Trying to get your bearings as the new options symbol format continues to show up on pages throughout the optionsXpress site? We’re here to help.

Here’s a tip for working with our recently upgraded options chains – the quote book and Greeks are now accessible by hovering over the new Detail link available on most of the chains, including:

Call/Put
Covered Calls
Calendar Call/Put Spreads
Diagonal Call/Put Spreads
Delta & Implied Volatility
Straddles
Strangles
Call/Put Spreads
Collars
Butterfly Call/Put Spread
Iron Condor Spreads
Combos

The Detail hover-over as seen on the Call/Put option chain.

Be sure to stay up to date on all of the latest symbology information here.

Traders looking to get their feet wet before taking the plunge have long been drawn to our Virtual Trade tool, which allows them to utilize real-feel optionsXpress trade screens and data resources to gain trading experience and test strategies without putting any real money on the line.

Now a vibrant new Virtual Trade is here, with dozens of additional features and functions designed to deliver an even more robust and realistic simulated trading experience, including:

New look and feel that more closely mirrors the optionsXpress style
New straightforward, easy-to-use options symbology
New trading strategies – butterflies, collars, condors, and more
New advanced orders for equities and futures
New futures functionality, including around-the-clock trading and futures spreads capability

It’s paper trading without the paper, and now it’s better than ever.

On Friday, February 12, traders will wake up to a brand new way of looking at options symbols, as the longstanding system of cryptic letter combinations fades into history and the industry-wide crossover to new, more descriptive symbols goes live.

The big day won’t come as a complete surprise to optionsXpress traders, of course, who have been getting regular updates and seeing the new symbol format slowly roll out on pages and tools throughout our site over the past several months. But it’s still probably going to take a little getting used to for anyone bred on the old system.

So in honor of the “official” switch being thrown, we’re counting down to Friday with a daily dose of symbology tips and reminders. Today, it’s a look at some of our recently upgraded Account Pages, including:

Positions, with the new symbol format showing up throughout the My View (below), Daily P&L, Alerts, Cost Basis, Greeks, and Analyzer tabs.



The new symbology is also now featured on the Overview, Activity, and Analysis (below) pages.

Finally, all of the modules in myOX now display the new symbol format, including the Watch List (below).

Where’s Casey Kasem when you need him? We’re counting down to the symbology switchover on Friday, February 12 with some helpful tips and reminders.

Today, we want to encourage you to get up to speed with everything we’ve been working on for the symbol transition with a visit to our Symbol Simplicity page. From a detailed look at the coming changes to an animated demonstration of how to enter the new symbols to updates on our progress throughout the site, this is the place to get your symbology questions answered.

Of course, it’s not just our trade pages and account screens that have gotten the symbology makeover.

You’ll find the easy-to-use, easy-to-understand new symbol format embedded into all of our powerful trading tools as well, including:

The Dragon

Screener

Virtual Trade

Want to see everything else we’ve been up to? Check out Symbol Simplicity.

Tomorrow’s the big day.

Be sure to bid a fond farewell to the retiring symbols (shouldn’t there be a cake or something?) and then check out Symbol Simplicity to get answers to all of your last-minute symbology questions.

optionsXpress hits the Sunshine State this week with a pair of great FREE educational opportunities.

On Thursday, February 18, Senior Vice President of Education Joe Cusick heads to Tampa for a three-hour guided tour through the tools and trade screens of the optionsXpress site. Then it’s south to beautiful Palm Beach Gardens on Saturday, February 20 for a full-day workshop covering the “Five-Step Method for Trading More Intelligently to Meet Your Financial Goals.”

Come out to meet and mingle with Joe and a community of like-minded investors, and learn how to trade with more confidence using the power of optionsXpress. Click on the links below to reserve your spot for one of these great sessions!

Thursday, February 18 – Tampa Site Nite

Saturday, February 20 – West Palm Workshop

While the most obvious outward change to the latest version of our proprietary Streaming Charts (now wrapping up in beta) is a cleaner, more straightforward look and feel, the new version should also prove even easier to use than its predecessor.

The Configuration Center, for instance, has been upgraded with several exciting new features designed to give users even more control over their charting experience. Here are a few highlights:

- Use the Smart Symbol Lookup Search now available in the search box
- Set symbols to display quotes on the bottom toolbar
- Choose from either horizontal and vertical trade tickets
- Select and sort items displayed in the Quick Settings module, upper/lower studies modules, and dropdowns
- Save, delete, or rename saved settings or desktop settings, and view them graphically
- Configure the Y-axis with your preferred percentage buffer
- Display vertical gridlines at fixed-width intervals on the X-axis

Have your stocks been coasting? Getting by on their reputations? Just taking up space?

Sure you could show them the door and bring in some fresh faces, but sometimes a simple redecorating isn’t the answer. Maybe it’s time to re-energize those dormant equity holdings with a few options strategies that aim to get more out of what you already own.

Over the next few weeks, our FREE three-part matinee webinar series on Maximizing the Value of Stock Ownership will help show you how to give your long stock positions the helping hand they need to reach their true investment potential.

TODAY! – Part I: Covered Calls

March 3 – Part II: Protective Puts

March 18 – Part III: Collars