Business & Finance
Business and Finance
Business and Finance
Thu, February 12, 2009 optionsXpress Puts Investors At The Center Of Everything With Major New Site Initiatives
CHICAGO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXPS), a pioneer in options and futures trading for the retail investor, today announced three significant additions to its award-winning brokerage platform. The debut of the revolutionary myOX modular portal and the introduction of the optionsXpress Research and Education Centers underscore the company's continued commitment to providing self-directed investors with comprehensive resources and information to better manage their investments.
"We are constantly working to improve the customer experience and these noteworthy additions to the platform are three more steps in that direction," says David Fisher, Chief Executive Officer of optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. "The new Research and Education Centers and myOX are great examples of our continued dedication to providing retail investors with powerful tools in an easy to use format."
myOX
The myOX portal is one of the company's boldest innovations in years, allowing users to take greater control of how they see the markets and their individual account information by customizing the optionsXpress site to their specific interests and preferences. In essence, myOX users design their own "control centers" on the site by using the adaptable modular interface to select the information they want to see, its location on the screen and even how it is displayed, ultimately creating one place for all of their research and investing needs.
Users can select from 16 different preset myOX modules including account balances, watch lists, charts, positions, futures and options chains, and even RSS feeds from favorite financial news sites or blogs. Once assembled, the dashboard layout can be adjusted whenever the user chooses by simply adding, deleting and reorganizing preferred content on the page. The myOX portal will debut as a by-request option.
Research Center
Similarly, the Research Center gives customers a single destination for all of their investing information needs with a single access point for research reports, breaking news, market commentary, quotes and other valuable information. Designed around an innovative reader tool, the Research Center allows users to read any full report or news item without ever leaving the page.
The Research Center also features streamlined navigation and shortcuts that allow users to access market information more efficiently, such as the new hover-over functionality that provides a pop-up abstract of the first few lines of any news story or research report for easy headline skimming. Users will also find quick links to expiration calendars, earnings announcements, economic reports and other important investing events.
Education Center
The new Education Center stands as a fully functioning destination site within the general optionsXpress website, offering investors access to progressive investment education courses, hundreds of free online learning events, as well as a large library of general investing information. Organized by product category (options, futures, stocks, bonds and mutual funds/ETFs) and trading level (novice to advanced), the Education Center is easy to navigate and presents something for every investor. The Education Center represents a natural outgrowth of optionsXpress' mission of helping investors understand the benefits of options, stocks, and futures.
In addition to the roll-outs of myOX and the Research and Education Centers, optionsXpress continues to incorporate new features and enhancements to the website to ensure a best-in-class customer experience. Many of these changes are based on customer suggestions to the "Wish List" mailbox. Some significant recent developments on the site have come as a result of feedback submitted via the Wish List, including:
- The ability to add Notes to the Account Activity page, giving customers the opportunity to record their thoughts about developments in the market in a convenient place for future reference.
- New Reminder functionality to make the Alerts feature even more helpful. Users can document their intentions or thoughts when creating an alert. When the alert is triggered, the reminder is delivered electronicallyalong with the alert details. This feature is great for clients who submit multiple alerts on one or more instruments and need a little help in remembering why this alert was originally placed.
- An informative new feature on the Most Actives page, providing an up-to-date look at the top 25 traded options contracts in terms of volume or open interest.
"The Wish List helps us maintain an ongoing dialogue with our customers to ensure we're delivering the online investing experience they want and need," says Fisher. "We want that kind of feedback. It has consistently been a vital part of how we build and shape the site."
About optionsXpress Holdings, Inc.
optionsXpress Holdings, Inc., a pioneer in equity options and futures trading, offers an innovative suite of online brokerage services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution. optionsXpress Holdings subsidiaries include optionsXpress, Inc., a retail online brokerage specializing in options and futures, brokersXpress, LLC, an online trading and reporting platform for independent investment professionals, and Open E Cry, an innovative futures broker offering direct-access futures trading through its proprietary software platform. Barron's named optionsXpress the number one online broker for four years in a row (2003 to 2006)(1) and Kiplinger's Personal Finance named it the top discount broker in 2006.(2) optionsXpress, Inc., a pioneer in equity options and futures trading, offers an innovative suite of online brokerage services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution.
(1) "Best Online Broker" 3/6/06, 3/7/05, 3/8/04, 3/10/03, and one of Barron's Best Online Brokers 3/3/07, and based on: Trade Experience; Trade Tech; Usability; Offerings; Research; Portfolio Analysis; Customer Service/Access; Costs. Barron's is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company (C) 2008.
(2) "Best Online Broker" by Kiplinger's 7/06, based on: Commissions/Fees; Executions; Margin Rates; Interest on Cash; Maximum Fund Transaction Fee; Responsiveness/Broker Knowledge; Research; Web Site; Cost-Basis Data; Conduct. Kiplinger's is a trademark of The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. (C) 2008.
