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Selling covered calls and puts on Schwab and thinkorswim

Schwab approves accounts for options in levels, and thinkorswim is the platform where most of its option sellers work. Here's how a covered call or a cash-secured put goes through, and what the roll tools do and don't decide for you.

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

The short answer

Yes. A Schwab account approved for options can sell covered calls at the lowest level and cash-secured puts at the next one up. The trades can be placed on Schwab's website, its app, or thinkorswim, the trading platform Schwab took on when it combined with TD Ameritrade. Both halves of the wheel strategy fit.

What follows is what's generally true and stable. Level names, fee amounts and menu positions change; where that's likely, the page says to check the current help pages. It isn't an endorsement.

The approval levels

Schwab's Options approval levels have followed the usual shape: a base level for covered calls, a level above it that adds buying options and selling cash-secured puts, then spreads, then uncovered trades. You apply per account, and IRAs are capped below the margin-based levels. Read the current options application to see exactly what each level includes today.

For the wheel you need the level that allows short puts backed by cash. If you were approved years ago for covered calls only, you'll need to request the upgrade.

Placing the trade on thinkorswim

thinkorswim shows the full Options chain with bid, ask, volume, Open interest, and columns you can add for Delta, Theta, implied volatility and probability figures. That's more than a seller needs, and it's useful to have the key ones on one screen.

1. Open the Trade tab, enter the symbol, and expand the expiry you want.
2. For a covered call, click the bid on a call strike above the price. That builds a sell-to-open order. For a cash-secured put, click the bid on a put strike below the price.
3. The order appears in the order entry panel. Set the limit price, typically near the mid, and the time in force.
4. Confirm. The confirmation screen shows the premium and the buying-power effect.

The same trade on Schwab's plainer website ticket works with "Sell to open" as the action. Either route places the same order.

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

You hold 100 shares of a made-up stock, XYZ, bought at $50. You sell one 30-day call at the $55 strike for $1.00 on thinkorswim, collecting $100.

The platform's probability columns would have put a number on the chance of the top row. They wouldn't have made it smaller. The covered call guide walks through each row.

The roll tools, and what they don't decide

thinkorswim lets you build a roll as a single order: from the position, choose the roll option, pick the new expiry and strike, and the platform creates one ticket that buys back the old option and sells the new one. You see the net credit or debit before you send it. Schwab's other platforms have offered similar features; check the current help pages for where each lives.

What the tool doesn't do is tell you whether rolling is a good idea. A roll that pushes a losing put out a month for a small credit still leaves you short a put on a stock that's falling. The tool makes the mechanics easy. The decision, roll or take the shares, is covered in rolling options explained and stays yours.

Fees

Schwab has charged a per-contract fee on options with no base commission, plus regulatory fees. Exercise and assignment fee policies have changed across the industry, so look up the current schedule. For cheap options the per-contract fee is a real share of the premium; see options fees for sellers.

What to check before each trade

• Earnings date. thinkorswim marks upcoming earnings on the chart and in the chain's expiry headers; still confirm it on the company's investor page.
• Ex-dividend date for covered calls.
• Spread width on the chosen strike. The platform shows the mid, but the fill is what counts.
• Total put obligation across open positions. The buying-power figure in a margin account understates it; add the full strike values yourself.

Schwab and Canadians

Schwab's US brokerage serves US residents. Canadians can read selling options on Questrade or selling options on Interactive Brokers.

Questions