OptionsHouse Dropped $100 Cash Reserve Requirement for Making a Trade
I am not sure what role, if any, I had in this, but I was just informed by Shannon Paul, the Communications Manager of PEAK6 Online, the parent company of OptionsHouse, that the discount online broker has dropped the $100 cash reserve requirement (that’s different than account minimum, which is $1,000 to open an account) for investors to use the broker to make a trade.
I opened an account with OptionsHouse in June after noticing that the broker has reduced its commission to $2.95/trade. However, when I was trying to trade stocks with OptionsHouse last month, I found I have to leave $100 in my account that basically does nothing in order to make a trade. That’s a very weird requirement by OptionsHouse to have $100 in the account to cover commission costs, but doesn’t allow customers to really use that $100 to pay for trade commissions. I then wrote about my experience and expressed my displeasure in the post.
After my post hit Twitter, @ShannonPaul contacted me and asked for my feedback. I basically told her what I said in the post, that the requirement doesn’t really make any sense and I feel it will only discourage small investors from using the broker even though the commission is really low compared to other discount brokers. Shannon said they will look into the issue and find the best way to address it. Then yesterday, Shannon brought the good news that OptionsHouse has already lifted the requirement last week after hearing feedback from customers. I am glad it’s gone.
Well, now that you can invest all your money, are you going to use OptionsHouse to trade stocks, given its low $2.95% commission? I know I will 
BTW, it is still listed on their FAQ page the $100 requirement. I was told that it will be changed soon. So don’t be confused.
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- Pingback by OptionsHouse Promotion Code for 100 Free Trades on October 31, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Nice Job!
It seems that each time you have trouble with a Bank or Broker, they reach out to you personally to see if they can fix the problem.
Would you mind writing something about my wife?!
I called up and complained about it a couple times last week so I did my part too! All they need to do now is add more advanced orders (like one cancels other) which I heard is coming by the end of the year, and they’ll pretty much be almost flawless for a discount broker. If they offered level 2 quotes as well that’d be even more amazing, but I don’t mind getting that information elsewhere considering their commissions are so low.
Well, if we have then enough pressure, I think they will change. After all, the policy itself donsn’t make any sense. Now the broker looks really good.
Im confused. Can we all complain to Bank of America or the other big banks to lower their balance transfer fees to remain 3%?
I don’t want to push my luck too much though