In fact I tried to re-open my old account with IB... After two weeks I gave up; no help or replies on emails etc. About SPY or any liquid instrument; I'm not good at trading only one. I've got a few signals programmed in StockFetcher and want to simply begin by buying calls and puts. E.g. I like the thread of Optionsinvestor. I always expected the option market to be highly efficient in determination of price/fair value, but it turns out to be different...
Make an international call to... UK, US? Besides that, their TWS just isn't my thing; it takes a manual alone to study all the preferences. I'm fine with TastyWorks; when I screw up it will be my own fault!
TastyWorks is a way simpler and superior technology for trading options AND customer service is a different class. Critical factor is costs, their commissions are significantly cheaper than IB, capped $10 commissions for a leg and costs nothing to close. And, if short, it costs nothing to borrow many stocks including SPY. Try it and you won't go back to IB's archaic complex, and RAM jamming software. Onra, what do you think?