stopped, strategies do not transfer automatically, and v2 needs a new account. Their help article |
Why PickMyTrade
Tradovate, Rithmic and ProjectX for futures and prop accounts. Interactive Brokers, TradeStation and Tradier for stocks and options. TradeLocker and Match-Trader for forex and CFDs. If the thing you trade has a ticker rather than a token, this is the list that matters. See the broker guides.
$50 a month or $500 a year, every feature included, whichever broker you pick. No higher tier, no per-trade fee, and no limit counter to check before you add another account under the same broker login. A second, separate broker login needs its own subscription. See pricing.
Daily and weekly profit and loss limits on each connected account, the hours automation may trade, and a pause switch. These are account-level rules, not just exits on a single trade, which is what a funded account with a drawdown rule needs. Risk settings.
Symbol mapping, so an alert on the full-size contract can trade the micro. Automatic rollover at expiry. Stop and target by points, percentage, price, ticks or total profit and loss, with brackets, trailing on Tradovate and ProjectX, and breakeven with an offset. Trailing.
Seven days of full access with no credit card. 3Commas needs a payment method to start its trial and charges unless you cancel before day seven. If you are only trying to find out whether your alert reaches a broker, that difference is the whole decision. Tradovate also connects by OAuth, so there is no separate Tradovate API subscription to buy. Tradovate FAQ.
Switching
Check that your market is here. Futures on Tradovate, Rithmic or ProjectX; stocks and options on Interactive Brokers, TradeStation or Tradier; forex and CFDs on TradeLocker or Match-Trader. If your instrument is not on that list, this is not the tool.
Start the 7-day trial and connect one broker login. Tradovate signs in with OAuth. Interactive Brokers is the one broker needing TWS or IB Gateway and the PickMyTrade IB application on your machine.
Rebuild the alert. Your 3Commas webhook payload does not carry across. Generate the PickMyTrade alert message in the dashboard, paste it into your TradingView alert with our webhook URL, then set sizing per account, the stop and the target.
Test on a demo account, then go live on one. Fire one alert and check the order at the broker. If a 3Commas bot still runs on anything you are automating here, switch it off first so only one system places orders.
FAQ
No. PickMyTrade connects no exchange and places no crypto order. It covers futures on Tradovate, Rithmic and ProjectX, stocks and options on Interactive Brokers, TradeStation and Tradier, and forex and CFDs on TradeLocker and Match-Trader. If you want crypto automation, 3Commas does that and we do not.
No. When 3Commas says futures it means crypto perpetual, dated and inverse contracts on the exchanges it connects, and those start on its Pro plan. It lists no futures broker, no stock broker and no forex broker, so Tradovate, Rithmic, ProjectX, Interactive Brokers, TradeStation and Tradier are all outside it.
For crypto, yes, and for a job PickMyTrade does not do. Starter is $20 a month, or $15 billed annually. Pro is $50 a month, or $38 billed annually, which is $456 a year against our $500. Expert is $140 a month. Above those limits 3Commas quotes a custom price.
Yes, and plenty of people do. They are separate subscriptions with separate logins and no shared data. A common setup is 3Commas on the exchange side and PickMyTrade on the broker side, with the same TradingView account sending alerts to each. Nothing about one interferes with the other.
No. Futures prop firms issue accounts on Tradovate, Rithmic or ProjectX, and 3Commas connects none of them. PickMyTrade works with any firm offering accounts on those three platforms, including TopstepX. Firms set their own rules on automation and copy trading, so check yours before you go live.
3Commas deactivated v1 on 11 September 2026. Its help centre says all bots and automations stopped, strategies do not transfer to v2 automatically, and v2 requires a new account. That is their own account of it, and it is worth knowing if you are rebuilding strategies anyway and are deciding where to rebuild them.
One subscription covers unlimited accounts under one broker login. Five Apex accounts under a single Tradovate login all automate on one $50 subscription. If your accounts sit under separate broker logins, each login needs its own subscription. 3Commas meters active API keys instead, capped by plan.
Sources
Prepared by PickMyTrade. 3Commas details come from its own pages, checked 22 September 2026: pricing, exchanges, TradingView automation, the refund policy and the v2 help article. 3Commas is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with PickMyTrade. Prices and limits change, and their own pages disagree on several, so check before you buy. Trading leveraged products carries risk of loss.
Risk disclosure. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content on this page is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Only trade with capital you can afford to lose.
Trade futures, stocks, options, forex or CFDs? Connect one broker login and run your own alert on a 7-day free trial. No credit card.
