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Best Options Trading Platforms
Options trading can be traced back to 332 BCE when Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus bought the rights to an olive harvest. In the 21st century, trading is a bit more complicated. But fret not, we're here to help you choose the right options trading platform so you can trade with confidence.
Our product coverage is complemented by a quick overview of options trading and an objective platform-evaluation methodology you can use to compare our picks with platforms that aren’t on our list.
Best Options Trading Platforms in December 2024
Top 5Options Trading Platforms - Our Picks for 2024:
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing - Best Overall
Interactive Brokers - Best options trading app
- Charles Schwab - Best mobile app
- E*TRADE – Best for beginners
- tastyworks - Best for active traders
How We Evaluate Options Trading Platforms
We’re going to outline our review methodology because we believe in complete transparency, in informing our readers about every step of our review process. We encourage you to use this objective process to conduct your own research.
This methodology is based on evaluating each website according to the same set of essential criteria so it is possible to make an objective apples-to-apples comparison.
Information Availability
This may not be your main concern when picking out a trading platform, but the company website is the very first thing you encounter. It showcases the firm’s attitude toward data organization and fair business practices. We think basic software descriptions, contact information, and pricing details should be easy to find. No one should have to search through dozens of menus and web pages to find essential pieces of information.
Commissions & Fees
Without a doubt, we all want to spend as little money as possible on any service or product. But we recognize that the least expensive product or service is rarely the best. A few additional dollars are often justified by the value of extra features, support, or other benefits. Our team analyzed numerous options trading platforms and selected those with the most reasonable commissions and fees.
Features
To be a successful trader, you need a reliable platform with high-quality tools. Sometimes developers go a bit overboard in their attempt to give users as many features as they can think of. We often think that more is better, and sometimes it is. But more often than not, the kitchen-sink approach leads to an overly complicated and slow final product. However, we did manage to find several brokers that dealt with this issue gracefully and effectively.
Ease of use and speed weren’t our only concerns. In our experience, research and educational tools can be just as important, especially for beginners looking to get into options trading.
Customer Support
You might not remember to check the quality of a service provider’s customer support until the very moment you require assistance - but by then, it might be a bit too late. If the representatives are slow to respond and they aren’t able to answer your questions properly, you will most likely get frustrated and feel like you’re not getting your money’s worth.
Unfortunately, almost all of us have been in this situation at one time or another, which is exactly why our reviews award higher scores to companies that offer multiple contact options and fast, knowledgeable support agents.
Detailed Reviews of Options Trading Platforms
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
If you’re looking for a self-directed investment platform with a well-known name behind it, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing could be a good fit for you.
This platform is offered by one of the largest banks in the world and provides investors with access to a range of investment options, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.
Information Availability
All information regarding J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing can be found on J.P. Morgan Wealth Management’s website, which is integrated within Chase’s website. You do have all the information located in one place, but you can easily get lost while searching for one specific thing.
Alas, the search function isn’t much use because it will search through all the pages hosted on Chase’s website.
Commissions and Fees
Opening an account is free and simple. Everything can be done online without going to the bank. There’s no minimum amount required for opening an account. The only limitation is that you have to be a US citizen.
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers three account types:
- General Investment - Standard investment account
- Traditional IRA - Retirement account with tax advantages
- Roth Individual Retirement Account (Roth IRA) - Retirement account with tax advantages
All three types can be individual or joint accounts.
J.P. Morgan doesn’t charge any commissions or fees for stock, ETF trades, bonds, options, and mutual funds as long as you are doing it. If you need professional assistance, it will cost you $25 per trade or transaction.
For mutual funds, the assistance is $20, and you don’t pay for U.S. treasury bills, notes, and bonds.
For options, there is a $0.65 per contract fee, which is in line with other brokers.
There are no deposit or withdrawal fees as long as your bank account is with JPMorgan Chase. However, there is a $25 fee for any wire transfers made outside of its network.
Features
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has a user-friendly mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS devices.
