Placing an Advanced Options Order

Enter the underlying stock symbol and press Enter.

Stock and/or option symbols and price and volume data shown here are for illustrative purposes only. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., its parent or affiliates, and/or its employees and/or directors may have positions in securities referenced herein, and may, as principal or agent, buy from or sell to clients.

Select the Time in Force: GTC (Good 'til Canceled: Order will remain live until it fills, is rejected, or is canceled) or Day (order will remain live during the current trading session only).
Enter the number of contracts you wish to trade. You may also check the AON (All or None), which will ensure that your order will only fill if the entire quantity is available.

Write-Unwind	Remember each contract in a Buy/Write represents 100 shares of the underlying stock.
Ratio Spread	Quantities for the two legs of a ratio spread should be in a 2:1 ratio.

Select the expiration date or Near for the nearest expiration date.

Rollout	Select the expiration date for the option position you wish to Close and the date for the position you wish to Open. Setting the Open to Near will automatically select the next nearest date beyond the current one.
Calendar Spread	Select the Near and Far expiration dates.

Select whether you want to view combinations that are At the Money, In the Money, Out of the Money, or to see all at once, leave the default All Money.

Collar / Straddle

Select whether you want to view combinations that are Around the Money, Above the Money, Below the Money, or to see all at once, leave the default All Money.

Select whether to display Calls or Puts (applies to Rollout, Vertical Spread, Calendar Spread, and Combination orders only).
Select the Strike Range, which will show you potential trades where the difference between the two contract prices is equivalent to the strike range you specify. (Applies to Rollout, Collar, and Calendar Spread orders.)

Vertical Spread

Select the Spread Range, which will show you potential spread trades where the range between the two contract strike prices is equivalent to the spread range you specify.

Select the Exchange you wish to view price indications for from the drop-down list.
Now, decide whether you want a net credit or debit for the order.
TIP: The debit is the ask price of the option being bought. The credit is the bid price of the option being sold. The net is the difference between the bid price of the option being sold (bid) and the ask price of the option being bought (ask).

Buy/Write - Unwind	When opening a Buy/Write you will need to select the price from the Debit side, and when closing (Unwind), select from the Credit side.
Straddle	The net is the total of the two bid prices of the options being sold (bid) or the total of the two ask prices of the options being bought (ask).

Click on the combination you want to trade. In the image above, you can see the selected strategy highlighted in blue.

Combination

For each leg, click on the desired contract, then right-click and select which leg you want to apply that contract to (i.e., Load [symbol] to Leg2…), or manually select the Expiration month and Strike price.

Finally, ensure that the Price is correct. It will default to the Net value of the quote you selected, but you may enter a different price or use the arrows to select a new price. Note that all Advanced Options orders are sent as Limit orders.
To send the order:

Write/Unwind, Collar, Vertical Spread, Calendar Spread	Click Submit to Open or Submit to Close and then verify that the order is correct.
Rollout	Click Submit Order and then verify that the order is correct.
Straddle	If you are placing a sell order, click Sell to Close or Sell to Open. If you are placing a buy order, click Buy to Open or Buy to Close and then verify that the order is correct.
Combination	Select the Leg Action for each individual leg (only two legs per order). To send the order, click Submit Order and then verify that the order is correct.

Commissions, taxes, and transaction costs are not included in any of these strategy discussions, but can affect final outcome and should be considered. Please contact a tax advisor to discuss the tax implications of these strategies. Many of the strategies described herein require the use of a margin account. Options carry a high level of risk and are not suitable for all investors. Certain requirements must be met to trade options through Schwab. Multiple leg options strategies will involve multiple commissions. Please read the options disclosure document titled "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options." Member SIPC