Guest akbrtrdr Report post Posted July 16, 2012 My broker, Fidelity, views the RIC, and I'm assuming other techniques used here, as uncovered and requires $20,000 in account. Do you know of a broker that will view the total trade as covered and not require the 20k? TIA Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guarneri 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I think several people here use IB (InteractiveBrokers) with under 20K in portfolio and can do all the trades, including RICS. TOS (ThinkorSwim) is another platform lots of people like. Both have pros/cons (TOS has better customer service, but higher commissions , while IB has lower commissions and you are pretty much on your own.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akbrtrdr Report post Posted July 16, 2012 Ok, I will check them out. Thx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kim 7,943 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 My broker, Fidelity, views the RIC, and I'm assuming other techniques used here, as uncovered and requires $20,000 in account. Do you know of a broker that will view the total trade as covered and not require the 20k? TIA It doesn't make sense. Please make sure we are talking about the same trade. RIC is simply buying a strangle and selling further OTM strangle against it. There is no way any broker should ask for margin for this position. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
K. Miller 3 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 Etrade would not let me do those on a L2 options account. IB does not seem to mind however. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xpresstalk 3 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I have a small amount of funds with TradeKing, which is merging with Zecco. I opened the the GOOG RIC in that account. As, long as I was doing Straddles or Strangles they were OK. But, I don't think they understand a RIC, I have a margin call for -$225,062.39. I called them and they said it was a mistake and they would fix in a day or so! I will be closing this account as soon as all positions close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dawajmeister 43 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) eoptions is another that has issues associating multiple positions correctly, you have to call them to get them to manually adjust it. Ex on my calendars, they were using margin on the short options, until i called them Edited July 16, 2012 by Dawajmeister Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akbrtrdr Report post Posted July 16, 2012 It doesn't make sense. Please make sure we are talking about the same trade. RIC is simply buying a strangle and selling further OTM strangle against it. There is no way any broker should ask for margin for this position. I doubled checked with Fidelity again this morning and they said any spread trade would require 20k in account. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kim 7,943 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 This is ridiculous. Change the broker if this is their approach. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akbrtrdr Report post Posted July 16, 2012 This is ridiculous. Change the broker if this is their approach. I am in the process of switching to IB. Thx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kim 7,943 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 akbrtrdr, we have a separate topic discussing brokers and commissions http://steadyoptions.com/forum/topic/5-brokers-and-commissions/, you might want to check it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelJ8 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I have a small amount of funds with TradeKing, which is merging with Zecco. I opened the the GOOG RIC in that account. As, long as I was doing Straddles or Strangles they were OK. But, I don't think they understand a RIC, I have a margin call for -$225,062.39. I called them and they said it was a mistake and they would fix in a day or so! I will be closing this account as soon as all positions close. I am with tradeking and have not had this problem. I have placed 3 RICs in the last 2 weeks all were fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akbrtrdr Report post Posted July 16, 2012 akbrtrdr, we have a separate topic discussing brokers and commissions http://steadyoptions...nd-commissions/, you might want to check it. Ok, Just posted there. Thx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
