My current rate is $7+.75/contract. I read that many people had their ticket fee dropped. So, I emailed client service and they offered me $1.5/contract. They told me that I need to trade 5000 contracts/month to get the .75/contract rate. Is that a TDA policy? This is really a catch-22 situation. I won't increase my volume unless they reduce the commission. And there's no way i would trade anywhere near 5000 contracts/month in the near term. So, am i wasting my time negotiating with them? I must admit that my volume has been down from ~300 contracts/month to ~50/month. Probably not the best time to negotiate. BTW, I have Portfolio Margin and am an Apex client. But, I heard that capital does not matter. It's the volume that counts. Also, do you guys have more success bypassing the front line TDA client service rep thru their website? It's actually quite frustrating every reply is from a different rep. Is it worse or inappropriate to call the TOS Trading Desk for commission negotiation? -Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!
You're too late. Back before TOS was gobbled up you could negotiate the commissions down some, though not as low as IB. Now they're owned by a big company and don't have to negotiate.
If it's helpful, I have been paying a $5 ticket + $.75/contract since I started with them last fall. I have a small account and trade at most a couple of hundred contracts per month. I got an offer in the mail for the $5/ticket if I switched to their brokerage, and I would imagine that if you ask them for it they will give it to you. I definitely recommend calling the Trade Desk directly to negotiate; from my experience only those folks actually have the authority to do it. I also tried to have the ticket charge removed but to no avail (they offered me the $1.50/contract as well which isn't helpful if you're trading multi-legged spreads).
I hear you Steve. I was offered $1/contract or $7+.75/contract. I took the later offer because I was trading a lot of 4-legged spread at the time. That would be a dream rate now. Unlike TOS, I suppose TDA wouldn't give a crap about my account. I might as well forget about the negotiation and open an IB account instead.
Ah... Thank you NoRegrets! That's very helpful. I was about to give-up! Is there a specific rep you talk to?
I used to have ameritrade back in the early 2000s. I was paying 14.95 a trade plus .75 a contract. I was an apex member then and complain in 2005 and they dropped it to 7 . I'm sure they can do better,but now I'm with IB.
On top of the high commissions, the REAL Jam-Job is the $15 per line exercise/assignment charge. So if you sell a $1 wide OTM vertical for 0.20 thinking your max risk is 0.80 (4x1 risk/reward), you're sadly mistaken. If the stock/ETF puts that spread in the money, you will wind up losing the 0.80 from the strike diff PLUS another 0.30 from exer/assign plus the original commission. It costs them NOTHING as all this processing is automatic, yet they have $30 of your money FOR A STINKING ONE LOT POSITION, plus the $9.50 they collected when you put it on!!!!! So after all expenses, your MAX PROFIT is really $10.50 and your MAX RISK is $119!!! on a 1-lot (10x1 risk reward). AND THIS IS ATTRACTIVE???? Yeah, I know, don't trade 1-lots... Tell that to the guy with 25k in his acct!!!!! lol!!!