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I just received an email , from Tastyworks, informing me that they just came out with a new Iphone, mobile app today.

It appears to be an exact replication of everything their regular PC program is.

Ironically, I don't trade through them but, I know they build great software, and this app looks quite good, for those in need of a great mobile app.

Take a look at it.

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I downloaded the Tastyworks app earlier this week.  It's a good first attempt, but it's hard to use it for actual trading.  They only have a "curve" view, which is very hard to use.  They're supposed to be coming out with a more traditional table view soon.  For now, I can only use the app to look at my trades, but I still use the web version for the actual trading.

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I was a beta tester of the iPhone app, and it's definitely usable for trading on the go. I've opened, closed and modified dozens of trades on it, and while it's good, it's definitely not as good as the IB TWS or the thinkorswim mobile app.  Just my 2 cents.

For those that remember the 'dough' app, the new tastyworks app isn't that much different than the 'dough' app that used to work with TDA before Sosnoff and TDA parted ways in January.  Opening/closing/modifying orders are all very similar between dough and the new tastyworks app.

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Tastyworks has also released an update for their android app (technically unreleased beta, but can be found on google play) today which fixes some crashes on the grid page. (not that I ever use that though) However, the new update has now broken the mechanism for closing positions. Previously, if you selected some legs and tapped "close", it would navigate to the trade page and prefill the settings to close the legs. All you had to do was choose a price and hit confirm. Now, it just goes to the trade page without prefilling out anything.

 

If anyone else is using the android Tastyworks app, I would highly recommend against updating until another update comes to fix this issue.

Edited by akito

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I have been with IB for 20+ years and they recently released a new mobile app, which I find to be excellent.

Since I have not compared it to any of the others, i don't know where it stands among the rest of them.

But, I finjd it to be great.

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2 hours ago, cuegis said:

I have been with IB for 20+ years and they recently released a new mobile app, which I find to be excellent.

Since I have not compared it to any of the others, i don't know where it stands among the rest of them.

But, I finjd it to be great.

@cuegis, which new mobile app are you refering to? IB TWS 8.42? 

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It's on an iPhone. The AppStore tells me the latest version of IB TWS is 8.42 and when I open the app and go to Configuration and to the bottom of the page it tells me "Interactive Brokers. You are using version 8.42.2065". Maybe you are using Android?

But never mind, I was just wondering if there had been any major release I had missed. 

Edited by sakura
typo

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19 hours ago, akito said:

Tastyworks has also released an update for their android app (technically unreleased beta, but can be found on google play) today which fixes some crashes on the grid page. (not that I ever use that though) However, the new update has now broken the mechanism for closing positions. Previously, if you selected some legs and tapped "close", it would navigate to the trade page and prefill the settings to close the legs. All you had to do was choose a price and hit confirm. Now, it just goes to the trade page without prefilling out anything.

 

If anyone else is using the android Tastyworks app, I would highly recommend against updating until another update comes to fix this issue.

FYI, tastyworks just released another update today that fixes the closing positions bug. Finally, it looks like the tastyworks team is focusing more of their efforts on the android app.

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6 hours ago, sakura said:

It's on an iPhone. The AppStore tells me the latest version of IB TWS is 8.42 and when I open the app and go to Configuration and to the bottom of the page it tells me "Interactive Brokers. You are using version 8.42.2065". Maybe you are using Android?

But never mind, I was just wondering if there had been any major release I had missed. 

Yes...I am using an android. Samsung Galaxy. I didn't know that it made a difference.

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I just wanted to let those who use IB,and may not update their platform regularly.

I received an email from them yesterday telling me that their latest build, of around Oct 10, has some new features. 

But, among the most significant, the have changed "IB Risk Manager" to separate out all VIX related products from your total position, so that they can be viewed separately.

You should upgrade to this new version.

I always upgrade about every 2-3 weeks to make sure that I am current.

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6 minutes ago, Paul said:

Cuegis, do you not get automatice updates when you log in everyday?

