The OptionsFirst platform allows you to exercise your contract directly on the platform. Left click on the option you wish to exercise under the Positions window of the Account tab. Within the menu that appears is the choice to "Exercise Option". An order ticket will populate with the Exercise action. Simply select Preview, and then the Place Trade icon in the bottom right of the Order Ticket. If you are trading in a standard Scottrade.com account instead of OptionsFirst, you will need to call your local branch office to exercise your contracts.

Josh Sampson

Closed-end fund (CEF) research is located in the Stocks section of the Quotes & Research tab in your account.

CEFs are groups of securities that an investor can purchase in a single transaction, and they are considered "closed" because there are typically a fixed number of available shares. CEFs trade on the exchanges like common stock and they are professionally managed.

At Scottrade, CEF research is found with stock research.

For more information about closed-end funds, visit Opening the Door to Closed-End Funds.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, charges, expense, and unique risk profile of a Closed-End Fund (CEF) carefully before investing. Leveraged and Inverse CEFs may not be suitable for all investors and may increase exposure to volatility through the use of leverage, short sales of securities, derivatives and other complex investment strategies. These funds' performance will likely be significantly different than their benchmark over periods of more than one day, and their performance over time may in fact trend opposite of their benchmark. Investors should monitor these holdings, consistent with their strategies, as frequently as daily. A prospectus contains this and other information about the CEF and should be obtained from the issuer. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Amy Walther

Retail Web Services Trading Analyst

Volatility of the market is popularly tracked through the VIX index; however, it is not the only measure of volatility. There are also volatility indexes for the Dow Jones 30 (VXD), Russell 2000 (RVX), S&P 100(VXO), Gold (GVZ) and Oil (OVX). Volatility indexes represent a measure of implied volatilities for a constant 30-day to maturity option chain on the index they track.

Most investors track whichever volatility index most closely reflects the positions they hold. For example, if your portfolio more closely matches the Dow Jones 30 rather the S&P 500, it would be more beneficial to track the VXD rather then VIX.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

The alerts you see on the right side of your account home page are completely personalized. Some are from Scottrade and are specific to your account, and others you create yourself.

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You can set an alert to notify you about the movement of a particular symbol you're watching or a symbol you own, and you'll see it pop up on your home page when the alert is triggered. For example, if you're watching stock XYZ and you want to know when it drops to $8 or when it moves down by 10% or more, you can set up an alert, and Scottrade will notify you if/when that happens.

In addition to appearing on your account home page, you can set up your alerts to be e-mailed directly to you and/or texted to your phone.

Setting up the texts is a neat little trick. To include your phone as a delivery method, go to the My Account tab and click Alerts from the left navigation. Then choose Delivery Method from the top. Under Price, News and Periodic Alerts, you may supply up to two e-mail addresses. To send via text to your phone, enter your phone number as an e-mail address (the address will vary depending on your cell phone carrier, so please check with your carrier if you don't know what address to use). Standard text messaging charges may also apply. Here is an example:

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If you need help setting up your alerts, visit the Knowledge Center or contact your local branch office.

Todd Hammer

Trading Web Site Manager

You can access streaming charts through the "Streaming Charts and News" function under the Tools tab. A main streaming quotes window will pop up with streaming information for the major indexes. Enter the symbol you wish to trade in the Detailed View field and select Go. A new Detailed Quote window will populate with your stock's information. Detailed Quote windows will open separately from the trading platform, giving you maximum flexibility to have multiple charts open on your desktop.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

If you are purchasing the download version of TurboTax®, you can import your 1099 information straight from your Scottrade account using the Gain/Loss & Tax Center. This option will allow you to import realized trades, which include closing transactions with cost basis.

1. After you have logged in to your Scottrade account, visit the My Account tab at the top of the page.
2. On the left menu of the page, click Gain/Loss & Tax Center.
3. Click the Tax Reports tab at the top.
4. Select the year from the drop-down menu.
5. Select "TXF Export" as your Download Type.
6. Click Go.
7. A File Download dialog box will appear. Click Save and save this file to a location on your computer that is easily accessible (i.e., on your desktop, My Documents folder, etc.).
8. From within the TurboTax® software, there will be a section that will prompt for "Where do you want to import information from?"
9. You will need to select "other program TXF file" and indicate the location of the saved TXF file.

The investment sales summary section within TurboTax® will not include wash sales; however, when TurboTax® calculates the Schedule D, wash sales will be adjusted. Also, keep in mind that the TXF file includes realized transactions only and does not include interest and dividend information.

For more information, including instructions for importing your information if you've purchased the online version of TurboTax®, visit the Knowledge Center or contact your local branch office.

Patrick Rodman

Product Development Global Analyst

Scottrade does not provide tax advice. The material in this article is for informational purposes only. Please consult your tax or legal advisor(s) for questions concerning your personal tax or financial situation. Scottrade and Intuit are not affiliated.

OptionsFirst will mail a tax Form 1099 to all eligible accounts by Feb. 1. A detailed profit/loss statement can be accessed from the Maxit Tax Calculator at any time. To access this system, select the "Maxit Tax Calc" tab at the bottom of the OptionsFirst window. Select the Realized G/L tab. You can then enter the time period for which you wish to run a report. This information can be printed or exported to PDF or Microsoft Excel.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

Different investment types have different reporting deadlines, and this can affect the timeframe in which your tax forms from Scottrade are generated.

Please refer to the following calendar:

For more information about what each form includes, visit Which Form Should I Use?

Your tax forms are available in your Scottrade account under the My Account tab. Click Account History from the left menu and choose Tax Statements.

If you have questions about your tax forms or how to find them in your account, please contact your local branch office.

Brad McCaffrey

Senior Tax Reporting Specialist

Scottrade does not provide tax advice. The material provided in this article is for informational purposes only and Scottrade is not responsible for any errors or omissions. Please consult your tax or legal advisor(s) for questions concerning your personal tax or financial situation.

Finding current and historical account statements is easy with OptionsFirst. Start by selecting the Manage Accounts link in the upper right of the OptionsFirst window. This link will be directly under your account number. When a second window comes up, select the Manage Account Preferences link on the bottom right of new window. Select the Statements tab at the top of the page to view a list of your historical monthly account statements. Select the PDF icon in the View/Download column of your choice to view that month's statement.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education Specialist

Our friends at McAfee have some great tips for creating strong passwords, so I'd like to share those with you.

The most important thing to remember is that the more difficult a password is to guess, the more secure it will be. For example, if you choose a one-character password that can be any upper- or lowercase letter or a digit, there are 62 possibilities. Using the same possible characters, an eight-digit password has about 218 trillion possibilities.

McAfee tells us that security specialists recommend these guidelines:

• Use as many characters as possible (minimum eight)
• Include uppercase and lowercase letters
• Include digits and punctuation marks
• Don't use personal information, such as names or birthdays
• Don't use words found in a dictionary

Techniques for strong passwords:

• Use a vanity license plate; for example: "GR8way2B"
• Use several small words with punctuation marks: "betty,boop$car"
• Put punctuation in the middle of a word: "Roos%velt"
• Use an unusual way of contracting a word: "ppcrnbll"
• Use the first letter of each word in a phrase, with a random number: "hard to crack this password" = "htc5tp"

Also remember to change your password frequently, and never write it down in an obvious place.

Patrick Rodman