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I was at 1.50 with TOS for years. About a year ago (maybe a bit longer), suddenly TOS became open to lowering the rates. I managed to get down to 0.75, and I know many others who also managed the same. I also heard that some managed to get down to 0.60, but they were doing very large volume. I do not know if they are still quite as accommodating.

An added bonus for TOS, at least for me, is that customer support has been very good.

That said, if the smart routing at IB really is much better than TOS, that could make a big difference. Ergo, my original question.
 

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50 minutes ago, Alan said:

I was at 1.50 with TOS for years. About a year ago (maybe a bit longer), suddenly TOS became open to lowering the rates. I managed to get down to 0.75, and I know many others who also managed the same. I also heard that some managed to get down to 0.60, but they were doing very large volume. I do not know if they are still quite as accommodating.

An added bonus for TOS, at least for me, is that customer support has been very good.

That said, if the smart routing at IB really is much better than TOS, that could make a big difference. Ergo, my original question.
 

LOL, you are right. I now realise I am also in the $0.75 plan.... Forgot I bargained about a year ago, like you did. ;-)

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I must say that it puzzles me why people negotiate a rate with TOS which they can get with IB without any negotiation? The fact that you even need to negotiate to get a good rate speaks volume. And fills at TOS are consistently worse than IB.

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Yeah.... @Kim, I hear what you are saying. Actually I even have an account at IB and have been trading it for years already (not too actively, of late). But my account at TOS is a lot bigger and I am using a part of that account for my SO trades. And... I am somewhat lazy in moving some more funds over to IB so I can do my SO trading over there. And, honestly I do not like the TWS platform, at all. I'm very happy with the TOS platforms, both mobile as desktop. But maybe I should give TWS another try. I will give it some more thought ;-)

 

You are of course right about the low commissions and better fills.

Edited by sakura

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I was able to negotiate with TOS my commissions from 1.5 to 1 per option trade recently. The problem is that TOS would not reduce my option assignment fees which are 15 and increased commissions for a stock from 5 to 6.95. What are assignment fees at IB? 

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1 minute ago, Zin said:

I was able to negotiate with TOS my commissions from 1.5 to 1 per option trade recently. The problem is that TOS would not reduce my option assignment fees which are 15 and increased commissions for a stock from 5 to 6.95. What are assignment fees at IB? 

Assigment fee ZERO. 

Exercise fee ZERO.

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@Kim & @sakuraIf the fills are definitely better with IB, that is important to know.  Also, the absence of assignment and exercise fees is definitely a bonus.


I called IB today to ask a few questions. They told me the following. Please let me know if your experience is different.

1) If one has a 0.70 contract rate at IB & one closes out a short option position between 0.05 - 0.10, the commission drops to 0.50. If the short option is below 0.05, the commission drops to 0.25. I asked if the commission ever goes to zero, and the person I talked to said "no". However, I do believe I have heard IB traders here say that below a certain level they are not charged a commission. For comparison, at TOS there is no reduction in commission between 0.05 & 0.10, but at 0.05 & under there is no commission charged at all.

2) If one is trading index options, IB adds the 0.44 exchange fee per contract to the 0.70 commission. Therefore, the roundtrip cost is 2.28 per contract. I asked if it is possible to negotiate a waiver of the exchange fees if trading large volumes and was told that any negotiation of this would have to be directly with the exchange. I cannot imagine the exchange waiving the fee, but who knows. The person I talked to at IB said that IB would not absorb the fee. This is where TOS appears to be more appealing. If one is at a commission rate greater 0.50, TOS will absorb the exchange fees. If one is under 0.50, they will add the exchange fees.

Note that it is possible to get commission rates much lower than 0.75 (i.e. under 0.50) at TOS, but one will have to trade very large volumes. I imagine the same is available at IB.

If the fills, indeed, are much better at IB, that argues strongly for the SO strategies where it seems that any advantage in fills can make a significant difference is returns.

One of the things that I like to take into consideration when assessing a strategy is scalability. Can the strategy be traded with a large account? It is quite possible that Chris' experience with the fund is a model for trading the SO strategies in large amounts. Hopefully, that is working out well, and he is getting results similar to the SO performance results. It would be nice to know that if I am successful with the SO trades, I would be able to ramp up the account.