Honestly...I don't even know.

I have been with them for 20+years and I don't know.

I know that TOS (which I don't use) updates everytime you login.

Do you know how I can check the settings to make sure I get auto updates?

Because I know that I am not getting them.

I assume it is under "settings" somewhere"?

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8 minutes ago, anand331 said:

I downloaded the "Latest TWS" script from IB webpage. It automatically checks and updates every time you start up TWS.

I go to their site, then go to "Trading", "TWS Platform", Then choose download "offline" latest version.

Are you doing something different, or going to a different part of their site?

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5 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I go to their site, then go to "Trading", "TWS Platform", Then choose download "offline" latest version.

Are you doing something different, or going to a different part of their site?

@cuegis the standalone version does not auto-upgrade. So just google "TWS latest download" and download that script. It auto-upgrades everytime you run TWS.

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8 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I go to their site, then go to "Trading", "TWS Platform", Then choose download "offline" latest version.

Are you doing something different, or going to a different part of their site?

 

Offline TWS

The offline installer contains everything needed to install and run the selected TWS version. The Offline installation will not update automatically. If a new version of TWS is published, you will need to manually download and install the Offline program again. If you prefer to have TWS auto-update, install one of the updating versions above.

 

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6 minutes ago, craigsmith said:

 

Offline TWS

The offline installer contains everything needed to install and run the selected TWS version. The Offline installation will not update automatically. If a new version of TWS is published, you will need to manually download and install the Offline program again. If you prefer to have TWS auto-update, install one of the updating versions above.

 

This is what has been causing my problem. I have always upgraded using the "Offline" choice.

At some point, one of their tech guys walked me through this,and told me to do it this way. He implied that you were getting a different (better?) version by going this route.

But, he neglected to tell me that I will no longer receive "auto-updates"

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6 minutes ago, krisbee said:

SMART. That's what it shows in my tool. What is SMART MaxRebate? may be u can explain it in different thread.

 brok.png

I believe you need to 'enable' the Smart MaxRebate or Smart PreferRebate to be able to select it.

I believe that it only works for single leg options.

I haven't found how to do that for a multi-leg option.

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20 minutes ago, Djtux said:

I believe you need to 'enable' the Smart MaxRebate or Smart PreferRebate to be able to select it.

I believe that it only works for single leg options.

I haven't found how to do that for a multi-leg option.

@Djtux In TW    > Edit tab > global configuration > orders > smart routing , in the smart routing screen you can select your preference (ranging from Maximize Rebate to Maximize Fill)

Edited by 4REAL

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4 minutes ago, 4REAL said:

@Djtux In TW    > Edit tab > global configuration > orders > smart routing , in the smart routing screen you can select your preference

Yes i'm already using that but it only works for single leg orders not multi legs.

Are you able to make it work (Smart MaxRebate) for multi-leg option orders ?

 

 

On 9/13/2017 at 3:27 PM, Djtux said:

For single option like a call, there is the routing option https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/tws/usersguidebook/configuretws/configure_smartrouting.htm to try to get more rebate.

 

Edited by Djtux

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1 minute ago, Djtux said:

Yes i'm already using that but it only works for single leg orders not multi legs.

Are you able to make it work (Smart MaxRebate) for multi-leg option orders ?

I have Maximize Fill but I assume that there is no distinction between single and multi leg 

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On 2017-10-27 at 3:41 PM, 4REAL said:

@Djtux In TW    > Edit tab > global configuration > orders > smart routing , in the smart routing screen you can select your preference (ranging from Maximize Rebate to Maximize Fill)

 

On 2017-10-27 at 3:45 PM, Djtux said:

Yes i'm already using that but it only works for single leg orders not multi legs.

Are you able to make it work (Smart MaxRebate) for multi-leg option orders ?

 

 

 

Are not Max Fill and Max rebate mutually exclusive? How it actually works?

