Interactive Brokers vs. Options Express?

[shakermaker]

Hi guys,

Just a quick post to see if there are any opinions on IB vs OX for trading options on the US market.

At present, I trade Iron Condors and a few naked puts on the major US indices. I am using Think or Swim at the moment but I am exploring ways of getting my trading funds back in to AUD.

Discuss

Cheers

 

[Diggs1]

Hi guys,

Just a quick post to see if there are any opinions on IB vs OX for trading options on the US market.

At present, I trade Iron Condors and a few naked puts on the major US indices. I am using Think or Swim at the moment but I am exploring ways of getting my trading funds back in to AUD.

Discuss

Cheers

I use OptionsXpress and find it perfectly fine. It doesn't trade the Oz market but it's easy to transfer funds into your Oz bank account from your OptionsXpress trading account. As simple as any funds transfer unless you have a Commbank account which seems a bit more of a muck around. I don't have a Commbank account but just going from the info they provide for bank transfers.

What do you think of Think or Swim? From what I know OptionsXpress and Think or Swim are comparable??

 

[YMI]

Hi, I know the thread is quite old but the title fits.
Many on here seem to use and recommend Interactive Brokers. Is there anybody using Options Express or can anybody recommend them or recommend not to use them for some reason?

Thanks!

 

[minwa]

Both are fine. Use OX if you are a beginner, use IB if you consider yourself more experienced and want cheaper commissions. Avoid OX if you are trading 10+ options contracts as you will be overpaying brokerage.

 

[BBBS]

Interactive Brokers has been really great for me. I registered a couple of years ago, before they had an aussie office to help out with registration ect, as it can be complex filling out the tax waivers and stuff.
But for $6 equity trades compared to a typical $20-29 here, and $2 option trades with around $30+ here its great. I dont get much paperwork though so i might have to tweak some settings. Also the margin account is good for leveraging that extra 5-10% on top to pick up extra shares occasionally.

Does anybody know the costs involved in getting shares switched from one broker to another, say from IB to Westpac?

 

[IB12]

IB.

Pro/semi pro traders use IB.

OX is too expensive and limited in terms of product range and technology.

OX is just another retail bucket shop.

 

[YMI]

Re: Interactive Brokers vs. Optionsxpress?

Thanks for the answers. I noticed there are actually some threads about OptionsXpress, I just didn’t find them because of the spelling
As I found, OptionsXpress doesn’t allow trading Aussie stocks and options, they seem to be limited to the US markets. One plus compared to IB could be a better service but that’s just a guess and they have no equity minimum.