Brokerage Commissions

Quote from 1245:

Part of choosing an option broker is an expectation of how much volume you trade per month and average size of your trade. The smaller the volume, the less important rates are. If your average size trade is small, you want to aviod ticket charges. If you trade large lots, ticket charges with small per option charges will save you money.
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I think this applies to me, because all my trades right now are 1-4 Single Leg Credit Spreads.
Either I'm legging into an Iron Condor, or just trading a directional Credit Spread.

At $3.00 each via thinkorswim a group of 4 costs $12.00.
The minimum price for this at tradeMONSTER is $12.50.

So until my trade size increases, I guess staying with t.o.s. makes the most sense for now.

But will look into tradeMONSTER for the future.
I like the looks of their site for sure, and those are great prices.
Not sure what "ticket charges" are though...

Might try some "negotiating" with t.o.s. as well.
Nothing to lose really.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

TOS is 3.50 per contract I believe for futures and options on futures.

You can negotiate their options for equities down to .75 per contract. Key word there being negotiate.
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How do you negotiate with a broker (TOS or any other)? I tried to chat with TD Ameritrade rep just to see how far I could go and I asked them to match OptionsHouse promotion. They did not want to do that.
Is there a "secret" negotiation technique?
 
Quote from rocky_raccoon:

How do you negotiate with a broker (TOS or any other)? I tried to chat with TD Ameritrade rep just to see how far I could go and I asked them to match OptionsHouse promotion. They did not want to do that.
Is there a "secret" negotiation technique?
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Are you doing any kind of volume? Have a large account?
 
I have a 6 figure account for trading options, currently with OH as well.
I provided TOS/TDAmeritrade with a copy of my statement justifying my option contract volumes... They did come off their listed fees, but not enough to make it worthwhile for me to make a move.
I hear good things about TOS, but the pricing is too high.
Pricing at IB is better then OH, but I hear less then glowing reviews about their platform and service.

I am happy with OH and will remain for now.
 
Quote from rocky_raccoon:

How do you like OH in general? Have you experienced any problems similar to what people describe here:
http://moneyning.com/review/optionshouse-review/#comments
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Interesting remarks on OH.. many are negative.
On several ocasions, I have noticed a change in my Account Value during the night... Their explanation was an alignment with their Clearing House... They indicated that they will be coming out with a undate to their system to correct this.
On the issues about OH executing transactions related to "alledged" margin call instances, I cannot speak to this. I try to keep my trades rather Conservative and have not come close to a Margin Call.
I continue to keep my eyes open for other brokers, but as of today, I have not reason to move from OH.
I have, and will continue to look at IB, but it is their platform that is keeping me away. OH platform is not fancy, but it gives me what I need. I track the progress of my credit spreads on a different site.

Hope this helps
 
@webicknell:

Does OH platform allow for position grouping similar to tradeMONSTER?
I played with their demo account but could not find the way to show combinations instead of single options.
 
Quote from rocky_raccoon:

@webicknell:

Does OH platform allow for position grouping similar to tradeMONSTER?
I played with their demo account but could not find the way to show combinations instead of single options.
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Not sure of the "grouping" capabilities with tradeMonster, but OH does not have this to my satisfaction.
All are grouped by expiration date and strike price...
So if I have 5 RUT 880 Sept Calls in a credit spread, 5 of the same in a Calendar, and anther 5 in Double Diagonal... it will show 15 RUT 880 Sept Calls... I do not have the ability to group and track the progress of each of my trades...
I use another service to track the individual tades I enter.... wish OH could handle it all.

Hope that helps
 
i'm now in the boat where i need to transfer some money into another brokerage cause i'm locked up because of pattern day trading... when i was shopping i looked at Tradestation... i am primarly a options trader.. and i don't trade tons of contracts at at time..
 
I saw an error above - eOptions is 3$ +.15/contract but their platforms are terrible and their website is from 1990.

OptionsHouse is 8$ + .15/contract - platform is good but not great since it's web-based, and has limitations.

TOS/AMTD platform is superb, but commissions are expensive.

I managed to get AMTD down to 7$ per ticket but they wouldn't budge on option contract pricing which is why I'm closing them out and moving everything to OptionsHouse. (over 500k and around 2,000 trades/year and somewhere around 10k contracts/year.)

I talked to a local rep 5-6 times and pushed hard with them since I've been with them 13 years and didn't get very far. The rep told me to get lower contract pricing I'd need at least triple the assets but she wouldn't say how much they'd budge either.

I <3 Ameritrade but I hate their commissions.

eO is good for one account but not for multiple accounts - you can't be logged in on the platform and the website at the same time and only 1 account at a time.

IB is the cheapest but you have to be doing 10k contracts per month to get the good rate - otherwise you're at .70/contract iirc
 
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