Brokers and commissions

[Kim]

Yes, this is what I'm using.

What you have to look at is the overall cost. If TOS charges you 1.50/contract but data is free - you will save $10/month on data, but lose much more on commissions.

[g5harlan]

11 minutes ago, Kim said:

Yes, this is what I'm using.

What you have to look at is the overall cost. If TOS charges you 1.50/contract but data is free - you will save $10/month on data, but lose much more on commissions.

1.50/contract? Is that the real commission cost at TOS? I can certainly see why this would never work for SO. Perhaps there is a sliding scale for volume? 

[Kim]

You can negotiate lower rates if you do enough volume, but I believe most people still pay $1 or higher, and some still pay ticket fee of $4.95, which in my opinion is a highway robbery.

[g5harlan]

Oh my, that would be highway robbery. SO needs to open a brokerage firm! I can only imagine the regulatory oversight needed to do that.

[sakura]

I’m on the $0.75/contract rate at TOS. Had to ask for it though. I guess they look at account size and trade volume. 

[siddharth]

1 hour ago, sakura said:

I’m on the $0.75/contract rate at TOS. Had to ask for it though. I guess they look at account size and trade volume. 

Do you have a ticket charge

[sakura]

No ticket charge. I do have to pay misc fees, but those are pennies per transaction. I do think your account needs to be > 25K and needs to be marked 'pattern day trader'. 

[Gen88]

Anyone using tastyworks? I’m experiencing quote delays on the iOS app. I asked them and they have live quotes but doesn’t seem quotes are in real time comparing to I also have TOS, which is real time streaming.

[SBatch]

Creating Alpha's Tradier/TradeHawk bundle is now available!

https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/5165-creating-alphas-tradiertradehawk-bundle-package/

 

[Dael]

On 1/24/2019 at 5:44 PM, Kim said:

Yes, this is what I'm using.

What you have to look at is the overall cost. If TOS charges you 1.50/contract but data is free - you will save $10/month on data, but lose much more on commissions.

@Kim
Hello. No difference using 'US Equity and Options Add-On Streaming Bundle' for $4.50 in Quote Bundles section or AMEX+NASDAQ+NYSE+OPRA for the same $4.50 (taking waiver into account) in Level 1 NBBO Section?

[Kim]

I'm not sure. But if you don't have any subscriptions and try to get a quote, you can click on "Subscription Manager" and it will show which subscriptions you need to get that quote.

[Alan]

A couple of questions regarding IB:

1) Does IB charge an exchange fee of 0.35 - 0.45 in addition to the commission fee when trading SPX options?

2) Assuming one is trading a large volume, how low can one get the commission rate on equity options (either with an associated ticket fee or without one)?

Edited March 4, 2019 by Alan

[ex3y7s]

5 minutes ago, Alan said:

A couple of questions regarding IB:

1) Does IB charge an exchange fee of 0.35 - 0.45 in addition to the commission fee when trading SPX options?

2) Assuming one is trading a large volume, how low can one get the commission rate on equity options (either with an associated ticket fee or without one)?

IB passes along the exchange fees and to my knowledge does not negotiate commission rate. You can see the volume tiers on their websites. Lower rates start above 10k contracts per month, so quite large volume for a retail trader.

[Dael]

Hi there, folks.

Have a question regarging IB 'smart route' algo. I'm surprised with comission differences depending on where my order was routed. Have a nice example with recent NKE straddle trades. So opening comission for +3 straddle -1 strangle was 3.6, 5.16 and 10.22! for the same quantity (last box in red).

 

I know the orders were executed via different exchanges:

 

Buy why there's so big difference between them? Does anybody encounter this? If yes, how would you fight it? Do not use smart route?

[Yowster]

@Dael This is totally normal with IB.    Your average over all these trades was $0.79 per contract, and that's what really matters.   When you compute commissions over an entire year, you should see a per contract average of 0.75 or less per contract (assuming you did a good volume of trades).

[Dael]

@Yowster Ok, thanks. Indeed there're trades with a few cents commissions or even zero ones. I would recalculate average commission over a large time period.

[AstuteThinking]

I was able to negotiate with TOS for options 1 dollar per contract and no base fee. I mobile trade a lot and their platform is the best one on the go with the most features imho.

 Will try again in 6months to lower it to 0.75 per contract. 

[krisbee]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190926005753/en/Interactive-Brokers-Launch-IBKR-Lite

 

[Djtux]

5 minutes ago, krisbee said:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190926005753/en/Interactive-Brokers-Launch-IBKR-Lite

 

Thanks, i wasn't aware of that.

You can compare Lite and Pro here : https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45196

No TWS on the Lite though.

[sakura]

for the record: the commission free plan only applies to stocks and ETFs. For options there are still commissions to be paid. 

