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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DownSouth who wrote (60681)	1/7/2000 1:59:00 PM
From: angel	Respond to of 152472

Down, I have used both Fidelity and Schwab for several years now. Fidelity has all my retirement accounts, IRAs, Keogh because they allow level 2 option trading (buying calls, puts, etc.). I am in the process or closing all of my Schwab accounts because their trade executions are terrible compared to Fido. I had several times in the last few months to wait for 1 hour for a confirmation on an Q option trade. They are very cocky about it too. When challenged they just go -- we have the best option trading team in the industry. They might, but they must not be working on my trades even though I have Platinum status. Fidelity on the other hand has very fast reliable option executions. I only had one problem in over 3 years of trading heavily with them. Good luck with your transition and pls let me know if you find a better one than Fido. Angel.

To: DownSouth who wrote (60681)	1/7/2000 2:11:00 PM
From: RoseCampion	Respond to of 152472

Since I know that Fidelity will let you trade LEAPS in your IRA and their trade rates are lower than Schwab by half, I am headed that way. Opinions would be appreciated. Other than certain vagaries of their margin requirements, I'm very happy with Fido. Low commissions for anyone who makes more than a few trades/month, great backoffice (=web/quote) systems, decent executions, an extremely knowlegable, dedicated options team (if you qualify based on trading volume/account size), and some access to Lehman-underwritten IPOs if you have > 500K combined with them (or are an active trader). I'm not always 100% thrilled, but I am happy more often than not. I know one of us who just moved his rather sizable accounts from Fido to WSAccess because of the concentrated position margin requirements, but he was reasonably happy otherwise as well. They allow Level II options trading (buy puts/calls/LEAPs, sell covered calls) in IRAs; I got Level IV capabilities (anything except, IIRC, naked short index calls) in my taxable account just by asking - and I wasn't a high roller at the time. Worth checking out. -Rose- current Q maintenance margin requirements: <25% of portfolio == 35%, 25-50% of portfolio == 50%; >50% of portfolio ('concentrated position') == 60%. Margin on sold puts 30% initial / 15% minimum, $1k min/contract - pretty much industry standard, maybe a tad higher.

To: DownSouth who wrote (60681)	1/7/2000 3:39:00 PM
From: Poet	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

I'm thinking about Fidelity too, DS. Jill likes their "power pro" (I can't remember if this is the right name) set-up for trades as well. Thanks, everyone, for the answers. Leopard girl

To: DownSouth who wrote (60681)	1/7/2000 4:53:00 PM
From: Jill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Jerry, I was getting annoyed with Fidelity but then I started using their Power Street Pro and I really like the interface. Plus I'll be getting DSL in about 2 weeks. Anyway, trades are $14.95 as you know, options aren't the best prices but not the worst either, they let you buy calls and leaps and so on in retirement accounts. Their margin on QCOM last I asked was 35%, but if others are changing may be their's will too. Powerstreet Pro opens up with various sections. One is a watchlist of indexes or the stocks in your various accounts. Another is news. Another is a list of today's orders and whether open or filled. It also allows you to check real time quotes on stocks and options--a separate little box opens, and it has much more information than the old Spartan did. It tells you, for instance, what exchange did the last trade. It tells the option range, day high and low, option high and low etc etc. You can keep this box open on your screen the way I do the RTQ from Silicon Investor--I keep it up all day. And you can just put in "update" or input a new symbol and "update". It also allows you at the same time to open a trading box. So you can keep various windows open all at once rather than having to wait to switch back and forth. I also asked Fidelity about Quicken and they say it's very compatible, and when i get it they will walk me through the downloads. So, considering every broker is at best a compromise, I'm staying. Jill