Best Options Trading Platforms in the UK

The best options trading platforms in the UK include Saxo, Spreadex, and familiar brokerages Interactive Brokers and Charles Schwab. 

Numerous brokerages cater to clients in the UK. These platforms are known for their user-friendly interfaces combined with advanced features and technical tools. Some also offer a superior range of options and sophisticated functionalities. Most come with free paper trading and educational materials to perfect your strategy. Read on for the best options trading platform UK of this year. 

Quick Look at the Best Options Trading Platform in the UK:

• Best for Worldwide Diversification: Interactive Brokers
• Best for New Investors: Charles Schwab
• Best for Simplified Options: tastytrade
• Best for Pattern Day Trading: TradeZero
• Best for Good Options Execution: TradeStation
• Best for International Brokerage: Saxo
• Best for CFDs: Plus500
• Best for Copying Trades: AvaTrade
• Best for Customized Platform: Spreadex

10 Best UK Options Trading Platforms

Where can I trade options in the UK? Here are the 10 best UK options trading platforms. Whether you're looking for the best online broker or the best UK options broker, the brokerages below can help. 

1. Best for Worldwide Diversification: Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is a comprehensive trading platform with access to over 150 global markets. You can trade a variety of stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, and fund trading. With the IBKR Lite pricing plan, you won't have to pay a commission on any U.S. stock purchase or sale.

IBKR is geared primarily toward experienced traders, but you can use the free paper trading platform and educational resources to build your trading skills and perfect your technique. It's one of the best international brokers for various types of investments. 

Why We Picked It: Interactive Brokers' low fees, excellent educational resources, and some of the best-in-class trading tools make it an excellent all-around choice. Low options fees also make it an all-around favorite. 

2. Best for New Investors: Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade in November 2019, growing its client base and AUM and acquiring its excellent trading platform. As a trader with Schwab, you can choose from various investment products, including stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), money market funds, fixed-income products, options, futures, insurance, and annuities. 

Charles Schwab is famous as a full-service brokerage but offers minimal self-directed accounts. Making it a great choice for beginners. You'll get access to various investor resources that can help you assess investment choices. Based on a $0.65 per contract fee, Scwab's base options commission is free. 

Why We Picked It: Charles Schwab is not just one of the world's largest and most trusted brokerages; it's also known for low fees, no minimums, and good customer support. 

3. Best for Simplified Options: tastytrade

tastytrade is an award-winning options platform designed to empower your trading goals. It's known for low commissions starting at $1.00 per contract to open, $0 to close. Plus, commissions are capped at $10.00 per leg for equity and ETF options.

You can take advantage of Tasty Trade's liquidity rating indicator to find efficient options markets and trade at fair prices. You can track your equity and ETF options position's progress from open to close without a spreadsheet and use the analysis tab to gauge the profit and loss potential of options before you trade.

Why We Picked It: Compared to a 50 options lot, tastytrade's prices are lower than Fidelity, E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, or Schwab. 

4. Best for Pattern Day Traders: TradeZero

TradeZero is known for commission-free stock trading, free limit orders, and higher day trading leverage. It offers 24/7 customer support and access to four different state-of-the-art trading software programs.

You can access free limit orders on TradeZero if the symbols trade on NYSE, Amex, or Nasdaq and are greater than $1. However, a limit order must not create an immediate match and must be an order of 200 shares or greater. Paid orders are just $0.005 per share, or $0.99 USD flat fee for orders less than 200 shares. 

Why We Picked It: TradeZero lets you access your online stock trading account with ZeroMobile. It claims to be one of the best online brokerages for pattern day traders, and you can open a day trading account for as little as $500.

5. Best for Good Options Execution: TradeStation

TradeStation is known for its advanced options trading tools and reliable execution. It aims to give traders the ultimate experience. You can open individual and joint accounts, IRA accounts, or entity accounts. 

TradeStation points out that options strategies aren’t risk-free. However, with a professional trading platform, you can check spreads, scalping, and perform statistical arbitrage and mean reversion to better analyze opportunities. Get real-time data and charts, and easily manage outstanding orders and market positions. TradeStation charges $0 commission plus $0.60 per contract on options.

Why We Picked It: With no account minimum, competitive options contract fees, and a good trading platform, TradeStation is a solid all-around choice. It's worth trying out the platform to understand trading opportunities. 

6. Best for International Brokerage: Saxo

Saxo began in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1992 with a vision to make the global financial markets accessible to more people. Its first online trading platform in Europe launched in 1998. Saxo is known for providing professional-grade tools and easy access to global financial markets.

Saxo is designated as a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) and has an investment-grade rating from S&P. Additionally, it's a well-capitalized Danish (EU) bank with more than USD 100 billion in client assets. Saxo's commissions on stock options start from EUR 0.75. Saxo's strategy builder and customizable options chain with Greeks and volatilities.

