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It depends on the length of time to expiry - there is a lot that can be done on solving IC positions as long as there is still time. The silent killer of ICs is gamma - a greek mostly overlooked but which will rip your IC position to threads in minutes if you are less than a week from expiry. In such a case perhaps best to close - suck up the loss and move on. When a short side is only challenged a few possibilities exist: - buy an option a month out ATM in the direction of the challenged side (put or call as the case may be). You can do so in a lesser ratio than the amount of ICs you have open - how many depends a bit on delta of your challenged position. Try and neutralise some or all of the delta and once the crisis passes sell your hedge option and wait for your IC to bring home the bacon (premium). - if you move the position - move as far as you can whilst still remaining near 0% profitability - half measures dont help and you will be able to move only inches for every yard you give on the unchallenged side. Look carefully at option calculators to determine the chance of your short or break-even being breached and move as far as you can from that.

Yes, there are people here who trade with a 100K. I've traded the strategies up to $200K in 2020 when the VIX was very high, so all the prices were much higher and the strategies worked really well. However, under normal conditions, like now, it's a little more difficult to trade above $100K. It's very much possible, but you just have to be careful with the type of trades that you take on. If you're a newbie, or new to SO, don't expect to just jump in with $100K. Start with $10K, after a couple of months, increase to $20K, then 40K etc. It took me about a year to scale up to $100K, not cos of the lack of funds, but because of the lack of trading experience in the SO strats. It's like going to the gym - you won't start with massive weights right away, you'd start light then increase the weights every week, till you hit your limit. Some types of trades allow larger portfolio sizes than others. Eg, straddles and double diagonals are a great for larger portfolios, cos you can have a single DD costing say 14, which means $1,400 in dollar terms and it's possible to do 10 lots of this very easily. Now compare this to a calendar which costs say 0.70, which is $70/contract, and we'd have to buy 200 contracts to get the same dollar allocation. Not only will this be difficult in terms of getting fills, but the commissions will be sizeable. Now with Steady Yields available, it's possible for a person to combine the two (SY and SO) and trade with a very sizeable portfolio.

I eventually got them down to .35 per contract. I think my trading volume is unlikely to ever get anything better. I have an account with Tradier for certain trades with lots of legs but Tradier doesn't offer portfolio margin, so I keep most of my trading at TOS.

