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The response that one of my friends got from IB rep after opening a ticket: "Smart routed combos may be held internally and not routed to an exchange. This may occur because either: -the order is not marketable -the order is not accepted natively on an exchange and is therefore being held...

So you are saying that this was always the case? I got an impression from the IB rep that this is something new. How does it work with other brokers? I always was under impression that IB fills are among the best.

I had decent fills as well - but those fills may have been internal where IB matches you with another IB trader. IB confirmed twice that something has changed since last Friday and that they are getting a lot of calls (complaints) about it. If they indeed don't send orders to the exchange...

I noticed this week that after placing an order at IB to, say, purchase a straddle at mid, my bid was not appearing outside of IB as the new highest bid. Thus no non-IB trader could match my bid. I called IB and spoke to a rep. He told me that this is new as of couple weeks ago. He...

Does anyone know where I can get the MSNStockQuote add-in for Excel? Thanks!

Thank you. I published another article - http://seekingalpha.com/article/311396-how-i-trade-autozone-before-earnings where I linked to Investopedia, but I agree with you regarding Options Guide. Next time..

Investopedia has very brief explanations which I find not always sufficient. Not sure if it`s good or bad. For example, compare the definition for iron condor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_condor http://www.theoptionsguide.com/iron-condor.aspx...

Actually this is exactly what I do, trading RUT and NDX condors Volatility usually increases the most in the last few days. It is pricing the expected move, so if you leave it for earnings, then you need larger move than priced in by the options. But I sell before earnings, not after.

That's an excellent idea, thanks! Which site would you recommend for the best definitions? Investopedia maybe? Any better ideas?

If this is your only comment, I'm in a good shape :) But point taken, the picture has been changed.

I published an article on Seeking Alpha on the subject - http://seekingalpha.com/article/310703-a-good-option-strategy-exploiting-earnings-associated-rising-volatility Any feedback here or on SA would be appreciated.

They have close, bid and ask, so I guess it should be fine.

Thanks! Yes, I do think it's reasonable. There is this service - http://www.historicaloptiondata.com/catalog/1. They charge $162 for the whole 2011 (all stocks) and you get it on file or USB key. But they have only end of day quote, not open, low and high. Do you think that's sufficient?

Do you mean the paper account?

Where can I find options historical data for free or reasonable price? I know some sites offer it for about $3 per symbol per month, can I find it cheaper?

I don’t think I’m currently ready to go short. Too many huge moves lately that would cause big losses. However, I would be interested in more details about backtesting in Options University. Are you still a member? Did you do this backtesting? How easy it is? Timing is very important for...

I started testing this strategy in July. July-October produced excellent results – average return of 10-11% per trade, with average of 15-18 trades per month and winning ratio around 60%. Most of the gains came from the stock moves, sometimes IV increase also helped. The idea is that IV...

Jeff Augen describes in his book http://www.amazon.com/Volatility-Edge-Options-Trading-Strategies/dp/0132354691 the following idea: Buy strangles on volatile stocks before earnings. The idea is to buy a strangle on stocks having a history of volatile post-earning moves few days before...

Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I’m completely aware of the fact that there is no free lunch, Holy Grail or strategy that fits all cases. Yes, it is a directional speculative bet and should be made with only small portion of the portfolio. I’m aware that it will probably lose...

I completely agree that the expiration should be at least few weeks, so IV doesn't fall that dramatically. The margin is for the worst case scenario which is underlying at the long strike, stays there and you hold untill expiration. Fortunetely, both trades went very well for me, I'm just trying...