New subscriber discussion

[clems 27]

5 hours ago, Wenna said:

New member here. This is my first trade with SO. I tried 1.14 but did not get filled. Then slowly increased price and got filled at 1.17. Only bought 1 option to get a feel...Now I use TD. Although the commission has been negotiated to $1/contract, I think it's still too much. I am thinking of changing to IB or Tastyworks. IB costs less per contract but Tastyworks does not charge closing fee. Which is cheaper overall? I have a little concern about IB since I am still learning how to trade. I may be charged if I do not make certain number of trades. Any suggestion?

Can anyone who has a full time job share a bit how to manage trading and job? I am in California so I have one hour after opening and one hour before closing (lunch time) to trade. I am still trying to set an effective routine.

My 3rd question, how do people track trades? Do you have a trading journal?

Many thanks in advance!

No expert here, but after being around for about 3 months, hopefully the below tips will be helpful for you:

Official Trades:

Expect to not get fills for more than 1/4 of the 'official' trades.
Watch for discussion threads.  Try to do some analysis of your own (will take a couple of months of following trades to really get a hang of it, but read, ask questions, you'll pick it up).  If you think you'll like some of the 'discussion' trades, set a limit prior to the official entry and hope for a fill.   These have been my best trades thus far.
Follow the 'Unofficial Trades' thread.  LOTS and LOTS of great trade ideas (and discussion) that never make it to the official (lots of times due to liquidity).

If you are following these threads, you'll be able to get into about 1/3 or more of the trade suggestions (official or not) even if you are only doing stuff after hours.  Also PAY ATTENTION to earnings dates so you know what needs to be closed when.  Kim obviously only tracks the official trades, so if you take on some that are unofficial, you want to make sure you know when to get out and make sure to close out.  Do not hold through earnings.  Be patient with the trades, don't chase.  You'll get a feel for it much better after the first couple months.

Broker:

If you are a newer trader, I would personally stay away from IB.  They do NOT cater to new/beginner traders.  Their customer support has never been bad, but they do have an expectation of knowledge from those using their platform.  Which by the way is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. 
I'm currently using Tradier Brokerage.  Commissions = $40 per month (unlimited options trades using Steady Options Coupon Code) per account.  If you are interested in a $45 stocks + options unlimited, I have one for that as well.  If you go this route, I would highly recommend using the DynamicTrend TREND platform ($30 / month - one fee, but can be used for all of your accounts) as the web platform from Tradier is worse than IB's.  Trend though is AMAZING, and makes Tradier 100% worth it.  Over the last week since I've found Trend, I've entered and gotten the exact same fills from both brokers, but IBs position is always worse due to commissions.  I'll likely be moving my last account over from IB to Tradier in the near future. NOTE: I also tried ONE and OptionVue (which you get some free trial time through Tradier to try them out) and hated managing positions in them.
I was VERY tempted to try Tastyworks for their platform alone.  Commissions on par with IB, but a platform that is SOOOOOOOOOO much easier to use.
Hope these comments are helpful.

Portfolio:

I was also struggling with this.  I couldn't find anything that would easily take several transactions correllate them to a strategy and bind them to an account so I have lots of ways of tracking my P/L and current balances.  I finally found this one:

https://www.tradeportfoliomanager.com/

This does not tie into any brokers (have to enter all trades manually) but the tracking, reports, and even risk profiles are great.  And they are VERY responsive about feature requests and bugs.  And the price is right...$22/month.

All told, I have the following monthly fees for managing all my trading at the moment:

Tradier - $40 per account (x3) / $120
TradePortfolioMgr - $22
TREND - $30
SteadyOptions - $125
Total: $297 ($80 of which is in my IRA accounts)

 

Good luck!

[Wenna 1]

Thank you @clemsso much for writing such a long reply! It's much appreciated! Very helpful and encouraging! I certainly need to read it a couple of times:)

Questions about the Tradier platform, does it offer a mobile version? Is it easy to use?

Edited August 15, 2017 by Wenna

[andrewzz310 0]

1 hour ago, clems said:

No expert here, but after being around for about 3 months, hopefully the below tips will be helpful for you:

Official Trades:

Expect to not get fills for more than 1/4 of the 'official' trades.
Watch for discussion threads.  Try to do some analysis of your own (will take a couple of months of following trades to really get a hang of it, but read, ask questions, you'll pick it up).  If you think you'll like some of the 'discussion' trades, set a limit prior to the official entry and hope for a fill.   These have been my best trades thus far.
Follow the 'Unofficial Trades' thread.  LOTS and LOTS of great trade ideas (and discussion) that never make it to the official (lots of times due to liquidity).

