Manage options orders

After placing an options order, you'll need to know how to view and track the order, change or cancel it if necessary, deal with exercises and assignments, and more.

Note:
Please keep in mind that options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For more information, see Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options.

View open options orders
View and track options orders
Change or cancel an options order
Understand exercises and assignments
Understand options expiration dates
Get trade confirmations
Inquire about my trade
Know how proceeds from a sale are processed

View and track options orders

To view your orders, simply:

Click View Orders under the Trading & Portfolios tab.
If you have multiple E*TRADE accounts and would like to view orders in an account not currently displayed, select that account via the Account pull-down menu. (You will not see this menu if you have only one account.)
By default, your open orders will be displayed, with the most recent orders appearing near the top. To find orders that are no longer open, click one of the order status links across the top of the screen (i.e. Executed, Canceled, Expired, etc.).
You can pinpoint particular orders by entering a date range or specific ticker symbol. For more advanced search options, be sure the View Orders screen is showing in its expanded format. If you see the link Expand Search Criteria on the right side of the screen, the expanded format is not showing; click the link to see all search options.
If you'd like to zoom in to get more specific information about a particular order, click the link for that order in the Order # column. This will display the order details table – a group of additional rows with detailed information about the order. To collapse the order details table, click the X in the upper right-hand corner of the table, or click the order number again.
To change or cancel open orders, click Change or Cancel in the Related Links column. However, please note that certain types of conditional orders – contingent orders and order groups – cannot be changed; they must be canceled and re-entered.

Notes:
Please keep the following issues in mind for trailing stop orders:

For open trailing stop orders, the Price column will display your current stop price.
When a trailing stop order has been executed or is no longer active, the Price column will display the initial stop price.
In the order details table for trailing stop orders (accessible by clicking the link in the Order # column), you'll find additional data for Initial Stop Price and Trailing Stop Parameter. When the order has executed, the order details table will also show Trigger Price and Trigger Date/Time.

Change or cancel an options order

If your options order has not yet executed, you can submit a request to change or cancel the order.

Here are a few examples of the elements of an options order you can request to change:

Number of contracts
Price type (cannot be changed for trailing stop orders)
Term
Price or value
All-or-none

You cannot change the order type or identifying information for an option (expiration, strike, etc.). If you need to make this sort of a change, you should request to cancel the order completely and, on receipt of a successful cancellation, place a new order.

Here's how to submit a request to change or cancel your order:

Go to the View Orders page.
If the order you're looking for was made in an account not currently displayed, at Account, select that account.
Locate the order you'd like to change or cancel. For more advanced search options, be sure the View Orders screen is showing in its expanded format. If you see the link Expand Search Criteria on the right side of the screen, the expanded format is not showing; click the link to see all search options.
Use the links in the Related Links column on the far right side of the row for the particular order:
- Click the Change link to modify your order. You'll then see your order information displayed. Make changes to the order. Click Preview Order, review your modified order information, and then click Place Order if the information is correct.
  
  Note:
  If the change involves a complex options order (such as a buy-write or spread), check both legs of the order carefully before completing the change process.
- Click the Cancel link to place a cancellation request. You'll then see your order information displayed. Click Cancel Order.
  
  Note:
  When canceling a complex options order (such as a buy-write or spread), both legs of the order will be displayed. Canceling the order will effectively cancel both legs at the same time. You cannot cancel one leg of a complex order without canceling the other.

Also, please keep in mind:

All change or cancellation requests are subject to prior execution of your order and are not guaranteed. We'll send you an Alert letting you know exactly what occurred with your order.
Change requests submitted outside of market hours can be accepted before the next regular market session, but will not be confirmed until then. It is possible to have a change request canceled at market open when additional order verification is completed.
Requesting a change to an existing order results in a new order number. If you request to change an order that has already been partially filled, you may be charged a separate commission for the changed order.
Certain types of conditional orders – contingent orders and order groups (One-Cancels-All, One-Triggers-All, and One-Triggers-OCO) – cannot be changed; instead, they must be canceled and then re-entered with the revised instructions. Individual trailing stop orders can be changed.

