To preface, I know I should have looked deeper into this before execution. So I just paid $14.95 / side commissions to get in and out of 1 SLV contract. I actually made .29 cents on the trade and end up losing money. No wonder why everyone loses on options trading, seriously. I am guessing I am getting severely ripped off here. Especially just on 1 contract. ( options xpress ) Is there a broker that has a lower deposit limit that doesn't charge an enormous amount of money to get in and out of the market? Or are you basically just out of luck until you have enough money to trade large size? Thanks
$14.95 is ridiculous. As mentioned, IB is quite cheap. ThinkOrSwim is more expensive than IB by a bit, but has a great platform for options. Even Fidelity is only $7.95 + a bit per contract. I think the IB deposit limit has risen a fair amount since I opened my account (it used to be $2k back in the day, but I think it's 5 or 10k now) and TOS might be $2500.
That's a +1 on getting ripped IB is 70 cts a contract (less if the option is 10 cts or 5 cts with free assignemnt and exercise). Minimum ticket is $1.00 If you do size, you may be better off at OptionHouse with their $8.95 ticket + 15 cts per contract (they have several commission schedules).
Go and kick the person who introduced you the option express in the butt. Go with IB and if you don't have 10K to deposit, don't trade. If they (optionxpress) says we have a better platform or service, just laght at them. switch or close your account today. If you were trading with IB for one contract, it would be 1.04 and for for two contracts it would be around 1.44 ($1 is minimum). Double that amount for roundtrip cost.
To say a few good things about OX: 1. You can contact them about getting active trader rates. The girl online basically told me I could get it and I asked if she was sure I qualifed and it kind of sounded like just ask and you get it. I think the rates are down a bit just from their normal rates. 2. OX seems to have very good execution - it's possible that you would have made less on the trade with another broker, but of course, I can't prove that. 3. OX has no cancel fees that I know of like other brokers do. For larger orders the difference isn't as bad (i.e. OX charging say $13 for 10 contracts (active rate I think) is comparable to $1/contract, etc. OX is not the cheapest by any means, but sometimes you get what you pay for. http://www.optionsxpress.com/about_us/pricing_commissions.aspx?said=MBox_PricingCommissions_Bottom JJacksET4
With all due respect to your comments, here are my responses. 1- Different rates to different customers is called discrimination. Rates should be the same for all active traders or at least they should have a published different categories 2- I believe IB has better execution 3- IB has cancellation fee but you get credit for the filled orders toward orders cancelled. I pay less than $10 cancellation fee a year and I trade a lot. So far today 35 contracts in 5 trades. 4- For larger trades, still IB's rate is better than OptionXpress. I had account with many brokers. The only one which got my respect but was not for me was Scottrade. It was good for buy and hold strategy or low volume swing traders. I have been with IB for 8 years and absolutley no problem.
Incorrect. Giving different rates to different customers because they are (black, or white, or jewish, or little green men from mars, or whatever arbitrary pre-judged criteria you want to use) is discrimination. Different prices for different customers is called business, and I have never ever seen a large company that doesn't sell the same product at different prices to different people. The most obvious example I can think of is that you and I can walk into the same car dealer, buy the same car, and walk out having paid different amounts. That's not discrimination.
I know I was strong on using the word "discrimination" but having different rates for the customers without having a commission table on their website means that squeaky wheel get the oil. Have you ever heard anyone saying that I called IB and I got a better commission?