The features are the same as the web platform, so you won’t lose any functionality when switching between devices.
Both platforms have a good search function that will help you find what you need quickly and easily. Even beginners can easily navigate the J.P. Morgan’s trading software thanks to its simplicity.
The app also comes with biometric authentication, which should be enabled first. It will ask you for your fingerprints and voice ID so it can match it when you contact customer support.
Since the Chase app unifies all of your Chase accounts into one location and enables simple interaction between them without requiring you to use multiple different apps, we advise you to enable both.
Customer Support
Customer support is available via phone during normal business hours, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. ET.
The people working there are polite and seem to have good knowledge of the product.
We had a few issues with the search function on the website, and they were able to help us find what we needed without any problems. If you are not a fan of calling customer support, we don’t blame you.
You can always go to your local Chase bank and ask for assistance.
Reasons to use this platform:
- Easy-to-use mobile and web app
- Quick funds transfer
- Good search function
INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS ARE: NOT A DEPOSIT • NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
Robinhood Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
In 2013, two former classmates and roommates – Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt – launched a financial company that they hoped would empower everyone, even those with modest funds, to try their hand at investing. More than a decade later, the California-based company had accumulated approximately millions of users worldwide.
Information Availability
The Robinhood website demonstrates the company’s commitment to transparency. You’ll even find explanations on how, despite offering a low-cost trading platform, Robinhood manages to make money. However, the features of the web platform and mobile app are barely mentioned, and locating the company’s contact information is a bit of a challenge.
Commissions & Fees
Unlike almost every other broker on our list, Robinhood doesn’t charge a commission or per-contract fee. If you look at the company’s pricing schedule, you’ll be shocked at the number of $0 entries next to options trading and account-related fees.
The only slightly pricey charge that you should be aware of is for outgoing automated customer account transfers, which cost $75.
Features
If you’re looking for robust options trading tools, you might be slightly disappointed with what Robinhood has to offer. The platform’s strengths lie in its simplicity. It may be best to view the platform as an inexpensive set of great training wheels for trading novices.
Robinhood may not present its users with the most advanced features, but all of the essential features are available. For example, the platform supports market orders, limit orders, stop-limit orders, and stop orders. We also like the fact that the website lets you monitor recent news and stream Bloomberg TV.
The mobile app is extremely similar to its web counterpart, aside from a few added perks such as increased speed and ease-of-use. It’s a good app for busy traders.
Robinhood has recently started adding more and more educational resources to the website, which is a smart strategy for a service targeting new investors. The content is extremely engaging, and if the company keeps going in this direction it’s sure to soon surpass some of its competitors.
Customer Support
The Robinhood support page includes long lists of links to various helpful articles, all grouped by categories. The collection is truly impressive, but we wanted to test customer-support agents by asking a few questions about the company’s low-cost options trading platforms and fees.
We tried first with email, and we got a response in 24 hours. Next, we tried calling them. You won’t find their customer support phone number on the website. Instead, you must launch a call from within the app itself by selecting the Account tab, followed by Contact Us.
The agents were able to address all of our inquiries over the phone, which is available around the clock.
Reasons to use this platform:
- Various options orders
- Exceptionally fast mobile app
- Engaging educational content
Interactive Brokers Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
The company was founded in 1978 and went public in 2007, adding an additional layer of transparency by regularly publishing financial statements.
Interactive Brokers is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), so if anything goes wrong, you are covered by US investor protection.
Information Availability
Interactive Brokers provides customers with an enormous amount of data and information. The website includes plenty of resources that will help you understand both the platform and the markets.
Everything you want to know about trading or the company itself can be found in one place.
Commissions and Fees
Interactive Brokers has some of the lowest commissions and fees in the industry, which is one of the main reasons it’s so popular among advanced traders.
For US traders, the commission is $0.65 per contract with a $1 minimum per order.
There are no other transaction fees or any other hidden costs. With the IBKR Pro account, you can decrease the fee to as low as $0.15 per contract, depending on your monthly volume.
