Actually it is $2.95 or $1.50 plus $9.95, depending on how many contracts, and the lower of the two. Granted, not the lowest. But there are times that you will need to have their T-desk's help with some fills. Once I wanted to get out a diag with the long DITM. I called the desk and the guy helped me leg it out at the price I wanted. And that was for a one lot spread at the commish of $2.95 x 2. So TOS is not the cheapest, but as I said, cheapest full service you can get. BTW, IB is great too and I have accounts at both. Can't beat IB's $.75/contract. But its platform is cumbersome for multi-leg option trades and it is labor intensive to construct spread trades. Not good for situations when you need to quickly make adjsutments. TOS is an options specialist, a niche player if you will, whereas IB is a trading platform with access to multiple markets. I like IB a lot, and I love TOS. IB is a machine and TOS is human. So use TOS or IB, depending what kind of trade it is.
Access to the seminars and education, seems to be worth the investment. I could use more knowledge in trading options. Are there any past seminar attendees of ToS's that would care to comment ?
I don't think you have to be a client to take any of the classes. I've been to the OptionPlanet (subsidiary of ToS) Basics and Beyond the Basics seminar. These were free and quite good, especially for someone with only a year or so of options trading under their belt at the time. You could easily skip the Basics if you've read and understood McMillan and/or Natenburg. I also attended ToS' Advanced Class in Chicago. It cost $199 (most of which I got back in a happy hour and a couple of meals they provided). The class was very good, decently organized with lots of good information. Also got a tour of the CBOE floor as part of the class. The classes are taught by the founders or employees of ToS, most all of whom are former market makers. As such they bring a lot of experience, as well as a neutral market bias, to their methods and teachings. Refreshingly there's very little "pushing product" involved. They show you the ToS software, of course. All the live examples go through their platform, but you could be a client of any broker. I also was flabbergasted to hear more than once "you could do that, but you'll save on commissions if you do this instead". They also quickly dispel the "start trading options and make 1000% per year" crap. This was an obvious letdown for some people, but I appreciated the candor. It looks to me their goal is exactly as they imply in the classes - "We hope you'll start trading with us, and if you do here's how we'd suggest doing it so you make money, grow your account, stay our client, and send us commish for a long, long time."
Thanks AmbushHillbilly, You gave me just the type of information I had be hoping for. I am planning on attending a couple of their seminars in Chicago as well. My expectation all along has been to be part of the ToS "community" to increase my working knowledge of the options market from people who are the "real deal".
ACTUALLY...I get 1.25 per contract NO ticket charge and NO charge for unfilled cancled orders which as a woman I'm prone to do...a lot
I heard that you can talk to TOS for lower commissions if you do enough business. I not there yet. So is there a volume or balance requirement to get that? TIA
Nothing I've seen published. I had been with them not quite a year when I called, but had recently ramped up to 20-40 contracts (total for all legs) at a pop for 10 or so trades a month before I called. I didn't have to argue at all to get the ticket charge waived. Getting the $1.50 commish dropped may be a bit more difficult. But remember, I haven't seen any cancel charges or fees to specifically route to an exchange, so take that into consideration Good luck.
I wouldn't even consider OX to be ToS' true competition. If you're a U.S.-based active retail options traders my choices would be down to ToS, IB, or Tradestation. They all have their +/-'s. You can have good, fast, or cheap. Pick two.