Is the commission of TD ThinkOrSwim too much?

[Rina 1]

I'm using TD ThinkOrSwim. the commission rate for Options is $9.99+$1.25per contract. I think it's quite expensive. How about yours? I don't know if there are better choices in Toronto, Canada.

[Kim 7,513]

You are definitely paying too much. Switch to IB.

[Rina 1]

Thank you, Kim. 

Is it this one- www.interactivebrokers.com ? 

[Kim 7,513]

yes.

[izzo70 22]

You can open an account through tastytrade which gives you a commission rate of $1.50 per contract.  You can then use their Dough platform or TOS.  Either way it is $1.50 commission.  Still higher than IB but much less of a learning curve with TOS vs TWS.   I am planning on using IB (TWS) myself and just working through the issues to get the better deal.

Edited May 30, 2016 by izzo70

[cuegis 683]

YES! It is highway robbery....

Especially in our situation where many, if not most, of our trades, have 4 legs and, sometimes, as in a RIC, have a very small profit.

You just cannot pay $1.50 per leg and do 4 legged trades, looking for a maximum gain of .70 cents.

I have been with IB for 20+ years and would never trade anywhere else.

Recently I have found a few places that actually charge lower commission rates than IB but, I just feel too comfortable with them and, they are SO huge, with more money in assets than pretty much anyone else. I think every account is insured by Lloyds of London , for up to $50 million, but I could be  wrong.

I keep a small amount of money, not for trading, just for buying some dividend stocks, with TOS so that I can have access to their software.

But, I would NEVER make a multi-leg options trade with them.

As a matter of fact, I opened a TOS account, and didn't fund it for more than 2 years, and nobody ever bothered me to fund it.

So, if you just want their platform to look at some of their tools, you can probably do the same thing.