That's normal for (pit traded) Options on Futures, and mostly the options on commodity futures are traded that way. IB will have less commissions, but the selections will be narrow as they will offer only electronically traded options. Of course, that segment is increasing slowly.
If you want to trade options on futures with less commissions, try www.5perside.com The charges are less, but the ordering is not so intuitive. ( If I am not mistaken, they are part of MF Global).
As I said, commission on electronically traded options would be lower at IB as you ca n see. If you want pit traded options, the last time I checked, IB won't do it, and others like optionsxpress will charge higher. In that case, 5perside is the best (except NYME options which are at a higher rate) As I said, the online ordering is no so good, but you can always call the trade desk and they take the order or guide you how to enter it.