If you are following these threads, you'll be able to get into about 1/3 or more of the trade suggestions (official or not) even if you are only doing stuff after hours.  Also PAY ATTENTION to earnings dates so you know what needs to be closed when.  Kim obviously only tracks the official trades, so if you take on some that are unofficial, you want to make sure you know when to get out and make sure to close out.  Do not hold through earnings.  Be patient with the trades, don't chase.  You'll get a feel for it much better after the first couple months.

Broker:

If you are a newer trader, I would personally stay away from IB.  They do NOT cater to new/beginner traders.  Their customer support has never been bad, but they do have an expectation of knowledge from those using their platform.  Which by the way is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. 
I'm currently using Tradier Brokerage.  Commissions = $40 per month (unlimited options trades using Steady Options Coupon Code) per account.  If you are interested in a $45 stocks + options unlimited, I have one for that as well.  If you go this route, I would highly recommend using the DynamicTrend TREND platform ($30 / month - one fee, but can be used for all of your accounts) as the web platform from Tradier is worse than IB's.  Trend though is AMAZING, and makes Tradier 100% worth it.  Over the last week since I've found Trend, I've entered and gotten the exact same fills from both brokers, but IBs position is always worse due to commissions.  I'll likely be moving my last account over from IB to Tradier in the near future. NOTE: I also tried ONE and OptionVue (which you get some free trial time through Tradier to try them out) and hated managing positions in them.
I was VERY tempted to try Tastyworks for their platform alone.  Commissions on par with IB, but a platform that is SOOOOOOOOOO much easier to use.
Hope these comments are helpful.

Portfolio:

I was also struggling with this.  I couldn't find anything that would easily take several transactions correllate them to a strategy and bind them to an account so I have lots of ways of tracking my P/L and current balances.  I finally found this one:

https://www.tradeportfoliomanager.com/

This does not tie into any brokers (have to enter all trades manually) but the tracking, reports, and even risk profiles are great.  And they are VERY responsive about feature requests and bugs.  And the price is right...$22/month.

All told, I have the following monthly fees for managing all my trading at the moment:

Tradier - $40 per account (x3) / $120
TradePortfolioMgr - $22
TREND - $30
SteadyOptions - $125
Total: $297 ($80 of which is in my IRA accounts)

 

Good luck!

Hi Does Tradier Brokerage really provide unlimited commissions for 40$ per month and unlimited stocks + options for 45$?!  If so it would be great if you could provide the Coupon Code as I feel IB commissions add up quickly

 

Thanks!

[clems 27]

Tradier is 100% web based (with a REALLY great REST API).  So you can log into their trading platform from mobile, but it's very easy to screw up trades.  Trend does not offer a mobile version.  I've not found a platform (with a mobile version) that is well integrated with Tradier.  I've decided it's worth it for me as I can always just call them to have them execute for me if needed.

If mobile was important to me, I would have gone with Tastyworks (their mobile version is in Beta, but looks VERY similar to their desktop platform).

Glad I could be of some help!

[clems 27]

6 minutes ago, andrewzz310 said:

Hi Does Tradier Brokerage really provide unlimited commissions for 40$ per month and unlimited stocks + options for 45$?!  If so it would be great if you could provide the Coupon Code as I feel IB commissions add up quickly

 

Thanks!

Unlimited Options trades: $40

Unlimited Options + Stocks: $45

 

One or the other, not both.  You do get exchanges fees, so it's not 100% free.  It's like .15 a trade or something.  But MUCH MUCH cheaper than IB.  There's a forum thread somewhere on this site with the Unlimited Options code.  Let me know if you can't find it and I'll dig it up.

 

Edit: 

 

Edited August 15, 2017 by clems

[andrewzz310 0]

That's great to know that it's available, I just checked and It's only available to U.S. residents, I guess i will have to stick with IB for now until something in Canada becomes better.

[wr200m 22]

Thank you @clems  awesome review. On the link between dynamic trend and tradier, I have a question. I watched a video and it would seem to me they essentially let you build a strategy inside the dynamic trend and then redirect you to tradiers web ticket to preview and submit the order? Is that the case? I was hoping to see a more seamless integration but this is still a bit clunky. 

[clems 27]

1 minute ago, wr200m said:

Thank you @clems  awesome review. On the link between dynamic trend and tradier, I have a question. I watched a video and it would seem to me they essentially let you build a strategy inside the dynamic trend and then redirect you to tradiers web ticket to preview and submit the order? Is that the case? I was hoping to see a more seamless integration but this is still a bit clunky. 

ONE and OptionVue are like this.  Trend's client is 100% detached.  It pulls down your orders, lets you modify orders, cancel, change DAY/GTC, change limits.  You can select multiple legs and right-click + close position.  Select legs, right-click, risk graph.  When on the risk graph, right-click and populate trade ticket.  Select account 2, right click, populate trade ticket. It's that easy to submit the same trade to 2 accounts.

All 100% local to the Trend client.  In the last week, I've entered dozens of trades in two accounts, and have only logged into to Tradier's website to ACH more money in.