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Hello, new here. Read the posts. Anyone care to update regards to commission, seems  to be a big factor in smallish accounts ? Will IB just suffice, anyone have the delta on IB vs. Tradier ? Thanks

 

Also  a working  phone application means a lot to me, not looking to save 500.00 annually in commission only to miss some trades etc thnx

Edited by ETFoption
left out details

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34 minutes ago, ETFoption said:

Hello, new here. Read the posts. Anyone care to update regards to commission, seems  to be a big factor in smallish accounts ? Will IB just suffice, anyone have the delta on IB vs. Tradier ? Thanks

 

Also  a working  phone application means a lot to me, not looking to save 500.00 annually in commission only to miss some trades etc thnx

I am with IB and happy so far.  Commissions are good most of the time. Sometimes jump out. But it also depends on exchange. I am not doing a lot of trades, but here some people getting even commission returns on trades.

I like their mobile app.  Flexible enough. Was able to track and manage position even when on vacation :)

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33 minutes ago, IgorK said:

I am with IB and happy so far.  Commissions are good most of the time. Sometimes jump out. But it also depends on exchange. I am not doing a lot of trades, but here some people getting even commission returns on trades.

I like their mobile app.  Flexible enough. Was able to track and manage position even when on vacation :)

Thank you

 

Are you saying ROI is breakeven over say six months with a 20k account given fee's at IB inclusive of commiss ? Thnx

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2 hours ago, ETFoption said:

Hello, new here. Read the posts. Anyone care to update regards to commission, seems  to be a big factor in smallish accounts ? Will IB just suffice, anyone have the delta on IB vs. Tradier ? Thanks

 

Also  a working  phone application means a lot to me, not looking to save 500.00 annually in commission only to miss some trades etc thnx

I have been with IB since they first opened around 20 years ago.

I guess the fact that I have not moved in all this time speaks to how I feel about them.

It is very rare that I need to call them for any kind of help , after all this time but, over the past week, I have had to call them, for a variety of reasons, and the response time was usually 1 minute, including one time when the rep spent nearly 45 minutes, very friendly and helpful with me.

So, that is my opinion.

Other people may need customer service as a priority. While others it's only about commission.

If you only care about commission, and not great trading platform, and analytics etc., then there are 1, maybe 2 places that might be slightly cheaper.

But, you will be working in a "cheaper" environment. Nothing comes for free.

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2 minutes ago, cuegis said:

I have been with IB since they first opened around 20 years ago.

I guess the fact that I have not moved in all this time speaks to how I feel about them.

It is very rare that I need to call them for any kind of help , after all this time but, over the past week, I have had to call them, for a variety of reasons, and the response time was usually 1 minute, including one time when the rep spent nearly 45 minutes, very friendly and helpful with me.

So, that is my opinion.

Other people may need customer service as a priority. While others it's only about commission.

If you only care about commission, and not great trading platform, and analytics etc., then there are 1, maybe 2 places that might be slightly cheaper.

But, you will  working in a "cheaper" environment. Nothing comes for free.

About sums it up !

 

Thanks

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1 hour ago, ETFoption said:

Thank you

 

Are you saying ROI is breakeven over say six months with a 20k account given fee's at IB inclusive of commiss ? Thnx

I have smaller 10K account for about 4 month. By far not very experienced trader. Just learning. ROI on what? 

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1 minute ago, ETFoption said:

ROI return on investment or even  ROM return on margin. concern is smallish account after paying subscription "fee' plus commission and slippage where are you in terms of returns thank you

With IB if you do enough trades (commission wise) fees are waived.

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1 minute ago, ETFoption said:

ROI return on investment or even  ROM return on margin. concern is smallish account after paying subscription "fee' plus commission and slippage where are you in terms of returns thank you

Most of our members consider the subscription fee as tuition, not part of returns. Personal performance is a private matter, I don't think it's appropriate to discuss it on a public forum.

