The Scottrade website says that they charge $17 for options assignment. Is that per share, per order, or per trade? If I write 10 contracts (100 shares) of the same option, and they all get assigned, do I pay $17, $170, or $1700? If the answer is per contract, is there a cheap brokerage that charges per trade instead?
Assignment and exercise is like buy/sell to close. It's a single transaction unless of course, you're have partial assignments on different days. Best thing to do is call Scottrade. Sorry to sound like I'm hyping IB but assignment and exercise are free there (US stock and index security options)/
IB has good commissions and is a good strong company, but there are a few negatives and you have to see what is best for you. Some donât like their software, everyone agrees their charts are bad, and they have an automated risk system that may hurt you if you use measurable leverage.
Actually, it's 50 cts per 100 shares with a $1 ticket minimum. This makes scaling in and out feasible since you're not getting hit with that pesky fee per trade thing. 1,000 shares in at once is the same $5 commission as 200 shares at a time, done in 5 transactions. I'm not sure if they still call it undbundling but if you trade volume and add liquidity, it's even less than 1/2 a ct per share. And as opt789 and others have noted, some of their features are lacking. It's a great deal if the fit is right. Otherwise, not!
LOL. Yeh, there's a $10 fee if you don't generate $30 in commissions per month. Hmmm, that sounds more like a hobby than a trader