[wr200m 22]

@clems - I currently use my own scripts to so I don't screw up Tradier order entry. It's great to hear about dynamic trend. How do you like its trade management vis a vis Tradier? I'm asking because I suppose you establish your position on DyanmicTrend with a particular strategy (grouping the legs together), but Tradier would only recognize the position as individual legs. Presumably certain symbol+expiration+strike combinations can be shared beween different strategies. So does a DynamicTrend position somehow gets linked to multiple Tradier positions so it's easier to issue further adjustments from within DynamicTrend to populate Tradier tickets?

[wr200m 22]

Apologies. I just realized this is CSCO thread. Probably we should move the conversation into the broker discussion thread.

[clems 27]

Original post: 

 

Moving discussion here away from CSCO thread. 

[clems 27]

RE: managing trades in Tradier via Trend

There's still no trade "linking" in Trend, but you can select multiple legs, right-click, close position, and pull up a trade window with those legs pre-populated.  I'm compiling a  list of feature requests for their devs, and trade grouping is one of them on the list. @wr200m

 

Edit: That said, the current functionality works very well. And I've found it to be very effective. MUCH easier than IB.

Edited August 15, 2017 by clems

[Wally 0]

6 hours ago, clems said:

RE: managing trades in Tradier via Trend

There's still no trade "linking" in Trend, but you can select multiple legs, right-click, close position, and pull up a trade window with those legs pre-populated.  I'm compiling a  list of feature requests for their devs, and trade grouping is one of them on the list. @wr200m

 

Edit: That said, the current functionality works very well. And I've found it to be very effective. MUCH easier than IB.

@clems Could you post a link to the Trend software you are using? I see the Dynamic Trend platform at Tradier but you say you only pay $30 a month where here it shows $245.

[clems 27]

@Wally I couldn't find it published on their site at all.  The only reason I was turned on to it was because Tradier recommended it to me.  They gave me a 1 month free trial when I asked about a good platform.  If you reach out to service@tradierbrokerage.com they can set you up with the software I think.  I swear it's not some scheme

[apsoccermd 27]

On 8/15/2017 at 1:23 AM, clems said:

Unlimited Options trades: $40

Unlimited Options + Stocks: $45

 

One or the other, not both.  You do get exchanges fees, so it's not 100% free.  It's like .15 a trade or something.  But MUCH MUCH cheaper than IB.  There's a forum thread somewhere on this site with the Unlimited Options code.  Let me know if you can't find it and I'll dig it up.

 

 

 

Is this "Unlimited Options + Stocks: $45" for real? 

 

I have reached out to Tradier  and they are not aware of this offer...

 

 

 

[clems 27]

@apsoccermd So I went to go grab the code from another site I'm subscribed to, but it has apparently changed.  It's no longer just a code provided to Tradier and instead you have to be a subscriber + pay $47 for unlimited options + $20 for unlimited equities.  So Apparently I can't help you out any more.

Sorry for getting your hopes up.

[Stanislav 302]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:36 PM, clems said:

RE: managing trades in Tradier via Trend

There's still no trade "linking" in Trend, but you can select multiple legs, right-click, close position, and pull up a trade window with those legs pre-populated.  I'm compiling a  list of feature requests for their devs, and trade grouping is one of them on the list. @wr200m

 

Edit: That said, the current functionality works very well. And I've found it to be very effective. MUCH easier than IB.

@clems, a few questions:

- Is Dynamic Trend able to show trade P/L as a percentage of margin required for the trade? The same way OptionNet Explorer shows P/L:

http://help.optionnetexplorer.com/documents_one_tour__analysis_tools__risk_chart.htm

 

- Does Dynamic Trend have something like Position Monitor in ONE? A table where all open positions are listed and their P/L as percentage of margin:

http://help.optionnetexplorer.com/documents_one_tour__ribbon__home__position_monitor__monitor_grid.htm

Edited August 21, 2017 by Stanislav

[cuegis 683]

On 8/14/2017 at 11:53 PM, clems said:

No expert here, but after being around for about 3 months, hopefully the below tips will be helpful for you:

Official Trades:

Expect to not get fills for more than 1/4 of the 'official' trades.
Watch for discussion threads.  Try to do some analysis of your own (will take a couple of months of following trades to really get a hang of it, but read, ask questions, you'll pick it up).  If you think you'll like some of the 'discussion' trades, set a limit prior to the official entry and hope for a fill.   These have been my best trades thus far.
Follow the 'Unofficial Trades' thread.  LOTS and LOTS of great trade ideas (and discussion) that never make it to the official (lots of times due to liquidity).

