Options Xpress vs Think or Swim

atozcom · Mar 16, 2007

Quote from One:

Chanster,

Did you ask TOS to match IB's rates, and if so did they include a fee for cancelling orders or self directed orders? Thanks.

I am a TOS client.

There is no fee for cancelling orders. There is no fee for broker assisted orders.

There is ONLY self directed orders fee which varies $1.50 per contract. It can be as low as $1.00. You can negotiate depending on the number of contracts traded per month. They will match any order broker rate if you trade enough contracts per month. You get $39.00 high speed Interest connect rebate if you trade more than 40 contracts per month on some plan.

Comparing TOS commission rate with other brokers is not fair consider what you get:

1) free lightning fast desktop application trading platform that is rated best 2 year by Barron.
2) free real time data feed.
3) free live phone support by experienced option trader/broker that understand spread and Greek!!
4) free seminars/work shop
5) free software upgrade, 8 to 10 times a year.
6) Very Very Very friend people, every one of TOS people I ever met, talked to over the phone, emailed are very very nice to me.

I cannot think of a thing that I have to pay other than the commission.

By the time you figure in the data feed cost, platform cost and service, TOS is excellent.

NO. I don't work for TOS. I am just a very happy customer.

MTE · Mar 16, 2007

Quote from just21:

When are they introducing portfolio margin?

TOS will do as soon as it becomes available, so that would be April, I think.

Optionspoet · Mar 16, 2007

Quote from MTE:

TOS will do as soon as it becomes available, so that would be April, I think.

April 2. Last I spoke ToS mentioned that it was April 2 and would not place any account minimums. The lousy part is that no other specifics were provided as far as how the margin will be treated as expiration nears. This was mentioned on another thread created by Just21 -->

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78820.

I tried reading up on how haircut margins work as expiration nears, but ended up with a headache and hallucinations. I am planning to open a couple of small positions in the next few days to see how margin is treated going into April OE. This may be the only way to know first hand how we will be affected.

rbsanders · Mar 16, 2007

what about getting better fills for spreads who is better or no difference

inaki · Mar 16, 2007

Anybody knows if TOS will be ofering options on futures and forex trading in the near future>?

Regards

deviltrader · Mar 18, 2007

Quote from Optionspoet:

I tried reading up on how haircut margins work as expiration nears, but ended up with a headache and hallucinations. I am planning to open a couple of small positions in the next few days to see how margin is treated going into April OE. This may be the only way to know first hand how we will be affected.

Assuming that you're referring to options, the best way is to find an options pricing calculator that uses Cox binomial series and play with it. I believe the brokers will use this pricing model or a close variation to determine PM haircuts. I've been doing this for the past week and have a good idea how PM haircut changes when the input parameters change (IV, time decay, underlying price) for certain positions.

just21 · Mar 18, 2007

Quote from deviltrader:

Assuming that you're referring to options, the best way is to find an options pricing calculator that uses Cox binomial series and play with it. I believe the brokers will use this pricing model or a close variation to determine PM haircuts. I've been doing this for the past week and have a good idea how PM haircut changes when the input parameters change (IV, time decay, underlying price) for certain positions.

http://www.hoadley.net/options/binomialtree.aspx?tree=B

deviltrader · Mar 18, 2007

Quote from just21:

http://www.hoadley.net/options/binomialtree.aspx?tree=B

I used to use this one but got tired of it because it locks you out if you do more than a few computations per hour. It's their way of getting you to pay for something that you can get for free at a number of other websites.

Optionspoet · Mar 19, 2007

Quote from inaki:

Anybody knows if TOS will be ofering options on futures and forex trading in the near future>?

Regards

Options on futures should be offered at ToS around midyear. Have not heard anything about forex.

Optionspoet · Mar 19, 2007

Quote from deviltrader:

I used to use this one but got tired of it because it locks you out if you do more than a few computations per hour. It's their way of getting you to pay for something that you can get for free at a number of other websites.

Deviltrader -

While the Hoadley calculator did not lock me out, it only provides how the option price changes as underlying factors change, not how the actual margin is affected.

I googled "Cox binomial series" but I did not get any hits. Do you mind sharing where I can find another version?

Thanks
OP