That said, with the exception of a few equity options with very large open interest, I generally have looked to index options as the way to potentially trade a large account. Of course, that requires finding a strategy that works - I am still looking. However, if one is fortunate to find such a strategy, the large open interest of index options plus their generally higher prices means that that one can conceivably trade a 5 or 6 figure account. That IB does not absorb exchange fess puts a damper on using them for any such index option strategy.

For those of you with IB accounts, have any of you been able to get a fee structure without the added exchange fee for index options?

 

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5 minutes ago, Alan said:

I asked if the commission ever goes to zero, and the person I talked to said "no". However, I do believe I have heard IB traders here say that below a certain level they are not charged a commission. For comparison, at TOS there is no reduction in commission between 0.05 & 0.10, but at 0.05 & under there is no commission charged at all.

For a single leg option, when you close the position, i think there is no commission if it's 0.01 or 0.02, i don't remember exactly.

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=options1

"Commissions are not charged for US cabinet buy-to-close trades."

Also note that on single leg options, sometimes you can get rebates as well.

 

For IB, i don't think that they negociate. I might be wrong. What you see is what you get.

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@Alan IB does not have a flat fee structure.  However, I can tell you that having trading thousands of contracts each year the IB commissions (including exchange fees) averages right around 0.75 per contract.    Sometime you pay more, sometimes you pay less, sometimes (rarely) you even get a credit where you are paid to execute the trade.    Option trades for 0.01 are always commission free (and in general trades with options worth only a few cents tend to be cheaper commissions).    Bottom line is that if you trade a lot of contracts each year then your commissions will average out to be pretty close to 0.75 per contract.

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20 minutes ago, Yowster said:

@Alan IB does not have a flat fee structure.  However, I can tell you that having trading thousands of contracts each year the IB commissions (including exchange fees) averages right around 0.75 per contract.    Sometime you pay more, sometimes you pay less, sometimes (rarely) you even get a credit where you are paid to execute the trade.    Option trades for 0.01 are always commission free (and in general trades with options worth only a few cents tend to be cheaper commissions).    Bottom line is that if you trade a lot of contracts each year then your commissions will average out to be pretty close to 0.75 per contract.

@YowsterTherefore, if one is trading a wide variety of options (both equity and index), TOS & IB are more a less a wash as far commissions/fees are concerned for most moderate volume traders. The advantage, if true, is the better fills at IB.

What would be interesting is a test. Several of us enter the same exact trade at exactly the same time at IB, TOS, Tastyworks, Tradier, etc., and see who gets filled first & who gets the best fill. Of course, some here have probably already done this.

 If, indeed, the fills are better at IB, trade index options on TOS & the rest either at IB or the other brokerages if the latters' lower commission structure overcomes any fill disadvantages.

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2 minutes ago, Alan said:

@YowsterTherefore, if one is trading a wide variety of options (both equity and index), TOS & IB are more a less a wash as far commissions/fees are concerned for most moderate volume traders. The advantage, if true, is the better fills at IB.

What would be interesting is a test. Several of us enter the same exact trade at exactly the same time at IB, TOS, Tastyworks, Tradier, etc., and see who gets filled first & who gets the best fill. Of course, some here have probably already done this.

 If, indeed, the fills are better at IB, trade index options on TOS & the rest either at IB or the other brokerages if the latters' lower commission structure overcomes any fill disadvantages.

Yes, it is similar if you were able to negotiate 0.75 with TOS. To me, the fact that you even need to negotiate while you get much lower rates with many other options friendly brokers is a disgrace. In my opinion, they don't deserve your business. There are too many other excellent alternatives today.

When I argued about rates with TOS Trade Desk Manager, his response was: "IB has a place in this industry much like the discount retail stores do in their industry. It comes down to what the client wants, you can buy a car for 10k that will get your from point A to point B but there is also a market for a 30k car which will do the same but with a better experience."

How arrogant is this? IB is constantly recognized as the best broker by Barrons, year after year, and he compares it to a 10k car? 

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2 minutes ago, Kim said:

Yes, it is similar if you were able to negotiate 0.75 with TOS. To me, the fact that you even need to negotiate while you get much lower rates with many other options friendly brokers is a disgrace. In my opinion, they don't deserve your business. There are too many other excellent alternatives today.

