I will take a smart person on the other side of the fun over an in person idiot. Tradestation is good but more for charting and trading off the charts, I would still recommend IB, ToS or OX for options. They can do wire transfers which are quicker than checks.
Wire transfers quicker than checks? The checks I'm referring to is a checkbook Scottrade gave me to write checks anytime I want. Deposit or cash them at my local bank. Are the wire transfers you're talking about faster than that? [not sarcastic] If they are, or are even about as close, that would be fine.
Wire transfers are instant and you can start trading within minutes. However there is usually a $20 to $25 dollar fee.
Stocky, You need to decide what you want from your account. If you want to trade option spreads, look at Interactive Brokers, Think or Swim, or Options Express. Don't expect a low-cost option broker to provide a checking account. When you sell a credit spread at IB or TOS, you can specify a limit price for the spread. Don't try to leg into it. Sell or buy the whole spread. Scottrade is a nice broker for low-volume trades. They don't allow certain types of trades for a reason. They don't want that business. Best wishes, D BTW, I have accounts at TSO, Scottrade, and IB.
IB does ACH transfers to/from your bank account. Accounts must have the same name. Transfers are free, up to, I think 1 or 2 a month. Then they cost a buck or so. Mine usually complete in a day or two.
Can you (and do you) attempt to enter the spread as one transaction, or are you doing each side as a separate order? That may be the problem. In any case, take the advice given and open an account at a broker who specializes in options.
Scottrade takes payment for order flow. I don't think you would want to use a broker that does that. TOS and IB both have free automatic (ACH) transfers to and from your checking account within 24 hours. Also, are you aware that covered call writing is equivalent to selling puts. If you would not be willing to hold naked short puts then you probably should think twice before you write calls covered with stock.
Free coming in. First one free going out. But the hold coming in is 3 business days so if you put in your request Monday before 2PM, it gets transferred on Tue, but won't be credited until Fri. (Yea, I time it to avoid losing the wkend's interest.) The hold on the way out is 10 days as I recall.