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16 minutes ago, ETFoption said:

ROI return on investment or even  ROM return on margin. concern is smallish account after paying subscription "fee' plus commission and slippage where are you in terms of returns thank you

Returns are based of the "nature" of the strategies you use.

It is best to be diversified among strategies.

For example, delta neutral, short premium, strategies, will give lower returns (in the 20%- 40% range), but they will do that more often, with less risk.

Directional/gamma trades will give you $200%+++ returns,sometimes in 1-2 days, much less of the time, but if you are very careful with your stop losses, there will not be much more, if any risk.

Given the nature of these 2 approaches, it would be prudent to allocate MUCH less capital to the latter, and much more to the former. It will all add up in the end, if you have a plan, and know what you are doing.,

Day trading has gotten a bad rap but, if you have a clear plan, and are religious about preservation of capital, it is not uncommon for example, to buy an option for $2.00, and sell it the same, or next, day for $4.00 (100% return in 1 day).

But that is the nature of "that" approach  and much less capital should be allocated to it.

Most important of all, you will have periods where you make way more money than you ever expected. This is the most dangerous time , because it gives a false sense of power to the trader, and could lead him to start changing either his rules, or his size of allocation.

"why sit for 4 weeks, to make ,30 cents when I can make 100% in 1 day?"

Do NOT go down that road!

Edited by cuegis

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19 minutes ago, Kim said:

Most of our members consider the subscription fee as tuition, not part of returns. Personal performance is a private matter, I don't think it's appropriate to discuss it on a public forum.

Understand, not looking for anyone particular returns, just doing a feasibility study with fee's in total. thnx

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Yes, it is true, with IB, if you generate  (i forgot, but there is not much difference anyway) $30 in commissions, ir, 30 trades, in a calendar month, they will wave the some of the subscription fees. The main ones.

If you are just trading basic equity, and etf 's and their options, then that fee will be waived.

On the other hand, whether you are professional, or non, if you subscribe to coffee, sugar, cocoa,futures and futures options, the monthly fee is $120.00

That will never be waived.

Edited by cuegis

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47 minutes ago, cuegis said:

Returns are based of the "nature" of the strategies you use.

It is best to be diversified among strategies.

For example, delta neutral, short premium, strategies, will give lower returns (in the 20%- 40% range), but they will do that more often, with less risk.

Directional/gamma trades will give you $200%+++ returns,sometimes in 1-2 days, much less of the time, but if you are very careful with your stop losses, there will not be much more, if any risk.

Given the nature of these 2 approaches, it would be prudent to allocate MUCH less capital to the latter, and much more to the former. It will all add up in the end, if you have a plan, and know what you are doing.,

Day trading has gotten a bad rap but, if you have a clear plan, and are religious about preservation of capital, it is not uncommon for example, to buy an option for $2.00, and sell it the same, or next, day for $4.00 (100% return in 1 day).

But that is the nature of "that" approach  and much less capital should be allocated to it.

Most important of all, you will have periods where you make way more money than you ever expected. This is the most dangerous time , because it gives a false sense of power to the trader, and could lead him to start changing either his rules, or his size of allocation.

"why sit for 4 weeks, to make ,30 cents when I can make 100% in 1 day?"

Do NOT go down that road!

Thanks, basically looking for people to say I use IB or xyz broker my fees are "xx" percent of returns or some indication to gt a handle on real world performance for "members" since its possible not all members take each trade and further different fills going into a trade and getting out regardless of profil or a losing trade. thank you

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2 hours ago, ETFoption said:

Thanks, basically looking for people to say I use IB or xyz broker my fees are "xx" percent of returns or some indication to gt a handle on real world performance for "members" since its possible not all members take each trade and further different fills going into a trade and getting out regardless of profil or a losing trade. thank you

Not a perfect analysis, because I have some other trades mixed in (~95% option trades in this account), but maybe it will give you a general idea. So far this year through November, my commissions at IB have comprised 35% of my pre-commission gains. But I'm not sure that's a useful number by itself. A better number might be this: commissions have comprised about 1.6% (edited from 0.7%) of Reg-T margin requirement on the trades I've made.

