Newbie questions about SO services

[TheMachine 2]

Hello SO,

Today I discovered this community and after a few hours of lurking the public spaces and checking out external reviews, I am quite impressed. I am looking to subscribe to some SO services but I have a few questions that I would like to have addressed beforehand. But first, a little bit about my options experience for better context.

I ventured into options trading in September 2018, starting out by selling covered calls and buying naked options, then quickly started trading various spreads as well. In the process, I turned a CAD$40k TFSA account (no short options allowed except covered calls) into CAD$200k in six weeks and then subsequently to $0 in another six weeks. After that escapade, I took a few months break, but not to be disheartened, I started researching options guides on the web. Wading through the trash, I discovered Tastytrade, a seemingly genuine and legitimate channel. I've watched many hours of their studies, and, despite questionable mechanics, lacking statistical significance, and failing to report important metrics like ROI in most of them, I was convinced of their mantra of premium selling (sometimes even in low IV environments, though they do say they prefer calendars) above all else. In July 2019, I moved to the US for a new job and got myself a TastyWorks account ASAP. (Previously, I started out using Scotia iTrade ($9.95/$4.95 ticket + $1.25/contract), then switched to Questrade ($4.95 ticket + $0.75/contract with active trader (only pay HST after monthly rebate)), and still ended up paying $10k+ in commissions and fees in a year. One trade that I will never forget was a double calendar earnings play that Questrade listed as a $420 profit, hiding the $840 in commissions I paid from their trading platform, resulting in a $420 net loss.) I've been trading the Tastytrade mantra style since then (along with some unfortunate earnings plays) but my doubts about their purported one true strategy have grown above the boiling point. Combined with the fact that their "low commissions" are still quite high (especially with SPX options, where Questrade's commissions is actually lower for, say, a 10 contract iron condor), I started my search of better deals once more (no Robinhood please).

Eventually, I discovered PureVolatility's Tradier/Tradehawk Bundle Package (which for some reason isn't listed in the Summary Of SteadyOptions Discounted Offers). Some questions:

1) In the thread, there are references to "Creating Alpha", which seems to be a service that's no longer offered?

2) How does the billing process work with Tradier for the first month of a new member signing up under this offer? How long does it take to set up a new Reg. T margin account?

3) How much are typical options contract fees Tradier passes on to the trader? I've seen mentions of around 10¢/contract all-in but not sure if this is round-trip or not and would like a more detailed breakdown. (I couldn't find this info anywhere on Tradier's website.)

4) Is this offer only available to subscribers of Pure Volatility or a bundle that includes Pure Volatility? (e.g. a subscriber of just Steady Options won't be eligible?)

5) Can customers who sign up for the Tradier Brokerage Special Offer (now $10/mth w/o TradeHawk? but the link still say $40/mth...) later switch to the PureVolatility's Tradier/Tradehawk Bundle Package?

6) My employer has a 401(k) plan that I participate in which is flexible enough to allow self-directed trades (with Vanguard Brokerage) but inflexible enough to disallow options, futures, margin, shorting, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Essentially, the only things worthwhile that I can buy are US stocks and ETFs. Am I correct to assume that despite these restrictions, my 401(k) can still benefit from Anchor Trades, Steady Momentum, and the occasional Pure Volatility strategies by providing the long ETF portions of these strategies? The options portion of the strategies will have to be placed in margin or (Roth) IRA accounts which unfortunately may lock up significantly more capital overall than if the entire strategy were placed in the same account.

Currently, I'm debating between subscribing to just PV, just SO, or the everything bundle. I don't know anything about the software/research offers that comes with some of these subscriptions so insights on those would be appreciated as well.

Thank you all in advance.

[Kim 7,437]

@TheMachine

The PureVolatility's Tradier/Tradehawk Bundle Package was offered by @SBatch exclusively to his Creating Alpha members. I'm not sure if it is still applicable. Questions regarding Tradier are probably better to ask on Tradier topic, and I'm sure some of them have been answered on that topic.

regarding 401(k) - all our strategies use options, so if you can buy stocks and ETFs only, this is not going to work unfortunately.

[SBatch 2,113]

15 hours ago, Kim said:

@TheMachine

The PureVolatility's Tradier/Tradehawk Bundle Package was offered by @SBatch exclusively to his Creating Alpha members. I'm not sure if it is still applicable. Questions regarding Tradier are probably better to ask on Tradier topic, and I'm sure some of them have been answered on that topic.

regarding 401(k) - all our strategies use options, so if you can buy stocks and ETFs only, this is not going to work unfortunately.

The PV/Tradehawk bundle is no longer available as a result of dropping the TLT trade and the contracts it brought with it.  However, TradeHawk has reduced its pricing and is now extremely competitive without the bundle offer:

https://brokerage.tradier.com/platforms/tradehawk

[Kim 7,437]

And TradeHawk is available at $60 for SO members as part of Tradier Brokerage Special Offer