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How to place a roll order: the ticket, field by field

A roll is one order with two legs: buy to close the old option, sell to open the new one. Most brokers let you send both as a single order at one net price. Set a limit, start near the middle, and never send a roll as a market order.

Options guide · 8-minute read · Updated 2026-10-27

The short answer

A roll has two legs:

1. Buy to close the option you sold.
2. Sell to open the new option, at the new strike or date.

The cleanest way to send it is as one two-leg order with one net limit price. Many brokers have a Roll button on the position that builds this for you. If yours doesn't, build a two-leg (spread) order by hand. Either way, the order fills both legs together, or not at all.

Price it as a net credit near the middle of the two quotes. If it doesn't fill, step a few cents toward the natural price. Don't use a market order. Button names and screens vary, so check your broker's current help pages.

Roll button, two-leg order, or two separate orders?

The first two are the same order underneath. The third is different, and it's where surprises live. If the stock moves after your first leg fills, the second leg's price moves with it.

A worked ticket (an illustration, not a trade idea)

You own 100 shares of a made-up stock, XYZ, now at $51. You sold a $50 call that expires this Friday. You'd rather keep the shares a while longer, so you plan to roll up and out to a $52 call, 35 days later.

The quotes:

Net at the middle: $1.60 − $1.15 = +$0.45 credit. Net at the natural price (buy at the ask, sell at the bid): $1.55 − $1.20 = +$0.35 credit.

So a fair fill sits somewhere between +$0.35 and +$0.45.

Here's the ticket:

Before you send it, read the preview out loud: "I'm buying back the $50 call and selling the $52 call for a credit of 45 cents." If any word is wrong, fix it.

What you might actually get

The top three are all fine. The bottom two turned a credit roll into a debit, from the way the order was sent, not from the trade itself. See rolling for a credit for why that matters.

Getting a fair fill

1. Start at the middle. Wait a minute or two.
2. Step by a cent or two. Toward the natural price, one small step at a time.
3. Stop at the natural price. Past it, you're giving away more than the quotes show.
4. Avoid the first and last minutes of the session. Quotes are often wider then.
5. Check the spread on the new option first. If its bid-ask gap is wide, the roll will be expensive. Our options chain guide shows where to look.
6. For several contracts, watch for partial fills. A two-leg order fills both legs in matching amounts, but a large order may fill in pieces.

Ticket mistakes that cost real money

• Debit instead of credit. Entering 0.45 as a debit means you'd pay 45 cents. Most previews show the sign. Read it.
• Buy to open instead of buy to close. That adds a new long call instead of ending your short one. Some brokers block this; don't rely on it.
• The wrong expiry. Similar dates sit next to each other on the chain. Check the date on both legs.
• Rolling on expiration afternoon. Spreads widen and time runs out. If you plan to roll, do it earlier in the week.
• Forgetting earnings. The new date might cross a report. Check before you send.

For the order that ends a short option on its own, see buy to close explained. For the bigger picture of when to roll at all, start with the wheel strategy and rolling mistakes.

Questions