A good setup means nothing if you can’t get the fill. That was the main lesson in a recent General Motors (GM) trade we’ll discuss here — a cheap butterfly with high potential return, but fill prices were all over the place depending on broker, order size and execution strategy.
Even with commissions as low as $2 to $5 round trip, a $0.10 to $0.15 change in entry can be the difference between a solid setup and a losing trade.
That’s why execution matters.
Work the Order Without Chasing
I started working the GM butterfly — long $47 call, short $49 call, long $51 call — around $0.83. Some platforms filled quickly at $0.82, others needed $0.85 or $0.86. Schwab, Fidelity, TradeStation, Tastytrade, Thinkorswim — each showed different fills.
That’s a real-time example of how entry prices vary. Traders on Thinkorswim reported fills as low as $0.62. Others, like TradeStation, needed to go up to $0.86.
I personally got 10 contracts filled at $0.85 but had to adjust upward in small increments for others. Size played a role too — entering with 50 contracts at once risks pushing market makers away. I broke it up into lots of 10 and worked each block.
Commissions Still Matter — Even on ‘Cheap’ Trades
This trade cost about $0.83 to $0.85 per spread. On paper, a 15% to 20% return looks solid, especially with the shorter week pushing theta higher. But if you’re paying $4 round trip in commissions, that’s $0.04 off the top — nearly 5% of your capital.
I pay $10 per month at Tradier for zero commissions, so the math works.
But others reported $0.65 per contract or $4 total to get in and out.
Even then, if you’re getting filled around $0.83 and exiting around $0.95 or $1.05, you still have room for a decent return — as long as you don’t chase too far beyond fair value. I capped my limit at $0.87 and saw most fills between $0.82 and $0.85. That’s acceptable slippage if you scale smart and keep fees under control.
Getting the fill is part of the edge. Done right, it can turn a good setup into a clean win — even when commissions and execution risk are in play.
Kane Shieh
Kane Shieh Trading
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*This is for informational and educational purposes only. There is inherent risk in trading, so trade at your own risk.
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