Humble

Why it is an issue? You just enter it leg by leg: first calendar first, then the second. Same for closing them.

I usually don't do 4 legs as it might be more difficult to fill. I open and close two calendars as two separate orders, you can easily do it in TWS.

Correct. 575 put calendar, 575 call calendar, 580 put calendar, 580 call calendar etc.

I don't have each order for full position. If I want 10 spreads total, I might place orders on 5 spreads 2 contracts each.

Yes, most of the time I would put GTC limit orders at multiple strikes. And I'm doing exactly the same thing - look at the mid at TOS and place orders at IB. With CMG or PCLN, it is actually not unusual to get files better than mid. Have seen it more than once. This is because prices really fluctuate on those stocks, and you might just be able to take advantage of temporary dip in price to get surprisingly good fill.

Getting filled better than a mid doesn't happen too often but sometimes it does. I'm not saying you will get a fill each time, but this is where you should start. Also prices tend to fluctuate and the mid might come down. If you don't try you don't know, and sometimes you might be surprised by the fills you get.

I'm often asked how to get good fills with IB. So first, it is important to understand that getting good fills is critical in short term trading. Trading is a business. As in any business, prices are involved, and our profitability of success will always depend on our ability to get good fills. Every business revolves around this cost equation.If getting good prices was so easy, there wouldn't be any markets/any business... Before placing a trade, always observe the prices for a while. Here is an example how prices are presented in IB: This is an example of a calendar spread where the mid of the long leg is 11.25 and the short leg 10.25. So the real mid of the spread is 1.00. However, since the bid/ask of the spread is 0.90/1.40, IB presents the mid of the spread as 1.15. This is not correct. Please always calculate the real mid based of the mid of the individual legs. After you observe the mid for a while, place an order slighly below the mid (for buy orders) or slightly above the mid (for sell orders). When you place GTC order, sometimes It doesn't get filled. While if you change it into a limit order (during active market hours), sometimes it gets filled even though the price is same as in GTC. Sometimes just "pausing" the order and resubmitting it would get filled. "Playing" with the order by changing it by 1-2 cents sometimes helps. Changing the order from SMART to specific exchange, for the same price, can work as well.

ONE has an excellent support. Very responsive and professional. Each time I had a question or an issue I was very impressed by their response.

It's a general setting for all forums/topics. It is a commom practice for most forums to have the order "old posts first". I wish it was user configurable, but currently it's not.

Generally speaking, a 2 leg spread might be easier to fill than a 4 leg spread. However, if you fill one side and the stock goes against you right away, you will get less credit for the other side, so your total credit might be less. For the liquid stocks, it should not make a big difference, but filling 4 legs simply doesn't expose you to directional risk.

I prefer to enter as one trade, otherwise you are taking directional risk.

I don't really have any special setup. I just create few quote pages, organized by strategies. I don't use mobile TWS.

You don't follow the topics. You need to follow the topics to get the adjustment and closing alerts.

Those prices don't make sense. Please double check.

I'm using ONE software only. I find this is enough for all my needs.

Well, OptionMonster is in business for a long time too, they are also consistently unprofitable, so what? They still able to charge $250-500/month because of their "name". People still believe that being TV celebrity automatically means you are a good trader. Same for Schaeffer which has one of the most horrible track records, but still charges thousands a year for his services. ​Those are all well oiled marketing machines that make money from commercials, subscription fees etc. but not trading. They don't even trade their own "recommendations".

Why would CNBC care? Their goal is to get ratings and commercials, not to educate you. If they show their losers and people see their real track record, they would stop watching, which is not in their best interest. Take a look at my article Why CNBC's 'Fast Money' Earnings Plays Might Be Bad Advice. Different show, same principle.

This is the answer I got from OptionMonster when I asked for their track record: We do not keep hard track records, but anecdotally, I can tell you in 2013 Inside Options performed at about a 65/35 win/loss ratio with avg return about 15% and 2014 was about 50/50 and breakeven. This of course is before commissions. Considering that they do around 200-250 trades per year, commissions will be heavy. And they refused to provide 2015 track record. ​So after commissions, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose money with this service. Andrew Keene doesn't publish track record either. For me, it is always a huge red flag.

I'm using IB during market hours and TOS in after hours. Could you please clarify the second question?

Not at all, on the contrary..

Did you watch the webinar?

Open a ticket with ONE. They are very responsive.

I want to make one thing very clear: I'm not against selling premium. On the contrary. Most of our trades on SO and SC are selling premium. I believe there is a long term edge to selling premium. I just don't like the way tastytrade do it, which is just blindly selling high IV options through earnings. In fact, i believe that selling premium and holding it through earnings has an edge as well. BUT: the stock selection is very important (stocks like NFLX or AMZN are not good candidates). And I would never sell naked, always hedged (condors or calendars). And of course position sizing is the key. Earnings are unpredictable, and no matter how well you did your research, you should still be prepared to 100% loss.

Take a look: https://steadyoptions.com/articles/post/steadyoptions/how-not-to-trade-nflx-earnings-r122 I would NEVER sell strangles through earnings. The risk is too high, not to mention extremely inefficient use of margin. One trading surprise like last GMCR can wipe out your portfolio.

If you don't trade VIX and keep your allocation proper as recommended, you cannot lose more than your account value. In fact, since we usually keep around 40% in cash, you cannot lose more than 60% of the account anyway. Do they let you trade calendars and straddles in cash account?