Quote from Choad:
Sorry, but the facts are Barron's gives OX the best for Browser-based. And as expected, IB wins for SW-based.
IB is the best, hands down, for experienced retail option traders that need NO hand-holding.
- Much cheaper commission
- Consistently better fills
- Better platform
- More markets
- Etc, on and on...
In a remarkable display of consistency, optionsXpress, which took top honors in 2003 and 2004, did it again this year. The firm (www.optionsxpress.com) was easily the leading browser-based brokerage, and its margin of victory was greater than that of the winner among the software-based brokers, Interactive Brokers (www.interactivebrokers.com).
In the browser category, optionsXpress was followed by Ameritrade's Apex (www.ameritrade.com) and Fidelity Investments (www.fidelity.com). Among software-based competitors, Interactive narrowly beat Terra Nova Trading (www.terranovaonline.com), TradeStation (www.tradestation.com), thinkorswim (www.thinkorswim.com) and MB Trading (www.mbtrading.com).
How many of the reviewers at Barrons are traders? I suspect the most market experience they have is mutual funds in their 401k...
How many of them tried to enter a Butterfly order on OX (requires a ton of looking up and typing symbols).
