I have started looking at Options trading, because I want a vehicle with better risk management capabilities. However, it seems none too easy to find a good broker in Europe with which to trade US options. Does anyone have any insights on the matter? Are there any UK traders trading non-US options for instance, who can enlighten me?
There are restrictions. ThinkorSwim only trades with US citizens. The UK has tight regulations on options trading for some reason. Using a good brokerage is essential, and a lot of them have lousy reviews. From experience, expensive fees can be crippling, and a poor interface can be a serious handicap.
I used to trade with interactivebrokers about 10 years ago, they were pretty good for options ... for you that should be: https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/home.php
Hi, yes. Used to have a good reputation, but the last couple of years the reviews are very poor. I actually have an old account with them, which i closed two years ago, and then they started sending me messages about how I was running up bills on my leveraged account. There seemed to be no way of getting hold of their customers services, although I emailed them several times. As I had no active account, this was the only way i could contact them. APPALLING is not strong enough to describe my experience with them.
Just use interactive brokers. Yes customer service is poor if you have a small account. If you are doing simple stuff its fine. If using a lot of margin v. Acc size you may need another broker. Their financial stability is as solid as it gets imo.
If you are in the UK, you can get leverage and pay no tax via spreadbetting. You can even cap risk to a maximum level by paying a larger spread. This may be a better path.