All you folks suggesting "membership" are missing an important piece. Membership whether lease or buy, will affect your US taxes. In these cases, an additional 15.3% for self-employment, or FICA tax, on top of capital gains tax. Further, data costs will increase to the professional level in most cases. Also, an entity structure, with or without membership, may provide beneficial tax treatment and other benefits, which comes with its own set of ongoing operational and maintenance fees depending on your state and entity structure. So while it is fact membership will save money on execution charges and fees, unless you do some big picture calculations based on your particular daily and annual trading metrics, membership may not be a wise choice. Just saying.