What misleading info did you find? Anyway, I always take a large grain of salt when reading such a comparison. A company which tries to compare itself with others... What could it have to say?
I agree, there isn't much a company can say by comparing itself to other competitors, but by doing so, they give its potential customers what they want to see. 'the proof is in the pudding', i think. You must give the brokers a try and see if they meet your expectations and qualifications. I chose optionsXpress when I first started trading options, cuz there's was a very simple-to-use interface. I later considered Tradestation, cuz there's were the cheapest comissions. Now, I've settled on thinkorswim. I believe they provide the best execution (perhaps the only 'edge' left for traders)... they employ a wealth of options-specific wisdom (knowledge and experience)... and they have what I consider to be a sincere desire for and committment to *my* trading success. For the small-time somewhat novice trader that I am, that's a huge bonus. All that, and... I think thinkorswim's trading platform is phenominal--the best for trading options. If it's just software you're looking for, the cboe has a nice tool, which I've just glanced once or twice at, and you can find here: http://www.cboe.com/LearnCenter/Software.aspx If it's a great options broker with awesome software you're looking for, I urge you to give thinkorswim a call and talk to them... if you do, send me a private message or post here and let me/us know what you think.
is it just me being a skeptic, or is ET shill central. (rhetorical) amazing- 1 post to his name and, shock... it's about a brokerage. this is a bit off topic, but not too much- where would one look for non-shill legit critique of ToS vs tradestation vs IB? i've read several threads here on ET and it really seems like most posts have, to put it mildly, an agenda. i'm new to options 'trading' also, and would like what everyone wants- good options analytical software and platform, great executions, redundant systems that don't go down, and reasonable rates that won't kill my P&L. i've been using fidelity, mainly because i can trade wirelessly and/or get a human if need be when away from my computers. their options trader pro leaves much to be desired and their active trader guys are fine- except when it comes to options. hell, i know a lot more than they do about options- which is not saying much! anyway, tempted to get tradestation just for the tools, with it being so easy to trade enough to get the platform for free. i just don't want to go thru the learning curve to learn their software if there's a better alternative. ideally, i'd prefer that the platform i'm using to analyze is the same one i'm trading with- using the fewest clicks possible.
Gangof4 (the skeptic one..) I have been with Fidelity (AT) too--the ThinkOrSwim experience is entirely different one (as between a Yugo and an Acura TL). Why donât you be your own judge. You can download the ToS platfrom for a test drive and then see for yourself what you can do with one or two clicks of the mouse. There are also excellent start-up videos. Once you are convinced, give a call to Scott Sheridan and he might even match your Fidelity AT Commission rate, or better. All the best, Ben
Just to clarify, I don't have experience with either Tradestation or ThinkorSwim, my comparison was strictly on pricing. I'll be sizing up my options as my trading volume grows. I'm with etrade right now, $10/per trans + .75/per contract, with is actually significantly less expensive than ThinkOrSwim, again comparing purely on price. As for support, well, like anything, if you want/need it, I guess you pay for it.
I've been using Fidelity AT and their Ipsreads/optiontrader Pro seems ok for actual trading - I've been looking at Optionvue for analytics and I'm in the trial period - Optionvue is pricey but it seems to have analytics that may make it worth it I haven't looked at Think or swim
It takes a long time to trade option sucessfully. Education is very important. I have been trading options for a long time & made many mistakes on the way. Brokers that understand options is a key for success. After many option brokers, I finally changed to TOS & am happy with it. I think beginners would be benifit more with their knowledge, training & execution.
Currently I'm still learning options, so I want software more than a broker now. However it's not bad to tell me more about broker as I need to choose one utimately. Could you mind commenting more about thinkorswim? I'm more concerned about system stability, execution speed, functionality, hidden fees.
What is TOS in full? > a long time to trade option sucessfully Really? Frankly I know little about options. I'm still learning. If I understand correctly, isn't it true we can gain if we can predict the trend correctly. Eg: If I see the trend is going to rise and I buy a call at a cost. Even if the price doesn't rise enough to cover the premium, it doesn't mean I lose money as I can sell the call and gain. True? It seems to me it can be quite simple to play, and easy to gain. Sure it can get complex if you play with combinations of options.
RE: thinkorswim - have a look at the Broker Ratings here on ET. If you are learning options, suggest first lessson is mastering the Search Function here on ET in order to see what has been recommended to other people in your position in the past. Or just browse through a few pages on this forum. Recommended reading/education, which you will discover when reading through a few other threads, includes the following: Your choice of beginner book followed by (in no particluar order), Option Volatility & Pricing by Natenburg, Options Trading: the Hidden Reality by Cottle, Dynamic Hedging by Taleb. For software, have a look at the Software Ratings here on ET. For Option specific software, you will want to consider, amongst others (in no particular order): Option Vue, Optionstar (Excel-based), Hoadley (Excel-based), Optionetics, Optionsxpress (Broker and Web-based Software), thinkorswim (Broker and Web-based (HTML) and desktop (Java) software), Tradestation's Optionstation (Broker and desktop software), Interactive Brokers (Broker and web/desktop (Java) software) www.ivolatility.com (Web-based (HTML and Java) options calculators, analysis and scanners) www.888options.com (Web-based (Flash) position calculator and analysis) Some of the above are "free" with a brokerage account and/or minimum activity level. Others are not LOL. For each of the above, either review the afore mentioned ratings if applicable otherwise, use the afore mentioned Search Function to review numerous and detailed opinions on each. Additional educational resources include but are not limited to: www.888options.com - if you can pass all of the advanced modules in their Online Options Quiz then you will have a solid grounding from which to build LOL There are well in excess of a hundred chat transcripts at thinkorswim which should get you up to speed on core concepts. Suggest go through one by one starting from the beginning and ignoring any commentary pertinent to their software. You will get recommendations from various thinkorswim evangelists here on ET to have a look at Option Planet who are the educational affiliate of thinkorswim. They hold many free classes. The forums at Elite Trader! - there is more knowledge buried in these threads than you will know what to do with - just about any question you can think of will already have been answered...which is where the handy Search Function comes in. You may want to consider these two statements: (1) there is no advantage to selling options over buying options and (2) there is no one particular strategy that is better than another strategy - each strategy has it's place and conditions under which it would be optimal to use it. If those two things sound like common sense then you may be surprised to learn that may people here on ET don't agree with them. You can find out why by reading the many many threads on these topics - make your own mind up. Lastly, make sure you know what you are trading by examining the product specifications at the CBOE It has been observed that some folks have entered trades without being clear when or how the product is settled or calculated. Good luck! MoMoney.