who takes the opposite side of my trade when I enter a Credit Spread? -1 trader for the long options and a different trader for the short. -The broker -or just 1 trader who buys the premium from me ? Basically I am interested in understanding the mechanics of how the broker routes/fills my order when I place a credit spread. Thank You
Spread orders go to the COB-Complex order book on the options exchanges. Most of the time, a market maker trades with you, sometimes a customer. It is executed as a spread, not two legs. After your trade clears, the counterparty is the OCC.
Legit brokers aren't legally allowed to trade against clients. This depends on how you work your orders. Do you leg into the spread, work a spread order, hit a spread quote, or did you do a RFQ?
Hi Robert, Thanks for your clear and detailed answer. The reason I am asking is that in the last couple of days demo trading I got a few "fills" that just seem too good to be true. SOLD -3 vertical ADPT 100 16 Jul 21 52.5/50 @2.50 SOLD -3 vertical TSLA 100 16 Apr 21 590/585 @5.05 How likely is that to happen with real money? Based on your answer I'd say 0 chance. Thank You
I don't think you should stress too much about mechanics but rather whether you are on the right side of the trade.
One last question. Is there anywhere I can check the volume of vertical spreads, straddles or condors traded on a particular underlying as a small retail trader using TOS, Interactive,Fidelity or TastyTrade. Thank you all for the replies.