Anyone tried eOption.com?

TraderSU · Jul 1, 2009

Quote from atticus:

Competition?

Didn't get you but I'm happy IB camper for last more than a month. Traded few hundred thousand shares already and pretty happy with their speed, fills and commissions.

So far I've traded only 1 round-trip options contract so no comments about option fill.

atticus · Jul 1, 2009

Quote from TraderSU:

Didn't get you but I'm happy IB camper for last about a month. Traded few hundred thousand shares already and pretty happy with their speed and fills.

So far I've traded only 1 round-trip options contract so no comments about option fill.

ISE and others are very competitive when your broker posts the 1.45 limit to the screen. For example, trades will often go off at 1.43 to the limit-buy if the market is 1.40 x 1.45 on the screen in a volume underlying.

TraderSU · Jul 1, 2009

Quote from atticus:

ISE and others are very competitive when your broker posts the 1.45 limit to the screen. For example, trades will often go off at 1.43 to the limit-buy if the market is 1.40 x 1.45 on the screen in a volume underlying.

Interesting! I surely need to spend more time on trading options before commenting more on this topic.

I've never got a fill better than my LIMIT price so far. May be because I was always trying to buy at BID and SELL at ASK with my other broker. They used to get the fill after a slight market move against me - (typical newbie mistake - fishing the bottom).

How to deal with IB's modify/cancel fee for options? I know it is a pass-through of exchange fee but still hampering my decisions (so I'm only trading stocks these days). I'm sure that I'm missing something as IB is being loved by many options traders as well.

Sorry for this off-topic question.

loufah · Jul 12, 2009

Quote from SForce:

Personally I don't think order routing matters when it comes to options (at all) as much as people try to claim it does.

Well, here are a few places where it matters:

- You can get an extra penny or two per contract if the broker routes to an exchange that offers price improvement, like BOX. I traded thousands of SPY contracts at Schwab and never once got price improvement, because they didn't route to BOX.

- I don't know what their policy is now, but Ameritrade at one point routed orders to a specific exchange predetermined for each option series - they would not route to any other exchange. If your price was inside their chosen exchange's spread, you might not get filled, even if another exchange was posting that price or better. For example, if ISE were quoting 1.10 x 1.20 and PHLX were quoting 1.00 x 1.30 and you placed an order to sell at 1.10, if Ameritrade decided to send the order to PHLX you might see the PHLX spread go to 1.00 x 1.10 rather than having them fill your order. An Ameritrade rep even told me that, for options, they do not guarantee that you will get the best price.

SForce · Jul 12, 2009

Quote from loufah:

Well, here are a few places where it matters:

- You can get an extra penny or two per contract if the broker routes to an exchange that offers price improvement, like BOX. I traded thousands of SPY contracts at Schwab and never once got price improvement, because they didn't route to BOX.

- I don't know what their policy is now, but Ameritrade at one point routed orders to a specific exchange predetermined for each option series - they would not route to any other exchange. If your price was inside their chosen exchange's spread, you might not get filled, even if another exchange was posting that price or better. For example, if ISE were quoting 1.10 x 1.20 and PHLX were quoting 1.00 x 1.30 and you placed an order to sell at 1.10, if Ameritrade decided to send the order to PHLX you might see the PHLX spread go to 1.00 x 1.10 rather than having them fill your order. An Ameritrade rep even told me that, for options, they do not guarantee that you will get the best price.

If there is a bid out there at 1.1 and you route to a different exchange with a sell of 1.1 - You're going to get filled. I don't know what crap your broker was telling you.

TraderSU · Jul 12, 2009

Quote from SForce:

If there is a bid out there at 1.1 and you route to a different exchange with a sell of 1.1 - You're going to get filled. I don't know what crap your broker was telling you.

Isn't that because of NBBO fill policy that every broker has to comply?

magicz · Sep 20, 2009

I guess no one use eoptions regularly enough to give a review. I am a long time user of TOS but commission is getting a little to high for the volume I am doing. I just open an account with OptionHouse to check them out. Someone told me about Eoptions and there's isnt enough info on the web? Anyone want to help me out with a review.

-Tools doesn't really matter because I will still trade with my TOS account but in smaller lots trades.
-I trade between 5-100 lots.

right now seems like OH will get my big lots trade unless someone got a review for eoptions. thanks.

hajimow · Sep 27, 2009

Quote from TraderSU:

Nah, I'm out of luck - their TWS won't connect from behind the proxy at work?

Does anyone connect over "3G wireless card" - Is 5GB monthly enough for TWS?

I had the same problem and I used to use IB's webtrader. Now I turn on my PC at home where I don't have a firewall problem and use free logmein at work to connect to my PC at home and use TWS. Try it and you will love it.

loufah · Dec 3, 2009

Quote from SForce:

If there is a bid out there at 1.1 and you route to a different exchange with a sell of 1.1 - You're going to get filled. I don't know what crap your broker was telling you.

It's not just what they told me, it's what I observed. My order would lock or even cross the market, although the crossed market would only last a few seconds and I'd get filled.

So, specifically:
If the spread is 1.05x1.15, and one broker routes a buy order for 1.10 to CBOE (because that's where they send all orders) and another trader places a sell order for the same quantity at 1.10 and his broker sends it to PHLX (because that's where they send all orders), will this cause a trade of those two orders to take place?

SForce · Dec 3, 2009

Quote from loufah:

It's not just what they told me, it's what I observed. My order would lock or even cross the market, although the crossed market would only last a few seconds and I'd get filled.

So, specifically:
If the spread is 1.05x1.15, and one broker routes a buy order for 1.10 to CBOE (because that's where they send all orders) and another trader places a sell order for the same quantity at 1.10 and his broker sends it to PHLX (because that's where they send all orders), will this cause a trade of those two orders to take place?

Yes.

But. I have seen it not on occasion. Like today(think this is the first time it's happened to my order). I had 50 contracts set to sell (and mine were the only ones at that price) and the bid matched for a couple seconds but mine didn't sell. I was on CBOE and the bid came in on ARCA(NYSE) .. You'd have to ask someone smarter than me as to why that is, although I have observed ARCA not crossing before.. so maybe they just suck.

Should I check back in April for your reply?