Buy and Sell Options

Option contracts can be bought or sold easily using the Option Chain and the Market Depth windows.

Options carry a high level of risk and are not suitable for all investors, and certain requirements must be met to trade options. Read the Options Disclosure Document before considering options trading.

(To learn more about options, see About Options.)

Determine Which Options are Available for a Stock

1. Select Option Chain from the Feature drop-down menu.
2. Enter a stock symbol in the Base Symbol Field, and click "Search." If options are available for the stock, they will appear automatically. Note that option symbols are preceded by a plus sign "+".

Buy or Sell an Options Contract

1. Select the Market Depth Window from the Feature drop-down menu.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Drag and drop an option symbol (Example: +NOKAW) from the Option Chain Window onto the Market Depth Window, or type the option symbol you wish to trade in the symbol field at the top of the Market Depth Window.
   ( Option symbols must be entered preceded by a plus sign "+".)
   
   
3. An Options Order Entry Bar will appear at the bottom of the Market Depth Window automatically populated with price information. Enter the number of options contracts you wish to purchase.
   (As a general rule, one contract is equal to 100 shares, but this varies from stock to stock.)
   
   
4. Select an order type such as "Market" from the Order Type drop-down menu.
   See Advanced Order Options for information on other choices in these fields.
   
   
5. Select "DART™" and "Day" from the Route and TIF drop-down menus respectively.
   See Set "Time In Force for information on TIF.
   See Choose a Route for information on additional Routes.
   
   
6. Click the action you wish to take: "Buy to Open", "Sell to Open", "Buy to Close" or "Sell to Close".
   For an explanation of these actions, see About Options.
   
   
7. An Order Verification page will pop up. Click "Submit" to place the order and close the window.
   Click the "Do not show this window in the future" check box if you wish to eliminate this step from the order process.
   
   

Note: Traders may experience execution delays, due to the liquidity of options.