I'm thinking Livevol might be the platform that will work for me Anyone use Livevol? What's your thoughts
It is built on Adobe Flex and there is a mac version. The UI is excellent and consistent between OSes. You will also get access to TWS at IBKR, which is simultaneously the most powerful and clunkiest retail option platform around. In total, that is "the Best" retail platform. But, it doesn't mean it is the best for you. Proper evaluation will have to be with regards to your workflow...how you trade. What makes it best for me is the sim features and great visualizations of how my exposures evolve plus the IBKR account management reporting and TWS Var is a must have. Any unique pricing and analytics can be created on Livevol Excel RTD which requires a subscription.
I hate VAR, especially for option trading. IMO, it has very little value. It does not work well in time of stress or illiquid markets which is when you need it the most. Bob
Optionsxpress is a great company, but be aware that they are very platform limited. They shut down their API (although they have yet to remove the web pages a year plus later) and have few if any third party platforms that work with them. They seem to have shut down the division that does anything third party, and are just letting whatever is left die out. I find their platform much slower for me to use than IB, which pains me to say because I dislike IB so much I switched in part to Optionsxpress. I have never had any of the bad experiences I had with IB, however, like the random closing out of cash settled options spreads because their risk algorithm thinks a 5 point spread can lose more than $500, or the refusal to send even market orders to the exchange if their algorithm decides the current market price isn't a "fair price". In addition, I think it's notable that when I enter a spread order on Optionsxpress inside the bid/ask, it is instantly reflected on my feed from IB, showing that it made it to the exchange and the rest of the world is seeing it. When I enter that same spread (SPX on CBOE for example), on IB the IB feed shows it as if it's part of the NBBO, but Optionsxpress doesn't, which lets me know IB is holding it on its books and limiting who actually sees my order. Anecdotally I feel like this costs me about 5 cents/spread on SPX, both from how far outside the mid I routinely get filled and some decidedly unscientific experimenting with sending identical orders in at the same time on both platforms, but take that with a grain of salt. In any event, fewer potential buyers seeing your order isn't a good thing at least with the way I'm trading.