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    Working as a Junior trader

    I would say learn how to write code. I went from coder to trader, and my advantage to many others is that I can take my strategy, code it up, and run it before most others can talk about. So while most traders can manage one or two or maybe five instruments. I am running a couple of dozen...
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    How to: small family fund

    Regarding the profits, the other posters have put up good answers. Charge it however you are comfortable with. Though most charge quarterly. Charging fixed fees in my opinion is not right, especially with such small amounts. IB's friends and family account is great since it allows you...
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    Options Trading Software

    I would not use the term active trader because it implies day trading. I would say IB is or those that treat the market seriously and not as a casino or some get rich quick scheme. Is IB for beginners or casual folks? Not really since you are expected to understand the various aspects of the...
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    Options Trading Software

    For example, Fees to ship money out of ToS. With IB the first shipment out is free, and thereafter they are a fraction. For example let's do a wire to CHF, which costs 11 USD. In ToS 50 USD. But that is 11 for the second. Thus if you did two transfers you would pay 100 USD...
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    Options Trading Software

    Sure it does if you want to pay more commissions, pay more in margin fees, and get less interest from the money that sits in your account. IB Options pricing: 0.70 per contract 1 USD minimum ToS pricing: 1,25 per contrat 12.95 min, or 1.50 per contract plus 9.95. IB Stock pricing: 0.005...
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    Advisors who use IB

    I use them for multiple clients on a professional basis, meaning no friends and family account. The only downside is opening a sub-account. Count on it taking about 2 months. IB is overswamped and they do quite a few checks for the legality of the money. Outside of that, brilliant...
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    Options Trading Software

    I have heard people talking about how great ToS is, but frankly I don't see it. I personally use Interactive Brokers and have been with them now close to 5 years. I would not recommend any other broker. The problem is that if you are serious about the market only IB will work. ToS is great if...
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    The market is random

    Really not random? Hmmm... Ok, let's just say I am an investor and did buy and hold? Wow, it would have been a rough decade. Let's say that you are a trader? Hmm... Until the crash you would have been hemeoraghing. Remember before the crash people said the best thing to do is buy and...
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    Analysis on IB's portfolio margin

    LOL... I loved the "it is more like a teaser"... I like your comments on what it should and should not do. This has me thinking. Would a professional web service be of interest to people? You know give a set of underlyings, and let people model and stress test the system... Of course...
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    Analysis on IB's portfolio margin

    You know this is the one thing that annoys me about IB. Great broker, great rates, and great execution. BUT when it comes to being able to stress test your portfolio absolutely CRAP! Sure there are a couple of tools, but they are trivial. They show me what is currently happening. GEE DUH as...
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    I got robbed on option expiration Friday!! (option ex pinning)

    Interesting... Imagine for the moment that you actually did make money. You know the pinning worked in your favor. Would you have said that you were robbed? I suppose not... You were not robbed you were taken for being so bright eyed... The market is the only place where mercenary...
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    Income Through Vertical Spreads

    Before you make more trades please consider the dynamics of options. Let's say that you enter a position and have stop losses. Because options contain time decay what it means is that you might end up getting stopped out even though at the end your trade would have won. To do this strategy...
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    If I thought the S&P was going to 1125 by end of year, what call option to buy?

    The problem with options is that they are bets, and it is a zero sum game. That means you have winners and you have loosers. Because it is a bet what you have are gamblers, and when you have gamblers you have "magic ways". I am not saying that on this thread there were snake oil salesmen...
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    If I thought the S&P was going to 1125 by end of year, what call option to buy?

    I completely agree on point 1. But on point 2 what would bother me is that I am assuming that there will be a pulback before Nov. The strategy could blow up in your face if the pullback were to happen around Jan or Feb. I also would not be selling 112. This month I played naked the ES...
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    If I thought the S&P was going to 1125 by end of year, what call option to buy?

    You have a bit of a problem here. Go to the following page: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=SPY&m=2010-03 This is the 2010 call option for the SPY. Right now the SPY is trading around 105. So take three different options, ITM (in the money), ATM (at the money), OTM (out of the money)...
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    Options Exchanges Knock High-Frequency Traders Down a Peg

    Come on Goldman Sachs is not this mystical beast. Can Goldman's be beat? Of course it can be. You just have to be clever. Here is the a question. Why do you hear about those that whine? Ever hear about those that don't whine? Of course not because they are making money and are not scared of...
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    Naked Put Options

    Just as much as any other leveraged trade. Put on a 50:1 forex trade and see how long your money lasts if the trade goes in the wrong direction. Not to say that it is not risky, but I am amazed at how many people think it is ok to trade 3:1 ETF's... That's leverage again, and it cuts two ways.
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    question

    Well... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt In 1950 the debt level was very much the same as now. Yet the American economy managed to pay it off and down. America can pay down its debt, but it will be hard. Here is how America needs to change. Slash it's military...
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    question

    It was earlier, and much earlier. You could say when America was created they have oscillated between being too deep in debt, and collapsing. When America was founded the revolutionary war had debt. When the civil war went on it was the first time America took on quite a bit of debt...
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    What sets options traders apart from stock traders?

    When I originally started getting involved in the market about 5 years back I asked a similar question. I asked to trade options would it be better to trade stocks first? The answer is irrelevant. Trading stocks is like skiing on snow. You go to the top of the hill, look down the hill and...
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