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Selling covered calls and cash-secured puts on Robinhood

Robinhood lets approved US accounts sell covered calls and cash-secured puts from the phone app. The flow is simple, which is both the point and the problem. Here's how it works, and what to look up yourself before you tap "Review".

Options guide · 6-minute read · Updated 2026-10-26

The short answer

Yes, you can sell covered calls and cash-secured puts on Robinhood once the account is approved for options at the level that includes them. Both trades fit the wheel strategy. The app walks you through a short order screen that shows the premium you'd collect and the cash or shares it will hold.

What it doesn't do is make the trade smaller than it is. A put you sell on a $45 strike is a $4,500 commitment on Robinhood, just as anywhere else. This page isn't an endorsement of the broker. It's a description of how selling works there, with "check the current help pages" wherever a detail might have changed.

Getting approved

Options on Robinhood need a separate enablement inside the app. It asks a few questions about experience and goals and assigns a level. The lower options level has generally included covered calls and cash-secured puts; a higher one adds spreads and more. The names and what each includes can change, so read the broker's current options page before you count on a specific trade.

Robinhood is a US broker. As of when we wrote this it didn't offer brokerage accounts in Canada; check the current availability if that's you. Canadians comparing brokers can read selling options on Questrade and selling options on Interactive Brokers.

The order flow for a covered call

1. Hold at least 100 shares of the stock in the account.
2. Open the stock, go to its options, and switch to sell (the app's wording may be "Sell" or "Sell to open").
3. Pick an expiry, then a call strike above the price.
4. The order screen shows the premium per share and the total you'd collect, and notes that the shares will be held against it.
5. Set a limit price. The app may suggest one near the mid; you can edit it.
6. Review and submit.

Once filled, the position shows as a short call next to your shares. If the stock closes above the strike at expiry, the shares are sold at the strike. Our covered call guide covers every outcome, including the losing ones.

The order flow for a cash-secured put

Same path, but you pick a put below the price and sell it. The app holds the full strike value in cash (it calls this collateral). If you don't have the cash, the order won't go through, which is the right behaviour. If the stock closes below the strike at expiry, you buy 100 shares at the strike using that cash. The cash-secured put guide explains what follows.

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

You hold $7,000 cash on Robinhood. A made-up stock, XYZ, trades at $50.

You sell one 30-day put at the $45 strike. The app shows a premium of $1.00, total $100, and tells you $4,500 will be held. You submit at the mid, get filled, and see "+$100" on the screen.

The "+$100" that showed on day one looked the same in every row. The first row is the one the order screen didn't put a number on.

What the simple screen leaves out

Robinhood's order screen is built to be quick. Several things an option seller needs are a tap or two away, or aren't there at all. Before each trade, look up:

• The full options chain, with bid and ask, Open interest and volume for the strike you're choosing. A wide bid–ask gap is a cost the premium number hides. Our guide to reading an options chain shows what to check.
• The earnings date. The app may show it on the stock page, but the order screen doesn't warn you that the expiry sits after a report.
• The ex-dividend date, if you're selling a call on a dividend stock. Early assignment is more likely right before it.
• Delta, as a rough chance the option finishes in the money. The app shows Greeks on the contract's detail page, so open it rather than trading from the list.
• Your total obligation across all open puts, added up by you. The app shows what's held per position, not a single "if everything is assigned" number.

Expiry-day behaviour

Like many brokers, Robinhood may close an option position on expiry day if the account can't cover what assignment would require. For a cash-secured put that cash is already held, so this mostly concerns people using margin. Still, check the current expiry policy in the help pages, and don't rely on the broker to clean up a position you forgot.

Should you sell options on Robinhood?

That's your call, and it depends on what you value. The app makes a covered call or a cash-secured put very quick to place, and it has no base commission on options (regulatory fees still apply; check the current fee page). The quickness is also the risk: a $4,500 commitment should take longer than a coffee order.

If you use it, do the chain, earnings and sizing checks somewhere first, then place the trade. Options approval levels explained covers what the levels mean across brokers.

Questions