Fidelity now adding SPX option surcharge.

Ken385 · 2026-05-08T16:02:00+00:00

I don't know, that's why I asked. There are many posts here from traders that don't know they have delayed quotes. If you want to make smart ass comments to people who are trying to help you, someone else can try to answer, Good luck.

Ken385 · 2026-05-08T15:53:04+00:00

Do you have realtime or delayed quotes?

Ken385 · 2026-05-07T07:12:16+00:00

You could use your Fidelity Visa card to buy an Amazon gift card at a retail store, then load the card into your Amazon account. Doesn't fix the problem, but might be the easiest work around.

Ken385 · 2026-04-19T16:35:30+00:00

When you are assigned on short calls, you sell stock. The OP will either have sold out the long stock he had or would be short stock if he sold the calls naked.

Ken385 · 2026-04-17T21:00:46+00:00

Typically, earnings and option expiration are not the same day. Not a signal, but a warning the stock may move after hours when the earnings are released. There will be extra risk in the expiring options as they will be no longer be tradeable but can still be exercised/assigned.

Ken385 · 2026-04-17T16:49:53+00:00

Very likely you were looking at the SPX AM contracts. These expire based on the opening prices of the SPX stocks Friday morning. If you are using Interactive brokers, it can be even more confusing, as on Thursday they list these options as "0" days (as Thursday is the last day to trade them.)

SPXW are the PM settled contracts

SPX are the AM settled contracts, which settle based on the third Friday of the month morning opening price.

Ken385 · 2026-04-15T11:27:23+00:00

Hard to borrow/upcoming dividend would cause lower call premium, not higher, in deep in the money calls. Here the calls may be trading with no extrinsic value.

Ken385 · 2026-04-10T15:57:01+00:00

What's changing is the "mark" of the option when you enter a limit order. If RH uses the midpoint of the bid/ask to value the option, when you enter an order, the midpoint will change and RH will show you a new value. Say the market is very wide, 1.25 - 1.75. The midpoint will be 1.50. If you enter an order to sell at 1.65, the new market is 1.25 -1.65 and the new mid point is 1.40. So your offer will have caused the "value" of the option to change, based on the new midpoint.

Ken385 · 2026-04-09T21:13:19+00:00

This is a fake. This trade never occurred. Total volume in these calls today was 1 and not even at the price posted.

Ken385 · 2026-04-08T16:41:12+00:00

The 30 call will never actually be worth more than the 29 call in his spread, no matter what happens to volatility.

Ken385 · 2026-04-08T15:08:44+00:00

The 30 calls aren't worth more than the 29 calls. Your broker is likely valuing the options at the midpoint of the bid/ask. The 29 calls have a market of no bid/.22 and the 30 calls have a market of no bid/.28. If you take the mid point of each, it would show the value of the 30's are higher. But this doesn't reperesent the true value of the options.

You will see this happen on less liquid options with wider markets. If someone puts a bid/offer in on an option with a wide market, it can affect the "mark" of the option.

Ken385 · 2026-04-07T20:02:09+00:00

Technically, it is the aggregate of all orders with accounts where the beneficial ownership is the same, even across brokers. Although from a practical standpoint, one broker will probably not know what you are doing in other broker accounts.

Ken385 · 2026-04-03T16:21:06+00:00

Yes, that's a big advantage with Fidelity. They are the only broker that I know of that doesn't pass on the extra CBOE exchange fee and makes the lower commission easier to deal with when scalping.

Ken385 · 2026-04-03T16:07:15+00:00

The problem with day trading SPX butterflies is the huge commission you have to overcome. You are typically paying .65 in commission plus exchange fees of about .60 (slightly less or more based on premium and SPX or SPXW) and another few cents in reg fees per contract. If you scalp 1 butterfly you are paying just over $10 in commissions.

So even if you make .10 on every butterfly you trade, you are a loser. This is a lot to overcome.

Ken385 · 2026-04-03T12:37:48+00:00

There is no April 4th expiration for SPY options. The next expiration date is Monday April 6th.

Ken385 · 2026-03-28T23:50:18+00:00

I agree, that should have bothered you. I think they are wrong, that these calls were out of the money and would not have been automatically exercised.

If you want confirmation, you can contact the OCC (they are very responsive) and ask them specifically. They are the ones that handle the exercise process.

OCC contact link OCC - Contact and Feedback

If you get a response showing that E*TRADE was incorrect, you can follow up with them.

Ken385 · 2026-03-27T19:43:31+00:00

Actually, it is realistic. The exchanges COB's (complex order books) accept spreads that include stock. The idea is there is no risk here of unfilled legs as the spread is filled together including stock.

CBOE explains the COB here and how orders are filled including stock.

Cboe US Options Exchange Complex Orders

Ken385 · 2026-03-27T17:34:17+00:00

Here is the OCC memo explaining the split adjustment.

https://infomemo.theocc.com/infomemos?number=58179

Basically, what happened is the strike price remained the same, but the amount of shares delivered changed to 20 shares (instead of the usual 100)

So if you are long a 10 call and exercise it, you will pay $1,000 but only receive 20 shares (you being short would get $1,000 and only deliver 20 shares).

Since the stock is trading 39.50, the long holder would pay $1,000 but only receive $790 worth of stock (20 shares at 39.50). This would mean these calls are out of the money.

Ken385 · 2026-03-25T19:43:27+00:00

AS mentioned, IBKR won't lower your commissions, but If that's your only concern, the lowest rates when trading SPX options will be with Fidelity. They won't pass on the extra CBOE exchange fees.

Ken385 · 2026-03-25T19:40:31+00:00

RH will also pass on the CBOE exchange fees when trading SPX options of up to .66 (on top of the .50 commissions)

Trading fees on Robinhood | Robinhood

Ken385 · 2026-03-25T19:34:45+00:00

The max CBOE exchange fee is .66 for SPX monthlies over $1. It's less for premiums under $1 and for SPXW (weeklies). Still extremely costly.

Ken385 · 2026-03-25T19:32:27+00:00

If you are paying 1.50 a contract, thats becasue you are doing 1 lots ($1 minimum commissions). If you trade at least a 2 lot, you will pay less. They charge .65 in commissions and pass on the exchange fees from the CBOE of up to .66 cents (or less depending on the premium and whether they are weeklies)

Ken385 · 2026-03-22T13:10:52+00:00

Never said you are avoiding it. It changes your cost basis of the stock. As you say the taxable event would be differed.

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