Optionshop was founded on the belief that futures options have the potential to give traders a better way to gain exposure to commodity markets than through straight futures, commodity ETFs or resource company stocks. Its online brokerage tools and services aim to make trading futures options, traditionally a complicated and inefficient process, as simple as trading equity options.

"Optionshop believes that options on futures should be as easy to understand and trade as equity options, and we have carefully crafted and built one-of-a-kind trading tools that traders need to be successful," said Optionshop CEO Bob Fitzsimmons.

"For too long, online brokers have treated futures options traders as second class citizens, and Optionshop is the first step to creating what we believe is the optimal futures options-trading experience."

Optionshop expects to appeal to current futures traders who are looking to better manage their market exposure and to equity options traders who desire a more efficient way to gain access to commodity markets that mutual funds, ETFs or resource stocks.

Optionshop's futures options trading tools include:

• RequestForQuote - At the touch of a button, RequestForQuote gives investors a tool professional futures options traders have kept to themselves, providing them with a chance to get better pricing for their options spread orders.

• SpreadBuilder - Futures options spreads help investors define risk and reward levels they can live with, but creating and customizing them can be complicated. With SpreadBuilder, Optionshop streamlines the process with easy to use functionality and powerful visualization of profit and loss characteristics.

• Futures Curriculum - Over the past 10 years, millions of investors have learned to use equity options in their portfolio, and Optionshop offers easy-to-consume educational content to help them see how futures options comppare. According to Fitzsimmons, "We believe that equity options investors will be comfortable with futures options, and our bite-sized futures options education content - both video and text - is designed to help them see how futures options can play a role in their portfolio."