I've been living and dying by the sword my whole trading career, but this is the first time my broker screwed me out of 700% profit. The market does that well enough all by itself when some crazy news hits I didn't expect. I don't need the brokers who charge me commission doing it on top of anything else. Anyways, I checked with TDAmeritrade margin dept (risk dept) and confirmed: They don't even start looking to do this until 3:30, and long options are at the bottom of their list as they will simply DNE them manually if there is any potential problem.
Well i would say +700% perhaps you need to deserve it. Playing penny options is like playing vs casino, they will win more than you will.
sadly those are the rules of your broker... at this point you have a choice, accept it and continue to trade or find a new broker. As odds are they will not change their rules for you. I have seen some brokers offer a much smaller commission for premiums of less than 5 cents..