Why We Picked It: Saxo is a well-reputed European bank that gives investors access to 20 exchanges available across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

7. Best for CFDs: Plus500

Plus500 is known for options and futures trading. It allows you to trade options in various markets. You can place call and put options on Germany 40; oil and Meta are available for trading with leverage. You can also trade volatility with flexible option trading CFDs (contract for difference).

Plus500's platform allows traders to speculate on the price movement of options without owning the actual asset. It is known for its user-friendly interface and has risk management tools for traders of all levels.

Why We Picked It: Plus500 offers excellent options, low prices, and low account minimums. You can trade on options with up to 1:5 leverage and start with as little as £100 to gain the effect of £500 capital.

8. Best for Copying Trades: AvaTrade

For a brokerage closer to home, AvaTrade is a privately held online forex and CFD (contract for difference) broker founded in 2006 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Its innovative and reliable environment is known for best-in-class personal service and uncompromising integrity and is one of the best stock brokers in Ireland. AvaTrade is registered with nine regulations across six continents.

AvaTrade's unique interactive page lets you structure any FX or Option trade. You can also get streaming prices for 40+ currency pairs and gold. You can also copy trade with AvaSocial, ZuluTrade, DupliTrade, and the MQL5 Signal service.

AvaTrade is compensated for its services through the Buy/Sell spread. When you open a position, you effectively pay the spread. AvaTrade also charges an inactivity fee after three months without use of £50 on a GBP account.

Why We Picked It: AvaTrade is an excellent platform to start learning trades and to mimic skilled traders. 

9. Best for Customized Platform: Spreadex

Spreadex offers a fully customisable, fast and reliable proprietary platform available on the web, iPad, iPhone and Android for both new and experienced traders. You can benefit from trade spread bets and CFDs from one account. It offers advanced charting tools with pattern recognition and pro trend lines.

Spreadex's prices vary by stock location:

• UK 100 Options: Spreads start from 4.8 pts, minimum stake £1/pt
• Germany 40 Options: Spreads start from  6pts, minimum stake £1/pt
• SPX 500 Options: Spreads start from 1 pts, minimum stake £1/pt
• U.S. Tech 100 Options: Spreads start from 8 pts, minimum stake £1/pt
• Wall Street Options: Spreads start from 40 pts, minimum stake £1/pt

Why We Picked It: It's known for fast, fair, award-winning execution with advanced orders. You can also set up price Alerts by text, push or email

How Does Options Trading Work in the UK?

Options trading in the UK gives traders the "option" to speculate on whether the price of an underlying market will increase or decrease. You can trade options with any underlying market, including stock, commodities, currencies, or indices. 

You can trade options that are traded on exchanges as standardized agreements. Each contract has a strike price, premium, lot size, and expiration date.

Here's how to trade options in the UK, in just a few simple steps:

1. Create a trading account 
2. Fund the trading account
3. Choose an expiration date 
4. Decide whether to buy or sell calls or puts 
5. Open and monitor your position 
6. Track the markets and your position
7. Consider whether you want to speculate on rising and falling options prices through spread bets and CFDs. 

In any case, be sure not to overleverage and carefully understand the risks and practice your strategy before options trading. 

Pros and Cons of Options Trading 

There are pros and cons to options trading, including: 

How to Choose the Best Options Trading Platform

To choose the best options trading platforms, consider: 

• Fee and commissions: Fees and commissions can eat into your returns, especially with options, making this one of the most important factors. 
• Available options products: Brokerages that offer options don't necessarily offer options on all products, limiting the markets you can trade in. 
• User interface and ease of use: You want a brokerage with an app or web interface that's easy to use. 
• Research and analysis tools: Whether you're a new trader or an experienced investor, research and analysis tools can improve your trading strategy. Try out different platforms to find the right fit for your trading style. 
• Education resources: Look to see whether the brokerage offers blogs, video tutorials, or an active community, especially for new investors. 
• Execution speed and reliability: Execution speed is essential for trading timing and capitalizing on small market opportunities. Most of the brokerages above specifically note fast execution speeds. 
• Customer support: Whether the platform isn't working or you need help executing a trade, look for brokerages with excellent customer support including 24/7 chat or phone support. 

Final Tips on Choosing a UK Options Trading Platform

The best UK trading platforms offer a mix of market access, reliability, security, and advanced charting and analysis tools. Carefully compare brokerages for your trading goals to determine the best fit. For example, if you prefer a UK-based trading platform, AvaTrade is your best option, while Saxo is a good EU-based brokerage. You can also find some of the best stock brokers, learn to trade U.S. stocks from the UK, or consider the all-around best online brokerages in the UK. 

Frequently Asked Questions