Over the past few years, "zero commission" has become a central theme in the competition among traditional brokerage firms. With Robinhood launching commission-free ISA accounts in the UK and Webull continuously expanding its zero-commission offerings, the barrier of trading fees in the traditional stock market is rapidly falling. For many low-frequency US stock investors, "buy low-cost and hold long-term" seems to have become the standard approach.
However, the real question goes beyond "whether a single transaction is commission-free."
After 2026, the global trading landscape has shifted from "who is cheaper" to "who can deliver more comprehensive trading capabilities." As more users simultaneously participate in crypto assets, US stocks, indices, gold, and forex markets, the single-asset brokerage model is showing clear limitations: restricted trading hours, fragmented asset systems, limited cross-market fund flows, and insufficient strategy combination capabilities.
Against this backdrop, Gate TradFi is building a trading system fundamentally different from traditional brokerages. It’s not merely a "crypto trading platform adding traditional financial products," but is working to establish a unified trading gateway covering both crypto assets and global traditional assets.
While traditional brokerages compete primarily around US stock markets, Gate emphasizes three core system strengths: a more flexible fee structure, higher trading efficiency, and broader global asset coverage.
Why Gate TradFi’s Fee Structure Is More Competitive Than Traditional Brokerages
Traditional brokerages have indeed been compressing trading fees in recent years.
Robinhood offers zero commission and zero platform fees in the UK, charging only about 0.10% to 0.30% for currency conversion. Webull also implements zero-commission strategies for US stocks, ETFs, and some REITs. On the surface, it appears that traditional brokerages have pushed trading costs to the lowest possible level.
But the reality is, this "zero commission" is essentially a localized promotion.
When users trade Hong Kong stocks, options, leveraged products, or cross-border assets, platform fees, regulatory fees, currency conversion charges, and clearing costs continue to stack up. Moreover, most traditional brokerages don’t structurally optimize their fee schedule as trading volume increases.
Gate TradFi operates on a completely different logic.
Gate uses a dual-track VIP system based on "trading volume over the past 30 days" and "GT token holdings." For regular users (VIP 0), contract Taker fees are 0.050%, and Maker fees are 0.020%. Once trading volume reaches VIP 1, fees drop to 0.045%. VIP 3 users can reduce fees further to below 0.040%.
More importantly, Gate’s fee discounts aren’t limited to a single market—they apply across spot, perpetual contracts, leveraged products, and the TradFi ecosystem.
For high-frequency traders, this difference becomes quickly magnified.
Take a $1 million contract trade as an example: the fee difference between VIP 0 and VIP 5 users can amount to hundreds of dollars per transaction. When trading frequency reaches weekly or even intraday levels, quarterly savings on fees can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
While traditional brokerages use "zero commission" to attract new users, Gate reinforces trading depth and user retention through its tiered fee structure.
This approach reflects two fundamentally different platform strategies:
Traditional brokerages focus on low-frequency investors, while Gate TradFi is aligning with high-frequency, multi-asset, cross-market traders.
24/7 Trading Is Redefining the Time Boundaries of Traditional Brokerages
Time restrictions remain the most stubborn structural challenge for traditional brokerages.
Even highly digitized US stock trading systems still depend on fixed trading hours and traditional settlement mechanisms. No trading on weekends, holidays, and the T+2 settlement cycle means users can never truly achieve "real-time global asset trading."
Meanwhile, crypto markets have accustomed users to round-the-clock liquidity.
One of Gate TradFi’s core strengths is expanding this 24/7 trading model to stock tokens, indices, and TradFi products.
By 2026, Gate’s stock token section supports 24/7 trading for popular US assets such as NVDA and TSLA. Unlike traditional brokerages that require waiting for market open, Gate users can execute trades instantly at any time, anywhere in the world.
This difference is especially pronounced in highly volatile markets.
When global macro events, AI-driven rallies, or tech stock earnings trigger sharp overnight moves, traditional brokerage users are forced to wait passively, while Gate users can actively adjust positions and risk exposure in real time.
Crucially, Gate isn’t just extending trading hours.
