equus

They are changing the structure of the services and have been encouraging folks to decide what new packages they want before 31.12.2014. Am left a bit confused, hence the query.

With the changes to IB's market data services, what data feeds do we need to subscribe to now for the purposes of Steady Options? Is it sufficient and necessary to select the "US Value Bundle" or do we need additional feeds?

Not sure if it's actually a secret...

Yes, it has been the same experience of missing some of the new discussions in "Earnings Trades Discussions" that primarily prompted me to post the question. Shame the forum architecture does not permit this.

Is there a way to avoid having to manually subscribe to new threads? I get the first message in a new thread (for example a trade discussion) but I find i'm always having to manually follow that thread in order to get subsequent messages forwarded to my email, which is a hassle. I'd like simply to be able to subscribe to all threads and all postings without any further manual baby sitting. Is there a way?

Upon logging in this morning i found that all my erroneous positions that were exited yesterday, seem to have been reinstated. Can anyone confirm if this has happened for them? I assume I can exit these positions as if nothing had happened yesterday?

Same here. IB said it was a fault witg the exchange.

thx

I have a question related to straddles/strangles. If we just set a 10% GTC profit target isn't the danger that when the market crashes your position will make only 10% profit when it could have made much more? What is the best practice in relation to setting a profit target, that also allows for a possible oversized gain as in August 2011?

Wonder if it's worth considering the following format as a way to economize on screen real estate, without diminishing the impact of the top banner. PLEASE READ Frequently Asked Questions CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS FORUM!!! SO Open Trades SO Daily Update Useful Links

Does anyone know if the gains from our options trades are also subject to no U.S. capital gains tax, if you are a Non Resident Alien (like many of us are, I think)? If you fall under the non-resident alien category and the only business you have in the U.S. is in investments (stocks, mutual funds, commodities) within a U.S. dollar-denominated brokerage firm or other agent, you are subject to the following tax guidelines. In terms of capital gains, non-resident aliens are subject to no U.S. capital gains tax, and no money will be withheld by the brokerage firm. This does not mean, however, that you can trade tax free - you will likely need to pay capital gains tax in your country of origin. In terms of dividends, non-resident aliens face a dividend tax rate of 30% on dividends paid out by U.S. companies. However, they are excluded from this tax if the dividends are paid by foreign companies or are interest-related dividends or short-term capital gain dividends. This 30% rate can also be lower depending on the treaty between your home country and the U.S., so it is important that you contact your brokerage firm to verify the rate. http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/06/nonusresidenttax.asp

Just want to point out that TOS is closed to UK residents and has been for several years.

$2 extra per execution I believe.

I have accounts with 5 of the brokers above but my vote goes with eOption for Autotrading/Managed Accounts. IB+GAT is way too expensive. I have autotrade accounts with eOption and TradeMonster. Both have been fine execution wise but eOption wins out on transaction costs. IB without GAT would trump eOption, but that's still just a pipe dream at the moment.

Kim, before i start on the paperwork for ToS, can i check this understanding is correct: Aside from the overall quality of the analysis tools, is it true that one of the advantages of ToS is that you can see multiple midprices of spreads simultaneously (as in the PCLN screenshot you posted in a recent thread)? In other words you don't need to be constantly opening an order ticket for a spread just to see the current midprice, then closing it, then opening another order ticket for a spread at a slightly different strike etc -- is that correct?

Interesting. Well, i'll start with a paper account and see how that goes

Called ToS and they told me that one can open a papertrading account (quotes delayed 20 minutes) or a live account (realtime quotes). No minimum opening balance is required, but they confirmed that you do need to keep $500 in the account to get the live quotes.

Just in the process of opening an IB account. It's asking whether "Futures Options" is one of the categories we want to trade. Does anyone know if for SO trades we need to select this category?

Do you know if you need to maintain that amount, or could you move most of it out after opening?

Useful information, thanks!

Kim, You've alluded several times to the fact that IB doesn't show the true midprice. You've suggested ToS as a broker that does show the true midprice, so i'm considering opening a ToS account. Before i do that however, i wanted to check if my other existing broker is showing the true midprice or not. What would be a simple way to check this for oneself? (I'm wondering if it would be enough to look at the midprice of a spread and compare that to the two midprices of the two component legs).

One point worth making is that Kim can't always know what price he's going to get to enter or exit a trade, part of his approach seems to be to try limit orders at different levels until it finally gets executed.