When I argued about rates with TOS Trade Desk Manager, his response was: "IB has a place in this industry much like the discount retail stores do in their industry. It comes down to what the client wants, you can buy a car for 10k that will get your from point A to point B but there is also a market for a 30k car which will do the same but with a better experience."

How arrogant is this? IB is constantly recognized as the best broker by Barrons, year after year, and he compares it to a 10k car? 

@Kim, what's are the known downsides / pitfalls of the Tradier's 40 bucks flat fee offer? How much worse the experience / fills / other stuff that we don't know about? With IB and multiple SO services I am out of several K in commissions, which with Tradier would've been 360 so far. Quite a difference, however this tread makes me think of the proverbial free lunch that is nowhere to be found :)

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2 minutes ago, akhouston said:

@Kim, what's are the known downsides / pitfalls of the Tradier's 40 bucks flat fee offer? How much worse the experience / fills / other stuff that we don't know about? With IB and multiple SO services I am out of several K in commissions, which with Tradier would've been 360 so far. Quite a difference, however this tread makes me think of the proverbial free lunch that is nowhere to be found :)

  topic discusses Tradier. Overall members report good fills and excellent customer service. I would sign up myself, but they don't accept Canadian clients.

The platform is very basic, that's the only downside I'm aware of, but there is Tradier/Tradehawk combo (I think around $100/month), it is discussed in details on Tradier topic.

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21 minutes ago, Kim said:

Yes, it is similar if you were able to negotiate 0.75 with TOS. To me, the fact that you even need to negotiate while you get much lower rates with many other options friendly brokers is a disgrace. In my opinion, they don't deserve your business. There are too many other excellent alternatives today.

When I argued about rates with TOS Trade Desk Manager, his response was: "IB has a place in this industry much like the discount retail stores do in their industry. It comes down to what the client wants, you can buy a car for 10k that will get your from point A to point B but there is also a market for a 30k car which will do the same but with a better experience."

How arrogant is this? IB is constantly recognized as the best broker by Barrons, year after year, and he compares it to a 10k car? 

@Kim Unfortunately (or maybe not), when you tried to get lower rates at TOS, they were incalcitrant. I tried too for many years. Remember, I was stuck at 1.50. Then all of sudden, probably because of a global change in the competition, they were willing to lower the rates. It was crazy how many of us were able to get down to 0.75 (& some lower).

The other thing is the rates under 0.50. If one is trading large volumes, it might be worth going for these lower rates in non-index options. Of course, if IB offers the same, and if the fills, as being discussed here, are better at IB, then it wouldn't make sense to switch. That said, in your recent article about brokerages where you showed a study comparing them all, TOS & IB were exactly the same in all aspects except the commissions. Per the information I seem to be getting, the commissions might be better at TOS if trading very large volumes.

Edited by Alan

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1 hour ago, Alan said:

2) If one is trading index options, IB adds the 0.44 exchange fee per contract to the 0.70 commission. Therefore, the roundtrip cost is 2.28 per contract. I asked if it is possible to negotiate a waiver of the exchange fees if trading large volumes and was told that any negotiation of this would have to be directly with the exchange. I cannot imagine the exchange waiving the fee, but who knows. The person I talked to at IB said that IB would not absorb the fee. This is where TOS appears to be more appealing. If one is at a commission rate greater 0.50, TOS will absorb the exchange fees. If one is under 0.50, they will add the exchange fees.

I pay 0.01 to 0.02 per contract in "Misc Fees" at TOS.  This is on equity options or index options, on top of my 0.75 rate.

Regarding regular equity stock trades, I was able to negotiate (a long while ago) down to 0.01 per share, $1.00 minimum, $6.95 max.

Why would someone stay at TOS vs IB even if they had to negotiate their rate?  Customer service is quite good (when needed), I prefer their trading platform much more than IB's, and their platform worked behind my company firewall whereas IB's didn't (now they both don't work), and TOS's mobile app is pretty good too.

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2 minutes ago, ChadK said:

I pay 0.01 to 0.02 per contract in "Misc Fees" at TOS.  This is on equity options or index options, on top of my 0.75 rate.

Regarding regular equity stock trades, I was able to negotiate (a long while ago) down to 0.01 per share, $1.00 minimum, $6.95 max.

Why would someone stay at TOS vs IB even if they had to negotiate their rate?  Customer service is quite good (when needed), I prefer their trading platform much more than IB's, and their platform worked behind my company firewall whereas IB's didn't (now they both don't work), and TOS's mobile app is pretty good too.

