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I was able to trade options with TradeKing in 2010 by just checking a box, claiming that I knew that I was doing.

(I was still in college and did not know what I was doing, but fortunately only ended up losing a few hundred bucks.)

This isn't new - it's how it's worked for a good long while.

The regulations, such as FINRA Rule 2111, were not in place until the early 2010s. FINRA/SEC implemented stricter requirements for the verification I mentioned in my first comment, but over the past ~5-7 years the brokerages have relaxed them. So yes, it is new relative to your experience in 2010.

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