The following table shows change or cancellation issues specific to certain order types:

Order Type	Change/Cancellation Issues
Market	Market orders can execute very quickly. For this reason, you will generally be unable to change or cancel market orders during regular market hours. If you place a market order outside of regular market hours, you should submit any change or cancellation requests at least 15 minutes prior to the open of the market.
Trailing stop	You can submit a request to change any trailing stop order as long as the order hasn't yet been triggered. Orders that have already been sent to the market center and/or executed cannot be changed. For open trailing stop orders, you are able to change the number of shares to be traded, the value or price of the stop, and the term of your order.
Immediate or cancel or fill or kill	Immediate-or-cancel and fill-or-kill orders are intended to execute immediately or be canceled. For this reason, you will be unable to change such orders during regular market hours.

Understand exercises and assignments

Options will either be exercised/assigned or expire on the expiration date. For equity options, exercise or assignment results in the purchase or sale of the underlying shares represented by the contract(s). Exercise or assignment of index options results in an exchange of cash based on the strike price of the option.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about exercises and assignments:

Equity options $0.01 or more in the money will be automatically exercised for you unless you instruct us not to exercise them. For example, a September $25 call will be automatically exercised if the underlying security's closing price is $25.01 or higher at expiration. If the closing price is below $25.01, you would need to E*TRADE provide E*TRADE with specific instructions for exercising the option. You would also need to E*TRADE provide E*TRADE with specific instructions if the closing price is higher than $25.01 at expiration and you do not wish to exercise the call option.
Index options $0.01 or more in the money will be automatically exercised for you unless you instruct us not to exercise them.
Options that are out of the money will expire worthless.
You may request to exercise American style options anytime prior to expiration. A request not to exercise options may be made only on the last trading day prior to expiration.

You must enter exercise and do-not-exercise instructions through the E*TRADE platform before 4:30 PM CT / 5:30 PM ET on the last trading day prior to expiration. You may also call an E*TRADE broker for assistance at 1-800-ETRADE-1. Requests received by telephone are processed on a best-efforts basis. If you fail to provide sufficient time for a broker to assist, your instructions may not be entered by the cut-off time. You won't be charged our normal fee for broker-assisted trades, but the regular options commission will apply.

When equity options are exercised or assigned, you'll receive an Alert message letting you know. You can also check View Orders to see which stock you bought or sold, the number of shares, and the strike price.

Notes:

If you do not have sufficient purchasing power in your account to accept the assignment or exercise, your expiring options positions may be closed, without notification, on the last trading day for the specific options series. Additionally, if your expiring position is not closed and you do not have sufficient purchasing power, E*TRADE may submit do-not-exercise instructions without notification.
Find out more about options expiration dates.

Understand options expiration dates

Monthly options contracts expire the Saturday after the third Friday of each month. At that time, in-the-money contracts that meet the conditions set forth in the Automatic exercises and assignments section below are automatically exercised. The last day you can trade options differs depending on the options type.

The last day you can trade:

Equity options and narrow-based index options:
The last business day prior to the expiration date
Broad-based index options:
The Thursday prior to the expiration date (because settlement of broad-based options is calculated on the Friday prior to the expiration date)

Automatic exercises and assignments:

Equity options $0.01 or more in the money and index options $0.01 or more in the money will be automatically exercised for you unless you instruct us not to exercise them.

Equity options that are less than $0.01 in the money and index options that are less than $0.01 in the money will not be automatically exercised unless you instruct us to exercise them.

Remember that when you have an equity option that is exercised or assigned and not covered by shares of stock, you must have sufficient purchasing power in your account to make or take delivery of the shares.

You must enter exercise and do-not-exercise instructions through the E*TRADE platform before 4:30 PM CT / 5:30 PM ET on the last trading day prior to expiration. You may also call an E*TRADE broker for assistance at 1-800-ETRADE-1. Requests received by telephone are processed on a best-efforts basis. If you fail to provide sufficient time for a broker to assist, your instructions may not be entered by the cut-off time.

Notes:

If you do not have sufficient purchasing power to accept the assignment or exercise, your expiring options positions may be closed, without notification, on the last trading day for the specific options series. Additionally, if your expiring position is not closed and you do not have sufficient purchasing power, E*TRADE may submit do-not-exercise instructions without notification.
You may request to exercise American style options anytime prior to expiration. A request not to exercise options may be made only on the last trading day prior to expiration.
For additional information, see Understand exercises and assignments.

Get trade confirmations

Here are a few of the ways you can receive trade confirmations.

Find out more...

Know how proceeds from a sale are processed

For options transactions, settlement occurs on the trade date plus one business day. For example, if you sold-to-close a long options position on a Friday, trade settlement would normally occur the following Monday.

Unsettled proceeds from your options transactions will be credited to your brokerage account the same day.