Options House Review
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Quality Rating
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Cost vs Value
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Reliability
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Coolness Factor
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Options Trading Quality
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Stock Trading Quality
Summary
Options House offers a commission structure is fixed and fairly competitive. The options per contract pricing is cheaper than most of the big retail brokerages. The stock pricing is flat rate at $4.95, but most of the traders using this broker are probably not trading much stock. I would like to see an option centric broker that is even more competitive in options pricing.
OptionsHouse Update
OptionsHouse has been bought out by E*Trade and is now part of their company. You can read more about E*Trade in our broker review.
OptionsHouse Review Summary
OptionsHouse is a high tech, user friendly brokerage that takes the difficulty out of options trading for newbs. While the software is heavily leverage toward options traders, there are plenty of resources for stock traders as well.
The recent team up with tradeMONSTER has expanded the offering and resources for this high tech, web based brokerage. The free demo account option with real time data is an invaluable tool for new traders.
OptionsHouse Advantages
- Free Real Time Demo Account
- Futures trading
- Competitive commission rates
- User friendly, cutting edge browser based platform
- Robust analytics tools including the unique tradeLAB
- Smartphone app works wells
- Low minimum funding requirement ($2000 for margin)
- Variety of complex order types
OptionsHouse Disadvantages
- Cannot choose routes
- Slow executions
- Abysmal email support (hint: use their phone number and call them)
- Browser platform can be slow and laggy
- Charting is terrible and limited
- Hot keys are non-existent
- Not ideal for active traders
Final Thoughts on OptionsHouse
As noted above, the commission structure is fixed and fairly competitive. The options per contract pricing is cheaper than most of the big retail brokerages. The stock pricing is flat rate at $4.95, but most of the traders using this broker are probably not trading much stock. I would like to see an option centric broker that is even more competitive in options pricing.
At this point, Speetrader, is much more competitive in options pricing, but lacking in options tools. The saying “you get what you pay for” is true in the case of OptionsHouse. Educational tools and regular webinars round out the educational offerings with OptionsHouse. In all, a competitive choice for serious options traders, and those wanting to learn the ropes.
Check out how OptionsHouse compares to other brokers by clicking on the image below!