Fair points, and I agree regarding customer service. However, the comparison is not only to IB - there are tastyworks, Tradier etc. 

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5 minutes ago, ChadK said:

I pay 0.01 to 0.02 per contract in "Misc Fees" at TOS.  This is on equity options or index options, on top of my 0.75 rate.

Regarding regular equity stock trades, I was able to negotiate (a long while ago) down to 0.01 per share, $1.00 minimum, $6.95 max.

Why would someone stay at TOS vs IB even if they had to negotiate their rate?  Customer service is quite good (when needed), I prefer their trading platform much more than IB's, and their platform worked behind my company firewall whereas IB's didn't (now they both don't work), and TOS's mobile app is pretty good too.

I pay the 0.01-0.02 "Misc Fees" also. I should have mentioned it earlier.

 

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14 minutes ago, Kim said:

However, the comparison is not only to IB - there are tastyworks, Tradier etc.

True.  There are many options (no pun intended) and one size does not fit all.  I have accounts at tastyworks and Tradier (plus ONE) as well.  I have tried many of others over the last decade plus, but for me, TOS is my choice and is worth the potential extra cost.  (I didn't like the TOS comms for the very low priced SO trades...I use Tradier for that.  But the bulk of my trading is not 20 cent spreads, so I use TOS.)

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1 hour ago, Crazy ayzo said:

Ouch.  I just joined to learn about options.  I've been using my Etrade account.  My A-hole hurts after comparing this to how much I pay for an options trade.

IF I was you I would just open an account at Interactive.  They might not be the best at all things but they have been pretty reliable for me for more than six years.  Why make life complicated.  They haven't hurt my bottom line.  If you want to get more fussy later, sure, go ahead.  I can assure you that they won't be the difference between a good income and a lousy one.

 

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I just received an email from IB introducing a bunch of new features including a new advanced options trading mobile app, direct deposit, debit cards, and tons more......

Here is the page that it is linked to.....

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/communiques/2018/news-at-ibkr-09-2018-vol4.php#section-one-drop

 

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3 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I just received an email from IB introducing a bunch of new features including a new advanced options trading mobile app, direct deposit, debit cards, and tons more......

Here is the page that it is linked to.....

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/communiques/2018/news-at-ibkr-09-2018-vol4.php#section-one-drop

 

Thanks, i have not receive that notification, but i see this :

Quote

Desktop TWS
You can now roll puts and calls in a complex strategy in a single order by using the right-click menu after selecting the complex position in your portfolio. In addition, you can now select and close individual option positions as a complex combination strategy in TWS by selecting individual legs and using the right-click menu to select "Close as Combo."

I never used their roll function, maybe that upgrade makes it usable ?

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2 minutes ago, Djtux said:

Thanks, i have not receive that notification, but i see this :

I never used their roll function, maybe that upgrade makes it usable ?

see this. For high priced stock, i used to have 99delta bto and keep rolling. 

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/tws/usersguidebook/specializedorderentry/rollover_options.htm

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19 minutes ago, Djtux said:

Thanks, i have not receive that notification, but i see this :

I never used their roll function, maybe that upgrade makes it usable ?

I actually got their debit card when it first came out.

Now they offer around 2.5% on cash balances, so I'm starting to also use it like another checking account.

I think all accounts are SIPC insured for something like $5 million, which is a lot better than $250,000 FDIC at banks.

Edited by cuegis

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The current listed options commissions at TD Ameritrade are $6.95 per ticket + 0.75 per contract. IMHO, TD Ameritrade offers the simplest and best portfolio margin (T+0 risk at -10%/+12% and < 2x net liquidation value). Neither Tradier, Tastyworks nor Robinhood offer portfolio margin right now, although Tastyworks emailed me and said they would offer it by the beginning of next year. IB offers portfolio margin, but the formula seems quite complex.

So, a question, what's the lowest per ticket charge you've been able to negotiate at TDA? 

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25 minutes ago, Larry said:

So, a question, what's the lowest per ticket charge you've been able to negotiate at TDA?

"Most" people at TDA have $0 ticket charge and only pay a per contract fee.  Many (with a fair amount of trading volume history) pay $0.75/contract or less.

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This is FYI; I'm posting it here because I don't know where else to post it.