If you are following these threads, you'll be able to get into about 1/3 or more of the trade suggestions (official or not) even if you are only doing stuff after hours.  Also PAY ATTENTION to earnings dates so you know what needs to be closed when.  Kim obviously only tracks the official trades, so if you take on some that are unofficial, you want to make sure you know when to get out and make sure to close out.  Do not hold through earnings.  Be patient with the trades, don't chase.  You'll get a feel for it much better after the first couple months.

Broker:

If you are a newer trader, I would personally stay away from IB.  They do NOT cater to new/beginner traders.  Their customer support has never been bad, but they do have an expectation of knowledge from those using their platform.  Which by the way is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. 
I'm currently using Tradier Brokerage.  Commissions = $40 per month (unlimited options trades using Steady Options Coupon Code) per account.  If you are interested in a $45 stocks + options unlimited, I have one for that as well.  If you go this route, I would highly recommend using the DynamicTrend TREND platform ($30 / month - one fee, but can be used for all of your accounts) as the web platform from Tradier is worse than IB's.  Trend though is AMAZING, and makes Tradier 100% worth it.  Over the last week since I've found Trend, I've entered and gotten the exact same fills from both brokers, but IBs position is always worse due to commissions.  I'll likely be moving my last account over from IB to Tradier in the near future. NOTE: I also tried ONE and OptionVue (which you get some free trial time through Tradier to try them out) and hated managing positions in them.
I was VERY tempted to try Tastyworks for their platform alone.  Commissions on par with IB, but a platform that is SOOOOOOOOOO much easier to use.
Hope these comments are helpful.

Portfolio:

I was also struggling with this.  I couldn't find anything that would easily take several transactions correllate them to a strategy and bind them to an account so I have lots of ways of tracking my P/L and current balances.  I finally found this one:

https://www.tradeportfoliomanager.com/

This does not tie into any brokers (have to enter all trades manually) but the tracking, reports, and even risk profiles are great.  And they are VERY responsive about feature requests and bugs.  And the price is right...$22/month.

All told, I have the following monthly fees for managing all my trading at the moment:

Tradier - $40 per account (x3) / $120
TradePortfolioMgr - $22
TREND - $30
SteadyOptions - $125
Total: $297 ($80 of which is in my IRA accounts)

 

Good luck!

Have you compared IB's platform to Tastyworks and feel that TW is significantly easier to use?

I have been with IB since they opened over 20 years ago, so , just because of the length of time I have been using their platform,it naturally is extremely easy for .

And, I never need to contact them for help.

They are very much up front ,and always have been, that they are designed for professional traders, and if you are new, and feel that you will need a fair amount of customer service, they actually tell you that you might be better off somewhere else.

I used to trade on the floor for many years, and IB came about as a place for floor traders to go, after all of the floors began to close .

Anyway, even though IB rates are low, I do a LOT of trading , and I'm finding that it I am in need of "rate relief".

The only thing that has been holding me back is basic laziness of having to go through the process of learning a brand new platform.

I am very attracted to Tastyworks $0.00 commission to close trades.

I just wanted to hear someone else's real feedback as to how easy the learning curve is with their platform.

I know the guys, and I know that the platform must be very geared toward all of the essentials that an "option" trader would most want.

 

[Bull3t007 143]

I really want to switch however the mobile trading keeps me from doing so. Has anyone had any succes trading via a mobile platform using Tradier? How is your experience and what platform do you recommend?

[clems 27]

On 8/21/2017 at 10:14 AM, Stanislav said:

@clems, a few questions:

- Is Dynamic Trend able to show trade P/L as a percentage of margin required for the trade? The same way OptionNet Explorer shows P/L:

http://help.optionnetexplorer.com/documents_one_tour__analysis_tools__risk_chart.htm

 

- Does Dynamic Trend have something like Position Monitor in ONE? A table where all open positions are listed and their P/L as percentage of margin:

http://help.optionnetexplorer.com/documents_one_tour__ribbon__home__position_monitor__monitor_grid.htm

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, been on family vacation.  Minimal activity required.

Trend has the full risk profile, but it's better than ONE (for my purposes) in that you can adjust the spread (and target fills) before 'committing' the order to see how it affects the position.  When you like it, you right-click, open trade window, set your limit order, and it's done.  If/When filled, it's then added to your 'position monitor'.

Here is the risk graph + features I have in Trend (with one exception - there is no 'compare spreads' button):

https://www.dynamictrend.com/feature_riskgraph/

Regarding portfolio view, they do not show P/L of Margin.  Only P/L of each leg.  That said, you can select any number of legs, and show the current risk graph with a couple clicks. Attached is a scrubbed view of one of my accounts.  You can maximize any of the views to get a more full view.  It's not wonderful, but it is more effective than IB's for me.

Hope that helps.

[apsoccermd 27]

1 minute ago, clems said:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, been on family vacation.  Minimal activity required.

