Xfanman

You need to select a Data plan. Select the US Bundle and if you have more than $30/mth in commission fees it's free otherwise they charge you $10/mth for it.

Made my first trade on IB this morning. Not exactly intuitive but Combo Builder wasn't horrible. I'll have to be careful of the negative pricing when I do my first IC. Thanks for the warnings on that!!

Ok my IB account funds just showed up in IB so I'm good to go. Now to tackle the learning curve. Mosaic isn't as intuitive as OH's platform but it is set up similarly. I think I'm going to try that for now instead of their Advanced Platform unless there is a good reason not to?

So I moved some money over to IB to open an account there and left a little in OptionsHouse just because I like the platform and I didn't want to close the account out yet. I called them last week to make sure I wouldn't run afoul of the PDT rules since I wouldn't have more than 25K in that account for now and they say, "Oh no, no problem, you'll still be able to trade in your account.". I log in this morning to a nice PDT Margin Call notice. I call their customer service back up and they tell me they can reset it but of course that won't happen until tomorrow! I wouldn't be so frustrated except that I proactively called them to specifically prevent this from happening. I know missing one or two trades isn't the end of the world but GMCR looked pretty attractive this morning /Rant Off

Thanks, I agree it's probably not worth the effort. I could become an expert in TWS while I try to figure out how to work around their system Thanks for the info though.....Scott

Well apparently you can't trade Options from Ninja Trader so that's out. I'm sure I'll learn the interface, I just need to dive in and play with it in the virtual account.

Are any of you using NinjaTrader or other front ends with IB's TWS? My account won't be active until next week but I've been reading good things about NinjaTrader and if TWS is this arcane I thought it might be worth a look.

Ok I began the fund transfer process from OH to IB. Hopefully by the end of next week my IB account will be funded and I can start making trades again.

I've filled out the IB applications up to the funding level also but I need to wait for a slow period to close out my positions in OH before I can change over. I'm curious to how you find the IB platform to trade. I downloaded the demo versions of their iPad and iPhone apps to play with this week.

And here is why Options House fills are not as fast or well priced as IB. This is the response I received today regarding fills on Spreads at OH --> Hello, We route spread orders to one options exchange based on the exchange quoting the best bid/ask for your spread order at the time you submit it. You cannot select the exchange on spread order tickets. Other firms may leg into the spread by routing each leg to different exchanges even though you submit both legs on a single order ticket. Option exchanges do not have a National Best Bid Offer (NBBO) like stock exchanges so it is possible that two of the same order routed at the same time to different exchanges could be filled at different prices. If you have additional questions please contact our Trade Desk, 1-877-653-2500 Option 2. Regards, Tom Customer Service OptionsHouse 141 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite #800 Chicago, Illinois 60604 Toll Free (877) 653-2500 Fax (866) 492-2478

Got out at - .84, I'll pay more attention to the hedge positions in the future. Thanks again for the help...Scott

Kim I'm showing a loss on that position if I close it now of around .86-.87 does that sound about right?

Thanks Kim!

Kim I've been on vacation and trading from my iPad is less than ideal but I converted this into a RIC when you did last week but I had already traded out of the SPY calendar that this was originally a hedge for (I couldn't even tell you what I was thinking at the time). Is there any reason for me to continue holding this (I still have the RUT IC) or should I just take my lumps? Thanks much...Scott

OH was having connectivity issues Friday for me also. I've had very few issues with them in this regard over the years however.

What a great explanation of what apparently happened to me today on the ADBE trade. I couldn't get filled even though my limit order hit the ASK price and it confused the hell out of me. I've never had this issue on OH with Non-Spread transactions. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.....Scott