It also doesn’t charge a fee for opening and closing an account or if your account goes inactive. There are no deposit fees, but you can’t deposit funds via an electronic wallet, credit card, or debit card.
You’ll have to use one of the following methods: direct debit card deposit, check, online bill payment, automated clearing house, direct rollover, or trustee-to-trustee.
When it comes to withdrawals, you can make one free withdrawal each month, while each subsequent withdrawal will incur a fee depending on the withdrawal method:
- Wire - $10
- Check - $4
- Other - $1
Features
While we focused mostly on the US market, Interactive Brokers allows you to trade in 34 different markets. To be able to track all of your options and other trades, they offer an app called Trader Workstation.
Trader Workstation is an advanced trading platform available for desktop, web, and mobile. It’s filled with features that will help you analyze the markets, place trades, and track your positions. The platform is customizable and can be adjusted to fit your trading style.
It might be a little overwhelming for a beginner, so we wouldn’t suggest it as your first program, but if you ignore our advice, you can find tutorials for it on the Interactive Brokers website or YouTube. The best part is that you don’t pay anything to access this fantastic tool.
In early 2022, Interactive Brokers released a new mobile trading app called IBKR GlobalTrader, which has a better user interface design than the previous mobile app. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Customer Service
Interactive Brokers customer service can be reached via phone, live chat, or email. Phone support is available Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. UST, and you can reach them on Sunday between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. UST.
Live chat is available 24/7, Monday to Friday, and between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. UST on Sunday.
Email is open 24/7, but even if you send it during regular working hours, you should expect a response within 24 hours, so if it’s something urgent, your best bet is to call them.
The company also offers an extensive FAQ section on its website where you can find solutions to most of the issues.
Reason to use this platform:
- Clear fee report
- Regulated by top-tier financial authorities
- Trader Workstation app
E*TRADE Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
E*TRADE is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm founded in the early 1980s.
Information Availability
The E*TRADE website is designed without too many bells and whistles. It is unlikely to give you the most eye-pleasing experience you’ve ever had, but it does allow you to quickly examine the functionality and pricing of the platform.
Commissions & Fees
At first glance, E*TRADE’s commissions seem to be the same as Charles Schwab’s - $0 + $0.65 per contract. But if you execute more than 30 trades per quarter, you’ll be entitled to a small discount that lowers the per-contract fee to $0.50.
Even though you won’t have to worry about account maintenance or inactivity fees, you should keep in mind that the partial account transfer fee is $25, while a full account transfer fee is $75. Customers whose balance remains $5,000 or more after the transfer aren’t charged the $25.
Unlike many other brokers, E*TRADE offers a special promotion to new clients. Depending on the amount you deposit, you can get a cash bonus of up to $1,000 by using the REWARD24 code when opening an account.
Features
At E*TRADE, you can choose between two web-based platforms – E*TRADE and Power E*TRADE – and two apps that correspond to those platforms. All of ETRADE’s products are very user-friendly, so our recommendation is to pick the one that fits your trading style and needs. You can’t go wrong with either of them, especially if you’re a beginner.
The simpler service, E*TRADE, is primarily aimed at those still learning the ropes of options trading, but that doesn’t mean that it lacks sophisticated screening and analysis tools. Quite the contrary. You can even implement complex strategies using the platform. Nevertheless, experienced options traders might find that the presentation is a bit limiting, and that’s exactly why they should turn their attention to Power E*TRADE.
With Power E*TRADE, you’ll be able to use more than 100 charting tools and nearly 40 drawing tools to track data and highlight trends. Even though this is a professional-level trading platform with extensive capabilities, beginners will still be able to use it. This is because it includes plain-English explanations of complex trading terms as well as features like Snapshot Analysis, which will show you the potential risks and losses of a trade.
Customer Service
Along with the heaps of educational resources that you’ll be able to take advantage of by visiting the E*TRADE website, you’ll also have the option to contact customer support representatives via email or phone.
