Question

What are SogoTrade's option trade commissions?

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Answer

Options Commission Schedule

Online $5.00 plus 50¢ per contract
Broker-Assisted Trade $25.00 plus 50¢ per contract

Sample Option Trade Commissions

5 Contracts $7.50
10 Contracts $10.00
25 Contracts $17.50
50 Contracts $30.00
Question

What are SogoTrade's option trade spread commissions?

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Answer

SogoTrade charges only one ticket charge ($5) + .50 per contract on legitimate spread orders.
This is in contrast to many of our peer platforms that charge multiple ticket charges for spread orders.

Question

How do I add options trading to my account?

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Answer

If you didn't apply for options trading when you first opened your account, you can do so now.

In order to upgrade your account to options trading, you must fill out, sign and send in the Customer Options Agreement.
For your convenience we have provided the required disclosure for your easy access in the following link:
http://www.wangvest.com/sogotrade/PDF/sogotrade_opt_agreement.pdf
Please complete and sign this agreement. You can email the signed agreement to Services@SogoTrade.com or fax to (646)-459-2749.
You'll receive a notification email, typically within 1 business day, once your upgrade application is approved. Please contact us if you have any additional questions. You can email us at Services@SogoTrade.com .

Question

Where can I learn more about options trading?

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Answer

For information on options fundamentals and options trading, please visit our options education center.
http://www.sogotrade.com/s1/Education/options/en-us/

Question

What are the options trading levels for margin accounts?

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Answer


Options Strategies Available:

Level 1 Covered calls, including:
Covered calls sold against stocks held long in your brokerage account

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin or cash account is required to place Level 1 trades. No additional margin requirements.

Level 2- All Level 1 strategies, plus:
Married puts
Long calls
Long puts
Long straddles
Long strangles
Covered puts (short stock and short put position)

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin or cash account is required to place Level 2 trades. No additional margin requirements

Level 3- All Level 1 and 2 strategies, plus:
Equity debit spreads-
Equity credit spreads

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin account is required to place Level 3 trades . No additional margin requirements

Level 4 -All Level 1, 2, and 3 strategies, plus:
Naked equity puts

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin account is required to place Level 4 trades. There is a $2000 initial equity requirement to place level 4 options trades.

Level 5- All Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 strategies, plus:
Naked equity calls

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin account is required to place Level 5 trades. There is a $2000 initial equity requirement to place level 5 options.

Level 6- All Level 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 strategies, plus:
Naked index calls
Naked index puts

*Minimum Equity/Margin Requirement:
A margin account is required to place Level 6 trades. There is a $2000 initial equity requirement to place level 6 options trades.


Question

What are the options trading levels for cash accounts?

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Answer

Options Strategies Available:

Level 1 Covered calls
Level 2 Level 1 strategies plus long option positions

Question

What determines the option trading level for which I can be approved?

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Answer

The determination of which options level is suitable for you is based on the financial and personal information provided on your options account application or options upgrade application.
Please make sure to update accurately the Primary User Investment Information/Options Experience.
There are four options levels—1 through 6.
Level 1 is suitable for the conservative options investors while level 4-6 is reserved for the most aggressive / risk tolerant option investors. There is a $5,000 minimum equity requirement necessary for SogoTrade customers to receive level 4 or higher options level approval.
Approval is based on our review and discretion and may be different from the option trading level requested.

Question

When will my deposited funds be available for trading options?

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Answer

Funds availability depends on the method of funds transfer.

Wire Transfer 1 business day
ACH Electronic Transfer 5 business days after receipt of funds
Check deposit 10 business days after receipt of check
Question

What are the margin and account requirements necessary to receive the different levels of option trading approval?

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Answer

Funds availability depends on the method of funds transfer.

Level 1 $0 minimum initial equity requirement
  No additional margin requirements
Level 2 $0 minimum initial equity requirement
  No additional margin requirements
Level 3 Level 3 strategies require a margin account
  $0 initial equity requirement.
Level 4 Level 4 strategies require a margin account
  $5,000 initial equity requirement
Level 5 Level 5 strategies require a margin account
  $5,000 initial equity requirement
Level 6 Level 6 strategies require a margin account
  $5,000 initial equity requirement
Question

What is SogoTrade's options exercise policy?

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Answer

Customers that exercise a long option contract will pay the full aggregate exercise price provided for by the option contract. We will accept exercise instructions for same-day execution on business days prior to 4:30 p.m. EST for index option contracts, and prior to 4:30 p.m. EST for equity option contracts. On the business day preceding the expiration date for any particular option contract, we'll accept exercise instructions until 5:00 p.m. EST.

To exercise an option, please contact customer support at (646) 885-6486 with your instructions.
There is a $15.00 charge for exercises and assignments.

Automatic Exercises:

All expiring equity and index options that are at least $0.01 In the Money (ITM) will be eligible for automatic exercises at expiration—after market close on the expiration day — however, SogoTrade may or may not exercise your option automatically. We may need to contact you for further instructions. If we are unable to reach you, we may not be able to proceed with the exercise. In some instances, there may not be enough equity in the account to make full settlement on the terms of the option. In others, not all ITM options have economic value and their exercise would not be in your best financial interest.

Please see the OCC's expiration calendar at:
http://www.optionsclearing.com/publications/xcal/xcal.jsp
There is a $15.00 charge for automatic exercises and assignments.

Do Not Exercise (Contrary Exercise) Instructions:

In order to prevent the exercise of an automatic option on expiration, please contact customer support at (646) 885-6486 and provide your instructions.
Please note that Do Not Exercise instruction can only be accepted on expiration date.

Exercise (Contrary Exercise) Instructions:
In order to prevent the expiry of a non-automatic option on expiration, please contact customer support at (646) 885-6486 and provide your instructions.

Question

What is SogoTrade's option assignment policy?

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Answer

SogoTrade allocates the assignment of exercise notices among short positions according to an automated procedure. This procedure randomly selects from among all short option positions (including positions established on the date of assignment) those contracts that are subject to exercise.
All American-style short option positions are liable for assignment at any time. The assignment process may result in multiple partial assignment and/or multiple transactions to fulfill a single assignment, and a separate commission charge will apply to each partial assignment or transaction needed to complete an assignment.

Question

How much does SogoTrade charge for option exercises and assignments?

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Answer

There is a $15.00 charge for exercises and assignments.

Question

In what increments do options Trade?

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Answer

Options normally trade in increments of 5 or 10 cents depending on the value of the underlying.

However, The SEC has requested that the options exchanges commence a pilot to trade options in one cent increments. This program will continue to expand through out the year.

The pilot allows for trading increments of one cent for bids/offers up to $3 and 5 cents for bids/offers above $3, for each of the symbols in the pilot except for QQQQ. The symbol QQQQ will trade in one-cent increments for all prices.

Each exchange either has filed or will file rules that describe the trading increments for the pilot stocks, changes that result from one-cent increments, various reports to measure the impact of the pilot, and plans for quote mitigation.