We’re quite proud of the integrated Options Chain on our New Platform, which conveniently slides out from the QuickBar when summoned, and disappears out of sight when it’s not needed. To make it even better, we recently added a new column to display Bid x Ask Size. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but in the end we got it to work across all of the popular browsers.

Meanwhile the folks on our development team are testing some exciting streaming technology! Stay tuned for the latest info, and keep the feedback coming.

We recently released another upgrade to the New Firstrade platform, this one tucked away inside the order-entry Quickbar. When you retrieve an options chain, you’ll see that the options chain now supports multiple advanced trading strategies including vertical spreads, calendar spreads and long straddles. The system will now help you calculate the net debit/credit of your complex options order, and quickly pre-populate the order entry page with the necessary information.

We hope that all of our options investors enjoy this new feature. Please send any comments to us below.

We are proud to announce that the New Firstrade platform featuring next-generation trading tools will officially replace the old platform in November. For customers who are still using the old site, we strongly encourage you to start using the New Site before the conversion date, so that you can get familiar with the upgraded tools and features.

Please note that when you log into the new platform for the first time, you will need to set up a PIN number and two secret questions for enhanced account security.

For those of you who are already trading on the New Firstrade, keep the feedback coming and be on the look out for some exciting upgrades in the next few weeks.

At Firstrade, we’re always looking for innovative ways to deliver important information to our customers. With the launch of our new Message Center, we’re revolutionizing the way a brokerage interacts with investors through the use of streaming and “push” technology.

When a transaction executes, or a conditional order is triggered, notifications will dynamically appear in your Message Center via the Envelope Icon on the top of every page. In addition, regardless of where you are on the site, a pop-up message box will appear on the right side of your screen for quick reference. With this feature, active traders can manage their trading activity without interfering with their current actions. Important System Messages and Account Messages will also be “pushed” right into your Message Center, a fast and secure way of receiving information from Firstrade.

Those of you who are familiar with popular social networking and web 2.0 sites will hopefully find the new design very intuitive. If you have any feedback for us, please leave us a comment below!

More exciting changes are coming with this new technology, so stay tuned.

A while back, when we started development of the New Firstrade, we created the Facebook page “FirstradeNEXT” to share with everyone progress on the new site. Now that the site’s running smoothly, it was decided to change the name “FirstradeNEXT” to just Firstrade, since the page is already linked via http://www.facebook.com/firstrade

Simple right? No, not at all.

Firstly, you cannot change or transfer the URL shortcut to another Facebook page. So www.facebook.com/firstrade is forever tied to this FirstradeNEXT page. Then we found out the only way to change the name, is that you cannot have more than 100 “Likes”.

So we had to make some changes, shake things up, and re-launch the Firstrade Facebook page. If you find that your “Like” of Firstrade has disappeared, and that you still like us, please click on the “Like” button again so we can provide you with exciting news and info about Firstrade’s development. Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

As the world’s marketing increasingly focuses on Facebook and Twitter, the restrictions around these two sites is just ridiculous and dumbfounding. Keep that in mind next time you create a new Facebook Page, select your name and url shortcut wisely, and early.

Is there a single publicly traded company out there like World Wrestling Entertainment: where actual upper management members portray fictional versions of themselves, and strive to create the illusion that the fictional story lines are real?

Since the late 90s, professional wrestling promotional companies have admitted that the action is scripted. However, recently the WWE has been getting a lot better at mixing real-life events into the story, blurring the line between gimmick and reality once again.

When an investor of the WWE tries to find information on the stock, they have to use their best judgement to determine whether a news article is describing a real corporate change, or a scripted scene. The only truly reliable source would be the WWE Corporate site, but that provides limited information.

Can an investor deduce that if something that happend on TV is not mentioned on the corporate site, then it must be part of a gimmick? This past Monday, the show featured a tearful firing of the Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, who’ll be replaced by his son in law. Real? Fake? Either way, people started discussing this topic on the social media sites. On Twitter, a CNBC reporter who was watching the show mentioned that this could be a violation.

Anyone have any ideas? I’m sure when the regulators drafted their rules, professional wrestling was not on their minds.

(I’ve written a personal email to WWE Corporate, maybe they’ll shed some light on this)

When we set out to build the new Firstrade, we wanted to create a platform that is modular, and could be constantly upgraded to provide investors with the latest technologies and interface designs.

Today we released a significant upgrade to the Order Status page, making the process or editing, sorting or canceling an order much easier. Give it a try, we hope you like what you see.

Many more exciting upgrades are in the pipeline, stay tuned.

