The word on the street is that IB has very poor customer service. I've had mediocre success with them. They help with some issues, but not with others. I have had some success calling thm and getting an order filled, but sometimes you wait on hold, just to get through to them. The whole basis of their system - and the reason they charges so little in commissions - is that they work electronically. They are not set up to provide live trading help. But, as I said, if you do get through right away, they will make the effort to provide help. Mark
I now have a double diagonal SEP/OCT diagonals 1225/1200 @ 2.55 1350/1375 @1.10 Lets see how this one goes. Expect more delta neutralness protection as long as SPX stays between the short strikes. And if SPX ends reasonably close to either the short CALL or PUT strikes at SEP expirition, I expect good profits, especially on the PUT side. But the thing I like with the diagonals is that Theta will make me money as long as SPX stays between the short strikes. If it ends right in the middle ie. 1287.5, i should still be mildly profitable (ie the profit curve/graph should not go into negative territory). Maybe it will go negative, because my short strikes is 125pts apart. Whereas Im learning from Murray's diagonal shorts which are 75 pts apart. However chances of ending up at 1287.5? Low. Still...an interesting position and i'll see how it goes daily to get a good feel for these double diagonals with different parameters. A very small position and worth the tuition price. But I don't think I'll lose on this one And thanks for the article Mo.
I agree they're pretty lousy. However they have live chat for urgent matters like trade problems. They also have a ticket inquiry system but their answers are vague and you can tell they're not putting in the effort to help. Haven't bothered to use it much since.
As an exoeriment (IRA account) I sold my long Sep options, leaving myself naked short the August index options. The trade went through - even though IB told me they would not allow it!!!! Mark
Maybe I'm doing something wrong in ToS but I show this position with a large negative area at expiration with current vol levels. Here is the graph I see when I plug the numbers into ToS:
Hi Ryan, Thanks for the risk profile and you're probably correct. Its probably due to the fact that the distance between my short strikes is 125 pts. Where as Murray's distance between the shorts strikes (1225 - 1300) is only 75 pts. But as you said this is based on the low VIX. Im hoping the VIX will move higher over time. Unfortunately Im still trying to do these graphs in IB, but am gettin close. My call diagonal is 1.10 debit and not a credit ( i wish), done on 16th Aug. The mid is currently 1.03. Mmm..the loss area of 60pts doesn't look too good. Hope SPX falls and VIX rises. But i plan to scale into very small amounts of credit spreads like dagnyt to pay for my diagonal just in case SPX decides to stay in that range at expiry.