Trend has the full risk profile, but it's better than ONE (for my purposes) in that you can adjust the spread (and target fills) before 'committing' the order to see how it affects the position.  When you like it, you right-click, open trade window, set your limit order, and it's done.  If/When filled, it's then added to your 'position monitor'.

Here is the risk graph + features I have in Trend (with one exception - there is no 'compare spreads' button):

https://www.dynamictrend.com/feature_riskgraph/

Regarding portfolio view, they do not show P/L of Margin.  Only P/L of each leg.  That said, you can select any number of legs, and show the current risk graph with a couple clicks. Attached is a scrubbed view of one of my accounts.  You can maximize any of the views to get a more full view.  It's not wonderful, but it is more effective than IB's for me.

Hope that helps.

Nice.. I am sold.. Subbing to this.. Starting Sept 1st!

 

Wish me luck!

[clems 27]

22 hours ago, cuegis said:

Have you compared IB's platform to Tastyworks and feel that TW is significantly easier to use?

I have been with IB since they opened over 20 years ago, so , just because of the length of time I have been using their platform,it naturally is extremely easy for .

And, I never need to contact them for help.

They are very much up front ,and always have been, that they are designed for professional traders, and if you are new, and feel that you will need a fair amount of customer service, they actually tell you that you might be better off somewhere else.

I used to trade on the floor for many years, and IB came about as a place for floor traders to go, after all of the floors began to close .

Anyway, even though IB rates are low, I do a LOT of trading , and I'm finding that it I am in need of "rate relief".

The only thing that has been holding me back is basic laziness of having to go through the process of learning a brand new platform.

I am very attracted to Tastyworks $0.00 commission to close trades.

I just wanted to hear someone else's real feedback as to how easy the learning curve is with their platform.

I know the guys, and I know that the platform must be very geared toward all of the essentials that an "option" trader would most want.

 

@cuegis

I've not personally used TW, but just watching TastyTrade and how they work with their positions, it's 100x easier to use than IB for options IMO.  If Tradier wasn't in the picture, I'd be moving everything to TW immediately.

I would recommend just tuning in to Tasty trade and watching them interact with the platform a bit.  It's very easy to see how slick it is from that alone.

Cheers.

[clems 27]

1 minute ago, apsoccermd said:

Nice.. I am sold.. Subbing to this.. Starting Sept 1st!

 

Wish me luck!

Good luck!  Let me know if you have any questions on Trend, happy to pass on things I've learned.  Also, Tradier's support desk is very helpful.  Dont' be afraid to reach out and ask for help if you are struggling with anything.

[clems 27]

9 hours ago, Bull3t007 said:

I really want to switch however the mobile trading keeps me from doing so. Has anyone had any succes trading via a mobile platform using Tradier? How is your experience and what platform do you recommend?

So far, I've seen no good mobile trading platforms for Tradier.  TW's is in BETA to be released this fall sometime and looks AMAZING.  I'm hoping that someone tackles it for Tradier at some point.

[Stanislav 302]

@clems, thanks for your answers! Let's hope Dynamic Trend will implement P/L based on margin and grouping trades together for trade tracking purposes. These two features are very essential, and without them I can not seriously consider Dynamic Trend as a total replacement for ONE + broker platform.

That being said, Dynamic Trend so far looks like the best solution for Tradier for option order execution & management. It only lacks good trade tracking capabilities.

[SBatch 3,123]

6 minutes ago, Stanislav said:

@clems, thanks for your answers! Let's hope Dynamic Trend will implement P/L based on margin and grouping trades together for trade tracking purposes. These two features are very essential, and without them I can not seriously consider Dynamic Trend as a total replacement for ONE + broker platform.

That being said, Dynamic Trend so far looks like the best solution for Tradier for option order execution & management. It only lacks good trade tracking capabilities.

TradeHawk already groups trades together and is adding P&L based upon margin.  In addition, they are also adding spread P&L for trade life to include adjustments.  This is clearly a great addition for the Straddle/Strangle strategy but also for many other non-SO strategies such as Broken Wing Butterflies, MICs, etc.  Also, TradeHawk is fully integrated with Tradier whereas I don't believe any other platform is.

Edited August 22, 2017 by SBatch

[clipsnation183 84]

That's the thing I like about tastyworks web platform. You can group positions easily and also create a journal for each trade so you can look back and search your trade history. But tradier flat commissions structure is hard to beat if you are a full time trader and/or doing 200+ contracts a month.   

[Bull3t007 143]

14 minutes ago, clems said:

So far, I've seen no good mobile trading platforms for Tradier.  TW's is in BETA to be released this fall sometime and looks AMAZING.  I'm hoping that someone tackles it for Tradier at some point.

Yes, heard a lot of good things on the app of TW. However I like the app of Interactive Brokers a lot as well. A lot of bugs in the showing of P/L on my portfolio but in terms of ordering option combos quickly it is quite intuitive. Without a good app I can't switch to tradier which is a shame...