TOS is having problems with their chart price bubbles lagging actual prices. I spoke with customer service and they acknowledged the problem. It is also affecting the and Time&Sales prices. (They had a back-end system change over the weekend, and this is probably a result of that).

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I received this email from IB about using their "adaptive algo" feature to create better fills.....

https://www.clientam.com/en/index.php?f=19091

 

Dear Client,

Since you place non marketable orders, you may want to try using Patient Adaptive Algo orders instead, as they attempt to achieve the fastest fill at at the best all-in price.

Please see our website to learn more about 
Adaptive Algo orders.


To unsubscribe, please modify settings in TWS using the FYI button in Mosaic.
 
Interactive Brokers

 

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On 11/30/2018 at 10:36 AM, cuegis said:

I received this email from IB about using their "adaptive algo" feature to create better fills.....

https://www.clientam.com/en/index.php?f=19091

 

Dear Client,

Since you place non marketable orders, you may want to try using Patient Adaptive Algo orders instead, as they attempt to achieve the fastest fill at at the best all-in price.

Please see our website to learn more about 
Adaptive Algo orders.


To unsubscribe, please modify settings in TWS using the FYI button in Mosaic.
 
Interactive Brokers

 

Have you tested it already @cuegis?

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With TD Ameritrade and TOS, they are offering me $5 and 55 cents per contract. Is that a good commission rate for Steady Option type trades? I am planning to trade about 100k so basically so 10 times the contracts in the trade guidelines.

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4 minutes ago, siddharth310584 said:

With TD Ameritrade and TOS, they are offering me $5 and 55 cents per contract. Is that a good commission rate for Steady Option type trades? I am planning to trade about 100k so basically so 10 times the contracts in the trade guidelines.

What is the $5 for? Ticket charge?

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At Ally my fees are $3.95/trade plus $.50/option. It appears that so long as I am trading a $50k portfolio that my trades typically average between $.70/option for the half units (20 options) down to  $.60/option (40 options) for the full units. These are average costs per option. I cannot comment on how Ally compares to other brokers on filling an order, but I seem to get the trades about the same pricing and fill times as IB. This of course is just a guesstimate. 

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Hey Guys, New to SO here. What is the best mobile platform connected thru Tradier? Trade Hawk and Trend don't have mobile apps. Could you let me know the platform price as well with SO? Also, can we trade futures options in that platform? Thanks

 

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I came across two brokerages 1. Firstrade and 2. Hrtrader. Both have mobile apps and $0 commissions. Hrtrader needs a minimum of $30K to open and monthly $25 flat fee OR total free if you have 50K daily margin and EOD free cash plus 50 trades mo.

Anyone has experience with them? The reviews on both are average but want to know if someone has real experience.

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38 minutes ago, Suresh Kampalli said:

I came across two brokerages 1. Firstrade and 2. Hrtrader. Both have mobile apps and $0 commissions. Hrtrader needs a minimum of $30K to open and monthly $25 flat fee OR total free if you have 50K daily margin and EOD free cash plus 50 trades mo.

Anyone has experience with them? The reviews on both are average but want to know if someone has real experience.

FYI, for Firsttrade, I had previously inquired with their support staff about the mobile capabilities of their platform and unless things have changed, their mobile app does NOT support multi-leg option orders. Neither does their mobile web interface. So you would have to either use "desktop" mode on your mobile browser and constantly pan and zoom around or just use their website on a desktop i.e. multi-option orders on mobile is not a good experience.

 

I have not heard of Hrtrader before and while what they offer sounds interesting, I do not see any reviews of them online at all, which seems a little strange...

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Question I just opened a account with IB does one need to subscribe to OPRA (US Options Exchanges) to get live data that is an extra cost I was not anticpating

I don't seem to be getting live quotes on options when I attempt to open an option spread It may be a config issue or do I need to add this to get live option pricing  from IB   I did try when the market was open as well

 

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My requirements are:

  • I do NOT care about advanced analysis and P/L diagrams. I have another software for that. Just need to execute orders.
  • Fills should be comparable to ToS. So fills should be good.
  • Has to have an android mobile app which can do multi-leg (up to 4 legs) trades.
  • My current commission with ToS is 0.5 per contract and I have no ticket fee. Looking to reduce the brokerage drastically.

 

Any suggestions?

