Just was looking at starting to trade covered calls. I checked with my brokerage at ThinkorSwim, and was told if a stock was called away, it cost me $15 per contract. This is very steep, and high. Any advice? Or is this cost normal? It sure puts a dent is the profit of writing ITM covered calls
Some charge a fixed fee per assignment. Some charge like a stock transaction. So if you assigned 1000 shares of stock, you would pay like you sold 1000 shares.
It's not $15 per contract, it's $15 per strike + the usual transaction costs per contract. If you are assigned on 10 calls at 40, you pay $15. If you are assigned on 5 calls at 40 & 5 calls at 45, you pay $30, etc. Yeah, kind of a BS charge, but you aren't charged for order modifications and you can close commission free on shorts that are $0.05 or less, so you can actually try and work your fills a bit up front.