[Stanislav 302]

10 minutes ago, SBatch said:

TradeHawk already groups trades together and is adding P&L based upon margin.  In addition, they are also adding spread P&L for trade life to include adjustments.  This is clearly a great addition for the Straddle/Strangle strategy but also for many other non-SO strategies such as Broken Wing Butterflies, MICs, etc.  Also, TradeHawk is fully integrated with Tradier whereas I don't believe any other platform is.

Wow, cool! If only they cut down the cost of the TradeHawk.. Currently I am not totally ready to pay fixed $299/mo cost (even if is cheaper than trade the same number of contracts in IB), considering there are cheaper alternatives for Tradier like ONE+Tradier Web interface, or Dynamic Trend + some manual trade tracking.

But I am keeping an eye on TradeHawk.

[SBatch 3,123]

3 minutes ago, Stanislav said:

Wow, cool! If only they cut down the cost of the TradeHawk.. Currently I am not totally ready to pay fixed $299/mo cost (even if is cheaper than trade the same number of contracts in IB), considering there are cheaper alternatives for Tradier like ONE+Tradier Web interface, or Dynamic Trend + some manual trade tracking.

But I am keeping an eye on TradeHawk.

If one is looking for option free trading, isn't Dynamic Trend $245 per month? 

[Djtux 548]

1 minute ago, SBatch said:

If one is looking for option free trading, isn't Dynamic Trend $245 per month? 

I think someone mentioned some kind of deal between Tradier and Dynamic Trend where you could get Dynamic Trend for like $30/month.

[clems 27]

3 minutes ago, SBatch said:

If one is looking for option free trading, isn't Dynamic Trend $245 per month? 

It's not advertised anywhere (that I can see) but Tradier has a special agreement for a less-featured version for $30/month.

Source: Me. I'm using this version right now.  Also, it's fully integrated (executes/edits orders, monitors open positions, etc.)

Edited August 22, 2017 by clems

[SBatch 3,123]

Just now, clems said:

It's not advertised anywhere (that I can see) but Tradier has a special agreement for a less-featured version for $30/month.

Yes, but their Platinum package (which includes the sophisticated features) is $245 a month.  We need to be careful comparing the basic version against TradeHawk.

[clems 27]

Just now, SBatch said:

Yes, but their Platinum package (which includes the sophisticated features) is $245 a month.  We need to be careful comparing the basic version against TradeHawk.

I'm not trying to say it's better.  In fact, the portfolio tracking version sounds very interesting. I just setup a demo with them for tomorrow to check it out.  That said, from what I can tell thus far, the ONLY piece missing from Trend is the portfolio tracking (for my needs).  Is that worth $270 a month to me? No. I might try to see if Trend can just add it instead for now, but we'll see how the demo goes.

[SBatch 3,123]

2 minutes ago, clems said:

I'm not trying to say it's better.  In fact, the portfolio tracking version sounds very interesting. I just setup a demo with them for tomorrow to check it out.  That said, from what I can tell thus far, the ONLY piece missing from Trend is the portfolio tracking (for my needs).  Is that worth $270 a month to me? No. I might try to see if Trend can just add it instead for now, but we'll see how the demo goes.

Understood, that was not the implication.  However, there are many others here that find the sophisticated modeling and tracking features important (as I do), so I just want to make the forum aware they are not included with the basic platform.

[cuegis 683]

45 minutes ago, clems said:

@cuegis

I've not personally used TW, but just watching TastyTrade and how they work with their positions, it's 100x easier to use than IB for options IMO.  If Tradier wasn't in the picture, I'd be moving everything to TW immediately.

I would recommend just tuning in to Tasty trade and watching them interact with the platform a bit.  It's very easy to see how slick it is from that alone.

Cheers.

I know. I have been watching them for years.When they came out with it , they were explaining how they "ripped out all of the garbage,and just kept the essentials".

, so that the whole program would operate at lightening speed, and not be slowed down by a lot of uneccessary stuff.

The routing and fills are supposed to be lightening fast .

I think when you figure in the $0.00 to close a trade, and the superiority of the platform, all things considered, it should be a better choice than Tradier.

[clems 27]

1 minute ago, cuegis said:

I know. I have been watching them for years.When they came out with it , they were explaining how they "ripped out all of the garbage,and just kept the essentials".

, so that the whole program would operate at lightening speed, and not be slowed down by a lot of uneccessary stuff.

The routing and fills are supposed to be lightening fast .

I think when you figure in the $0.00 to close a trade, and the superiority of the platform, all things considered, it should be a better choice than Tradier.

I felt the same way until I started using Trend.  So far Trend has made it just as easy to manage/roll/close positions.  It's the only reason I've not already moved to TW.  If you do end up moving, please post a review!  I want a non-biased review of the software.