Reasons to use this platform:
- 100+ charting tools
- Profit-and-loss analysis
- Discount for 30 or more trades
Charles Schwab Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
Charles Schwab is one of the largest and best-known financial services companies in the world. It was founded in 1971 by its namesake, Charles Schwab – a pioneer in the business.
Considering the countless awards that the company has won over the years, we weren’t surprised in the slightest when our tests confirmed its trading platforms as one of the very best on the market.
Information Availability
Pretty much anything related to Charles Schwab and its services can be found on the website, which we consider a good thing. We did get lost a few times, however, while trying to maneuver our way through all the drop-down menus. Luckily, there’s a convenient search bar in the top right corner of every page.
Commissions & Fees
Charles Schwab was the first major online broker to reduce its commissions to $0, which led other firms to follow suit. Still, options traders have to pay a fee of $0.65 per contract, and if you’d like a a professional to assist you with a trade, you’ll be charged an additional $25.
There are no inactivity, account closure, or maintenance fees. However, if you’d like to take advantage of the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios robo-advisor service, you’ll have to deposit at least $5,000. That’s a bit steep, but you won’t be charged any advisory fees or commissions.
The Intelligent Portfolios Premium offering, which adds access to certified financial planners to the free service, requires a balance of $25,000 or more plus a one-time planning fee of $300 and a monthly advisory fee of $30.
Options traders who choose this company can rest easy knowing that they’re protected by the Schwab satisfaction guarantee, which covers a wide range of commissions and fees.
Features
Schwab offers three platforms. The web platform, schwab.com, is somewhat minimalistic but effective, perfect for trading novices. It includes detailed watchlists, streaming quotes, fundamental and technical analysis, and much more. You won’t find a single unnecessary feature here.
The downloadable StreetSmart Edge platform is a different story. It offers a lot more tools than the website, but it is still relatively simple to master. It’s a breeze to place complex multiple-part orders with StreetSmart Edge thanks to its All-in-One Trading Ticket feature. Our only serious criticism of this application is that Mac users are limited to the cloud-based version.
The mobile app, available for both Android and iOS phones, is an excellent solution for traders who have to be away from their computers frequently. It’s easy to navigate and it implements every security measure you could think of to keep your data safe.
Customer Support
You can call or text-chat with Schwab’s customer support team at any hour, seven days a week. In most cases, you won’t have to wait more than a minute to get connected to a friendly and helpful representative.
Reasons to use this platform:
- Highly reputable company
- Fast placement of complex orders
- 24/7 customer support
tastytrade Review
Fortunly's Rating: Our editorial team determines the rating based on a set of evaluation criteria developed for each product and service category.
tastytrade may be new to the options trading world, but the people behind it are far from inexperienced. They drew upon their knowledge and experience to create the state-of-the-art option-specific platform, which changed its name from tastyworks in 2023.
Information Availability
The company claims that it is “ridiculously transparent,” and after having thoroughly examined its website, we’re happy to confirm that the statement is quite true. Not only is everything you’d want to know clearly displayed, but it is written in an easy-to-understand manner for the benefit of newcomers to the trading life. The site’s pages are neatly organized, allowing you to sift through all of the important information quickly.
Commissions & Fees
tastytrade has a unique pricing scheme for options trading, which makes it one of the best options trading platforms for budget-conscious investors. Closing a position is free, while opening a trade costs $1 per contract for options on stocks and ETFs, $2.50 per contract for options on futures, and $1.50 per contract for options on micro futures.
As an extra perk, equity option commissions are capped at $10 per leg. You also won’t be charged for not using or closing your account.
However, tastytrade does impose a few banking and trade-related fees that you should look out for. For example, every options trading incurs a clearing fee of either $0.10 or $0.30 per contract, and the outgoing automated customer account transfer fee is $75.
