Creative order types, research on-the-go and this month’s “Triple Witching” options expiration all grace the electronic pages of the March KnowHow News. Here’s a look at what you’ll find this month:

Trade Up: Join A User Summit Near You – Not sure what to expect from a Scottrade User Summit? Want to see our dates and locations for the rest of 2010? Learn more about User Summits here.

Research Wherever You Are – Scottrade Mobile isn’t just for trading! We have a whole suite of quote and research tools streamed straight to your phone, so it’s easy to find your next trade and take advantage of it right away.

Gen Y: Making Investing Fun – A Scottrade study found that one reason many Generation Y investors invest is because they think it’s fun. Read more about this new wave of investors and how they’re choosing to invest.

To Stop, or To Mimic the Stop – If you’ve ever wondered how or why to use an OCO to “mimic” a stop order, you can get step-by-step instructions here, including a full explanation of why an investor might use this type of order.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a … Witch? – March is a “Triple Witching” options expiration month. Learn more about what this means and how it might impact market volume toward the end of the month.

Understand Your Risk – Special to our OptionsFirst customers: Use your Risk Viewer tool to understand the level of risk in your individual positions and your entire portfolio.

Plus, read about setting up custom alerts and sending them to your phone, and personalize your home page by sorting your Open and Completed Orders modules.

As always, I would love to get your feedback and ideas for KnowHow News, so don’t hesitate to reply here or send me a PM. Enjoy the latest issue of KnowHow News!

During tough economic times, we’re all impacted, and we all have a story to tell. So tell me yours! I’m looking for Scottrade customers to profile in an upcoming newsletter article on the topic of:

How has the current economy changed the way you invest with Scottrade?

For me and my husband, this economy has made us pay more attention to the markets than ever. We have several different accounts and investments with varying levels of liquidity (IRAs for each of us, 401(k)s at work, emergency money, fun money, long-term investments), and for us, keeping everything separate has worked well. That way, we know a loss on a risky move in the fun money account won’t ever chip away at our retirement or our ability to pay the bills this month. So for us, the down economy has led us to budget better, pay more attention, and assign specific purposes to our different accounts at Scottrade.

What about you? Did you decide to open an IRA for the first time? Have you taken advantage of the Coverdell ESA to save for your child’s future education? Are you investing more actively than you have before? Are you investing more/less conservatively? Are you taking greater advantage of investment education opportunities?

How has the current economy changed the way you invest with Scottrade?

Tell your story, and you could be selected for an upcoming feature in KnowHow News! Join the thread now in General Discussions.

The February KnowHow News is now available for the Community Sneak Peek! We’re featuring your exciting new international investing opportunities, including a Tip of the Trade that will help you find international securities on our Stock Screener. Here’s what’s new this month:

Thousands of International Securities Added – You can place most Canadian trades online, and you now have even more international investing opportunities with Scottrade.

Track & Manage Gains & Losses – If you didn’t take advantage of our cost basis tool in the past, 2010 is the year to start! We have a new Gain/Loss & Tax Center tool designed to help you better manage your account.

An Investor’s Guide to Bonds – Our bond specialist walks you through the features available in a bond, including a key to the S&P and Moody’s bond rating systems.

Plan for Retirement, Plan for Life – Not sure what type of retirement account is best for you? This article compares two popular accounts – the traditional IRA and Roth IRA – to show you the pros and cons of each.

Options Order Entry & Research – This is an exclusive interview with the Scottrade Trading Web Site Manager to get insight into his favorite new options research features.

Option Trading Volume Measurements Show Growth in 2009 – The Chicago Board Options Exchange has tracked options trading volume for the past decade, and this article shows you how 2009 stacked up.

Take Control with the OptionsFirst P&L Calculator – An OptionsFirst exclusive! Here’s an in-depth look at the OptionsFirst Profit & Loss Calculator, how it works and how you can customize it to fit your strategy.

Enjoy your early preview of this month’s KnowHow News! As always, if you have ideas for ways we can better meet your educational needs, I’d love to hear them!

Grab the popcorn and Junior Mints – it’s movie time! While our videos might not be nearly as exciting as a major motion picture, they’re certainly much more educational. We just added 11 new webcasts to the Knowledge Center, so get ready for a good time.

From the Interactive Learning page, just click Webcast Lessons, and you’re on your way! Here’s what’s new to the Knowledge Center:

English
Tax Form 1099 Explanation
Charting on ScottradeELITE – In-Depth
Level II & TotalView – In-Depth
Invest in Yourself with the Knowledge Center
Scottrade Online Community Overview
Trade-Ideas – In-Depth
Velocity & Forces – In-Depth

Español
Definición de tipos de ordenes
Como comprar y vender acciones en línea
Deposite fondos usando Money Direct
Regulación T

You might see some familiar faces, including the Community’s own Education Gal, Community TA, Education Editor, Tax e-Driver and The ELITE Trader. Aren’t we cute?

