The short answer is, it's not. Your Scottrade account is in no way connected to your membership in the Community. Although only Scottrade customers are allowed to join the Community, we do not ask for any information regarding your Scottrade account at any point of your membership. For your privacy and protection, both your username and your account password for the Community are required to be different from the username and password associated with your Scottrade trading account. The Community provides you with a safe, relaxed and exciting way to discuss your trading experiences with other Scottrade customers while maintaining the complete anonymity of your personal and financial information.

Nina Card

Customer Education & Community Supervisor

Yes, non-standard options can be traded online. Non-standard options are options on stocks that have gone through a stock split, reorganization, merger or other corporate action. Contracts that have a non-standard deliverable will be designated on the Option Chain by an asterisk behind the series description. They will also be set apart because the series will be highlighted in blue. The deliverable of the contract will be displayed by clicking on this blue series link.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

At Scottrade, advanced orders cost the same amount as basic orders. That means you can set up a trailing stop order, a conditional order with multiple conditions, a one cancels other (OCO) or one cancels all (OCA) order, or a OCO or OCA with conditions, all for the price of placing one trade. For securities priced $1 or more, placing one of these complex, multi-part orders online will still only cost you $7.

If you'd like to learn more about advanced orders and how to place them at Scottrade, watch our Order Types Tutorial, or read about advanced orders in the Knowledge Center.

Amy Walther

Retail Web Services Trading Analyst

Look for the "Export" button in the top right corner of your positions window. When you click "Export", OptionsFirst will automatically create an Excel file containing the information from the window you've selected. Notice that you'll also find the Export button in your Orders window.

Josh Sampson

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

When the markets experience extreme volatility and heavy volume (this is often referred to as "Fast Market Conditions"), industry-wide slowness can occur for orders being executed and reported back. When markets experience these conditions, execution and report times across the industry can be significantly slower than under normal circumstances. In these market conditions, orders are executed on a best-efforts basis.

Regardless of market conditions, Scottrade rigorously monitors the execution our customers receive. We strive to provide you with a consistent, quality execution experience. During periods of high market stress, Scottrade is even more cognizant of our obligation to provide a quality experience at the trade execution level.

In some cases, orders can be busted by the Exchanges, pursuant to NASD Rule 11890. If you have questions about orders you placed, please contact your local branch office. You can also learn more about any trades affected by reading NASDAQ's announcement at http://ir.nasdaq.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=467549.

Matt Billings

Scottrade Director of Trading Services

There's a simple shortcut for closing out stock or options positions from anywhere in your account where your positions are listed (your home page, positions page, or the positions widget on the trading pages). Closing out a position means selling all of the stock you own in a particular company, buying to cover all of the stock you sold short in a particular company, or exercising an option contract.

From the positions list, simply click the quantity listed for a position, and you will be automatically directed to an Order Entry page that's pre-filled to close the position.

Oscar Pineda-Madrid

Retail Web Services Trading Analyst

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Detailed information on our policies and the risks associated with options can be found in the Scottrade Options Application and Agreement, Brokerage Account Agreement, and by downloading the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options and Supplements (PDF) from The Options Clearing Corporation, or by requesting a copy from your local branch office. Market volatility, volume, and system availability may impact account access and trade execution. Supporting documentation for any claims will be supplied upon request.

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

OptionsFirst Education & Acquisition Specialist

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Detailed information on our policies and the risks associated with options can be found in the Scottrade OptionsFirst Options Application and Agreement, Brokerage Account Agreement, and by downloading the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options and Supplements (PDF) from The Options Clearing Corporation, or by requesting a copy from your local branch office. Market volatility, volume, and system availability may impact account access and trade execution. Supporting documentation for any claims will be supplied upon request.

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