Robinhood Multi Leg Options Overview
If you trade stocks or options at Robinhood, you probably know the broker lets you trade all available securities for free. Free options trading is uncommon in the industry and is a big advantage for anyone using multi-leg options strategies.
Using multi-leg options positions at Robinhood gives you more ways to manage your trades. You can lower the cost of expensive options, try to benefit from price changes, or use time to your advantage.
Whether you’re trading credit spreads, debit spreads, butterflies, condors, or calendars, spreads can help you adjust your investment plan.
Fees and Commissions
Before going over the types of multi-leg strategies you can trade on Robinhood, it’s important to note that Robinhood is one of the few brokers that lets you trade spreads with no commission. This is a big plus for investors who use options positions with more than one ‘leg.’
Types of Multi Leg Options at Robinhood
Robinhood lets you create several types of multi-leg options positions. The strategies you can use depend on your options approval level.
Multi-leg options trading is 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 important thing to remember is you have to build multi-leg options positions yourself at Robinhood.
Let’s see how to create and manage multi-leg option positions.
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3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
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Placing a Multi Leg Options Trade
When you make a multi-leg options trade, you pick two to four ‘legs.’ These can be any mix of ‘buys,’ ‘sells,’ ‘calls,’ and ‘puts.’ You can also set the expiration date for each leg.
The colors you see are dynamic (they switch from red to green and back) and change depending on how the calls or puts are moving.
With the building blocks of ‘buys,’ ‘sells,’ ‘calls,’ and ‘puts,’ you can make the strategy you want.
Here’s an example of how to create a Put Butterfly on a popular tech stock.
First, pick the contracts and their expiration dates that you want to use. Switch between buy and sell to mix your position’s short and long legs.
You’ll soon see that you can’t pick the number of contracts for each leg just yet. That step comes next.
After picking your contracts, you can change the contract quantity for each leg by going to ‘Custom.’ From there, you can ‘set a unique ratio’ for any of the legs in your position.
In our example, we add one short put to make a butterfly. As shown, the profit/loss calculator will update to show the possible risk and reward.
When you’re happy with your multi-leg options trade setup, click ‘Continue’ (the green button) to go to the order confirmation screen.
Free Robinhood Account
3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
Visit Robinhood Website
Managing Multi Leg Positions
Managing multi-leg options positions is simple, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Managing can mean different things. You might add to a position, close a position, enter or exit an advanced options strategy, or do something else.
The main thing to consider is how your changes affect the margin (risk) for the position. Adding or removing legs can change how much margin is needed.
Robinhood does not let anyone have ‘naked’ options positions at any trading level. If you remove a leg from your strategy, the other legs must still be ‘covered.’
Legging In and Out
A common strategy for Robinhood options traders is legging in and out to ‘lock in’ profits or create new spreads. This lets you adjust positions without closing everything.
For example, if you buy a call and make a profit, instead of selling your call, you can sell another call against your long call to create a debit spread.
If the price drops, your new debit spread will lose value more slowly than just holding the single call.
Your debit spread can also still make more gains if the price moves up.
Closing the Position
As mentioned, closing parts of a multi-leg options strategy is limited. The easiest way is to close the whole position. You can also close any short legs, as this won’t add margin risk.
Robinhood Multi Leg Options Pros and Cons
Robinhood has improved a lot in how it handles options trading. It now gives investors many advanced, multi-leg options strategies. This lets traders manage their investments more directly and benefit in different market conditions.
There is still some room for Robinhood to get better. Here are some pros and cons:
Pros
- Option chains are clear and easy to use
- Choosing contracts is simple
- Profit/loss chart is helpful
- Good variety of multi-leg options strategies
Cons
- Fills for advanced trades can be slow
- No naked options
- Manually picking legs can take time
- Changing the number of contracts for each leg needs an extra step
Robinhood Alternative
For another broker with strong options trading, see Webull multi leg options.
Robinhood Multi Leg Options Summary
Overall, Robinhood is a good place to trade multi-leg options. Robinhood’s spread trading features let investors work with expensive stocks, manage risk, handle different market moves, and more. There is room for improvement, but most options traders will find the tools they need to build positions for their own plans and goals.
Free Robinhood Options Trading
3% deposit match and up to $200 FREE stock at Robinhood.
Visit Robinhood Website
Updated on 6/12/2025.
I work in investment analytics and have been investing in the market since I was in high school. I enjoy anything that involves lots of strategy (i.e. a good game of chess), which is why I was naturally drawn to investing and researching companies. Outside of investing, I’m a big fan of the outdoors. In summer, you’re most likely to find me kayaking, camping, and hiking in the mountains.
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