Amen to that!
Do not give too much weight for some posts here. Who can guarantee that they are not associated with brokers?
Which Broker Is The Best For Options Traders?
- Thread starter archon
- Start date
Amen to that!
Do not give too much weight for some posts here. Who can guarantee that they are not associated with brokers?
If you do enough volume they can give you $1.00 a contract on options. WIth their charting and option analyzer and other tools, as well as top notch customer service I do not mind paying the extra dimes. I also do futures and forex there as well so like IB I can do one stop shopping.
ToS still is behind on futures offering and does not offer options on futures so IB still beats them there. When they add options on futures at the end of this month as promised (I should say IF) it will certainly close that gap.
If you just want straight option trading and care not for some of the advanced tools or extras then you simply go with IB as they have more than enough to satisfy any option trader at a lower cost.
IB. The rest is for pussies 
They gave me that rate indeed (or a few cents higher-- I cannot recall exactly), and you are right in what you wrote. I would also add that the aim for looking elsewhere was mainly to diversify (reduce risks related to brokers-- tech, financial standing, etc). As for the tools, I have my own tools. At IB, I even trade from webtrader (but it does not work if you add subaccounts to it). I think ToS tools, and will to help the beginner become a professional, are loudable. My other main broker/custodian is fidelity where the other things such as 401ks etc reside. Fidelity used to be better on commission when I traded stocks some years ago with them. At the time I paid $8 flat, when elsewhere it was around $32 (including at Fidelity for the average online trader). Things have changed in just few years, for the good of the trader.
Their advertized rate is .95 per contract all in for anyone trading over 20 contracts, so if you are a large trader you can obviously get a little better than that.
Also they just updated their target date for options on futures to May 5th. We'll have to wait and see if that get changed also.
anyone with over 125-150k shouldn't think twice. portfolio margin at tos is way better than at ib.
Seriously, do you care to back up this statement? How is the PM better at TOS than it is at IB?
1. 20 contracts per how long? (Day, Week, Month, etc..). Per week it should be fine with me.
2. Pls. provide a link to the advertized rate (or PM me). I chatted with them sometime ago, and what they offered was something in the range of $1 to $1.25 (I do not recall). But I did not negotiate with them, as I was not sure you if I were to get onboard. I need to open two to three other accounts with brokers other than my current brokers.