Features
The tastytrade desktop software and web-based trading platforms are almost identical, the only significant difference being that the desktop version is slightly faster when it comes to streaming data. Experienced users shouldn’t have any issues navigating them, but the number of exposed features could confuse beginners. Despite this small inconvenience, the platforms are a dream come true for frequent users who prefer a fast trading style.
The software offers a fair amount of customizability, and the predefined options strategies allow you to open a position within seconds. You’ll also have superb analysis functions at your disposal, with numerous technical indicators and quite a few drawing tools.
But what sets tastytrade apart from other trading platforms are its watchlists. They provide invaluable information such as the ask and bid prices, liquidity, implied volatility, and much more. You’ll be able to adapt the lists to your trading strategy by using the many filtering mechanisms tastytrade provides. If the tastytrade watchlists aren’t to your liking, you can easily create your own.
The mobile app includes most of the features present in the desktop and web platforms. Although all the columns, charts, and controls could be arranged slightly better considering the dimensions of mobile devices’ small screens, it’s still one of the best options trading mobile apps we’ve seen.
Even if you are a new trader, you shouldn’t be discouraged from trying tastytrade. It might take you a little while to figure out where everything is, but you’ll have copious amounts of top-quality educational content to help you out. You can access it directly from inside the platform.
Customer Support
If you’re unable to find the answer to your question in the extensive tastytrade help center, you can contact the customer support team via live chat and receive expert advice. We were surprised to learn that a company with such a great options trading platform doesn’t provide 24/7 support. Still, if you need assistance, you can contact them by phone Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. CST or contact them via live chat.
Reasons to use this platform:
- High level of transparency
- Numerous technical indicators
- Superb watchlists
A Quick Introduction to Options Trading
The times are filled with uncertainty in every respect. This uncertainty is reflected in the instability of the financial and commodity markets, the volatility of the prices we see on them, and the large rises and falls of stock market indices.
Over the past few decades, the issue of finding the most well-rounded options trading platform has become an increasingly popular topic, probably because options are a financial instrument that provides the possibility of reducing losses to the lowest possible level. However, you can’t dive into options trading without knowing the basics. Here’s a quick overview.
What Are Options?
An option is a derivative security, a type of contract that gives its holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the asset that is the subject of the contract. These used to be negotiated in person, but nowadays we’ve switched to trading options online. Still, the fundamental concept has remained the same.
The seller of the option is the contracting party who must fulfill his obligation in case the buyer of the option wants the contract to be realized. It is the buyer of the option who has the right, but not the obligation, to exercise the option - which means that the buyer can give up the execution of the deal.
If an option gives its holder the right to buy a certain asset, such an option is called a call option, and if it gives the holder the right to sell a certain asset, it’s called a put option. Those who have used any piece of trading software before are probably already familiar with these terms, but those who haven’t might want to know two more.
The subject of the contract contained in the option is called the underlying asset. It can be commodities, currencies, securities, interest, futures contracts, or stock indices. The price of that asset is determined at the moment of concluding the contract, and it’s called the exercise price or strike price.
How Are Options Priced?
The option price, sometimes called the option premium, depends on many factors, including the type of the underlying asset, its current price, the asset volatility rate in the previous period, the current interest rate, the time remaining until the option expires, and many more. A good platform should display all of those figures in an easily readable form.
Why Trade Options?
The option is a very attractive instrument because it can be used for making profitable speculative transactions and for risk protection - as a hedging instrument. For example, an option holder can use the option to reduce the risk of holding a particular asset. Regardless of the purpose of holding the option, the buyer and the seller will always have conflicting predictions about how the asset’s price will move. This is how traders, dealers, and brokers earn money.
The conflicting views allow the transfer of risk from participants who want to protect themselves (those who hedge) to those who are willing to accept it and profit from it (speculators). In options trading, the maximum possible gain for the option seller is at the same time the maximum possible loss for the option buyer.
To approach the world of options trading, you should be well prepared. Get acquainted with the fundamentals of options contracts, choose an asset whose price is easy to predict, and choose a licensed broker that offers the most complete platfor for options trading, with a top-notch customer service team.