1 comparison of US brokers 2 market direction 3 Dow Jones Industrial Futures 4 Financial, stock profile summary, statistics and other info 5. Dow Index members
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(1) Comparison of 3 US stockbrokers
| THINKORSWIM | INTERACTIVEBROKERS | OPTIONSEXPRESS | |
| Stocks brokerage | New tariff*$9.99 per trade | $0.005/share; Min $1.00 | $8.95 flat |
| Options brokerage | New tariff*$9.99 per trade + $0.75/contract (= 10.74 min) | $0.70 per contract; Min $1.00 | $1.25 per contract; Min $12.95(min for >10 contracts) |
| comparison If 5 option contracts | New = $13.74 | $5.00 | $12.95 |
| comparison If 10 option contracts | New = $17.49 | $10.00 | $12.95 |
| Fund deposits | Min $2,000.00 to trade optionWire transfer fees $25.00 | Initial $10,000.00Wire fees $100.00 for deposits and $10.00 for withdrawal | No min |
| Protection of deposits | Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)All accounts deposits are protected by SIPC | ||
| Software – trading platform | “thinkDesktop” | “Trader Workstation (TWS)”Standalone model or browser/web based | “Xtend” trading desktop(for approved account) |
| Real time data streaming | Free | Real-time market data fee $10.00 unless commission for the month >$30.00 | Free |
| Issues & comments | Prices quote different since TD Ameritrade took over compare to previously. Check with them for clarification. | Cannot test software without trading account. Account must be approved and funded before use. | Cannot test software without trading account. Can open account and get approval without funding. |
| comparisonstock & ETF 2,000 shares | $9.99 | $10.00 | $8.95 |
Comparison table of rates among top US brokers (follow this link and check it out):
Optionsxpress further info:
http://www.optionsxpress.com/about_us/broker_comparison.aspx
Base on the table above, looks like TOS is not so favourable even though TD Ameritrade has reduced the rates. If we normally trade 5 to 10 contracts each time, then IB will be the choice. However, if we do not trade more than 30 contracts (options) in a month, we have to pay a data feed fee of $10.00 to IB.
Comparatively, OXP has reduced its commission to quite a competitive level. If we do not trade every month, then we can consider OXP as the data feed fee is FOC. (average option traders do not usually trade every month)
Check it out at their respective websites before you begin funding your new account. You can still do virtual trade (paper money) with either TOS or OXP even though you have not fund your account but I am not so sure of IB because I did signed up but IB cannot provide me the excess ID & password without first funding the account.
p/s: cardinal rule 3 - trade within your means: follow money management rules, use money you can afford and size positions within your control.
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(2) MARKET DIRECTION
There are a few useful indicators that not only option traders but also stock investors may utilize to anticipate the market direction of the day. Follow this link to check the market direction:
There are 7 charts that I usually set up in one page as follow:-
i. chart of S&P500 index ($SPX)
ii. chart of NASDAQ index ($COMPQ)
iii. chart of Euro Dollar index ($XEU)
iv. chart of US$ index ($USD)
v. chart of TRIN that indicates bullish NYSE sentiments if <1.0 or vice versa ($TRIN)
vi. chart of TRINQ that indicates bullish NASDAQ sentiments if <1.0 or vice versa ($TRINQ)
vii. chart of VIX or CBOE volatility index that indicates degree of fear in the options market (it is commonly accepted that if VIX is below 20.0 then there is less fear and more greed in the market)
TRIN or Short-Term TRading INdex; the Arms Index is a breadth indicator to identify short-term overbought or oversold situations. This applies to NYSE counters and a number of over 1.0 means bearish. On the other hand, a number less than one means bullish.
There is also a TRINQ, the Arms index for NASDAQ. Similar to TRIN above, a number greater than one means bearish.
VIX is the ticker symbol for the Chicago Board Options Exchange Market Volatility Index, a popular measure of the implied volatility of S&P 500 index (or CBOE Volatility). Its average is about 20 and a higher number means too much fear in the market or bearish.
So, generally, if US$ down, TRIN less than 1.0, TRINQ also less than 1.0, VIX down to less than 20.0 and both S&P500 & NASDAQ are up means that the market is in a bullish mood.
After 10:00 (EST), the indices should give a guide to you whether the market is overall bullish or bearish. You can enter your trades or check out your stops accordingly. For residents in Asia especially HK, Singapore or Malaysia, check it out after 10:00PM local time e.g.
US market bearish --> TRIN = 2, TRINQ = 2, VIX = 30
US market bullish --> TRIN = 0.5, TRINQ = 0.5, VIX = 15
cardinal rule 5: trade the trend and long the uptrend or short the down trend - never counter trend.
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(3) Dow Jones Industrial Futures
If you are interested to check out Dow Jones Industrial Futures and do not know where to find the latest chart, try this one:-click on this title to go to the web page ...
Dow futures from Finviz.com
Checking out the Dow futures can also help us anticipate the global market direction. The chart should look like this -
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(4) Financial, stock profile summary, statistics and other info
Where to look up information about a stock's profile, financial, statistics, other news and info?Search in yahoo.com:
for its financial, click on this http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=SBUX+Income+Statement&annual
Or Google.com:
http://money.msn.com/investing/stockscouter-stock-ratings.aspx
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(5) Dow Index members - where to find them?
Check it out from Bloomberg.com, the 30 DOW members.
Check out this link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/INDU:IND/members
It shows the number of up trending and down trending stocks.
So now you can guess the direction of the DOW!
The best information for Dow Jones Stock Market on Daily Basis we found here considered a very good Stocks trader.
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