OptionsHouse Reviews

Mark on January 6, 2009

• Rating

COMMISSSION:
The site offers great rates for it´s commission with options set at $9.95 and stocks at $2.95 per trade, and this is possibly the only reviewed site to offer broker assisted trades for the same price as trade alone executions. The margin interest her is also a set figure at 6.45%, making this an extremely usable site for the traders who only wish to make several executions per month.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
A selection of contact options exist, with live chat and phone assistance available between 7am until 6pm CST, as well as email ability and a section of F&Q´s. Not an exceptional display of customer service ability, but it remains satisfactory.

TRADE TOOLS & SERVICES:
The trading platform within the site includes smart execution, option chain, risk monitoring, account reporting and a comprehensive list of benefits all with a point and click design, making it very user friendly, and to a degree offering easy navigation. Also available is an educational resource section, and webinars for clients – the popularity of webinars is growing rapidly, and this shows a sign of dedication to the client and their needs.

WEBSITE & ACCOUNT SECURITY
The site mentions they use physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in order to protect the users, but there is no area that is delved into in any depth, although the privacy policy is of fair content and explains the safeguarding of user information.

Grant on June 4, 2009

• Rating

Everything he said above, but I would rate this company great. The customer service has been great, and they execute trades at favorable prices and are inexpensive.

Sam D. on September 26, 2009

• Rating

Let me just say HELL YEAH! I love Options House. I had a bit of a bone to pick at first when I had a slow trade executed, but that was only once. I was writing covered calls and trading the crap out of my account today and everything was so fast! Also, great options investigators that finds awesome call spreads (one of which I made a 100% return in about 2 weeks), and covered calls. Fees are amazing, and I am up 50% in 3 months, all thanks to the awesome usability (spreads are one-click), and the great tools. Remember though, always get one extra broker account to utilize all the best tools. For technical people, this may lack a bit so download the free thinkorswim one or get a scottrade account, also great fees and execution w/ them. Support, well I almost always get Kevin. I guess thats more personal, but it shows they are still noobies in the trading world. They will be more refined as their success grows. Again, really great program though. Its nice to use such a user friendly platform.

backbone on April 5, 2010

• Rating

Be very careful with this broker. They did steal my money!!!

Ron Miller on April 13, 2010

These people are unethical, in the least, and possibly even criminals.

Please do your homework! So far I have found recent reviews at http://moneyning.com/review/optionshouse-review/)

I trade stocks so I have no experience with their options tools, however, since I trade extended hours, futures information is extremely important AND they do not offer futures info.

When I opened the account, I got 100 free trades; with 42 free trades remaining, I withdrew my funds for reasons stated below. However, in April 2010, I decided to give them another shot. Since I hadn’t used the account since Dec. 2009, I called to see if the account was still open and active and they said “yes”. On April 8, 2010, I utilized their online ACH transfer and initiated an ACH deposit; since we both utilize JP Morgan, OptionsHouse received the funds on April 9, 2010. Then, in an email that I received dated April 12, 2010, at 10:38 p.m. (presumable CDT since they are in Chicago), they tell me that the account will not be “reopened” AND that they will not return my funds until April 19, 2010.

Over the last 4 years I have used TD, Scottrade, Etrade, Schwab, Fidelity, OptionsXpress, and OptionsHouse; with the exceptions of Fidelity, Schwab and OptionsHouse, I found that each offered something that excelled above the others. HOWEVER, I have to say, that OptionsHouse is the most pathetic of them all. Although I experienced that every single one of them was deceptive in one way or another, OptionsHouse takes the cake. For me, it is simply not worth it to pay $2.95 a trade when you really can’t get the trades you want because of poor execution, clunky platform sceens, mishandling of funds, extremely limited customer service, and only two hours extended hour trading.

FURTHERMORE, I found that OH practice “conversion” and “unjust enrichment” by withholding ACH deposits for 3-5 days after they have “cleared” or by holding your funds for 3-5 days after you request them (disregarding any settlement issues which would delay even further). As far as I am concerned, they are outright crooks.

Did I mention their stock trading tools are so elementary that they are virtually useless?

In a nutshell, 1) they had closed the acct. but said it was open, 2) allowed me to do an online ACH deposit, 3) they received my funds on April 9, 2010, 4) now they say the acct. was closed and won’t be reopened, AND 5) they won’t return my funds until April 19, 2010. SO they use my money, for free, for 10 days! I trade between 10k - 40k shares of C usually several times a day and C has been on the move - you do the math.