I did a chart comparison. For some reason, Think or Swim seems pretty high as you increase contracts. Did I depict it correctly? PDF attached. dsss27
Interesting chart. Thank you for sharing. How about the cost for exercise and assignments? Those are important too.
One mistake I can see is that Thinkorswim is $24.95 at 10 contracts not $30. At 10 contracts you pay $1.50 per contract + $9.95 = $24.95. With that said, Thinkorswim offers to match other brokers' commissions so if you'd rather trade with Optionsxpress' comm. schedule you can do that. So the chart is a bit misleading.
If you are serious about options, I think TOS is best, I however only do a handful of option trades a month.. I also like the software that they have. One thing that you might want to note is the $40/month rebate from TOS if you do 40 trades.
I've been using TOS for about a year and a half, and I have no complaints. They are very willing to work with you on a commission schedule. Exercises / assignments are $15 per strike, regardless of # of contracts. I'm not a high volume guy though, so i'm sure they are more appropriate platforms if you're making more than a trade or two per day on average...
Thanks all, I derived it based on what I was able to ascertain on their websites, so some sites were confusing to me. So I guess it was misleading. Another one I heard was Optionhouse, where they have a flat $9.99 fee regardless of amount of contracts. I am just shopping around for a broker for a rollover ira, a small account and low option trade frequency. Out of curiosity, have any of you able to get TOS to charge the Interactive Broker commission schedule? dsss27
Yeah, you are making the normal beginner mistake. I made the same one for a long time. Active traders should not settle for the posted rate. If you are even somewhat active TOS will give you $1.25/contract with no flat fees, which is only beat by a few other brokers. If you do more size they will go even cheaper for you, and get closer to IB rates. Given the additional customer support, TOS is still best for the beginning retail trader IMO.
The above applies to all except for IB. They are the cheapest already so you probs can't talk them down. But if you trade enough size they will only charge 0.25-0.50 per contract.
IB is IT, PERIOD. Only thing with IB is that you have to know what you are doing. HMMMM what a catch. Like everything in life, learning takes time and money. To the begining trader IB is probably not the best, but they quickly become hard to beat once you stay alive long enough in this game. Thanks for the chart though, good to see there are people out there with plenty of time on their hands.
I pretty much exclusively trade in an IRA with TOS as my broker. I get .95 (20 contract min) no ticket charge. They are fantastic to work with and I even had them call ME to assist in a complicated trade. It can be very tricky trading in an IRA. I was assigned on a spread which put me in an "illigal" position. They helped me work it out no.... sweat. I've been with them a year now and am VERY satisfied.