Online Brokers Court Option Traders
Online brokers focus more on option trading
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Glyn O’Connell is the kind of customer online brokerage firms like TD Ameritrade Holding and Charles Schwab covet. “I’ve spent more than $10,000 in commissions in past years,” says O’Connell, a TD Ameritrade customer who lives in Brisbane, Australia, and moved from trading stocks to options and futures. “You can easily recover that, but it adds up.”
Brokerages including TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Fidelity Investments, E*Trade Financial, and Scottrade are focused on expanding their businesses beyond equities as volume from stocks has sagged. Options have gained in appeal because they’re well suited to a volatile market and help hedge against declines. Not surprisingly, the number of option contracts has hit record highs.