Online Broker Review

Updated Saturday, May 21, 2011

Xtend Stock Trading Grade: B

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Note: This is our review of the optionsXpress Xtend stock trading platform. For our review of the standard web based optionsXpress stock trading platform click here.

Overview:

The optionsXpress Xtend platform is a well designed, robust application. That is why it is surprising that its stock trading functionality is a bit of a letdown. Opening new positions from watch lists could be handled better. The trade ticket user interface is poorly laid out. Modifying and canceling open orders generally works well, with one minor exception detailed below. Closing out existing positions could also be handled slightly better. Order types are extensive and executing the advanced order types is handled much better than in the standard web based optionsXpress trading platform. Xtend is still a better stock trading platform than almost all web based solutions but it falls far short of its potential.

Order Types:

See our Order Types page for an explanation of order types

Market
Limit
Stop Loss
Stop Limit
Trailing Stop Loss $
Trailing Stop Loss %
Trailing Stop Limit $ - limit price can be set to a dollar range as well (Buffered Limit)
Trailing Stop Limit % - limit price can be set to a dollar range as well (Buffered Limit)
Market on Close
Conditional/Contingent
One Cancels Other (OCO)
One Triggers Other (OTO)
One Triggers Two (OTT)

Details:

Xtend is a downloadable trading platform available to all optionsXpress customers free of charge. To try Xtend, go to the optionsXpress website to download and install the application. Xtend can then be launched from your computer desktop without having to log in to the web interface. Xtend is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and requires the installation of Adobe AIR.

The Xtend Interface
Xtend has a fully customizable grid layout structure which means that windows can be added, arranged and sized as the user sees fit. Windows available include balances, positions, quotes, watch lists, the trade ticket, options chains and more. Layout choices include 3 columns, 2 columns and free form. There are pre-built themes that are geared towards stock trading, options trading, futures trading, active trading and more. Fonts and interface colors can also be customized. Here is a look at the Xtend interface with two columns showing a watch list, the trade ticket and a detailed quote (click on images for larger views):

Watch Lists
Watch lists are user definable groups of stocks. Columns shown include the symbol, company name, bid / ask / last price, daily change and volume. Columns can be resized and re arranged by clicking and dragging the column headings. Left clicking on a symbol will bring up a detailed quote window while right clicking and selecting one of the trading links will load a separate trade window. The trade window is identical to the trade ticket window so we are not sure why this action does not just load the symbol into the trade ticket for trading.

Trade Ticket
The trade ticket window is the main order submission method used in Xtend. We selected to short 2 shares of NFLX (Netflix) at a limit price of $210 and a duration of GTC (good until canceled). OptionsXpress does not specify how long GTC orders are maintained in their system. We think the trade ticket interface is a bit clunky, with odd placements for the various order entry boxes and a mixture of font sizes which makes everything hard to digest. Once everything was set we clicked on the Place Order button:

This brought up a confirmation dialog box. We clicked on the Yes button to submit our order:

This brought up a second dialog box that provided us with an order confirmation number. Note that both dialog boxes can be suppressed by accessing the trade ticket settings menu. This is a welcome feature for high frequency traders.

Once our order was submitted we went to check the status by loading the order status window. From here, orders can be modified or canceled. One issue we found is that modifying orders by changing the order type (for example: modifying a market order into a limit order) does not work properly. Canceling orders has no such issue.

Once our trade executed it populated in the positions window. From here, positions can be closed out by right clicking on the symbol and selecting one of the trading links. Like the functionality found with watch lists, this loads a separate trading menu. We would prefer if this simply populated the trade ticket window:

optionsXpress Xtend Stock Trading