Pricing
Features
Customer Service
Ease of Use
optionsXpress Review
optionsXpress® is an award winning online brokerage that has some quite unique features. This is one of the few brokers that offers futures trading, helping investors diversify into yet another market type. optionsXpress has a long list of praises from publications such as Barron’s, which has given them a 4 star overall rating for 9 years in a row, 4 stars for usability and customer service, and the “Best Online Broker” title for 3 years. Some nice excerpts from publications include: “the leading browser-based brokerage…”, “Keeps evolving… at a pace that is unimaginable at other brokerages.”, “…optionsXpress has the goods. It beat the others by a nice margin.”
optionsXpress offers stocks, options, ETFs, futures, bonds and mutual funds. They have no account inactivity or maintenance fees, and No-Fee IRA accounts among a very long list of available account types. optionsXpress also has a great virtual trading platform for testing out the system and your strategies without risking your cash. They also have an extensive trader education center with live and on-demand webinars, and in-depth tutorials on dozens of investment topics. All of this is available for free, and makes optionsXpress a nice online brokerage for beginners.
The commissions at optionsXpress are certainly not the lowest out there, but they’re not the worst either. Stocks are now $8.95 flat rate (new as of December 2011). However, we are told that this flat rate only applies to orders up to 1 million shares. Option pricing depends on your trading activity level, but starts at $14.95 for 1-10 contracts. 10+ contracts are priced at $1.50/contract, or $1.25/contract if you are active. Active trader status is reached at 35+ trades per quarter. What optionsXpress lacks in the pricing department, they certainly make up for with their great website and trading tools.
The stock trading interface is about as good as it gets. Entering new orders is easy, as well as closing out existing positions. Modifying and cancelling orders is simple and efficient. The options trading interface also works nicely, as expected from a brokerage with “options” in its name, and includes all the options order types you could want.
Mobile trading is available via a dedicated application that works on BlackBerry, iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, and Windows Mobile devices. The app lets you check streaming quotes, watch lists, positions, balances, options chains, and enter/modify/cancel orders.
The charting tools at optionsXpress are truly excellent, including basic and streaming charts. The streaming charts offer the best functionality, and are fully customizable with just about every technical indicator available. You also get a full gamut of drawing tools to annotate your charts. Lastly, and importantly, you can save your chart configurations for future use. optionsXpress has a ton of other research tools to help you drill down and find the best trading and investment oportunities. From screeners, filters, alerts, news and commentary, events calendar, chart pattern recognition, trading patterns, and much much more, optionsXpress has done a great job of providing its clients with just about every tool you could ask for. To really get a feel for what they offer, we recommend opening an account for free to get full access and check it out yourself.
Platform based trading is available with the new Xtend software from optionsXpress. Designed for active traders, Xtend is a fully customizable, Adobe Air based platform that puts streaming quotes, charts, watch lists, news, and one-click buying at your fingertips. Xtend is free for all clients, so we highly recommend creating an account and giving it, and the other tools at optionsXpress a try. We like the platform, but it is a little less friendly and efficient than the offerings from E*TRADE and TDAmeritrade. You need to have quite a bit of screen real-estate to take advantage of optionsXpress Xtend, and it simply isn’t as snappy as other software based platforms.
Customer service is, once again, award winning and available via phone, email, and live online chat. optionsXpress is one of the few brokerages that offers broker assisted trades for no extra fee.
Opening an optionsXpress Account:
If all of the awards and trading tools that optionsXpress offers hasn’t sold you, the quick account application process just might. They have one of the best application systems out there. The forms are easy to fill and will take 5-10 minutes. No paper forms or signatures are required. Account approval should be immediate, and you will get full access to the optionsXpress site. So if you’re interested in checking out what an account has to offer, you will have very little time to wait. Setting up a relationship with your bank is easy and will only take a couple of days, after which you are ready to fund your account. If you need an account quick, optionsXpress is a good choice. There is no minimum funding level for a cash account.
Available Equities and Commissions:
- Stocks/ETFs – $8.95 flat rate up to 1 million shares (Broker Assisted – No extra charge)
- Options:
- For 0-34 trades/quarter (1-10 contracts – $14.95 | 10+ contracts – $1.50/contract)
- For 35+ trades/quarter (1-10 contracts – $12.95 | 10+ contracts – $1.25/contract)
- Futures – Per contract price (1-40 – $6.99 | 41-100 – $5.99 | 101-300 – $4.99 | 301-1000 – $3.99 | 1000+ – $2.99)
- Mutual Funds – $9.95 + load
- Bonds – $5/bond ($9.95 minimum)
Other optionsXpress Details:
Annual/Maintenance Fees: None
Direct Access Trading: No
After Hours Trading: Yes, no extra fee
Penson Cleared: No
Software Platform Based Data/Trading: Yes, Xtend – Adobe Air Based
Web Based Streaming Data: Available
Level 2 Quotes: Yes
Online Trading Community: Yes
Live Online Chat Support: Yes
Virtual/Paper Trading: Yes
Mobile Trading: Dedicated apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices.
Penny Stock Surcharge: Commission for 1001+ shares is $0.01/share
optionsXpress Account Pros:
-No account inactivity/maintenance fees
-Low bond and mutual fund fees
-Award winning customer service
-Excellent stock and options trading interfaces and order types
-Excellent research and charting tools
-Online trading community
-No fee IRAs
-Streaming data and Level 2 quotes available
-Software based trading platform available to all
-Virtual trading
-Dedicated mobile trading apps
optionsXpress Account Cons:
-Somewhat high stock and options commissions
-Xtend platform need a lot of screen real-estate (resolution) to be useful
The Verdict:
optionsXpress is not the cheapest online brokerage when it comes to trading stocks and options, but you do get a hell of a product for the money. Almost all of the trading and research tools are very well designed and useful. We are particularly impressed with the streaming charts, as well as the Xtend software trading platform. optionsXpress is a great choice for traders looking for an all-in-one package of a fast and streamlined interface, fast executions, and great tools for monitoring positions and finding new ones. It is also a good brokerage for beginners, long-term investors, and IRA accounts. Customer support is great, and the online trader education center will help new and experienced clients become more successful traders/investors. With no minimum deposit, and a fast account opening process, we suggest setting up an account today to check out what optionsXpress has to offer.
- optionsXpress Sign-up Promotion -
Open an account today by clicking on one of our links/ads and get $100 cash deposited to your account. Valid for one new Individual or Joint optionsXpress account opened and funded with at least $500 by US residents on or before December 31, 2011 at 11:59 CST, and having executed 3 trades within twelve months of account opening. To receive $100 bonus, account must be funded with at least $500 cash or securities transferred from a brokerage firm other than optionsXpress. For complete details, visit optionsXpress via the ad below.
| Overall Rating |
November 6th, 2010 at 2:23 PM
I have used this broker for a number of years and am quite happy with them. On futures and emini day trading, they are more expensive then the cut rate futures only brokers. But, what I really like about them is very little slippage and very good execution. Chicago based and your order goes right into the CME. And, yes, microseconds matter a lot and I have used other brokers and nothing is more frustrating then your order sitting there never getting filled when you know it should have been. I also like the iPhone app they have. Lastly, for customer service this broker is outstanding. I can call day or night to execute a trade with no extra charge. And, they have always been helpful and courteous.