Comments on: OptionsHouse Review: Discount Broker For Stock and Options Trades

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:04:45 +0000

I had a really unpleasant with OH. Basically, there was a duplicate order when I was requesting electronic funding from my bank. Not only did I have to pay a NSF funds to my bank, but again had to pay a $30 fee to OH when they charged the duplicate order. In the end, any money I could have saved from their lower commission rate was offset by their unfair fee schedule, and problems with duplicate ACH processing.

I anticipate that I will most likely be leaving OH in the near future, due to their substandard customer service, and their attitude towards customer satisfaction. I felt like they couldn’t care less, and it is no surprise after reading that so many above customers have had unpleasant experiences with OH. I have only made a handful of trades with OH, but cannot say that the experience was pleasant.

I guess in the end, you get what you pay for; and with such low trading fees, they need to make money using any dirty tricks they can pull. BUYER BEWARE!!

By: CPA Marketing

CPA Marketing — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:30:29 +0000

Looks like a good choice if you are an options trader. The commission rates are low enough and I hear they get good fills. In this choppy market, you probably make more money as a trader rather than as a long term investor.

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:05:49 +0000

@jamie smith – Mutual funds in general are $9.95. For a full list of OptionsHouse fees, please see our rates page: http://www.optionshouse.com/rates/fees/. If you have a question about a specific mutual fund, please contact customer service at 877-653-2500 or via email at customerservice[at]optionshouse[dot]com.

@savvysoundbytes – Regarding your question about telephone support for customer service. We have customer service representatives available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time (except exchange holidays) and we also provide broker assisted trades at no extra charge. Live chat help is also available on our website during the same hours as telephone support.

@Walt – The rate for trading penny stocks at OptionsHouse is $2.95 plus $.005 per share for stock that is not options eligible and valued at less than $2.

Thanks for the questions. Please feel free to reach out to me directly at spaul[at]peak6[dot]com.

Shannon Paul
Community Manager
PEAK6 Online, parent company of OptionsHouse

By: savvysavingbytes

savvysavingbytes — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:08:08 +0000

Thanks for info on OptionsHouse, a discount broker new to me. $2.95 per trade is an amazingly low price in comparison to all the others, which seems to imply that certain other brokerages are still getting a hefty mark-up. The one thing you didn’t mention was whether or not they can be reached by phone for orders or for any technical problems. The last deep discount broker I used only allowed communication by email. A big problem when their site experienced technical glitches or particular stocks could only be traded through a broker and the share price was rapidly changing. With those situations, fast phone service is essential.

By: jamie smith

jamie smith — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:57:33 +0000

In your article, you state: If you believe you will invest primarily in mutual funds on the other hand, Iâ€™d recommend opening an account with the appropriate mutual fund provider directly (example: Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Schwab) to avoid the extra mutual fund transaction costs.

What do you mean ” to avoid the extra mutual fund transaction costs”. What extra costs would occur if I bought Vanguard mutual funds through OptionsHouse.com rather than directly through Vanguard.com?

By: finance

finance — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:21:59 +0000

Thanks for the review of the discounted brokers. Now I know whom to call for a better price.

By: Alex Burda

Alex Burda — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:35:49 +0000

I lost about $15,000 on the stock market when the tech bubble burst and it really hurt. Now that I have fully recovered it may be a good time to get back into the market.

This time I will be a little more careful and probably consult the services of a company such as OptionsHouse.

Information on your blog has provided me motivation again.

By: PennyStocks

PennyStocks — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:41:16 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, I’ve never heard of this broker before, can’t beat 100 free trades.

By: Dirtypop

Dirtypop — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:57:32 +0000

Been investing for 10+ years now. Came across Optionshouse by chance. Their $2.95 flat rate for stocks is tops. Not sure about the rumors of the above commentators suggestion of bad fill orders…but I’ve never had a problem. They seem to fill just fine. Doesn’t the federal government regulate these transactions. If they were doing something fraudulent, you’d think they would be busted by now.

All in all, I would continue to use Optionshouse…but only for stock and etf purchases since it’s the absolute cheapest. Like the author mentions, don’t use Optionshouse for mutual funds.

By: Timothy Rhone

Timothy Rhone — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:13:03 +0000

I hear they offer these great rates because the execution prices are awful since they cross almost all their orders with some market maker who owns them. Be careful. Sometimes cheap is cheap, sometimes cheap is BS