Like many other new members, I went through a frustrating time on Steady Options. I almost gave up on it very early on, but luckily, I hung around. Having been here a while now, I’ve seen other newbies come full of enthusiasm and leave full of disappointment, walking the same frustration-filled path that I left behind. I’ve examined my own journey, and can break it down into various stages. So, here they are. Other peoples’ journey may be very different, but I hope that my pathway may shed some light, or give some hope to others who find themselves shouting at the cat for no reason, like I once did. 1) Initial Enthusiasm I joined full of hope and excitement, lured by the mouth-watering annual returns, thinking “If I can make even half of those returns, then I’ll be a happy-chappy”. Motivation Level : 10/10 2) Frustration with Fills Okay, I’ve been a member for a few weeks, and have tried to enter a few trades, but each time, I cannot even get close to the official entry price. I give up on many trades and enter others at the wrong price, resulting in more losers than winners. Motivation Level : 7/10 3) Frustration turns to Fury (well almost) It’s now many trades later and the fills are not getting any easier. It’s getting annoying seeing others open trade after trade and close it two days later at a profit, whilst my GTC order to buy is sitting idle on some exchange gathering dust. I’m a mild-manner guy, who wishes no ill-will on anyone, and thought I didn’t have a dark side, but the ugly monster of jealousy is tapping me on the shoulder and saying “Damn, there’s another guy who’s just closed the GOOG calendar for 30% ….AND….he’s gone in and out twice already this cycle, whilst you can’t even get in once?”. I'm anything BUT a happy-chappy. Motivation Level : 3/10 4) “I’ve had enough” Months have rolled on, my SO portfolio is not showing any gains whilst the official portfolio is showing a healthy number. I don’t even bother trying to enter any SO trades now, and hardly logon to the forums. I’m bitter and just waiting for my membership to expire. Motivation Level : 1/10 5) The last Attempt Over a year has gone by, and the anger and frustration has turned to “Let me give this lousy service one last chance, before my membership expires”. I register with one of the two charting services (ChartAffair/VolatiltyHQ), and spend the whole weekend reading up on old trades, and asking myself “Why did Kim enter this calendar at this price? How does he know that it should be a 1-week or a 3-week calendar?” I look at the RV charts and start to see that the official trades are entered at very low RV’s and every time I over-pay, I’m reducing my chances of profitability. I’m seeing patterns in the calendar RV charts – a ramp up as we get to earnings, a zig-zag pattern that allows others (who I envied) to go in-and-out of trades multiple times. Same for the RV charts for straddles. I’m starting to see why Yowster thinks something is a good buy or not. My head is filled with little “ah-ha” moments and learnings, and the next few days I watch live prices and then I do the un-thinkable – I open my own calendar trade on PANW for 0.89. The very next day, Kim opens the same Put calendar for 1.05 – Bingo! I feel a sense of un-controllable excitement, not just cos I received validation that my trade was correct, but that I actually got a better price than the official. (https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/4106-trades-panw-november-2017-calendar/?tab=comments#comment-87397) Motivation Level : 7/10 6) Creating my own Trades I spend Nov and Dec ’17 coming up with tons of my own trades – calendars and straddles. I'm not really too sure of what I'm doing, so some are winners and many are losers. I’ve started doing something else – I’m now keeping a proper journal. Every trade is logged together with the rationale behind it. If it goes wrong, I try to understand why. I’m trading full-time and this has become all-consuming, but I am enjoying it. My knowledge and skill level is rapidly increasing. For the first time, I make a profit for the month (12.9% for Nov ’17). I’m on a high. I still try to enter official trades, but don’t get upset if I miss many. I do this for a few months, averaging around 6% monthly profit overall. I also increase my portfolio size. Motivation Level : 8/10 7) Consistency at Last Two years later, and I have traded several earnings cycles, done literally hundreds of my own trades, and I rarely take the official SO trades. Fills are not a problem, as I’m normally in the trade already, and I’m also trading stocks which are not on the SO list. Profits are decent, but I get some big losses, and the occasional losing month. I don’t like those, so I ramp-up the commitment. I decide to REALLY focus on this from 01-Jan-20. And then a dark-cloud-with-a-silver-lining comes along – COVID lockdowns. They suit me just fine: 7-8 hours a day – just me, the PC screen, charts, Excel sheets, Word documents detailing my ups/downs, cups of Earl Grey tea…..trade after trade. Total immersion. I love it. The wife has become a trading-widow. The cat is happy to be around me, cos I am no longer shouting. My profits rise to new levels, the March crash comes and goes without a dent to the bottom line. As we head towards the end of the year, I can finally say to myself that I have matured into a proficient SO trader – my risk management has improved enormously, my position sizing is as it should be, and my ability to distinguish between good/not-so-good trades has improved. I still screw up, but I keep a list of the mistakes I’ve made each month, and it’s satisfying to watch that list become smaller as the months roll on. I have finally found consistency – I’ve made a profit every single month this year. And my SO portfolio is far more profitable than my other ones. But the learning never stops – every week I read some post on the forum and think “Oh, wow, I didn’t think of that.” I’m no longer a SO member for the trades, but for the ideas and the discussions on the forum. They are gold. And I’ve learnt skills that I’ve been lacking for a long time – patience (no more “FOMO”), discipline (sticking to the rules, no doubling-down etc), no emotional trading (no revenge trades, not getting upset when a trade loses etc) The next stages are to get to grips with different trade types, like ratios. Motivation Level : 10/10 I’ve written this not with the view of “Hey, look at me”, but in the spirit of “If a dunce like me can become a competent trader, then anyone can”. If you’re a frustrated newbie, then rest assured that many of us have been there, many others are still in that place, but with determination and dedication, it’s possible to come out of the pain barrier, and see the sunshine on the other side. Happy trading.