[aldem]

check out the news on Charles Schwab eliminating all commissions starting October 7

[skydragon]

7 hours ago, aldem said:

check out the news on Charles Schwab eliminating all commissions starting October 7

Based on what I get from this source...

https://www.investors.com/news/schwab-stock-dives-unveils-zero-fee-stock-trades-tdameritrade-etrade-ibkr-plunge/

...Schwab is dropping their per-trade fee, but will still be charging 0.65 per options contract traded.

[rasar]

TD Ameritrade users benefit, too:

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD) announced Tuesday evening the brokerage firm will eliminate commissions for its online exchange-listed stock, ETF and option trades, moving from $6.95 to $0, effective Thursday. Clients trading options will now pay 65 cents per contract with no exercise and assignment fees.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/td-ameritrade-joins-party-cuts-232459946.html

 

[g5harlan]

Ally announced that they were going commissions free as of 10/9/2019, but they started doing this on my trades on 10/4/2019. Nice.

 

And I do mean no flat fee or per option fee. I was being charged 2.95 + .50/option.

Edited October 7, 2019 by g5harlan

[aRJey]

Hi All,

 

Im quite new to all this, 

Using SAXO Bank as the broker for now, they are charging me something like $2.08 per leg as per what i can understand and their fills seem to take ages, I see other users positing of fills at prices which I am working at as well and not getting filled.

I am currently subscribed to the OPRA Data and have no idea which exchange are the orders being routed to. Anyone have a similar experience with them?

Do let me know if Saxo is a worthwhile broker to continue with or switch to someone else, my account size for trading is USD 100K and I am only trading and learning as per SO advice. So the number of trades will be about 80% of what SO does monthly.

Any advise will be highly appreciated! 

Thanks! 

 

[Kim]

@aRJey I would strongly recommend switching brokers. Those rates are ~3 times higher than you can get from most brokers today.

[Bucksin6]

I got ETRADE at .50 per contract after their new pricing. 

[nlesko1988]

Does anyone use robinhood?  I was looking at doing a trade on SPX that was posted and I’m not sure if you can do it on robinhood.  The zero fees are amazing, but if it is going to hold me back from taking full advantage of steady options, I will look into switching.

[aamaot]

2 minutes ago, nlesko1988 said:

Does anyone use robinhood?  I was looking at doing a trade on SPX that was posted and I’m not sure if you can do it on robinhood.  The zero fees are amazing, but if it is going to hold me back from taking full advantage of steady options, I will look into switching.

You cannot trade SPX on Robinhood. 

[nlesko1988]

I’m wondering if I will run into any other problems with robinhood as my broker?  Not sure of it is worth switching just for SPX trades, but if there are any other shortcomings of robinhood I would like to know before I dive on any deeper to options trading.

[Stanislav]

@nlesko1988, with zero commissions you can use SPY to replicate SPX trades (just do 10 SPY lots for every 1 SPX lot). Even considering exchange and regulatory fees you'll probably pay less commissions for 10 SPY lots than using other broker that supports SPX and has higher commision rate (plus 0.60 exchange fee for SPX).

[aamaot]

3 minutes ago, nlesko1988 said:

I’m wondering if I will run into any other problems with robinhood as my broker?  Not sure of it is worth switching just for SPX trades, but if there are any other shortcomings of robinhood I would like to know before I dive on any deeper to options trading.

When you trade multi-leg options with Robinhood you will need to round up or down, I think in 5 cent increments. Other brokers allow you to place trades on the penny. 

[ex3y7s]

Just now, Stanislav said:

@nlesko1988, with zero commissions you can use SPY to replicate SPX trades (just do 10 SPY lots for every 1 SPX lot). Even considering exchange and regulatory fees you'll probably pay less commissions for 10 SPY lots than using other broker that supports SPX and has higher commision rate (plus 0.60 exchange fee for SPX).

This is an excellent idea. Do be aware, however, that SPX with a zero-commission broker is still likely to be cheaper than SPY with that same broker. Zero-commission SPY is definitely cheaper than commission + SPX exchange fee, though.

[Djtux]

1 minute ago, Stanislav said:

@nlesko1988, with zero commissions you can use SPY to replicate SPX trades (just do 10 SPY lots for every 1 SPX lot). Even considering exchange and regulatory fees you'll probably pay less commissions for 10 SPY lots than using other broker that supports SPX and has higher commision rate (plus 0.60 exchange fee for SPX).

SPX is european style, SPY is american. Something to keep in mind.

[ex3y7s]

1 minute ago, Djtux said:

SPX is european style, SPY is american. Something to keep in mind.

Also a good point. SPY has dividends, so there is an assignment risk not to mention an attendant price gap after that dividend is paid.

[slego]

Hello All,

 

I am a new member here with steadyoptions subscription and also somewhat new to option trading.

I have been reading through this forum to try and figure out if i am getting shafted using Fidelity online brokerage (0.63$ per contract + negligible fees) for option trading.

 

Reading the forum it seems most use IB, however many of the posts are from years gone by and i am wondering if the same reasoning still holds for trading options using IB.

 

Would it be a smart choice to switch to IB for someone who say has a $30k portfolio and follows the no more than 4-6 trades held at once with 10% allocation per trade ($3k). I follow mostly Kim's and Yowser's type trades.

