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Best brokers for US stock options

Options pricing is per contract, and the platform's risk tooling matters more than the headline rate.

Answer: 6 of the brokers we cover meet the criteria for this page. Ordered on those criteria, Charles Schwab is the first name to look at — US residents.

Charles SchwabOwns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.5

US residents

Open account

FidelityOwns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.5

Retirement accounts

Open account

Interactive BrokersOwns the share

★★★★★★★★★★5.0

Real share ownership from almost any country

Open account

What we screened on

Per-contract commission and any exercise fee
Approval levels and how quickly they are granted
Risk analysis and position modelling tools

The comparison table

Broker	What you get	Minimum	Fractional	Regulation	Extended hours
Charles Schwab	Share ownership	None	Yes	SEC	Pre-market and after-hours sessions supported
Fidelity	Share ownership	None	Yes	SEC	Extended-hours trading supported
Interactive Brokers	Share ownership	None	Yes	SEC, FCA, CBI	Pre-market and after-hours routing available
moomoo	Share ownership	None	Yes	SEC, MAS, ASIC	Pre-market and after-hours supported
tastytrade	Share ownership	None	No	SEC	Extended-hours routing available
Webull	Share ownership	None	Yes	SEC	Long pre-market and after-hours sessions

Broker by broker

Charles Schwab

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.5

A full-service US brokerage; thinkorswim gives it a genuinely strong active-trading platform.

Minimum: None
Fractional: Yes
Regulators: SEC
US universe: Full US listed market

US residents
Long-term investors who want research and banking in one place
Options traders via thinkorswim

International account availability is limited and varies by country

Visit Charles Schwab Full review

Fidelity

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.5

Strongest on the long-term-investor side: research, cash management and low-cost index funds.

Minimum: None
Fractional: Yes
Regulators: SEC
US universe: Full US listed market

Retirement accounts
Buy-and-hold investors
Fractional investing in dollar amounts

Primarily a US-resident offering

Visit Fidelity Full review

Interactive Brokers

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★5.0

The default answer for a non-US investor who wants to actually own US shares rather than a derivative of them.

Minimum: None
Fractional: Yes
Regulators: SEC, FCA, CBI
US universe: Full US listed market (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX) plus 150+ global markets

Real share ownership from almost any country
Multi-currency accounts
Options, futures and international listings in one account

The desktop platform is dense and unforgiving for first-timers
Data subscriptions are billed separately

Visit Interactive Brokers Full review

moomoo

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★5.0

Unusually deep data for the price; the offering differs a lot between its US, SG and AU entities.

Minimum: None
Fractional: Yes
Regulators: SEC, MAS, ASIC
US universe: US listed stocks, ETFs and options

Level 2 data on a budget
Asian-market investors buying US stocks

Promotional pricing changes often — read the current schedule
Feature set differs by entity

Visit moomoo Full review

tastytrade

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.0

Built around options mechanics; stock trading is the supporting act.

Minimum: None
Fractional: No
Regulators: SEC
US universe: US listed stocks, ETFs, options and futures

Options-first traders
Derivatives alongside stock positions

Not a long-term buy-and-hold platform
No fractional shares

Visit tastytrade Full review

Webull

Owns the share

★★★★★★★★★★4.5

Charting and screening well beyond what a zero-commission app usually ships with.

Minimum: None
Fractional: Yes
Regulators: SEC
US universe: US listed stocks, ETFs and options

Active traders who want free charting
Paper trading before going live
Options

Support is app-based
Country availability varies

Visit Webull Full review

Frequently asked questions

Which broker is best for US stock options?

Charles Schwab leads this list on our criteria: per-contract commission and any exercise fee. A full-service US brokerage; thinkorswim gives it a genuinely strong active-trading platform.

Does a CFD count as owning the stock?

No. A contract for difference tracks the share price but confers no ownership, no voting rights and no real dividend — only a cash adjustment. It is a leveraged trading product, not an investment holding.

How is this list ordered?

By the criteria named on this page, using each broker's own published data. Commercial relationships never move a broker up a data-ordered table; where two brokers are genuinely equal on the criteria, our partners appear first and are labelled as partners.

Are the fees on this page current?

Every fee statement links to the broker's own pricing page, which is the authoritative source. We restate published figures rather than estimating them, and where a broker does not publish a number we print "not published".

Reviewed August 2026 · sources linked on each broker profile.