Last week was quite an amazing display of technology and innovation. For the first time since 2007, the schedule for Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) overlapped with the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), which meant major announcements from technology giants including Sony, Microsoft, Apple and Nintendo.

Most of the products introduced in the past week are still months away from market. So for now, all the consumer has access to are some fancy images and videos, and 2nd hand accounts of these products from the lucky journalists. What many people don’t realize is, the events that took place last Monday and Tuesday will ultimately shape our digital landscape in the following year.

The implications are numerous. Tech savvy consumers will start planning and budgeting, from when to upgrade their phone, to when to get an even bigger TV to showcase the new sports games. Retailers will also need to start planning major promotional events around these technology products.

Interestingly, the market did not make any significant moves after these announcements. Maybe people just don’t know how consumers will react to these products. We’ll eagerly await the day when we get our hands on the WiiU, the PSP Vita, iOS5, iCloud, Lion, and some of those incredible looking Kinect titles.

According to the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America, Americans leave behind hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in retirement accounts held and managed by their former employers. However, many employees do not realize that they actually could be losing some of their assets year after year due to recurring investment and management fees, or perhaps even due to poor investment strategies or limited options.

Actually, employees could greatly improve the stability of their nest eggs by moving (or rolling over) their funds from employer-sponsored retirement accounts into self-directed, low-fee IRAs. Following are a some tips:

• Don’t leave anything behind – If you’re planning to leave your job voluntarily, hold out until you’re fully vested in the 401(k) plan – otherwise, all of the matching assets put aside by your employer may be left on the table. Sometimes waiting just a few months can increase your holdings by thousands of dollars.
• Don’t let go of your savings – If you are laid off or terminated, your employer may liquidate your retirement account immediately and send you a check for the balance, with 20% withheld for tax purposes as required by law. In this case, you have 60 days to reinvest the full amount of the pre-tax retirement distribution (including the withheld amount) into another account, whether an IRA or another employer’s 401(k). Otherwise, you will lose the tax benefit and if you are under age 59½, you may incur a 10% percent “early withdrawal” penalty.
• Run for Shelter – Retirement funds are shielded from taxes for a reason – to ensure that the money you save for retirement is used for just that purpose. Keeping in mind the 60-day window, be sure to avoid paying taxes and fees unnecessarily.
• Manage money, not fees – Some employer-based 401(k) plans have maintenance fees that eat away at savings. Those who decide to keep money in their former employer’s plans may lose assets due to such fees. Instead, moving to an IRA will often reduce costs and typically offer more investment options.
• Build the right nest for your egg – There are several kinds of IRAs (Simple, Traditional, SEP and Roth). Determining which is best for your unique needs, based on their unique requirements and tax benefits, is crucial to your efforts for a fully funded retirement.
• Diversify – one of the primary benefits of opening a self-directed IRA is the fact that the investor can independently select the stocks, funds and bonds they feel are appropriate and organize their investments as they see fit. Use the new freedom to invest how you see fit to your advantage. Select assets that suit your unique needs and keep a good balance of stocks, mutual funds, bonds and ETFs to mitigate risk.
• Research investment options: Use multiple research and educational tools and calculators to find the best investments for your retirement dollar.
• Stick with the plan – When you do land a new job, if you are not allowed to contribute to the 401(k) plan right away or your new company has no retirement package, keep investing in your IRA (at the maximum rate if possible). Then, when you are allowed to contribute to the 401(k), take advantage of your new employer’s matching contribution, but remember to continue managing your IRA so you get the best return for your investment.

Keep these tips in mind to secure your retirement savings!

To learn more about IRA, click here.

I tell everyone who’s interested in application development that submitting an iPhone app to Apple is always a nerve wrecking experience. Back in the early days of the App Store, if your app was rejected for any reason, you face a significant delay when you resubmit and rejoin the line. (back of the line? nobody knows)

From the point you submit the app, you wait for the email notifications to tell you that the app is “Awaiting Review”, “In Review” then finally the “Approved and Ready to Sell”. Each stage, except for the last, brings a separate set of anxiety.

Last week when Firstrade’s iPhone App version 1.2 with a significant stability fix was submitted, I was in fact quite worried about the outcome. This was our first update after XCode 4 development, and the interface was quite different.

When I checked my iPhone the follow evening, this was quite a pleasant surprise. The App was reviewed and approved in a whopping 4 minutes!

With Apple’s top-secret process, we’ll probably never know if this was an anomaly, or the “In Review” email was delayed in reaching my inbox. If this is now the norm, then hopefully this makes future app update submissions much easier.

p.s. Our version 1.2 displays mutual funds and fixed income positions, has a revamped trade interface, and feature a significant memory management design for much improved stability.