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Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#41

I looked at several and settled on M1Finance, where I’m able to create a few “pies” (allocations among various ETFS) and even mixtures of pies, and just forget about it. It’s not strictly a “trading” platform, in the sense that it’s not meant for day trading. Was intrigued by Titan but they are pricey.

Totally agree with your point, M1Finance is not for trading.. definitely not options, more like long-term ETF investing.

I never heard of Titan, is it a desktop or mobile app? Or both? Could you please share a link?

If you trade options but have no time to stay on top of all the relevant developments, should probably check out this STRIKES mobile app, it provides intuitive analytics and notifies of many pitfalls to your options positions:

https://www.trystrikes.com/

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#42

Fidelity and Vanguard for best execution—which is the most important aspect for me. Self-clearing, sufficiently capitalized and don’t accept PFOF. They are improving their trading UI and I think they’re definitely headed in the right direction on that front. I don’t yet trade options on either, so no comment on that.

I would second this answer. These two are big enough to have solid support paths should you have questions and want to talk to a human. I don't find UI to be important because I'm not in the apps or web sites often enough and I don't do options.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#43
Disclosure: I work on this :)

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It's $5 per trade - any strategy or size but I've added a referral link with 2 months free if you would like to give us a try. https://id.options.ai/register?code=hackernews

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#44

Fidelity and Vanguard for best execution—which is the most important aspect for me. Self-clearing, sufficiently capitalized and don’t accept PFOF. They are improving their trading UI and I think they’re definitely headed in the right direction on that front. I don’t yet trade options on either, so no comment on that.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure it does not mean that you get a price that’s “far” worse. You would need to quantify such a claim — a number I see from the SEC comes down to $1 per user (as a _lower_ bound on total extra cost, weakening my argument). I’m not a day trader — almost all my money is in long term held stocks and crypto — so margin interest rate is all that matters. (For options, I don’t think I suffered any execution is…

IMO the main disadvantage of Robinhood is not their execution quality (which is relatively low) but complete absence of any helpful tools to make a well-informed decision. You cannot easily see what options are over or under-priced IV-wise. It also does not notify of any important events that might affect your options positions. For example, when someone owns a deep ITM call and ex-dividend date is approaching, it mi…

I totally agree with this, though I have to wonder how many retail options traders with advanced features are really making money.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#46
post #13

Charles Schwab. I’ve been a customer for decades. The good: Similar to vanguard and fidelity on most dimensions which are also mentioned in this thread, but they’re also a bank so you can have a checking + savings account with them and all your finances are then in one place (IRA, brokerage, banking all in one). Their checking accounts offer free ATM withdrawals from any ATM world wide and when traveling they offer t…

Schwab's website has been consistently buggy for me. Would not recommend.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#47
post #7

I like TD Ameritrade (now owned by Schwab, but still has their own web site) for its generally good execution (as far as I can tell), but mostly because it still has the best mobile (iPad) app that I use for the majority of my stock and options trading. Note that there are two apps: TD Ameritrade and thinkorswim (aka TOS). TOS is the one you want, and their desktop TOS app is also really good, but I actually find the…

Thank you for such a detailed review! Does TOS have any options-related insights like easy-to-analyse implied volatility smile for Sentiment Analysis? Or like volatility skew to easily identify which options are under-priced/overpriced? Totally agree with u regarding RH, built for gambling not trading..

The desktop TOS has a bunch of options analysis tools (mobile has some, too), but honestly I don't use them very much so don't know them too well.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#48
post #13

Charles Schwab. I’ve been a customer for decades. The good: Similar to vanguard and fidelity on most dimensions which are also mentioned in this thread, but they’re also a bank so you can have a checking + savings account with them and all your finances are then in one place (IRA, brokerage, banking all in one). Their checking accounts offer free ATM withdrawals from any ATM world wide and when traveling they offer t…

I have a Schwab account, but I strongly dislike both their Web UI and their (iPad) mobile apps. They were built decades ago and for the most part they show it. The mobile trading for stocks (forget options) is just awful (including failing to accept my trade for no easily understood reason). My hope is since they bought TD Ameritrade that they'll dump their own trading apps and use TDA's.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#49
post #16

You didn't ask the country so my answers might slightly differ 1. India - Kite by Zerodha[0]. Zero brokerage fees (!) for equity delivery. INR 20 for options. Easy to understand UI and great community 2. Australia - Superhero [1]. Zero brokerage for buying ETFs. Easy app but given my infrequent usage (once a month) not really a problem. [0] https://zerodha.com/ [1] https://app.superhero.com.au/log-in

thanks, you can't trade options with Superhero, right?

You are right. You can't trade options with SH :)
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