Choices trading can be complicated even more so than stock trading. When you purchase a stock, you just choose the number of shares you want, and your broker fills the order at the prevailing market value or a limit price you set. Trading options needs an understanding of sophisticated techniques, and the process for opening an options trading account consists of a couple of more steps than opening a normal investment account.( Required to brush up on puts, calls, strike rates and other options trading lingo? See our post on options trading 101). Compared to opening a brokerage represent stock trading, opening an options trading account needs bigger amounts of capital. And, provided the complexity of predicting several moving parts, brokers need to understand a bit more about a prospective financier prior to granting them an authorization slip to start trading choices.