Gary

I came across this thread and learned of a new resource that I hadn't heard of before - the SEC 606 report. Brokers are required to publish this report, which explains their execution practices and statistics. Reading the thread and looking at this report for each broker may remove some of the mystery around why some brokers seem to have better fills than others. The upshot validates much of what has been discussed here many times ... IB seems to route to the most locations and seems to have a better routing algorithm in most cases, resulting in better overall fills. TOS also seems to have a fairly good system, although maybe not quite as good from an execution perspective as IB. Of course, many folks love TOS's analytical capabilities. I'm curious if anyone feels strongly that any other broker besides IB and TOS has similar or better execution quality. My impression is that when it comes to execution quality (which is a huge part of overall trading success) there isn't really anyone else in the retail space who consistently performs at the same level as these two. I personally use IB for trading and TOS for analytics. IB just gives you so much flexibility in terms of products (e.g. fx and futures), the execution is great and the commissions are among the best. On the downside, which can be a shock to new traders who expect the "retail packaging", the interface is klunky, customer service isn't that great, the commission savings are "lumpy" (due to pass thru fees), and data fees can eat away at your account if you're not very active. I think all of these downsides can be a bit overwhelming for new traders - that's why TOS may be a great option for those just starting out. You can get the $1.50 rate negotiated by Kim (no ticket fee) and learn the ropes at a very attractive commission rate (for a small / new account) without all of the headaches associated with IB. Then, once the all important trading aspects are second nature, you can switch to IB and realize better fills & commissions while learning how to manage all of baggage that comes along with IB. Just my 2 cents... Here's a link to IB's recent SEC 606 report if you're interested: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/download/1Q_2013_IB_ORDER_ROUTING_REPORT.pdf

Nice article Kim and Chris. Tipping your hat to Reel Ken was a classy move, and I like how you handled the naysayers, some of whom seemed a bit hostile and unreasonable (and ignorant). In the article you mention OptionNet. I went to their website and they don't currently seem to be offering individual subscriptions; rather, you have to subscribe to Sheridan mentoring to gain access. They say they're working on it though. Any idea why they pulled that option? Do you use the service and think they provide high quality data? I'm wondering if you can also comment on other services - Optionistics, OptionVue, and others... I'm interested in high quality historical data, flexible modeling and good backtesting. Perhaps a pinned article would be best as I've seen this question come up a couple of times in different forms.

This is a neat idea thanks for sharing.

In my menus I follow these steps Go to Account Management Home > Research and Market Data Subscriptions Click "continue" to move past the research page Click the "North America" tab You should see the main options there I think you'll want "US Bundle" and "US Options" at least. Most of the indices are self explanatory, except perhaps CBOE/MDX which gives you VIX.

Nice trade Kim. I sold half at -0.30 and half at -0.15. I was in at -0.49 ... I probably should have been more patient on the entry.

The VIX chart looks great today. I sold half my position for -.30. 17% return all-in... 18.8% ex-commissions. I'm coming along for the ride with the rest.

This is how I usually do it in IB: Right click the spread --> Charts --> New Chart --> Set options --> OK --> Chart this combo now

What's a reasonable profit target / holding period for this position? Also... curious if you saw some liquidity fees on this one.

Sorry about that I think the editor is butchering the link. Trying again and also including add'l info. http://www.amazon.com/Option-Strategies-Earnings-Announcements-Comprehensive/dp/0132947390 Option Strategies for Earnings Announcements: A Comprehensive, Empirical Analysis [Hardcover]Ping Zhou (Author), John Shon (Author) Publication Date: October 28, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0132947390

This recent book seems relevant to our strategies, esp. chapter 6: http://www.amazon.com/Option-Strategies-Earnings-Announcements-Comprehensive/dp/0132947390 I'm working my way through this one and Augen's book.

Has anyone tried tradeMonster? Barron's rated them highly for options. Of course, they rated OptionsHouse highly too (I've read all the posts about OH's fills). tradeMonster's commissions will be higher than IB unless you're trading enough contracts to overcome that fixed cost per trade. Their tools seem to be excellent though (nice "spectral" visualizations of the greeks, for example). Not sure what their fills are like. I've been using IB for years so I'm comfortable with the interface and think they have a good balance of cost & execution quality. I may fund a tradeMonster account with the minimum just to see what their tools are like and possibly to try and get a couple of fills (you get a few commission free trades to start). I was also thinking of funding TD/TOS with the min to gain access their tools. Are there any other brokers that might be worth a try for the tools if nothing else? Happy trading.