 

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15 hours ago, gowthamn said:

 

My requirements are:

  • I do NOT care about advanced analysis and P/L diagrams. I have another software for that. Just need to execute orders.
  • Fills should be comparable to ToS. So fills should be good.
  • Has to have an android mobile app which can do multi-leg (up to 4 legs) trades.
  • My current commission with ToS is 0.5 per contract and I have no ticket fee. Looking to reduce the brokerage drastically.

 

Any suggestions?

 

- I do not use my broker for advanced analysis.

- My fills have been comparable to IB or just about any other broker I have seen mentioned here that members are happy with.

- I do not know if my broker has an Android app as I do not utilize this.

- My commission is 0.4, but I do have a ticket fee of 2.95. My average commission is 0.46 to 0.48, probably not cheap enough for you to warrant a move.

My broker is Ally. I was already trading options long before I came across SO. I have been pleased with trading SO trades with Ally so far. Yes I would like to get rid of the ticket fee, but with any decent volume the ticket fee becomes less of a concern. If I had not already been trading options and did not have a good commission schedule, I would probably have moved to IB as most here seem to be happy with them.

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On 12/16/2018 at 7:20 PM, zeon said:

Question I just opened a account with IB does one need to subscribe to OPRA (US Options Exchanges) to get live data that is an extra cost I was not anticpating

I don't seem to be getting live quotes on options when I attempt to open an option spread It may be a config issue or do I need to add this to get live option pricing  from IB   I did try when the market was open as well

 

Aren’t all brokers have live feeds? So that’ll be extra on top of commissions for IB

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Well I figured out I was originally classified as a professional which had some pretty hefty fees for a live fee. But I changed to non professional which lowered the fees quite a bit in fact the fees are waived as long as you do a small amount of trading every month

 

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5 minutes ago, zeon said:

Well I figured out I was originally classified as a professional which had some pretty hefty fees for a live fee. But I changed to non professional which lowered the fees quite a bit in fact the fees are waived as long as you do a small amount of trading every month

 

What does IB define as "small amount of trading?"

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    • By cwerdna
      I figured I'd start a general topic on IB since this isn't about commissions.

      I found a quirk w/IB that I'd not seen w/TOS. I bought a FDX call (not a trade discussed here) and had an open sell order on it. With the sell order open, I tried to buy another FDX call and IB won't let me. It says "Order Reject: This account cannot have open orders on both sides of the same US Options contract in any related accounts."

      If I try to override and transmit, it rejects it for the same reason. Known issue? Any workaround or just something I have to live with?

      I can do the same thing on TOS (and am doing it now). it doesn't care. It lets me do that.

      I'd rather not cancel the open sell order on FDX as I'd get hit w/a cancel/modify fee on IB, which is something unheard of on TOS (and most brokerages that I'm aware of).
    • By cmh1008
      Hi there, I am new to using the IB/ TWS platform. My understanding is that the probability of ITM can't be displayed in the option chain in TWS. As a substitute you can use the option's delta, however that does not seem to correlate very well. I would expect deviations in the low one digits but get much bigger differences. For example, in the attached screenshot I am looking at selling a 70.7 delta put on the SPY which should have a probability ITM of around 30% (1-70.7%) , then looking at the quote details shows me a probability of profit 59% which is quite far off? My only explanation would be commisions but is that it? Really stuck here so help is really appreciated? Many thanks!
       

    • By Kim
      I would like to share some parameters of selecting the right broker, based on my personal experience and feedback from our trading community. You can also read our extensive Brokers and commissions discussion on our forum.

      First, lets take a look at excellent Brokers Review published by Barrons. They do it every year, and it's worth to review the results and to read the brokers description.

      In 2018, Interactive Brokers takes the top spot, dominating in range of offerings, portfolio analysis and reports, and costs categories.



      What is more important for us as options traders is the "Best for Options Traders" category. Interactive Brokers is #1 in this category as well.



      What makes IB the best overall broker?

      You can read the Barrons article for details, but let me share my personal opinion.

      I believe that there are three most important factors when selecting the options broker:
      Cost
      Lets assume that you buy a straddle for $2 ($1 each option). With IB you will pay 0.70 per contract. To do a round trip trade is $2.80. This is 1.4% of the cost of the trade. So if my gain is 10%, then I keep 8.6% after commissions.

