Well Hartleys is no more (unless you live in WA). Bummer really, as they were my full service broker and that’s how I did my options trading. I can move either with my broker to a new firm or go fully on-line and use Commsec.

Full service brokers are good for after-market trades and occassional heads up calls. I value being able to buy stock at 4:30 in the afternoon, but I’m not keen on their commissions. So the deal must be worth it. Heads-up calls are normally marketing guff designed to drum up business. I don’t like them too much but I have made some money thanks to them.

I’ll set up an account at the new brokerage but will trade options via Commsec (that’s assuming I like Commsec’s options trading interface). I’ll let you know when I do that. Meanwhile I have a huge stack of forms to fill in for the new broker 🙁