TDA plans to add fees to option contracts?

G

garyw

Active member
Gold Member
Anyone else get info suggesting TDA will begin adding 45 to 65 cent fees per contract for SPX options?
This in addition to the 65 cent/contract commission!

These are the CBOE "exchange fees", that were previously "comped"! -- Apparently, they began rolling out this new "fee" notice this morning!
msg below:
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I am not surprised
Etrade was already doing that even before they lowered the commission to $4.95
I guess they can't afford the comp anymore with the low commissions
I wander if Schwab is going to do the same thing or maybe wait until after the merge with TD to do it
 
I suppose this has to do with Schwab buying TD. From the text it isn't clear if COBE fees will be added on top of existing fees. If so... I start looking for another broker or examine to trade SPY instead if SPX.

I didn't know that fees are dependent on premium/expiration type.
 
Marcas said:
I suppose this has to do with Schwab buying TD. From the text it isn't clear if COBE fees will be added on top of existing fees. If so... I start looking for another broker or examine to trade SPY instead if SPX.

I didn't know that fees are dependent on premium/expiration type.
Click to expand...
From conversation with TDA earlier today, the CBOE fee pass along seems imminent. However, there may be "negotiation" room for that "new" 65 cent per contract Commiission for those with ample "negotiation leverage" (account size and/or trading volume). -- previously, our "commission" was adequate (for most traders) to offset the "cboe fees", now, there is less wiggle room! (this new index option costs structure is reminiscent of the ObamaCare fiasco -- Screw those already pulling their weigh)
The "fees" are in addition to the commissions! --
 
I guess it was too good to be true
Well at least it was nice while it lasted
Yes that is kind of strange the way it's broken down by price and expiration
Probably going to end up paying the same as we did before the lowering of the commissions
 
I guess you trade more than 10 spread contracts ?

You could try Tastyworks where they cap it at $10 but that's for equities
For SPX they still add the index fee so for me Tastyworks is more expensive than all the other brokerages for less than 10 spreads
There is not that many brokerages to choose from they are more or less the same
I am not going to run to Robinhood just because the added in the index fee
I am not sure switching to SPY is any better since you have to make a lot more contracts to get the same level of profit
As long as I am making good profit I am just considering it as part of trading options
 
I was only thinking aloud. If I have to pay $1.3 per contract I definitely will be looking around. I even go with IB but I hope it wont go to that :)

I don't trade SPY but isn't it exchange fee free? So, if some broker has zero commission I can trade as many contracts as I want and execution/liq is better there. That said I'd be leery to go with smaller broker but it's just my thing...
 
When I asked for a $.50 per contract commission, they added the exchange fee. They didn't tell me they would, I picked up on it in reviewing my trade history. They removed the exchange fee when I asked to go back to the $.65 per contract fee.
 
I just got my notice of the new misc fees structure; I trade both SPX and RUT, but based upon the fee differences, will likely focus more on RUT trades after the new fees kick in.
 
I contacted TDA about the exchange fees and asked if they could go back to my old commission rate with no fees added. They said no. So, now with between .45 and .65 per contract exchange fees for SPX added to the .65 per contract commission, this represents between 50 and 100% increase in commissions for me on SPX.
 
If TOS still has no fee on the ETFs (except exchange fees), it might be worthwhile to trade SPY verses SPX ... just 10x more contracts.
 
Now that I stop and think about my last post - that was pretty silly. SPY is 1/10 SPX. I would have to trade 10 SPY contracts @$0.65 each = $6.50 to equal 1 SPX contract @ .65 + .65 (contract > $1) = $1.30.
 
Lets see last year I paid 17.65 for a 7 lot put spread and that was with the 6.95 commission
With this new fee schedule I will probably skip over the monthly since I am doing weeklies anyway so that would be 0.54 cent plus 0.65 x2 x7 = 16.66 plus another 20 cents estimating for exchange fees so about 16.86 total So I am saving a whopping 0.79 cents
So not that much different than last year
Of course for other lot sizes it will be different
As the saying goes "Careful what you wish for" Yes we got lower commissions but extra fees so it's pretty much the same price just sliced up in different amounts
 
I just checked my statement for the most recent transactions. Still no index option fee and just $.65 per contract.
Perhaps one could ask to have their schedule reviewed by the back office? They might be willing to reconsider if one suggests that you'll take your trading elsewhere.
 
For Trade Hawk the monthly fee is $85 so for a 7 lot put spread 2 trades a month is not worth it for me
Single Listed Index Options are subject to a $0.35/contract fee in addition to any pass-through exchange fees
I am assuming that refers to SPX

You have to trade probably 10 lot spreads or more a few times a month to make it worthwhile
If you do BWB and make a lot of adjustments it may be worth it although if the DTE is 60-70 days you have to factor in 2-3 months of fees of $85 and make the calculations to see if it's any better

The mobile only version is cheaper at $25 a month but I would not want to trade BWB options without the risk graph

We have to wait until after the merger to find out if Schwab is also going to pass thru the index fee or not and how and if they are going to integrate the TD trading platform In theory you could use the TD platform to look at the risk graph and than place the trade with Schwab assuming that they don't pass thru the index fee and there is no additional cost to use the TD platform
 
Has anyone used Tradier via OptionNetExplorer? They charge $95 per month and no commissions (just exchange fees). With enough volume you can get your per contract fee pretty low.
 
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