Hi

I am new to all these markets and looking to start with it.

I wanted to go for an Online Trading Company like India Bulls, Sharekhan etc.

I aim for being both a Long Term Investor in 2-3 Shares, and do regular Intra-Day Trading

I have seen India Bulls Charting system and found them to be good but don’t know what are their Broker Charges, Account Opening Charges?

I am a long term investor and not into daily trading. So this answer below, is probably not teh best answer for what you have asked.

But there will be important pointers to what should also be considered while deciding on the trading platform. So here goes.

I have personal experience with ICICIDirect, HDFC Securities and Motilal Oswal. I don’t trade on a daily basis and am a long term investor. So for me brokerage rates don’t matter much.

For me what matters are the following:
1. Reliability of the platform -I can transact when I want
2. Correctness in transaction records, account debits, demat credits, shortfall management
3. User-friendliness of interface – you can find what you want quickly
4. Promptness of customer helpdesk in replying to emails
5. Ability to do everything from one single place – like demat account, trading account, and bank account are all managed by the same entity, so there is single place of accountability

Given all these in my experience ICICIDirect still scores the best. It has the highest no of subscribers. It used to have some transaction problems earlier, but over the past year, I cannot recollect instances where I couldn’t execute a buy/sell when I wanted it. (HDFC Securities & Motilal OSwal both have miles to go on this front, systems cant keep up with the load on exceptionally high traffic days -jan 22/23). Their User interface is the best, you can locate what to do and where very fast, almost intuitively. Their transaction records are impeccable, you have peace of mind. Couldn’t say the same for Motilal Oswal (I had to track and remind them to make good the shortfall when I bought and paid for 20 shares of Wyeth Pharma but demat was only for 16 after a week). And single place of accountability makes sure i deal with the same party and can get things resolved faster.

No matter what arguments you hear against, perhaps the biggest argument in favour of ICICIDirect is that they have been operating these services from 1999. That’s close to a decade of experience in handling extremes of load, variety of software and technical issues, customer complaints , and have matured over the years.

The others may give you cheaper brokerage rates (and that matters if you are a day trader) but have much more to cover before they can reach similar levels of maturity as a service provider.

My 2 cents. Hope they were useful & happy investing!

I think I would like to have my next career be as a self employed options trader.

After a 14 year career in the Engineering and IT world I moved last year into a career in finance, specifically as a commercial lending officer for a large credit union ($1.5B.) My education career started in Engineering (including 19 hours of Calculus and linear algebra) but my actual undergrad is a BBA. My IT education includes 4 advanced self taught certifications. I started investing in CD’s, stocks and bonds in 1990, added covered call options in 2000 and long call options in 2005. Even though I had never worked in the finance field, my amateur interest in the financial markets is great enough that senior management asks me my opinion on current issues and trends because of my constant exposure.

As part of my job requirement I will be starting an MBA in September and my course of study is up to me as long as I am working on the graduate degree. Due to my pre-existing interest, heavy coursework in finance, securities and financial math would not be unusual. For political reasons I have to stay in this job for 4 years but I effectively have the opportunity, means and permission to rebuild myself with an eye toward starting on a career in the world of options should I so desire.

I know that during my studies I could ask the professors and advisors about this but I would much rather find someone who is actually doing this to help me structure my courses and studies (formal and self taught) so that while I am being paid to learn I can be learning the things to help me most.

As some here have seen (and answered my questions) I have at least some understanding of options trading. I have found what I think it an effective day trading strategy but it has the significant problems of being unable to scale and requiring constant attention to prevent being on the wrong side of a trend. I need to really learn to do spreads and other long term positions so I can make thousands on a longer term position instead of the $100 per round trip in 15 minutes I target today and not have to watch every minute move from 9:30 to 4:00 all day worrying about missing an instantaneous buying or selling opportunity.

I would very much appreciate it if somebody who has had success in the area of options investing can help me to learn what I need to learn to have the mental tools and experience to be able to seek a career in this arena or barring direct help, help me to find someone who can guide me on this. I don’t think I am asking for a lot of someone’s time but I certainly think it can’t hurt to ask for some help rather than waste money on books or seminars flailing about trying to find that one needle in the haystack of information otherwise uselss to me.

Feel free to contact me directly should you be so inclined.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

I been trading options for some time, focusing on premium selling. My favorite strategy are credit spread and calendars. Dan Sheridan is a great option mentor. You can watch his videos at the cboe.com