Quote from shajdsu:
Hello, I am very new to options trading and I have been benefiting lots from the posts here. Thanks,
I have a very simple questions. Right now, I have an account in Fidelity, which is not user friendly at all for options trading. I am thinking about buying a new software and open a new account somewhere else.
Which software you guys using for options trading? I am thinking about using interactive broker and use esignal, but the review for esingle are mostly for stock and not options.
Any suggestions?
I have heard people talking about how great ToS is, but frankly I don't see it. I personally use Interactive Brokers and have been with them now close to 5 years. I would not recommend any other broker.
The problem is that if you are serious about the market only IB will work. ToS is great if you want to put on a couple of trades and make some small potatoes.
For example, I gave a friend of mine a golden, and I do mean golden option play. I was on IB and he on ToS. I told him to play value X, he said, "oh no I can get a better price in ToS". I replied, "huh? The bid is X"
So I said if ToS can get you a better price, play it and be happy. Well, he played it and ToS said, "try going lower to get a fill."
It was at that point I thought WTF? Essentially what I heard from my friend was that ToS was making the interface cutsy. Whereas IB just gives you the market data.
I also like the commissions with IB. Granted you need to pay for market data. But with the low commissions you can implement many strategies that require low commissions. Many people complain about the commissions and if you are playing penny stocks, fair enough. But then again most professionals don't play penny stocks since the volatility and liquidity is absolute crap.
Additionally because there is an API most people end up implementing their own strategy using their own mathematics. For example I have my own option pricing routines implemented as an Excel/.NET sheet. There is no way that ToS could do that type of pricing.
If there is a point of grip with IB is that they are the bare market and they are for professionals. You are expected to know about things like exchanges, routing, order strategies, etc. And that could be hard for a beginner.