Since 2026, Gate has been enhancing its low-latency trading system and launched a next-generation ultra-low latency trading engine. At the same time, the GateAI semantic order placement feature further shortens trading paths, leveraging AI recognition and automated execution to boost order response efficiency several times over traditional methods.
In today’s market, increasingly reliant on AI-driven automation and quantitative strategies, trading speed is no longer just an "experience upgrade"—it’s a key variable directly impacting strategy returns.
The gap between Gate TradFi and traditional brokerages is evolving from "fee differences" to "trading infrastructure disparities."
Gate TradFi Is Building a More Comprehensive Asset Landscape Than Traditional Brokerages
The real differentiation comes from product structure.
Traditional brokerages still focus on core assets like stocks, ETFs, bonds, and options. Even when some platforms support crypto trading, their overall product logic remains "traditional finance with a crypto add-on."
Gate TradFi, however, is taking a much more aggressive approach.
As of 2026, Gate has expanded its TradFi ecosystem into a comprehensive trading network covering CFD contracts, perpetual contracts, stock tokens, index products, precious metals, and crypto spot assets.
Currently, Gate TradFi covers:
- Trading in gold, silver, and other precious metals;
- Global indices such as NAS100, SPX500, UK100;
- Nearly a hundred US stock tokens;
- Over 4,600 crypto spot assets;
- Leveraged, perpetual contracts, and multi-market strategy integration.
In comparison, while traditional brokerages offer a more mature securities regulatory framework, they face clear limitations in asset composability and cross-market liquidity.
Gate TradFi’s real value isn’t just "more products."
It’s about integrating trading behaviors previously scattered across stock accounts, forex accounts, crypto accounts, and commodity accounts into a single liquidity system.
This means users no longer need to switch funds between platforms, manage margin requirements repeatedly, or be constrained by the fragmented trading hours of different markets.
This unified account model is essentially closer to the next generation of global digital asset trading infrastructure.
The Competition Between Gate TradFi and Traditional Brokerages Is Entering a New Phase
Historically, competition between crypto trading platforms and traditional brokerages was not particularly pronounced.
Traditional brokerages served long-term investors, while crypto platforms catered mainly to high-volatility trading markets, with clear distinctions between their user bases.
But since 2025, those boundaries are quickly disappearing.
More users are now trading AI concept stocks, crypto assets, gold, indices, and macro event-driven markets simultaneously. More platforms are working to bridge TradFi and Crypto trading systems. AI-driven automated trading and cross-market arbitrage demands are pushing users to seek unified liquidity platforms.
Gate TradFi’s emergence reflects a fundamental upgrade in global trading platform competition logic:
The future of platform competition isn’t just "who has the lowest fees," but who can deliver global assets, round-the-clock liquidity, AI trading capabilities, and a unified account system.
For ordinary investors focused solely on long-term US stock holdings, traditional brokerages remain attractive.
But for high-frequency traders, cross-market allocators, and the growing cohort of new-generation traders relying on AI and quantitative strategies, the comprehensive trading ecosystem represented by Gate TradFi is clearly gaining stronger market appeal.
FAQ
What is the biggest difference between Gate TradFi and traditional brokerages?
Gate TradFi’s main distinction is its unified trading system supporting both crypto and traditional financial assets, offering 24/7 global asset trading capabilities.
Does Gate TradFi support trading US stock-related products?
Gate TradFi supports trading popular US stock tokens such as NVDA and TSLA, with a 24/7 trading mechanism.
Why are high-frequency traders more interested in Gate’s fee structure?
Gate’s tiered VIP fee system allows fees to decrease as trading volume and GT token holdings increase, enabling high-frequency traders to significantly reduce long-term trading costs.
Why is it difficult for traditional brokerages to offer 24/7 trading?
Traditional brokerages still rely on fixed trading hours, conventional settlement systems, and securities market rules, making true round-the-clock trading difficult.
Why is Gate TradFi considered more suitable for cross-market trading?
Gate TradFi enables integration of crypto assets, indices, precious metals, and stock tokens within a single account, improving capital flow efficiency and strategy combination capabilities.
What are Gate TradFi’s core competitive directions?
Gate TradFi is focused on building next-generation digital financial infrastructure around low-latency trading, global asset integration, AI trading tools, and unified liquidity systems.
