Negotiating assignment fee on TOS

[Azov]

 

Just wondering if anyone has ever had success negotiating with TOS to reduce/remove the $19.95 fee that TOS charges for assignment and exercise. If so, what kind of arguments worked best?

 

I agree with Kim that we shouldn’t have to negotiate to get the best rates. However, I greatly prefer TOS’s platform to anything else out there. I’ve been using tastyworks for a while now too, and their platform is only ok, but it’s still a work in progress, and they still charge $5 for assignment/exercise. 

 

The reason I’m asking - and not considering IB’s $0 assignments- is because I’m evaluating a couple of candidates for wheel trades (sell puts, get assigned, sell covered calls, get assigned, rinse/repeat). Since the cycle involves two assignments, the $40-ish total fees at TOS is cost prohibitive. And I refuse to use IB because of their auto-liquidation algorithm - I don’t want to have my account blown up if I get assigned on a couple of different positions one night and don’t have a chance to close things out within 10 minutes of the market opening. 

 

So if I could get TOS to come down or eliminate their assignment fee, that would be great. Otherwise I’m stuck with TW - I suppose I’ll get more used to their platform over time, but everything about their apps makes me feel like I’m playing an arcade game from the 80s. And not in a good way....

 

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[SBatch]

5 hours ago, Azov said:

 

Just wondering if anyone has ever had success negotiating with TOS to reduce/remove the $19.95 fee that TOS charges for assignment and exercise. If so, what kind of arguments worked best?

 

I agree with Kim that we shouldn’t have to negotiate to get the best rates. However, I greatly prefer TOS’s platform to anything else out there. I’ve been using tastyworks for a while now too, and their platform is only ok, but it’s still a work in progress, and they still charge $5 for assignment/exercise. 

 

The reason I’m asking - and not considering IB’s $0 assignments- is because I’m evaluating a couple of candidates for wheel trades (sell puts, get assigned, sell covered calls, get assigned, rinse/repeat). Since the cycle involves two assignments, the $40-ish total fees at TOS is cost prohibitive. And I refuse to use IB because of their auto-liquidation algorithm - I don’t want to have my account blown up if I get assigned on a couple of different positions one night and don’t have a chance to close things out within 10 minutes of the market opening. 

 

So if I could get TOS to come down or eliminate their assignment fee, that would be great. Otherwise I’m stuck with TW - I suppose I’ll get more used to their platform over time, but everything about their apps makes me feel like I’m playing an arcade game from the 80s. And not in a good way....

 

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

Robinhood charges nothing for assignment.  I have never traded with them so I can’t speak to platform, etc.

https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001214663-Free-Options-Investing

[Azov]

On 11/10/2018 at 8:05 AM, SBatch said:

Robinhood charges nothing for assignment.  I have never traded with them so I can’t speak to platform, etc.

https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001214663-Free-Options-Investing

I have heard (admittedly, secondhand) that Robinhood has a similar auto-liquidation algorithm to IB that has also blown up people’s accounts. It makes me very nervous to trade with a broker that will indiscriminately liquidate positions without regard to whether it solves the problem that created the margin call in the first place! If that’s not the case with RH, I would welcome a correction from anyone with firsthand experience. 

 

TOS may have overpriced commissions, but they have always been extremely easy to work with when I’ve been assigned on positions. It’s just that I can’t pay $40 round trip in assignment fees to do these wheel trades and still be profitable long-term. 

[Azov]

I indirectly answered my own question. I called TD/TOS yesterday to request a lower commission rate on my options trading. They granted my request today (no ticket fee and $0.75 per contract), and they also (unasked) lowered my exercise/assignment fee from $19.95 to $8. I realize that $8 is still higher than the $0 I could get at IB, or even the $5 at TW, but this is probably JUST low enough to make it feasible to do wheel trades with TOS.

 

Edit: they also lowered my equities commission to $4.95 (also unasked).

Edited November 29, 2018 by Azov