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$0 per contract and $0 base
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Webull is one of the cheapest brokerage firms to trade options. Their pricing is impossible to beat:
there is no base commission, no per-contract fees, and no assignment or exercise fees. Can’t get
much better than that. This low pricing is a huge advantage for those clients who don’t want their
profits eaten up by commissions.
Another huge plus of Webull are low margin rates: from 5.74% for very large debits to 9.74% for balances under
$25k. That’s between 2 and 4 points below most other brokers and this low rate allows you to use leverage to
amplify returns more successfully.
It’s possible to add options trading using the mobile app.
On the lower menu on the Webull app, tap on the center icon (the bull’s horns) and then tap on the
icon with a circle and three dots inside (labeled as “More”). On the next page, tap on “Options Trading”
under the “Account” menu. Just follow the instructions and you’ll be ready to trade within a day.
Read full Webull options trading review »
Get 2% deposit or transfer match at Webull.
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$0 per contract and $0 base
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If you trade stocks or options at Robinhood, you probably already know that the broker offers free trading for all supported securities. Commission-free options trading is very rare in the industry, and it is a big advantage for traders using multi-leg strategies.
Building multi-leg options at Robinhood gives you more flexibility in your trading. You can lower the cost of pricey stock options, try to profit from price moves, or use time decay to your benefit.
Whether you trade credit spreads, debit spreads, butterflies, condors, or calendars, spreads can help you fine-tune your strategy.
Fees and Commissions
Before going into the available strategies, it’s worth noting that Robinhood is one of the few brokers that lets you trade spreads with zero commissions. This is very helpful for investors setting up multi-leg trades.
Types of Multi Leg Options at Robinhood
Robinhood supports several multi-leg options strategies. What you can trade depends on your options trading permission level.
Multi-leg options trading becomes available at Level 3.
Here are the multi-leg strategies you can trade at Robinhood:
- Credit Spreads
- Debit Spreads
- Calendar Spreads
- Diagonals
- Iron Condors
- Iron Butterflies
- Butterflies
- Unbalanced Butterflies
- Broken Wing Butterflies
One key thing to know is that you must build the strategies yourself.
Let’s go over how to create and manage a multi-leg trade.
Open Robinhood Account
3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
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Placing a Multi Leg Options Trade
When creating a multi-leg trade, you’ll choose two to four legs. You can mix ‘buys,’ ‘sells,’ ‘calls,’ and ‘puts’ in almost any way you want. You can also set different expiration dates for each leg.
The colors displayed update in real time (switching between red and green) depending on whether the calls or puts are gaining or losing value.
Using the building blocks of ‘buys,’ ‘sells,’ ‘calls,’ and ‘puts,’ you can create the strategy you want.
Here’s an example of creating a Put Butterfly on a well-known tech stock.
First, choose the contracts and expiration dates. By switching between buy and sell, you set up both long and short legs.
You will notice that you can’t enter contract quantities yet. That comes later.
After choosing the contracts, go to ‘Custom’ to change the number of contracts for each leg. You can ‘set a unique ratio’ for each part of the position.
In this example, we add one short put to build the butterfly. The profit/loss chart will update to show the expected risk and reward.
When everything looks right, click ‘Continue’ (green button) to go to the order review screen.
Free Robinhood Account
3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
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Managing Multi Leg Positions
Managing multi-leg options positions is simple, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Managing may include adding to a position, closing a position, or adjusting the legs in different ways.
The most important factor is how your changes affect the margin requirement. Adding or removing a leg can change how much risk the broker needs to cover.
Robinhood does not allow ‘naked’ options at any level. If you remove a leg, the remaining parts must still be properly covered.
Legging In and Out
Some traders like legging in and out to secure gains and shift into a new spread without closing the full position.
For example, if you buy a call and it becomes profitable, you can sell another call against it to create a debit spread instead of closing the position.
If the price drops, the debit spread will usually lose value slower than a single call would.
You may still keep some upside as well.
Closing the Position
Closing parts of a multi-leg strategy can be limited. The easiest way is to close all the legs at once. You can also close only short legs, which won’t increase margin risk.
Robinhood Multi Leg Options Pros and Cons
Robinhood has greatly improved its options platform. It now supports many advanced strategies, letting traders take a more hands-on approach with opportunities in different market conditions.
There are still areas that could be better. Here are our thoughts on the main pros and cons.
Pros
- Option chains are easy to read
- Choosing contracts is simple
- Profit/loss chart is helpful
- Wide range of multi-leg strategies
Cons
- Trade fills for complex orders can take time
- No naked options allowed
- Manually adding legs takes longer
- Adjusting contract quantities requires an extra step
Robinhood Multi Leg Options Summary
Overall, Robinhood is a very good platform for trading multi-leg options. Its spread trading tools let investors take positions on expensive stocks, manage risk, benefit from market swings, and more. While there’s still room to improve, most options traders will find the features they need to build strategies suited to their goals.
3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
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How to Trade Options Before Earnings or News Release
Finding a simple option strategy before an earnings release can be difficult for traders. Most investors trying to benefit from an earnings increase or decrease just buy calls or puts. Some experienced traders even buy both a call and a put (straddle/strangle), thinking that if the stock moves a lot in either direction, they will make some profit.
Limited Risk – High Reward
The advantage of only buying calls and/or puts is that a trader knows their maximum risk when they make the trade. If a call on Apple costs $100, then $100 is the most you can lose, and you have the chance to earn more if Apple moves a lot before the option expires.
This is the problem with most buying option strategies before earnings announcements...since no one knows what the earnings report will say or how the stock will react; the demand for options increases a lot before the announcement. Both traders and investors wanting to protect against price changes are buying options, which greatly increases the premiums, making puts and calls more expensive.
Being the Bookie
Everyone knows that taking bets is more profitable over time than making bets. Especially if the bet has very good odds for the house. This is exactly what expensive options are for the seller – a game that favors the seller over the buyer. Usually, right after earnings are released, the demand for and the price premium on calls and puts, decreases. Even those that have both potential gains and losses covered find it hard to make a profit once the "premium of the unknown" is gone from their option.
So the obvious solution seems to be: become a seller of options. If only it were that easy! Unless you have unlimited money like a big bank, the unlimited risk of being a naked option seller will be too much for you and your broker to handle.
Credit Spreads
To take advantage of the high premiums in the option market before an earnings announcement, while reducing the risk of selling uncovered (naked) puts/calls, the common strategies are "bull put credit" and "bear call credit" spreads.
Instead of explaining how to set up the option spreads for a stock like XYZ trading at $50, I suggest searching online for those who want the details. The main point here is how to get the most profit from these spreads, which is done by unwinding them.
Unwound
Once the earnings report is released and the market is processing the numbers, option prices return to a more realistic view of future expectations.
This allows the options trader to close their pre-earnings position and profit from the uncertainty
that was present before the announcement. Does it work every time? No. Does it provide enough profit to make a lot of money if that's all a trader does? No. But it works often enough and adds to the profits to make it a worthwhile strategy to explore further.
Updated on 12/8/2025.
Arthur Chachuna is a professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of Brokerage-Review.com.
He has been an avid investor for 25 years, and has a background in both applied math and programming.
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