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited October 30, 2019 by slego

[Kim]

Yes, many members are using IB, tastyworks or Tradier. Fedelity is not considered very options friendly, but also depends on commissions you are paying.

Here is another resource: How To Select The Best Options Broker

[Vin]

Fidelity is the best now after making zero commission fee. U need to pay only 65 cents per option contract and no base fee. their interface fidelity active trader pro is pretty good compared to IB. no minimums , u earn 1% interest for cash after all expenses. nothing can beat fidelity right now.

[Vin]

you cannot trade vix and futures

 

[Kim]

5 minutes ago, Vin said:

Fidelity is the best now after making zero commission fee. U need to pay only 65 cents per option contract and no base fee. their interface fidelity active trader pro is pretty good compared to IB. no minimums , u earn 1% interest for cash after all expenses. nothing can beat fidelity right now.

After eliminating the base fee, their commissions are now slightly lower than IB, still higher than tastyworks, and much higher than tradier. Fidelity was never among the best brokers for options traders. With the base fee, I would not even consider them. Without the base fee, they became more competitive, but why trade with someone who for years was charging the base fee, while IB and many others eliminated it years ago?

[Yowster]

12 minutes ago, Vin said:

Fidelity is the best now after making zero commission fee. U need to pay only 65 cents per option contract and no base fee. their interface fidelity active trader pro is pretty good compared to IB. no minimums , u earn 1% interest for cash after all expenses. nothing can beat fidelity right now.

Looks like a lot of brokers are finally improving their options commissions.   I think I recently read that Etrade is doing 50 cents per contract with no base fee.

[Francois]

Is there 0 $ commissions Brokers for Canadian's ?

[Kim]

1 minute ago, Yowster said:

Looks like a lot of brokers are finally improving their options commissions.   I think I recently read that Etrade is doing 50 cents per contract with no base fee.

It's about time.

Personally I still prefer brokers who lead the commissions revolution and not those who are being forced to join the party. For years, brokers like TDAmeritrade, Fidelity, Etrade and others were robbing retail investors by charging $5-10 base fee. I just see no reason to enable them. It's time the retail investors punish those greedy brokers and switch to brokers like IB, tastyworks, Tradier, RobinHood etc.

[nurb32]

Right....I'm getting $0.40 per contract from e-trade, no ticket charge.    They have several platforms.   I use and like the one called Power E-trade which they got in their acquisition of Optionshouse.   It lost some features in the transition to e-trade but it's still pretty good.

[Mohf]

I have been using Tradier for about 6 months and while I like their flat fee structure I can never get the fills that I see other people getting with other brokers.

Even when I get an alert and trade within minutes it is always 2-5 cents more and when I go to sell it is always 2-5 cents less. just curious if anyone else is running into this?

[slego]

Same for myself using fidelity, the fees are not too bad but the fills are never as good, anything less than 4% gain for the forum is essentially a loss for me. Do you set market orders or limit? 

[Mohf]

I always use limit orders but it gets frustrating for me since I have a hard time getting the official fills so I start with a partial order at the official price and keep adjusting until I get filled and then put in another order at the official price to see if I can get the rest filled at a lower price.

I find that if I don't get any fills right away I have a hard time getting into a lot of trades that are good trades.

I kind of have a system worked out that kind of works for me but I am not happy with it. I am wondering if switching to IB would maybe be worth the effort??

 

[slego]

Yes with fidelity i tried limit orders for a week but that didnt really work out especially for multi leg purchases. On top of this we are always about 10 mins behind when the trade is placed and then tweeted, so that doesnt help either, and same for the closing. I dont know if i could improve anything into getting into trades, it really seems the ten minute lag and subsequent fill is what makes the difference for the trade to be a winning one. 

Edited November 5, 2019 by slego

[Kim]

3 minutes ago, slego said:

Yes with fidelity i tried limit orders for a week but that didnt really work out especially for multi leg purchases. On top of this we are always about 10 mins behind when the trade is placed and then tweeted, so that doesnt help either, and same for the closing. I dont know if i could improve anything into getting into trades, it really seems the ten minute lag and subsequent fill is what makes the difference for the trade to be a winning one. 

The lag varies from trade to trade, but most of the time it is much less than 10 minutes. But this is not really relevant. In many cases you can get better fills by entering/exiting few hours after the alert, or before the alert. We encourage members to learn the strategies and set their own price targets. Honestly, it has nothing to do with the broker. Tradier is using the same clearing firm as IB, so fills should not be very different. And yes, please NEVER use market orders. Market makers will eat you alive. Always limit orders, and be patient. 90% of the time you will get fills similar or better to the official fills. Just read the discussion topics to see how veteran members are using the service. It has been discussed many, many times.

[slego]

When you open multi leg positions, do you open each separately? It seems that when you place an order for multi leg using fidelity, the limit order capability disappears which i guess makes sense because if one goes up, the other goes down.