We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Tradier Brokerage to provide special commission structure for SteadyOptions clients. Tradier offers a special $40/Month $10/Month as of Nov.2019 of Flat Price Trading for SteadyOptions Clients. For $40/month $10/month the SteadyOptions client can trade unlimited options trades and there will be no per trade commissions. Conditions: This offer for commission free option trades is valid for new accounts opened at Tradier Brokerage and funded with a $5,000 minimum within 30 days of account opening. Your account will be charged a monthly subscription fee of $40 $10 at the beginning of each month for this promotion. Subscription excludes other fees such as options exercise and assignments. Tradier Brokerage passes along all exchange and regulatory fees. Applicable minimums may apply. This special offer valid for Tradier Brokerage accounts funded within 30 days of account opening with $5,000 or more. Click here to take advantage of this offer. Note: Tradier started to support international accounts in Feb 2018. Please send a note to service@tradierbrokerage.com or call (980) 272-3880 and they will work with you to open an account electronically (they then send you online Docusign application link to for account opening and request supporting docs). The deal includes IRA accounts too. They offer Limited Margin IRA accounts where customers can trade option spreads of any type as long as they are covered. They cannot trade naked calls. IRA accounts can only be opened with level 2 options, but customers can complete 2 forms via DocuSign after the account is opened and they can upgrade the account to a Limited Margin IRA with level 3 options trading. For your reference, here are these DocuSign links: Options Limited Margin Nov. 2019 update from Tradier: The new subscription pricing is: $0 for equity $10 for equity and options (previously $40) Access to tradehawk equity and options One change to note with this new price is that they will be charging .35 a contract for single listed index options (SPX, RUT, VIX ect ..) The disclaimer is as follows; Single Listed Index Options are subject to a $0.35/contract fee in addition to any pass-thought exchange fees. Tradier Brokerage passes along all exchange, OCC, and regulatory fees. February 2024 offer from Tradier: Steady Options customers receive a special Index Option pricing of only $.10 per contract when you sign up for the Tradier Pro plan.** Customers must be subscribed to Steady Options in order to take part in this promotion. Limited to one account per household. *Single Listed Index Options are subject to a $0.10/contract commission in addition to any other charges for exchange, OCC, and regulatory fees. See Fee Schedule for more details. Tradier Brokerage Inc. charges for exchange, OCC, and regulatory fees. Other fees and applicable minimums may apply see Fee Schedule for more details. The bottom line is that Single Listed Index Options (VIX etc) will have a special pricing of around 0.50-0.55 per contract all in. Click here to sign up: https://join.tradier.com/steadyoptionsvix Here is a webinar recording: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/wxTDW8q7hd9gqMcs5myllpJbDNvq6fyjoq4MXWCr3ZiFhPdD9cxNDDt178qwDDnr.PJAKsGL-lhp7nT43 Passcode: $j3&uV&! Also, members can reach Lex at lex@tradier.com and/or to schedule a private, online tour with Lex: https://calendly.com/tradehawk

first of all, I think it’s called tradier pro now. probably you are looking for this video? https://tradehawk-support.helpscoutdocs.com/article/131-getting-started-with-tradehawk

It’s a form of Darwinism for the option trading community.

@Sunshine25 I use TOS. I put up with the .65 fee for a while and after I showed a little volume they took me down to .45 on my main account but left the .65 on my IRA's. I called and whined the next year and they gave me .40 on all three accounts. That's where I am now. I know at least one person that has gotten them down to .25. That's my target after this year, I may not get .25 but I think I can get it down a little further. We'll see. Several SO members have mentioned Tradier (I think) that has a flat fee per month, I'm just so accustomed to TOS that I don't want to change.

Got some answers from Tradier team (they are not allowed to post directly here): Q. How much are exchange and regulatory fees per contract ? 10/15 cents ? A. There are exchange fees that are passed along when you purchase or sell an option contract. The primary fee that is charged on each option transaction is the ORF or Options Regulatory Fee. This fee does fluctuate over time, but the ORF fee currently stands at about $0.05/contract. When selling options contracts, a TAF fee also applies. This fee also fluctuates over time, but currently stands at about $0.01/contract sold. Index Option fees currently range from $0.18/contract - $0.60/contract but only apply on these symbols: DXL, EPX, HGX, MNX, MVR, OEX, OSX, RUT, SOX, SPX, SVO, UTY, VIX, XAU, XEO and XDE. Q. Also, what are the margin requirements and margin interest? Do they allow VIX/SPX calendars (without exorbitant margin requirements). Also, how is their reputation on execution quality A. Margin requirement are consistent with the brokerage industry for the various types of option strategies. Unfortunately, Tradier Brokerage does not allow calendar spreads on index options. Expiration dates have to be the same. Tradier Brokerage is held to the same Best Execution standards within the securities industry. Q. With Tradiers offer this would be 480USD + exchange and regulatory fees. Is this right ? A. That is correct. Q. Hi Kim, looks great, but what about futures and options to futures (CME)? They allow that? A. Current, Tradier Brokerage does not offer futures and options on futures.

Im told they have a crappy mobile platform but that they do have one. Im actually using livevol-x but they clear through IB and you can use IB's platforms if desired. $40 flat fee is way better though

Do they have iPhone app?

Can you imagine the change in profit potential for trades such as our current CRM? Almost too good to be true. Definitely worth a very close look even if all the extras aren't included.

Exchange and regulatory fees vary between exchanges, but I believe it is less than 0.10 on average. Probably somewhere between 0.05-0.10. I'm not sure about other questions, still waiting for response from Dan Raju, co-founder and chairman of Tradier.

Hi Kim, looks great, but what about futures and options to futures (CME)? They allow that?

@SteadyOptions Do I get this right : If we take for instance your account last year, you had around 12K in comm. With Tradiers offer this would be 480USD + exchange and regulatory fees. Is this right ? How much are exchange and regulatory fees per contract ? 10/15 cents ?