You want to get a good broker with commissions as low as possible. For Canadians the commissions ratea are different. I do not know why – never really looked into it. But you guys pay a lot more.

So what can you do?

One option is to try to negotiate with the brokers. The larger your account size, the lower they are willing to go. And tell them you are considering them and 2 others. The rate that is listed on their site is not the bottom line price.

Another option is to check with other brokers. Interactive Brokers is in Canada and they are pretty cheap here in the US. Their platform takes a while to get used to but many professionals use them so they are good.

one of your recommendation is think or swim broker but they charge 9.99 canadian dollars + 1.25 per contract…and here is one of your comment above that contradict your recommendation…(That’s why having an option friendly broker is so important. I pay $1.25 per option with no trip charge. If you are paying $10 plus $1 per option or some other crazy commissions then you ae playing a game that is stacked against you. Get a better broker.)
I am confused please clarify…thank you so much

Actually commissions do play a role but not as much as you make it seem. And not on most trades.

For example, the MCD butterfly i did last month. This trade bought and sold 63 options. (Because of the adjustments). You might remember this trade Xueren, you were talking about it in another post.

And it had a pre commission profit of $141. If you paid $1.50 per option, you paid $94.5 in commissions. That’s a lot. But you still made $46.50 or 2%.

This is the highest number of options I have used in any trade I could find.

So even in the most commission intensive trade I have done in a while, I sill made money.

Most of our trades use much fewer number of contracts. That’s why I use SPX instead of SPY and RUT instead of IWM.

If so,how can we negotiate such an unbelievable commission ( if we trade ten options a month ) as individuals,not institutions ? Even Optionhouse or Thinkorswim can’t let us have $2.5 per spread ? Optionhouse charges $14.95 per spread,and Thankorswim charges between $1.00 to $2.20 per contract ?

If we can’t have rock bottom option commissions,it’ hard to follow and execute your trades as a member,because you have adjusted your trades quite a bit? It’s OK for you because you just pay $2.5 each time you trade ( unlimited contracts),but for your members,if we pay $10 to $22 ( 4 to 20 contracts per spread ),your members are are really at disadventage positions,and will never achieve such ROI per month and per year as you do in your newsletter ?

Bruce

This was a little higher risk trade and was not part of the OptionGenius portfolio. I did it in my personal trading account. We have done AAPL credit spreads in the OptionGenius portfolio before but since I take a very conservative appraoch I did not want to expose members to the risk – which was earnings. AAPL had a good quarter and the price shot up. It could just as easily had a bad or so-so quarter and had the stock price fall by the same amount, in which case the trade would have been a nail bitter.

OG