Options offer exciting possibilities for experienced investors, from generating income to hedging against market downturns or even amplifying returns. But navigating this options landscape requires the right partner—a broker with the tools, resources, and platform you need to make informed decisions. Here are our top 5 options brokers for 2024. Read on to get an overview of the features and functionalities that set them apart and help you chart your course to options trading success.

Public.com

Public.com lets you research, visualize, and execute your options trades. Public provides investors with a streamlined platform that caters to a wide range of investment styles. Novice investors will find the account setup process effortless and the straightforward platform design refreshingly devoid of unnecessary complexities.

As a bonus, it helps to recover transaction costs as options trading is not cheap. The fees and surcharges can add up to a tidy sum at the end of the day. Public.com aims to make options potentially more rewarding for its traders by being the first platform in the industry to share its options revenue directly with traders. Whenever a trader makes an options trade on Public, they can regain up to 50% of Public’s options revenue, minimizing transaction costs.

Apart from this, a key feature of Public.com is its options strategy builder. It lets you plan your trades on stock and visualize profit and loss outcomes so you can better understand your risk/reward balance.

When viewing an option contract on Public.com, you'll find breakdowns of critical metrics like strike price, expiry date, option Greeks (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega), and implied volatility. Understanding these metrics is crucial for options analysis and strategy development.

Public continuously enhances its investment platform with the latest technology. In 2023, Alpha, a research assistant driven by artificial intelligence (AI), was introduced to all users of Public. Now, investors can utilize OpenAI's GPT-4 to inquire about any asset and seamlessly access both real-time and historical data.

Fees: $0.03 regulatory fee and earn a rebate up to $0.18 per contract traded.

Tastytrade.com

Experienced investors will love Tastytrade. It is designed for active brokers. With a fee structure tailored to reward active traders in stocks, options, and futures, Tastytrade stands out as an appealing option for those who trade frequently.  

Its array of features and analytical tools makes it easy for anyone to strategize and game out their scenarios. That said, Tastytrade is not all about experienced investors. Its platform has been designed for functionality, and beginners will find plenty of guides to navigate it.

While it exudes a DIY atmosphere and equips retail traders with the necessary technology, education, and support for success, it also delivers industrial-grade tools and execution to a retail audience. A couple of examples are:

1. Analysis: Its Profit and Loss (P&L) Graph tracks potential profit and loss based on various price movements, volatility changes, and time decay. The Live Geeks feature displays the Greeks (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, and Rho) in real time, allowing you to understand how your options' position reacts to market changes.
2. Risk Analysis: Simulate “what-if” scenarios.

Stock options commission: $1 to open and $0 to close.

Micro futures commission: $1.5 to open and $0 to close.

Futures contract commission: $1.25 to open and $1.25 to close.
 

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) regularly makes the list of top options brokers in the US, and it’s no surprise that this is on this list, too. The platform has customizable tools that make researching and executing your trades easy.

The Traders Workstation (TWS) is equipped with analytical tools specifically designed to give options traders a higher chance of success. Some key features include the Options Strategy Lab, Probability Lab, and Volatility Lab. These Labs help you calculate outcomes, probability of a profit/loss, and implied volatility.

For beginners, Interactive Brokers has adopted a commission-free pricing model and consistently improved the features of its Lite pricing plan. Alongside, the development of the mobile IBKR Global Trader and a new IBKR Desktop platform signifies a tailored approach for this demographic. Furthermore, IBKR has been enhancing its educational resources and implementing user-friendly features to streamline the experience for average traders and investors.

Options commission: $0.15-$0.65 per contract (tiered) or $0.65 per contract (fixed).

Futures commission: $025-$0.85 per contract (tiered) or $0.85 per contract (fixed).
 

Webull

Webull is a low-cost options trading platform. It charges 0 commission and 0 contract fees for equity options. Webull offers an exceptional user experience across devices, with clean layouts and a good UI/UX. Active traders will be glad of the micro-futures trading at just $0.25 per contract. Webull provides simulated (paper) trading and access to fractional shares for beginners dipping their toes, making it an ideal starting point.

A few features that stand out among its analytical tools are Scenario Modeling and Theoretical Price Calculation among its Options Calculator. You can visualize potential outcomes under various market conditions. Regarding technical analysis, Webull offers a comprehensive charting suite with various technical indicators and drawing tools. This allows you to analyze price movements and identify potential trading opportunities for options strategies. Tools like Bollinger Bands and historical volatility charts can help assess the underlying stock's volatility, a crucial factor in options pricing.

Webull is excellent for experienced traders who don't rely heavily on extensive education and trading support. It is a low-guidance platform, and this is a point that you need to remember if you are starting.
 

E*Trade

E*Trade by Morgan Stanley is one of the world’s largest online brokers. A big plus for this platform is getting access to Morgan Stanley research. Experienced traders can use tools like the Option Strategy Scanner, which allows you to scan for options strategies based on specific criteria like desired outcome (bullish, bearish, income generation), underlying asset, and risk tolerance. The Probability Calculator estimates the probability of an option expiring in-the-money or out-of-the-money based on your assumptions about the underlying stock price movement and volatility.

E*Trade provides live market commentary and analysis specifically focused on options trading, offering insights from experienced professionals. Beginners can also test their options trading strategies using E*Trade's paper trading platform before risking real capital.

Options commission: $0.65 per contract.

Futures commission: $1.5 per contract.

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