We also have a few more webcasts on the way soon, including a video walking you through your new home page and a detailed explanation of how to convert your traditional retirement plan to a Roth IRA.

If you have ideas for webcasts you’d like to see in the future, let us know! I’ve started a thread in Education Resources to get your feedback on our existing webcasts and your ideas for new topics.

Your account home page will soon have some exciting new functionality! This is more than a facelift – you’ll see a revised layout, cleaner look and some fun new features. For a sneak peek at the new home page, visit the Knowledge Center.

I went into our test environment and played with the new home page a little, and here are the features I liked best:

• Drop-down filters. These are very cool. Where your Open Orders and Completed Orders are listed, you can slice and dice your orders any way you want. Sort your orders by quantity, symbol, order type, price – anything you want, all in a quick drop-down menu. I’m a word nerd, so mine are arranged alphabetically

• In-page scrolling. My favorite new feature! Some of the little modules on the page (Positions, Open Orders, Completed Orders) have a great in-page scrolling feature so you can scroll down your list of positions, for example, without ever leaving your home page. This makes it easy to access a lot of information without navigating all over the site.

• Toggle between Positions & Watch Lists. This really helped me keep my lists straight. There’s a nice big module where you can choose whether to view Positions, pick a Watch List, or move between both with a simple drop-down menu. I was able to review my positions and check on a few stocks I’ve been watching, all while keeping my eye on the other home page features, like my alerts.

• More data! Who doesn’t love more data? The Positions and Watch Lists area now shows more data, including dollar change, percent change and today’s change. Plus, as you probably can guess from my other favorite features, all of the new functionality works together to help you see as much account data as possible in an organized, digestible and easy-to-read format.

The new home page should appear over the weekend, so you’ll get a chance to check it out for yourself and see how all these new features work. Once you do, let us know what you think! We love to hear your feedback so we can learn how to serve you better.

At Scottrade, we're doing a lot to get ready for the industry-wide option symbol changes, and you can too! Even if you're not an avid options trader, this is a big change impacting the entire industry, so it's a good idea to stay informed. What change am I talking about? Options symbols are transitioning to a new system that's designed to better accommodate current and future options products. Scottrade will be transitioning all systems to the new options symbols beginning after market close this Friday, Jan. 22.

Here's what you can do to get ready:

1. Educate yourself. Understanding what's happening and how it impacts you is the first step. This may not impact you at all, but until you read more about it, you won't know for sure. Here are two resources I recommend:

• Options Symbols in the Knowledge Center. This article explains the current symbols, the new symbols, and why this change is happening. Check back with this article periodically -- this will be one of the primary places that Scottrade posts information about the transition, so if anything changes with the transition date, it will be highlighted here.
• Printable Guide to Options Symbols. This is a great resource to help you understand the symbol conversion process and how you may be impacted. Plus, it's a handy, printable PDF that you can keep by your computer for easy reference.

2. Know the important dates. Following the symbol conversion on Jan. 22, there is another process called consolidation that will continue for another few months. The Options Clearing Corporation will be streamlining option symbols so that the option contracts are always represented by the same symbol as the underlying. When groups of symbols are consolidated by the OCC, any open orders for these symbols will be cancelled. The printable Guide to Options Symbols is a good reference explaining the difference between conversion and consolidation and the dates to remember for both.

3. Be aware of how accounts may be impacted. If you've placed an options order in the past few months, you likely saw the reminder that open options orders will be cancelled during the symbol conversion on Jan. 22. But, to make the transition as smooth as possible, there are a few other things to keep in mind:

• If you have watch lists containing option symbols, you will need to convert to the new symbols following the symbol consolidation.
• If you have alerts set for particular option symbols, the same is true. To keep your alerts up-to-date, make sure you're using the new symbols after the transition.
• Scottrader and ScottradeELITE layouts containing option symbols will also need to be updated following the symbol conversion. Load the affected layout(s), modify your symbols, and then save.

If you have questions about how to do any of these things, visit the Knowledge Center or ask the group here in the Community. We're always happy to help!

The conversion to new options symbols and subsequent symbol consolidation process are important changes in the trading and investing world, but you can take steps toward a seamless transition if you're well prepared. Education is everything!

It's time for the Scottrade Community sneak peek into this month's KnowHow News! Get it while it's hot. An exciting new feature this month is our increased options content for options traders and customers who have OptionsFirst accounts. Beginning this month, we'll have new options-focused content every month for this special group of investors. But don't worry -- the educational content for newbies, long-term investors and active traders isn't going anywhere! You'll always find something your speed in KnowHow News.

