Online stock broker OptionsHouse sent me the following e-mail today:
On October 1, 2013, OptionsHouse is changing our stock commissions rate. However, we wanted to notify you that this change will not affect any of your current accounts with us. In addition, if you choose to open and fund any additional accounts in the future, you will continue to receive your current stock commission rate. For full details related to changes to our stock commissions, please visit our rules page.
Basically, their commission on stock trades is going up from $3.95 to $4.75 for new customers only. Existing customers will stay at $3.95. They’ve done this before, as I’m actually grandfathered in at $2.95 a trade (opened back in 2010), which I think is a good way to treat existing customers. Options pricing remains the same, starting at $5 for up to 5 contracts. Under $5 a trade with no minimum balance requirements is still very competitive.
There is still a small window if you want to get yourself grandfathered in at $3.95 a trade. You must complete your application prior to 10/1/2013 and fund your account prior to 1/1/2014. There are a variety of promotions available for new customers. You can only get one of these, so pick carefully:
- 100 free trades with 60 days of funding. Good for those starting up a new portfolio. Must open with a minimum of $5,000.
- $200-$600 Bonus for IRA Rollovers. Good if you are rolling over a 401(k) or similar with $25,000+ balance.
- Free Dell 23″-27″ LCD Monitor. Fund with at least $10,000 plus make 15 trades within 90 days of funding, and get a free Dell Monitor.
- Free Kindle Fire HD. Fund with at least $10,000 plus make 15 trades within 90 days of funding, and get a free Amazon Kindle Fire HD.
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Wow, their commissions are considerably cheaper than TD Ameritrade for options in particular. Does Options House have a good web trading system and decent customer service?
There old interface was excellent. They are transitioning to a new look for the website which seems a lot fancier than it needs to be. I can only really navigate their new site in google crome, seems too complicated for IE.
All of my purchases have went through smoothly. One annoying thing is that depending on how many options you want to buy (5$ for up to 5, or 8$ plus 1$ per each additonal option) you have to click a button to change that, and it still won’t take effect for 24 hours.
Overall, I’m very happy with it. I buy any stocks or options exclusively through OH over my schwab account.
Hope that helps.
That is helpful, thanks Kevin. I don’t consider myself an active trader but whenever I do my taxes I am reminded that I do tend to trade a fair number of (mostly call) spreads throughout the year. For 50 contracts OH is around 25% cheaper than TD, which adds up.