[SBatch 3,123]

2 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I know. I have been watching them for years.When they came out with it , they were explaining how they "ripped out all of the garbage,and just kept the essentials".

, so that the whole program would operate at lightening speed, and not be slowed down by a lot of uneccessary stuff.

The routing and fills are supposed to be lightening fast .

I think when you figure in the $0.00 to close a trade, and the superiority of the platform, all things considered, it should be a better choice than Tradier.

That is still a net of .50 round trip, that's no bargain today.  If someone is trading over 1,000 contracts a month it makes a lot more sense to choose and pay for a platform with Tradier and save on the commissions.  Savings increase exponentially with contracts traded.

[Stanislav 302]

8 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I know. I have been watching them for years.When they came out with it , they were explaining how they "ripped out all of the garbage,and just kept the essentials".

, so that the whole program would operate at lightening speed, and not be slowed down by a lot of uneccessary stuff.

The routing and fills are supposed to be lightening fast .

I think when you figure in the $0.00 to close a trade, and the superiority of the platform, all things considered, it should be a better choice than Tradier.

There is a discussion somewhere in Brokers and Commissions thread, TW commissions are on the same level as IB commissions, maybe slightly lower, but not enough lower to justify moving to TW for most of the members.

And TW and Tradier use the same clearing firm to route orders and trades for them, so TW cann't be faster than Tradier.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Stanislav

[clipsnation183 84]

I think if you have a 100K+ account, then tradier is the best choice unless you are a gunslinger with position size.  

[Stanislav 302]

On 8/22/2017 at 9:32 PM, SBatch said:

Understood, that was not the implication.  However, there are many others here that find the sophisticated modeling and tracking features important (as I do), so I just want to make the forum aware they are not included with the basic platform.

@SBatch, I am curious, what sophisticated modeling and tracking features of TradeHawk you find useful?

[SBatch 3,123]

1 minute ago, Stanislav said:

@SBatch, I am curious, what sophisticated modeling and tracking features of TradeHawk you find useful?

There are several.  Their What If scenario risk simulation is excellent.  The Risk Portfolio layout and contents are also great.  The Spread Ticket is extremely intuitive once one learns how to use it.  Also, what they call the Wisp, which is their Options Montage is the best I've used.  There is also an intra-day Historical Volatility charting module which is very solid. In addition to what I mentioned yesterday regarding the Strategy Builder for tracking spreads they will also be releasing a Volatility Workshop to analyze skew.  Couple all of this with the fact that they have accepted every one of my requests and have either already implemented them or have put them into the pipeline and it's a win all around.

[Stanislav 302]

@SBatch, thanks!

[clems 27]

For all that are interested, I actually had a 2 hour conversation with the founder of TradeHawk today and talked about what I'd like to see in a platform (some stuff they have, others they don't).  He seemed VERY receptive to feedback.  He's going to be working on some of the 'must haves' on my list and get back to me, but I expect I'll be moving over to TradeHawk as well.

Don't let the price tag scare you away immediately on this one.  TradeHawk includes unlimited trading (stocks and options) on all your accounts.  I have 3 accounts, so that saves me 120$, plus I won't be paying for Trend, so that's another 30$.  AND they are looking to create a replacement for TPM (see my posts above) saving me another 22.  After it's all considered, it's probably $120 additional, but will have a TON more integration/functionality. 

If/when I move over, I'll update with my full review of the software in this thread.

[clems 27]

Another update on TradeHawk.  They've got a functional 'Strategies' screen now.  You are able to select filled orders and add them to a custom 'strategy'.  This strategy will track the performance of a series of trades over time to allow you to easily gather P/L without almost no effort or external spreadsheets/input.  Free trial for 30 days, so I'd highly recommend checking it out.  Dont' have time to gather screenshots for you, but happy to help if have questions on how it works.

[4REAL 110]

3 hours ago, clems said:

Another update on TradeHawk.  They've got a functional 'Strategies' screen now.  You are able to select filled orders and add them to a custom 'strategy'.  This strategy will track the performance of a series of trades over time to allow you to easily gather P/L without almost no effort or external spreadsheets/input.  Free trial for 30 days, so I'd highly recommend checking it out.  Dont' have time to gather screenshots for you, but happy to help if have questions on how it works.

@clems - I am considering to switch from Trend to Tradehawk. There are quite a few things in Trend  that are annoying. (I'm used to the IB platform). 

A few questions regarding TradeHawk :

• is there a sound signal when an order is (partially) filled ?
• can one pause/ reactivate orders 
• can one edit qty once order is placed
• can one have/save optionchain for mutiple tickers, so one tab per ticker (like the tabs in IB's OptionTrader), in Trend one can have only one at the time which is quite ridiculous, in IB I have around 35/40 tabs open.
• do you see current positions (short and long) in the optionchain for that ticker ?
• is it possible to have only manually selected strikes and expiration, instead of having the default "2 or 3 strikes around ATM" 
• is there a trade log (with time stamp) in TradeHawk, (In Trend you have a log but no time stamp, even the Apex confirms have no time stamp)
• is there a MID in the optionchain (In Trend you have only Bid and ask, no MID)

 

Thanks

[clems 27]

- There is sounds on fills, but only for the 'active' account.  This is a feature that is on my request list for them.