Edited by greenspan76
Corrected error in commission %

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35 minutes ago, greenspan76 said:

Not a perfect analysis, because I have some other trades mixed in (~95% option trades in this account), but maybe it will give you a general idea. So far this year through November, my commissions at IB have comprised 35% of my pre-commission gains. But I'm not sure that's a useful number by itself. A better number might be this: commissions have comprised about 0.7% of Reg-T margin requirement on the trades I've made.

Thanks, maybe someone will  also comment.  I think the REG T margin .7 percent maybe most useful , seems very good and low, lets assume you follow SO and your account performs within  a few percentage points of the community, one can assume another 1.0 percent is spent on commission ( leave out the subscription fees and data for now) thanks very much

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1 hour ago, ETFoption said:

Thanks, maybe someone will  also comment.  I think the REG T margin .7 percent maybe most useful , seems very good and low, lets assume you follow SO and your account performs within  a few percentage points of the community, one can assume another 1.0 percent is spent on commission ( leave out the subscription fees and data for now) thanks very much

Sorry for misleading earlier, but after looking a little closer, I noticed there were more non-SO trades in this account the first half of the year than I realized. That skewed the numbers a bit, so I isolated only SO-related trades from July 1st to today. For those trades, my commissions were 1.6% of require margin (Reg-T).

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53 minutes ago, greenspan76 said:

Sorry for misleading earlier, but after looking a little closer, I noticed there were more non-SO trades in this account the first half of the year than I realized. That skewed the numbers a bit, so I isolated only SO-related trades from July 1st to today. For those trades, my commissions were 1.6% of require margin (Reg-T).

Thanks really do appreciate it, gives a data point,,, not terribly high cost I dont think ?

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Interesting. Robinhood just today announced that they will be offering free option trading next year.

http://blog.robinhood.com/news/2017/12/12/introducing-options-trading

 

-no commissions and no exercise/assignment fees (probably still passing down the other fees though, clearing, orf, etc)

-support for level 2 and level 3 option strategies (should work for the majority of SO trades)

-free real time data

 

They're also slowly releasing a web/desktop version of their platform so by the time options are available, the web/desktop version should be available as well. Not exactly clear what the entire user interface will look like at the moment though. (Probably can't be any more spartan than Tradier's web interface) I think Robinhood uses Apex clearing (which Tradier also uses) for stocks, which means they'll probably use them for options as well.

 

Anyways, could be something worth looking into when it's available.

Edited by akito

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5 minutes ago, Noah Katz said:

 

Sounds too good to be true.

 

What could there business model be?

They have API trading coming.. My guess is that they will try to do what tradier is doing.. Sell other trading platform integrations for more serious investors.. 

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18 minutes ago, Noah Katz said:

Sounds too good to be true.

What could there business model be?

https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/202853769-How-Robinhood-Makes-Money

-interest on cash

-monthly subscription fees for optional additional features (unknown what optional features there will be for options at the moment)

Edited by akito

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2 hours ago, akito said:

Interesting. Robinhood just today announced that they will be offering free option trading next year.

http://blog.robinhood.com/news/2017/12/12/introducing-options-trading

 

-no commissions and no exercise/assignment fees (probably still passing down the other fees though, clearing, orf, etc)

-support for level 2 and level 3 option strategies (should work for the majority of SO trades)

-free real time data

 

They're also slowly releasing a web/desktop version of their platform so by the time options are available, the web/desktop version should be available as well. Not exactly clear what the entire user interface will look like at the moment though. (Probably can't be any more spartan than Tradier's web interface) I think Robinhood uses Apex clearing (which Tradier also uses) for stocks, which means they'll probably use them for options as well.

 

Anyways, could be something worth looking into when it's available.

Saw that as well and i'm on the waitlist for both the options and web platform as i'm already using Robinhood for my 'fun' account.

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      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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