Expert: Paul Henneman - 3/20/2008

Question
Hello.  I'm interested in making money by selling or buying stock options.  I wanted to know how do I go about finding a broker.  How do I find one I can afford and trust? How much money will I need to get started? Basically, how do I get started?

Answer
Rashad,
   Thank you for your question!
The only good way to find a a broker is by a referral from someone you trust and has had good results over a long period of time with their broker. Unfortunately there really is no way, other than being able to view a track record of the brokers performance, to determine if they are good at what they do. And, to complicate things further, many brokers are better at some things than others. So you would need to focus your search on brokers that are comfortable with stock options.
   However, generally if you have a specific approach you want to use to invest, using a stock broker is not a good idea. They will almost certainly have a different approach, and will direct you into investments that they are comfortable with. You can buy and sell stock options directly yourself on most major brokerage websites, without going through a stock broker. This also has the advantage of not paying the broker fees, instead you only have to pay the trading costs for executing your trades. Some of the better known and respected websites where you can do this are www.TDAmeritrade, www.Etrade, and www.Scottrade.com  I would suggest that you investigate these websites, and consider setting up an account directly to trade yourself. Always start small, to test your ideas and see how you do.

I hope that this helps, please do not hesitate to follow up with me if I can be of any additional service,

Sincerely,
Paul Henneman
President
ValuEngine Inc
www.ValuEngine.com