- No. But there is a save trade feature that I've not played with yet.  I do wish this was available.

- No, I keep meaning to ask this, but I'm pretty sure this is a Tradier restriction.

- No. But I like this idea and will add to feature list.  FWIW, you can have 20 different option chains open in Trend.  right click the symbol and click option chain.

- Yes. It's actually quite good in the implementation.

- Their "Wisp" view is quite good for looking at the chain IMO. Hard to explain, but would be happy to screen share and show you.

- Yes, but it clears daily, unsure if you can pull archive data from this. again happy to show you.

- Yes.  This annoys me in Trend as well.

Let me know if you want to hop on discord to discuss further. Happy to.

[SBatch 3,123]

10 minutes ago, clems said:

- There is sounds on fills, but only for the 'active' account.  This is a feature that is on my request list for them.

- No. But there is a save trade feature that I've not played with yet.  I do wish this was available.

- No, I keep meaning to ask this, but I'm pretty sure this is a Tradier restriction.

- No. But I like this idea and will add to feature list.  FWIW, you can have 20 different option chains open in Trend.  right click the symbol and click option chain.

- Yes. It's actually quite good in the implementation.

- Their "Wisp" view is quite good for looking at the chain IMO. Hard to explain, but would be happy to screen share and show you.

- Yes, but it clears daily, unsure if you can pull archive data from this. again happy to show you.

- Yes.  This annoys me in Trend as well.

Let me know if you want to hop on discord to discuss further. Happy to.

One correction here - you can reactivate cancelled orders.  This was a change I requested and they implemented it about a month ago.  Simply click on a cancelled order in the Order window and it repopulates the order ticket.

[4REAL 110]

19 hours ago, clems said:

- There is sounds on fills, but only for the 'active' account.  This is a feature that is on my request list for them.

- No. But there is a save trade feature that I've not played with yet.  I do wish this was available.

- No, I keep meaning to ask this, but I'm pretty sure this is a Tradier restriction.

- No. But I like this idea and will add to feature list.  FWIW, you can have 20 different option chains open in Trend.  right click the symbol and click option chain.

- Yes. It's actually quite good in the implementation.

- Their "Wisp" view is quite good for looking at the chain IMO. Hard to explain, but would be happy to screen share and show you.

- Yes, but it clears daily, unsure if you can pull archive data from this. again happy to show you.

- Yes.  This annoys me in Trend as well.

Let me know if you want to hop on discord to discuss further. Happy to.

@clems - Thank you for your detailed answer.

what is an 'active' account ? is it funds in account or number of traded contracts/ month ?

Regarding the 20 option chains in Trend : the issue is that nor the expiration, nor the strikes are saved (as selected), so when you switch to another ticker you simply get the expirations of previous ticker and strikes are default around ATM.

I’ve seen the “wisp” in a demo, but I don’t like the fact that you have to switch tabs to see different expirations. Like in IB one can have for certain selected strikes all selected expirations on 1 screen, so in one blink of eye you can see/calculate the real mid (of a spread).

 

Edited September 28, 2017 by 4REAL

[clems 27]

9 minutes ago, 4REAL said:

@clems - Thank you for your detailed answer.

what is an 'active' account ? is it funds in account or number of traded contracts/ month ?

Regarding the 20 option chains in Trend : the issue is that nor the expiration, nor the strikes are saved (as selected), so when you switch to another ticker you simply get the expirations of previous ticker and strikes are default around ATM.

I’ve seen the “wisp” in a demo, but I don’t like the fact that you have to switch tabs to see different expirations. Like in IB one can have for certain selected strikes all selected expirations on 1 screen, so in one blink of eye you can see/calculate the real mid (of a spread).

 

I have 3 accounts: 1) Margin Brokerage 2) Trad IRA 3) Roth IRA

I can only be viewing one of them at a time.  So if I have positions in my margin account that I dont' in my IRA and my IRA is what is being displayed at the moment, I won't hear the fill.

Re: Trend option chains.  Yep, true story.  Every platform has pros and cons.  I find it to be very easy to get to the strikes I want compared to other platforms and I can leave the chain open in the background if I want to switch back to it soon.

Re: Wisp - Again, everyone has their preferences.  I personally have found this very easy to use. Either I'm clicking on a new tab, or I'm scrolling a bunch.  either way works fine for me.  Again, all preferences.  IF you want to see it in action (with filled positions and orders) let me know.  Happy to screen share for you.