      If you pay $1.5 per contract, then your total cost is $6. That's 3%. You need 3% gain just to break even.

      Over time, this is HUGE. Commissions are probably the single most important factor if you are an active trader.

      Some brokers also charge a fee per ticket. This is an account killer, especially for smaller accounts. If your broker charges a ticket fee, you need to change brokers immediately.

      Here is an example from Etrade:



      Just to be clear, you will be paying $6.95 PER TRADE ($4.95 for more active traders) In addition to per contract fee. So if you trade for example one straddle, it will cost you (as an active trader) $11.90 for a round trip trade, compared to ~$3 with IB.

      TD Ameritrade is even worse:



      I'm sorry, but this is a robbery. Those brokers simply don't deserve your business.

      IB used to be the cheapest broker, but there are few other excellent options today in terms of cost.

      SteadyOptions members might consider Tradier Brokerage Special Offer. Tradier offers a special $40/Month of Flat Price Trading for SteadyOptions Clients. For $40/month the SteadyOptions client can trade unlimited options trades and there will be no per trade commissions. Please review the link for details.

      eOption also offers a special rate of $1.99 per options trade (or equity trade) plus 10₵ per options contract.to our members. Please see eOption Brokerage Special Offer for more details.

      tastyworks is also an excellent option, especially for larger accounts. They charge $1.00 per contract for opening trades, $0.00 for closing trades (so just slightly cheaper than IB), but they also capped the commissions to $10 per leg. For larger accounts, this means huge savings.
      Execution
      What's the point to have low commissions if your execution sucks?

      Well, IB has one of the best executions in the industry, thanks to its "Smart Routing":
      Unlike smart routers from other online brokers, IB SmartRouting never routes and forgets about your order. It continuously evaluates fast changing market conditions and dynamically re-routes all or parts of your order seeking to achieve optimal execution and maximize your rebate. IB SmartRouting represents each leg of a spread order independently and submits each leg at the best possible venue. From my experience, and based on members feedback, this algorithm does indeed provide an advantage compared to most other brokers. However, members who used Tradier and tastyworks also reported pretty good results.
      Platform
      Having a good and intuitive platform is the third factor that you should consider.
      It should be stable, intuitive and offer fast way to place trades. IB platform requires some learning curve, and some users consider it outdated, but personally, I like it. I might be biased as I have been using for over 10 years now, but I believe the learning curve is well worth it.
      Many users praise TD Ameritrade (thinkorswim) platform for its expensive features, but their current commissions structure makes it terrible for active options traders. Unless you were grandfathered at their older rates, or can negotiate commissions under $1.00/contract with no ticket fee, I would avoid them.
      Other Considerations
      There are some other things that you should consider, such as:
      How is the Customer service? Unfortunately, IB has one of the worst customer services in the industry. Don't expect any hand holding, and don't expect any help in case you have some trading issue. Their philosophy is "our algorithm is always right, obviously you (the customer) did something wrong."  Does the broker charge extra for real time data and how much? How about assignment fee and exercise fee? IB charges ZERO for both, while some other brokers charge $15-20. What are the margin rates? IB has the lowest margin rates in the industry. What happens in case of margin call? IB has the strictest rules regarding margin rules. When you get a margin call (in case of assignment for example), they might liquidate your positions within minutes. It's an automated process, nothing you can do about it, so try not to get a margin call with IB. What about Global Markets? IB is rated #1 by Stockbrokers.com in the Best for International Traders category. It offers very wide range of international markets and products, and also accepts clients from all around the Globe. Many other brokers have limited exposure in terms of countries they accept clients from.  Conclusion
      In this article, I tried to offer some personal perspective on selecting an options broker. In my opinion, Interactive Brokers, tastyworks and Tradier offer the best combination of cost, execution and platform. 

      That doesn't mean there are no other good brokers. This conclusion is based on my personal experience and feedback from hundreds of members.
       
