Subject: Re: Are Berkshire Shares Safe?
Also if I remember correctly I had to open a margin account to get approval to trade options. This was a long time ago, and I am not sure this is still a requirement.

To be able to simply buy/sell calls/puts 2-3 years ago at Schwab one needed approval for option trading level 1, which did not require a margin account. Only for higher levels a margin account was required.