OptionsHouse is an online stock trading broker with an emphasis on value-priced options trading. PEAK6 Investments, the parent company, launched OptionsHouse to create an online business that expands the reach of the stock market. PEAK6 Investments also created WeSeed, a social network on a mission to educate and prepare people to trade equities. WeSeed is an online community that helps its members to learn and practice trading real stocks in real time with play money. OptionsHouse, another chip off of the PEAK6 block, is also committed to educating folks about the stock market with free coaching and online learning. And, like WeSeed, it provides demo accounts so you can gain the confidence that results from experience prior to playing for keeps with real money.

This online stock trading broker wins the TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award for the following reasons:

• Commitment to client education
• Flexible and reasonable fees and commission structure
• Evidence of incremental improvements in customer support
• Ongoing refinement of the software trading platform

Fees/Commissions        

Consistent with its mission to lower barriers to entering the world of online stock trading, OptionsHouse charges no account maintenance fees, and the minimum account balance is $1,000. A flat fee takes care of broker assisted orders, market trades and limit trades. Option trades are available a couple of different ways. You can get up to five options contracts for a flat fee plus an added amount per contract thereafter. (An options contract is equal to 100 underlying shares.) If you trade anything greater than 10 contracts per trade, the flat fee increases slightly, but the per-contract rate drops significantly.

The margin rate for margin balance levels (money that the broker lends you so that you can extend your reach) is four-percent interest up to $50,000. If you maintain larger margin balances, the interest rate drops. For example, if you borrow a million dollars or more, this online stock trading broker charges 1.5 percent. If you want to buy stock on margin, short stock or sell uncovered options, your account must maintain at least $2,000 worth of margin equity. If you want to trade uncovered options, you must have deposited a total of $5,000 in cash or securities over the lifetime of your account.

Investments Offered        

OptionsHouse offers online stock trading as well as options trading. Its clients also have access to Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), a broad range of mutual funds and retirement accounts. This online stock trading broker also accepts telephone orders for U.S. treasury bonds and listed corporate bonds.

Compare to	#1	#3
	They are similar, offers all the same investment opportunities as OptionsHouse with the addition of educational savings plans.	They are comparable, offers everything that OptionsHouse does plus educational savings plans.

Ease of Use        

The OptionsHouse trading platform is beautifully designed and rich with useful features. To make a trade, you can look up a quote and then click on Ask or Bid to buy or sell. Or you can open an order ticket or access a trade menu from a number of screen locations. The options trading platform has just four primary screens, so you can navigate via tabs across the top for account activity details, options, stock and tools. Each view can dominate the screen or you can minimize the views and then invoke them whenever you need from a quick-launch area. To the right of the cockpit are subcategories to provide news, charts and company information, a watch list and a hot list.

To prevent you from ever flying blind, if you click on the Quick Assist icon and then hover over other parts of the screen, concise descriptions of features pop up. For more detailed guides about the site, a Quick Start feature picks up where the Quick Assist ends. Until you are comfortable with the trading platform, you can practice with a demo account that starts out with $5,000 of play money.

OptionsHouse provides a URL for mobile users to manage accounts with an interface appropriate for phones. Almost any mobile phone with a web browser works.

In order to make it easy to move money in and out of an OptionsHouse account, you can establish an electronic funds transfer between Options House and your bank. ACH, wire transfer and check requests are all accessible from inside of the OptionsHouse trading platform.

Compare to	#1	#3
	Both are easy to use; however, optionsXpress offers a basic trading tool and an advanced trading platform.	They are equal, TradeKing and OptionsHouse are designed to be easy to use for even beginning traders.

Trading/Investment Tools        

Useful online stock trading tools and calculators are online.

A Risk Viewer analyzes the positions that you hold and helps with risk estimation.

There is a Call Spread Investigator. A call spread is a type of option position where you buy and short sell a call on the same stock and both calls have different strike prices and/or expiration dates. The Call Spread Investigator identifies the call spreads with the best theoretical returns.

A Covered Call Investigator discovers the covered calls that might yield high returns. A covered call is a short call option that gives you the right to buy a security at a price determined by the call writer (who actually owns the stock).

OptionsHouse also provides a Put Spread Investigator that scans available equity options to report on the spreads that promise high returns.

A probability calculator forecasts the likelihood of any given stock to reach a price target.

A profit and loss calculator lets you analyze option strategies for theoretical scenarios.

Compare to	#1	#3
	They are similar; however, optionsXpress offers a few more advanced tools such as Level II quotes and automated trading.	They are a bit different, OptionsHouse provides a virtual trader for zero risk trading and TradeKing does not, but TradeKing does provide automated trading.

Support/Customer Service        

You can reach OptionsHouse in Chicago via telephone, live chat or email. Customer service hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Chicago time (Central time). All necessary option trading forms are available online in PDF documents. This online stock trading broker supports client education with live and prerecorded online trading seminars and blogs. Online educational resources help beginners and advanced traders. Investment coaching is available. And once you are a funded customer, OptionsHouse will provide 14 days of free investment coaching.

Compare to	#1	#3
	They are about the same, though OptionsHouse will provide 90 days of free coaching, which is exceptional.	Similar, but TradeKing does not offer 24/7 support for late night traders.

Summary

OptionsHouse is an online stock trading broker that delivers value-priced trades, useful analytical tools and research, and a well designed software trading platform. The fees and the commission structure are simple, and this online stock trading broker provides a number of different investment vehicles. The OptionsHouse culture is committed to ongoing improvements in products, trading tools and customer service.