      Additional reading:
      Brokers And Commissions Trading and getting fills with Interactive Brokers Executing Orders in Interactive Brokers Tradier Brokerage Special Offer Tastyworks A New Brokerage Firm eOption Brokerage Special Offer
    • By cuegis
      Have all of the IB customers received the email last night (Mar 17) informing us that we have to change our data feed subscriptions by
      April 1, 2017, otherwise we are going to be defaulted to 20 minute delayed quotes? With each quote being a "snapshot" of a moment in time and no longer "streaming" info?
      I was not 100% sure what I needed to do but, I added a $4.50 package that appears to turn the delayed data back into real-time streaming data.
      I think that was the correct choice, but I just wanted to hear from others
    • By Crazy ayzo
      I'm looking for someone that is a power user of some of the following... Tradehawk with Tradier, Interactive Brokers, Optionnetexplorer ONE, CMLviz TradeMachine... and any other tools that you find particularly useful.   My schedule is fairly flexible.  I'm in the pacific time zone.
      If this is something that interests you either post here or PM me with an hourly rate.  It's ok if you only know some of the tools, I don't expect anyone to know them all.  I can pay via paypal.
      After I get a better handle on the tools, I'd also be interest in working with someone on strategy of non-directional trades.
       
      P.S.  I did get Kim's approval before making such an off-topic post.
    • By Kim
      The impact of commissions on your results can be astonishing.
       
      This excellent article by Business Insider is asking the right questions (and also answering some of them):
       
      When you pay commission fees for online stock trades, where does that money go? Do you get better execution by paying $9.99 to TD Ameritrade than by paying $1 to Interactive Brokers? How much better? Enough to justify the difference in price?
       
      Their conclusions:
      At least 17 million investors overpaying for online brokerage Only 12% of commission fee is used for trade execution at top brokerages Over $1.8 billion per year wasted on unused premium services Lets analyze one specific month, January 2015, and see how different commissions structure can impact the returns of our SteadyOptions model portfolio.
       
      SteadyOptions $10k model portfolio traded 228 contracts in January. If you paid $0.75/contract with no ticket fee, you spent $171 on commissions, which is 1.7% of your portfolio value. While not cheap, but considering the fact that we produced 20.7% ROI in January (12.4% return on the whole account assuming 10% allocation), it is completely reasonable.
       
      However, if you had a ticket fee of $8, in addition to $0.75/contract, you would pay $427 in commissions, more than double. In this case, your returns will be reduced by 4.3%.
       
      This will make HUGE difference in the long term. To see how huge, I went to pro-trading-profits.com, a third party website that tracks performance of 400+ newsletters. I clicked on SteadyOptions performance report and played with different parameters. Using the $0.75/contract with no ticket fee, a $10,000 portfolio would produce $35,693 gains since inception. Adding $8 ticket fee to each trade would reduce the gains to $23,869.
       
      The impact of the ticket fee is especially significant if you have relatively small account.
       
      Of course commissions is only part of the whole package. Other factors include tools, platform, customer service etc. Barron's publishes a comprehensive brokers review every year. Here is the last one. Interactive Brokers (IB) was ranked #1 by Barron's third year in a row. This is the broker I personally have been using for the last 7 years and I'm very happy.
       
      Barron's mention that "IB offers a lot more support to new clients, including individuals, especially those with larger accounts. Yes, using the word "support" in the same sentence as Interactive Brokers (without the modifier "dismal") is a change for us, but the firm has clearly made this a point of focus."
       
      Their conclusion:
       
      "Interactive Brokers continues to have extremely competitive pricing, and the lowest margin fees of any broker in our survey. You may incur some data fees, but the firm takes care of any options-exercise costs, which can generate unexpected fees at many other brokers."
       
      On the open section of our forum, we have couple very useful discussions about brokers:
       
      Brokers and commissions
      Interactive Brokers tips, tricks, webtrader etc.
       
      There is a consensus among our members that IB and TOS by TD Ameritrade offer the best combination of commissions, platform, and execution. If you decide to go with TOS, I highly recommend that you negotiate a commissions structure that does not include a ticket fee.
       
      Here are couple more good articles worth reading:
       
      The Truth Behind Broker Commissions - Learning Markets
      Comparison of online brokerages in the United States
      Relative Importance Of Options Brokerage Fees
       
      For Canadian traders, here is an excellent study on the commissions schemas offered by Canadian discount Brokers.
    • By Kim
      I tried to to buy 1 Apr SPX 1300 put and getting an error message that I have insufficient margin. The message indicates that the margin will increase by 53,985 (see attached image).

       

      I opened a ticket with IB. Their response was:

       

       

       

      I couldn't believe this, but the fact remains.
    • By Bschulz
      I'm opening an account at IB and wondering if there is a promotion code or partner code to use for SO members?
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