IB and Options

M

martyg

Since Im under the $25K limit right now, Im going to get into options which are not covered by the new rule. My question is, how good is IB for trading options? Is there another broker that would be a better choice as far as commissions or easy of use? Also could someone please recommend a good options quote service? Im going to be doing short term trades, mostly 3-5 day swings, so I would like to have real-time but I dont want to pay a fortune if I can help it.
Thanks
Marty
 
I'd say options are IB's forte but you'll have to hear from clients experience as opposed to my biased opinion as an employee.

All exchanges are linked to route to the best price. Executions are fast and prices live. All exchanage fees are included in the commission. I think it is the best deal available - especially for an account under 25K.
 
When it comes to options I doubt you'll be able to find any other retail broker that is able to match them let alone beat them in terms of execution and routing options (direct links to all five US options exchanges) as well as commission rates. I've been a vocal critic in the past of shortcomings in IB's execution facilities especially as far as Nasdaq is concerned but their option routing technology is absolutely top notch.

Dave
 
IB is very fast in option execution and the price is right. However, keep in mind that they only do simple options. If you want to do a straddle or a strangle, you have to leg into it. The same for rolling your strike up or down. This can cause slippage amd the loss of the full bid/ask spreads.
 
I am interested in this new IB tool presented at the Expo to select among different options. Has anybody been able to use it yet? I am new to options and will gradually get into it, however from what I learned so far it seems that you need a software that will do most of the work for you. Which are the best, how much does it cost, and what kind of edge do you have if many others use it anyway?
 
kicking,
did you see the presentation? what did you think?

The analytics tool should be released very shortly. I think it will be free (at some point there may be a free with a certain amount of volume tag but that hasn't been decided).
 
just as a comment, have you selected which options you
will trade - or you are trading the stock with ITM option
position ? If so I think you would be at a disadvantage.
You may have to trade the most liquid options there, IBM
and the rest (maybe a dozen more ???) otherwise the
spreads are very bad. Also seemingly there is a great
way to ignore traders on the floor(if you are considering
getting between the spread). Have you considered
OEX ???
 
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