Leaderboard

Yes, this is just one example. What can be an opening trade for you can be a closing trade for someone else. What might be a hedge for you might be a speculation for someone else. What might be a standalone trade for you might be part of a more complex trade for someone else. Different traders have different goals and use different strategies. And the truth is that it should not really matter to you. As I mentioned, what should matter to us is our P/L, not other people's P/L. The "professional traders take my money" excuse is used by many traders to justify their failures. If you learn, work hard and invest in your professional development, you will be able to beat many "professional" traders.

IMHO, even if it were a zero-sum game *overall*, it absolutely is not the case that a newb is getting taken advantage of on any particular trade. I'm sure others can come up with better examples, but off the top of my head.... Let's say somebody owned a put he had bought as a hedge (say, SPX Jun18 '20 2700), and he was perfectly happy with his purchase and with his continued ownership, but he doesn't need the hedge any longer (we don't need to know Why). And let's say he's one of 25,000 owners of the exact same put (so there're 24,999 other back-stories behind why they own that particular put). And then somebody, perhaps a new options trader, decides to sell a bull put credit spread because he's bullish; so, for example, he sells 2725 and buys 2700. And coincidentally, at the exact same time, the seller sells to one market maker, and the buyer buys from a different market maker (and neither mm is being "taken advantage of", as they're watching their greeks quite closely). So, did the newbie get taken advantage of with his purchase of the 2700 put? Nope. @stinkypants

It's probably only literally true in day-trading boards/forums/chat rooms/groups, wherein the expert pulls the trigger a few seconds earlier than he announces it, and then proceeds to unload his position to his followers 10 seconds later....and then tells them to exit (into the random market). 😕

This is the case for me also. Very early on with the free commission plan they absorbed these fees but started passing them to the customer at some point. I got a more polite response when I asked but there isn't anything you can do. $0.10-0.11/contract still isn't bad.