www.thinkorswim.com

I have an account at Think or Swim and I couldnt be happier with the service and the execution model. I am also an experienced graduate of the TradeSecrets option course both Level 1 and Level 2. They offer seminars all over the country and feel free to visit their web site for the calendar.

I highly recommend the course for many reasons, not the least of which is the emphasis on hedging and using options to achieve that purpose...

Let me illustrate - Lets say you were an owner of a stock at a price of 20 dollars and this stock had run up on good news of a possible drug approval to 70 dollars - but you had not sold the stock out and the stock plunges steadily to 20 dollars again. Had you bought a put option at 70 for example and paid 5-7 dollars for that right to sell the stock at 70, this decline in the stock would not have hurt you. Your 70 put option with the stock at 20 has 50 dollars of intrinsic value to you... if you had 1000 shares that means 50,000.00 back to you that would have been lost.

You can use stop orders if you like, I do, but I also have the put to protect me in the event of a major disaster... I especially use puts to lock in the profit from a given major move in my favor. The hedging strategies alone are worth their weight in gold.
 
I concur with Dr. Synthetic. The thinkorswim site rules and the people are even better. But don't take our word for it...

On the Trade$ecrets prices, they're somewhere between $3000 and $5000 for a seminar, $1200 to $1500 for the software (plus $125/month for the feed until thinkorswim has it fully integrated on the site at which point it is expected to drop to $75/month) and I think about $1800 to $2300 for the two-day RAT Trading marathon in Las Vegas, all prices dependent upon when you decide to purchase, what combination of products or services you order and how much of the total bill youre willing to fork over up front. There are also very much lower tuitions for a spouse or additional family members. There is an extraordinary money back policy, however, the like of which I have *never* seen in a seminar company: as late as 1:00PM on the first day of a given seminar, after the mornng session is over, you can still get 100% of your money back if you think the course is too much for you, old hat, a load of crap -- whatever -- no reason required. Just return the books and materials before the afternoon session and you get your money back, period (as it was paid, credit for a card, check for check, etc.). One minor wrinkle: except in Vegas they do not arrange for blocks of rooms at hotels, so you're on your own everywhere but there -- but that's a tiny inconvenience in light of the value.

Always hoping you...

Seymour Return
 
Sabena --

You're right the link doesn't work... with Netscape.

I've been after them for two month's to fix it (it's just a style sheet problem in the page code), but they seem only interested in supporting MS IE 4 and up.

thinkorswim, due to the Java base, also has problems with NS Communicator 4.75+ (my browser -- yours?). I hate this because I hate Internet Explorer, but it seems Netscape Communicator (not the "Version-6!-AOL-crap-rework-that's-really-Internet-Explorer-anyway" model, but the TRUE Netscape Communicator we've come to love) is fading in popularity to the extent that some sites -- ones with a lot of multimedia, for instance -- are beginning to drop support. Even my ISP, Cox.Net, does not support it any longer, though the tech support guys always help me out in the sprirt of anarchic defiance that rus through us genuine geeks. To their discredit, the Netscape people who are still developing upgrades for Communicator have not really integrated Java. Once enabled in my browser (v. 4.78) the program crashes incessantly; unacceptably often, I'd have to say. So for those sites I use Explorer 6...

Oh well. Can't fight Bill forever. But don't go long Microsoft or you won't...


Seymour Return
 
Hi. I read a couple of posts here about how good TOS is and was wondering how their experience have been after the 'honeymoon' period.

I am thinking of opening an account with them because they have the ability to fill option orders as a spread. I currently use REDI options and would need to leg into a spread which exposes me to execution risk. From what I read at TOS, they take the spread order from your system and is handled manually by a floor broker thereby eliminating my execution risk. I guess the only issue is that cancelling the order would not be instantaneous since runners have to go to the broker, tap him in the shoulder,etc....

Any recent TOs insight would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
any opions on if this book is too advanced for

someone who is not an experienced option spread trader?

I once started reading Natenburg's (spelling)? optoins
book many yrs ago and got lost in the "greeks"

I heard charles talk and got the book at the trading expo

but a first skim through left me a bit underwater in following it
 
Yes, both his first book called options,perception and deception and the second one is pretty complicated. I have been a options floor trader for 5 years and in spite of that, I still had to reread certain chapters, even though I knew the concepts intuitively. A beginner would be better off with the Natenburg book, the Mcmillan book then proceed to the cottle books.

To undertand the Cottle books, one must have not only possess the basics but also the subtle nuances of options since he dives right into the risks/rewards of common and not so common spreads.

Just my 2 cents
 
I say we get all the brokers together in one room and give them orders. Lets just see who the fastest and most functional is.

Who will step forward and fund this event...?

We will have a speaker anounce what it is we wish to do and see if their reps can get a fill and time them...

We will find out who routes what where once and for all...

1) Nice and easy buy 100 MSFT MKT
2) Odd lot
3) 10,000 share + large order
4) OTCBB and Pinkies
 
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