xpresstalk

IC is what I used to trade exclusively before joining SO. Yes, this would meet the traditional definition of a Iron Condor.

I have been looking at a very similar trade. This is pretty conservative. I am joining you in this. Although, I have only got 1 contract filled so far.

Took the 30% and ran! This erases most of my August losses. Back in positive territory now!

OK, So I am up 30% in this trade. It is: Sold 1 Sept 21 700 call at 6.10 Bought 1 Oct 700 Call for 16.60 My orginal plan was to let the Sept Strike expire. Looks like it will be ITM soon. So that plan is out the window! I am in uncharted territory here! So, a little advice from the SO community: If you were in this position, would you: -Take your profits and run! -Stay in either seeing if AAPL will have a pullback -Roll the Sept 21 700 call next week Thanks in advance for any reply!

Interestingly, I entered this trade this morning before I saw that y'all had started talking about it. We will see. I'm in only one contract.

OK, thanks!

For the most part I follow the SO trades. I made a mistake Friday that resulted in my buying a position that I closed within the hour. That may be what triggered it. Is IB against day trading? Just wondering? I don't do make it a habit of day trading. But, just curious?

OK, so I am trying to put in a order for a 21 Straddle on NAV, I have tried twice and IB automatically cancels the order with a message that says "Canceled by system: Potential Pattern Day Trade NAV SEP2012 21.00 C" Anyone run into this before or know a possible solution?

Thanks again RobertB!

OK, so I just tried again. Still negative! I should have taken your advice on the paper trading. Unfortunately, I already have 2 open positions. Just entered same trade using Webtrader and got a positive number. Maybe, I just need to enter orders via Webtrader for now! Below is TWS:

Oh, makes sense! Thank You RobertB!

OK, so now I see what y'all have been talking about on the negative numbers! Once I enter a position, I like to enter a "dream" limit sell order. (I know IB is gonna charge me to modify, right?). At any rate, it helps me when busy with my job to be able to adjust the sell quickly! So, the LNKD trade I set-up a GTC order to sell for $5.00. It reads as a positive number. Then I set-up a order to sell the DIS Straddle for $2.76. This immediately reads as a negative trade. I choose the option to sell. Yet, it reads as a Buy. I immediately canceled the order. I have used TOS, OX, and Zecco. Nothing so far has been as complected as IB. Quite a learning curve! I used the TWS to enter this trade under the combo section. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong here?

Thank You Xfanman!

OK, so I am fully funded and ready to start trading on IB. It would appear that I have delayed market data. I am putting in mid price for what I am seeing quoted and never getting filled. I checked OX for the same trade. Their bid/ask totally different than IB. A pop-up frequently comes up and says do you want delayed quotes? Anyone know a quick fix to my dilemma? I must have done something wrong on set-up

Thanks for this! I tried with no luck. Called support and they said only Apple products can trade multi-legged spreads. They said might be on the next update.

Oh course this was with Zecco and the way I read the commission structure is their identical. I should clarify: For a 5 Contract Straddle. They were charging me $4.95 per leg of the trade. So $4.95 x 2 = $9.90. Then .65 x 4 = $2.60, but that is for one leg. So, $2.60 x 2 = $5.20. So, $5.20 + $9.90 = $15.10. I traded with them for about a month and these were always the charges. I told them repeatedly that $4.95 should just be the entry for the strategy and not the leg. They pretty much ignored me. I played with how I entered trades as well. Still the same results. Usually I would use their "pre-filled" strategy section! Always the same result. So, is TradeKing different than this? You will be pleased with the mobile platform! I have now opened a IB account and seems that their mobile platform will only allow 1 leg at a time trades. If I could take Zecco's mobile app with IB pricing and OptionXpress's customer service, life would be great!

Ok, here is my "2 cents" for what it's worth! I was strongly looking at TradeKing because I didn't want to commit the 10k to open a IB account. I do a lot of mobile trading so I inquired about their mobile platform which is not that good! But, I noticed that they were merging with Zecco. Zecco and TradeKing have a near identicial commission structure. So, my review here is more on Zecco, even though after the completion of the merger they will ALL operate as TradeKing and will take the best of both worlds. The Positive: Zecco has the best mobile trading app I have ever seen! You can enter a Iron Condor as a strategy in a fraction of the time it takes others to put together such a trade. I was used to OptionsXpress' flat fee pricing of $11.95 per strategy, up to 10 Contracts. So a 5 Contract Straddle for an example cost me $11.95. I thought the $4.95 was a great bargain compared to OX. I didn't pay much attention to the fact that their pricing is $4.95 per leg plus $0.65 per Contract. (Same as TradeKing). So that 5 contract example I just gave cost $15.10. And of course another $15.10 to get out. I completed the last calendar trade, plus a few other earnings trades then moved all my funds out of Zecco. I did give them a rather lengthy explination as to why I left. Not to mention they sent me a letter for a $225,000 margin call on one of the Google RICs we played. I won't go into detail as I did post about this when it happened. As for pricing, I would move over if pricing could be close to what we get at IB, might pay a little more, just for the service and mobile platform. If you need help or need me to send a specific complaint, I will, if you think a current customer will help improve our odds of getting a better commissino rate?

Thanks

I am in the process of switching to IB. One thing I am wondering from all those that use IB, is does the mobile app allow you to trade Iron Condors? With my current broker I can trade anything with 2 legs on the mobile app. But, when it comes to 4 legged trades, forget it! What is your experience with IB's mobile app?

I guess I should have clarified. I almost opened an account with TradeKing. Then, I saw that they were merging with Zecco, I checked out Zecco. I went with Zecco because they had a better mobile app. Big mistake! My main account is OptionsXpress. They are expensive but, I have never had the drama I have had with Zecco. I would NOT recommend them to anyone. I applied for a IB account today! As soon as approvals are in and I close out some trades, I'm moving ALL funds to IB.

I have a small amount of funds with TradeKing, which is merging with Zecco. I opened the the GOOG RIC in that account. As, long as I was doing Straddles or Strangles they were OK. But, I don't think they understand a RIC, I have a margin call for -$225,062.39. I called them and they said it was a mistake and they would fix in a day or so! I will be closing this account as soon as all positions close.

I just checked, I got a $3.18 Credit for that. (Guess I need to pay closer attention next time). This definitely gives me some room to make the adjustments. Any thoughts? Of course, I am basing this off of Friday's closing numbers. Monday morning, who knows!

I am one of those that didn't pick up on the alert change. Instead of 136/134, I'm in a 136/136. Any suggestions on a correction here? I am thinking I should roll the 136 Put to a 134 Put. Would cost me about .70

Thank You! I don't want to miss any trades, Do you forsee a "calm" period any time soon?

I am considering the move to IB. I currently have accounts with Trade King and OptionsXpress. OX has a flat $11.50 per trade, which seems expensive. But, if you are trading a 10 contract Straddle, that's all you pay. They don't charge per leg. So, when you say .70 per contract, would that mean a 10 contract Straddle would cost $7 or $14? (I'm not taking into account the nuisance fees, and I was able to negiotiate a little better that the adverstised rate on the OX Website). Also, the reason I haven't moved to IB already is they have the $10,000 minimum to open the account, which I have but, say in a period like now, we have 6 trades open, kinda hard to move. I think open position can be moved, but that seems to risky to me if an adjustment or immediate sell needs to be made. My question is, is their a "calm" period, where we don't have a lot of open trades that would be a good time for me to have everything in cash and make the move?