Best Brokers for Options Trading of December 2024

Webull is among the few brokerages that offer free options trades. Customers aren’t charged a per-trade commission nor a per-contract fee. Other costs include Webull’s transfer fee. Whether you’re transferring all of your assets from Webull to another brokerage or just a few, you’ll be charged a $75 transfer fee. However, you won’t pay any annual or inactivity fee at Webull. Despite a robust offering for active traders, Webull lacks access to some common securities, such as mutual funds and bonds. Webull offers 24/7 customer support via phone and email.

While some brokers charge no fees on options trades, Public goes further — it pays you a rebate for each trade. The amount of that rebate depends on your account type and can be increased by referring new users to Public.

SoFi Active Investing is known for its rock-bottom costs and options traders will benefit — SoFi is another broker that doesn't charge any options contract fees. The platform is best suited to beginner investors, as it is streamlined, approachable and very user-friendly, with strong educational content.

Robinhood’s commitment to low-cost trading is especially apparent in its options trading offering — Robinhood is among the handful of brokers that don’t charge a per-contract fee. One of the biggest fees Robinhood charges is the $75 fee for transferring your investments to another broker. There's no fee for selling your investments and having the money transferred via ACH to your bank. The securities available to trade at Robinhood are limited: The platform doesn't support mutual funds and bonds, which can help build a diversified portfolio. For customer support, Robinhood lets users request a representative to call them back 24/7 for anything they need.

Moomoo is among the brokers that charge no options contract fees for equity options. (Index options are $0.50 per contract, which is pretty standard.) The broker's trading platform impressed our testers with its balance between a sleek, streamlined UX and advanced tools for active traders.

Schwab doesn’t charge any per-trade commissions for options, but it does charge $0.65 per contract. Overall, Schwab has some of the lowest account fees around. Schwab doesn’t have any annual or inactivity fee, and the fee to transfer assets out of the account is $25. If you do it all online, it’s only $15. Charles Schwab has a large selection of tradable securities, including mutual funds, ETFs, index funds, bonds, options and futures. It doesn't offer forex. Phone, email and online chat are all available 24/7. If you prefer to speak to someone in person, there are more than 400 Charles Schwab branches around the country, with some even open on Saturdays.

Options trading prices with Interactive Brokers are competitive, with a $.65 charge per contract and no base, plus discounts for larger volumes. The minimum options trade commission is $1 per order. Interactive Brokers charges no annual, account, transfer or closing fees, which is relatively rare among brokers reviewed by NerdWallet. The platform's selection ranges from standard offerings of stocks, options and ETFs to precious metals, forex, warrants and futures. Interactive Brokers also offers fractional shares of stock and 24-hour phone, email and chat support, six days a week.

Tastytrade uses a different fee structure for options trades, charging a $1 fee to open a contract but no fee to close it, essentially meeting the fee of brokers who charge $0.50 per side. The trading platform stands out for advanced options traders, with deep historical data, the ability to follow the trades of select traders and pre-built options strategies.

Fidelity doesn't charge a commission on options trades, but they still carry a contract charge, which is $0.65. Fidelity doesn’t offer volume discounts on options. More broadly, Fidelity has done away with nearly all account fees, including the transfer and account closure fees that are commonly charged by brokers. Fidelity earns strong marks for its educational tools and customer service options, including a network of more than 200 branches for in-person advice and educational options, and 24/7 phone, chat and email support.

Merrill Edge is a particularly good choice for Bank of America customers, as the service integrates seamlessly with a single login. Specifically compared to other brokerage firms that operate under a bank umbrella, Merrill Edge's trading platform stands out.