Here are your top headlines:

Go Green with Electronic Tax Forms -- You trade online and connect with the Community online, so why wait for snail mail for your tax statements? This article shoes you how to get your tax statements from Scottrade online. Save trees and make life easier for yourself all at the same time!

Start Learning with the Tax Guide -- If you missed the debut of the Tax Guide last month, now is a great time to check it out! We have important information for the 2009 tax year, interactive calculators and tools, and lots of helpful educational resources to help you understand how taxes and your investments are related.

What Shape is the Recession? -- I love this article! This piece takes a historical look at recessions and the shape they make on a chart and applies it to our current economic situation. When will the recession end? Decide for yourself with this in-depth analysis!

Relating Charts to Market Analysis -- This may seem obvious, but it's a great refresher on looking at charting from a universal perspective to complement your market analysis.

Spreads Get Tighter, Costs Get Lower -- Are you familiar with the Penny Pilot Program in the options trading world? I wasn't! One of the educators from the Chicago Board Options Exchange joins us this issue to explain the program and how it may help you reduce your options trading costs.

Track Volume with the Hotlist -- Especially for our OptionsFirst customers, this article introduces you to an excellent volume tracking feature called the Hotlist. Don't miss it!

In addition to these featured articles, we also have tips and Q&As about 1099s, a new buy-sell on right-click feature in ScottradeELITE, a reminder of the options symbol changes coming later this month, and more!

Check out this month's KnowHow News, and then come discuss it with me and other Community members in the Education Resources group.

Taxes can be excruciating, but with a little education about how taxes relate to your investments, we hope to help ease your pain. To do this, we've pulled together educational articles, interactive calculators and helpful tools in one comprehensive Tax Guide in the Knowledge Center. Check it out today!

You'll find six key sections in the Tax Guide:

New in Tax Year 2009 – Get detailed 2009 tax information for trading accounts and retirement accounts, and find out exactly what’s new this tax season.

Tax Documents & Forms – Find out which forms Scottrade will automatically generate for your account and how to use those forms.

Help – Find tax information quickly and easily in your Scottrade account. Learn how to locate your forms and use the Tax Center cost basis tool.

Tax Basics – Get educated on how investments and taxes are related. Learn more about tax-efficient investing, tax deferral and the AMT.

Taxes & Investing Strategy – Learn how investing strategies can impact your taxes. Featured strategies include bonds, mutual funds and IRAs.

Calculators – Predict your tax refund, plan for your taxes in retirement and more with these powerful, interactive calculators.

Remember, Scottrade doesn't provide tax advice, but we can help in other ways! The Tax Guide is a great place to help you make sure your investment paperwork is in order and you know where to find everything you need. Plus, we have a calendar to show you when your forms will be mailed.

Enjoy the Tax Guide, and come chat with me about it in the Education Resources group!

Still confused about what's happening with option symbols next month? Check out our new printable Guide to Option Symbols (click the blue link after the first paragraph in this article). It's a quick reference tool designed to help you navigate the option symbol changes that are being implemented industry-wide.

This guide explains the new option symbol format, provides examples of the new industry format and the simplified format Scottrade will be using, defines the difference between conversion and consolidation (two separate parts of this whole process), and describes how you will be affected, including important dates.

For more information about the upcoming option symbol changes, you can also visit the Option Symbols article in the Knowledge Center.

It's still early (nothing is changing until Jan. 22, 2010), but it doesn't hurt to be prepared, especially if you frequently trade options. Don't worry -- we'll keep reminding you

If you're trying to squeeze in some last-minute charitable donations, help is here! We have a new article in the Knowledge Center detailing exactly what you need to do if you'd like to make a charitable donation of stock from your account.

I talked to the manager of our Accounts Transfer area (the folks who process your request to transfer stock from your account to the brokerage account of your favorite charity), and she told me they are swamped with requests this time of year, as you can probably imagine.

So, if you can get your request to your local branch office by Friday, Dec. 18 (that's next week!), we can guarantee your donation will be processed by the end of 2009. That means you'll get any potential deduction on your 2009 taxes! While we can't make that guarantee for requests submitted later than Dec. 18, our Accounts Transfer manager assured me they do their very best to get everyone's donations processed by the end of the year.

The other thing I learned about charitable donations is that it's helpful to include the name and contact information for a representative of your designated charity. This helps our team ensure the transfer goes smoothly and is promptly received.

Check out our Making Charitable Donations article in the Knowledge Center for more infomation and direct links to the form(s) you'll need.