IB, OH, eOptions Broker Questions

U

uptickk

It’s a new year and I am finally getting around to addressing the amount of money walking out the door via commissions (Should have done this a long time ago!). I primarily trade option spreads and am extremely happy with TOS, aside from their commissions. I am currently paying $9.95 a spread + $0.65 a contract and do 7,000+ contracts a month. I have been looking into IB, OptionHouse, and eOption as their commissions are less than what I am currently paying.

As I can always keep a few dollars at TOS to maintain the account I was wondering what the latest pros/cons of each of the other brokers are.

From reading various posts I know that IB has fees for canceling and/or modifying an order. I have read some conflicting information that this may or may not be applicable to spread orders, can anyone provide any clarification? This is a large issue for me as I do a decent amount of modifying orders while trying to get the best fill. I can ignore the fact that IB auto liquidates positions without sufficient margin as my trades have set risk. Additionally, I know IB charges for data but I believe it is a nominal amount so unless this is inaccurate it can be ignored as well.

Does OptionHouse and eOptions offer weekly options? To go along with weeklys do they release margin for AM settled options the same day (Example: If I hold NDX through expiration TOS will release my margin on the trade after the CBOE posts the settlement value allowing me the opportunity to use that margin again that trading day).

I realize that commissions are not everything so is there anything funky with OptionHouse and eOption’s order routing?

I also realize much of this information can be found using the search function but some of those posts are a few months old so I thought I would seek out the most recent information as I mentioned above.

Thank you in advance and best of luck to everyone in 2011
 
firms do not have cancellation fees.any order cancellation fees are from the exchanges. most firms pass them on.

weeklys are products offered by the exchanges. if you have permission to trade options you can trade weeklys.
 
Quote from zdreg:

same subject over and over. firms do not have cancellation fees.any order cancellation fees are from the exchanges. most firms pass them on.
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Agreed, I misspoke regarding who is charging the fees. Point being is that one reason TOS charges higher commissions is because they don’t pass those fees on to the customer.
 
Quote from zdreg:

weeklys are products offered by the exchanges. if you have permission to trade options you can trade weeklys.
More...

Right, but not all brokers offer everything the exchange offers. When weekly’s were newer not all brokers offered them. A good example of this is TOS does not offer weekly options on ES.
 
It is, but the point was that just because they have access to the exchange doesnt mean they offer every product. TOS offers end of month ES options but not the weeklys case and point.
 
Quote from uptickk:

I trade with IB and OH. Recently, have inquired eOptions about their order execution practices as well. So here is my experience:
1. IB- offers Portfolio Margin and good executions.The cancellation fees are negligible,but exchange fees for buying the ask and selling the bid could add up.
2. OH-low commissions, but spreads will be executed on the same exchange for each leg. This results in missed opportunities and longer execution time.
3. eOptions- their answer was that a majority of trades are executed at major exchanges. But to get cheap commissions, each trade is viewed by live broker for approval. No Portfolio Margin.
Hope this helps.


It’s a new year and I am finally getting around to addressing the amount of money walking out the door via commissions (Should have done this a long time ago!). I primarily trade option spreads and am extremely happy with TOS, aside from their commissions. I am currently paying $9.95 a spread + $0.65 a contract and do 7,000+ contracts a month. I have been looking into IB, OptionHouse, and eOption as their commissions are less than what I am currently paying.

As I can always keep a few dollars at TOS to maintain the account I was wondering what the latest pros/cons of each of the other brokers are.

From reading various posts I know that IB has fees for canceling and/or modifying an order. I have read some conflicting information that this may or may not be applicable to spread orders, can anyone provide any clarification? This is a large issue for me as I do a decent amount of modifying orders while trying to get the best fill. I can ignore the fact that IB auto liquidates positions without sufficient margin as my trades have set risk. Additionally, I know IB charges for data but I believe it is a nominal amount so unless this is inaccurate it can be ignored as well.

Does OptionHouse and eOptions offer weekly options? To go along with weeklys do they release margin for AM settled options the same day (Example: If I hold NDX through expiration TOS will release my margin on the trade after the CBOE posts the settlement value allowing me the opportunity to use that margin again that trading day).

I realize that commissions are not everything so is there anything funky with OptionHouse and eOption’s order routing?

I also realize much of this information can be found using the search function but some of those posts are a few months old so I thought I would seek out the most recent information as I mentioned above.

Thank you in advance and best of luck to everyone in 2011
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