I have been with eTrade forever and just got my portfolio margin account application rejected. It took them over a week to tell me that too. I meet the funding requirement, am qualified to write naked calls, pull in a good income from a day job, and have over $1M assets and liquid capital. I've been actively trading options for about 2 years and the etrade rep said that apparent lack of experience might be the reason but wasn't sure. Does anyone know the requirements or have any experience with etrade's pm accounts? I also have a TOS account and am thinking of just switching all my accounts to them if etrade keeps hosing me but do like having backup platforms. Are TOS or IB any better for PM accounts? Thanks for any insight.
IB approved PM in about 4-5 days but I had been with them for 3 years. Their account liquidity minimums are lower too.
I always thought the only way to get approved for options (margin, etc) was to claim you'd already been trading them for years. Catch 22 until you realize no one checks what you put on those forms.
Thanks for the replies. My etrade guy told me that the experience probably did it and that I could use paper trading experience and up the number as there is no real verification process. It is frustrating they didn't give the official reason for denial. I reapplied today and will see what happens.