Best options trading platform for a long-only investor who only writes covered calls
Sympathetic to anyone in this thread because I was here a year ago. Long-only investor, hold most positions multi-year, started writing covered calls to add some income on top. Spent three months figuring out which platform actually fit my use case. Most "best options trading platform" articles assume you're a full-time trader running multi-leg strategies. The covered-call-only use case is underserved.
What I actually needed:
A broker that didn't charge per-leg commissions on simple calls
Decent options chain UI for picking strikes
Some way to manage the operational overhead without it eating my week
What I tested:
Tastytrade. Best chain UI of the bunch, low commissions, designed for active options traders. Overkill for covered calls only but the platform doesn't punish you for being light.
Tradestation. Slightly clunkier UI but solid for someone who wants charting alongside the options screen.
Tradier. Cleanest minimal interface, lowest cost structure for low-frequency. Best fit for true buy-and-hold-plus-covered-calls.
Schwab/TOS. Heavy platform, full-featured. Probably more than a covered-call writer needs but if you already have your portfolio there the inertia argument is real.
What I ended up doing on the operational side: my covered calls were taking maybe 3 hours a week of position management which felt like a lot for what was a small income layer on top of long holds. Looked at automation tools to handle the open-and-close cycle. The category is small but real for options-specific automation. Option Alpha has free access through Tradier or Tradestation broker partnerships, which is the most cost-effective entry. TradersPost is a different model (signal connector, not bot builder, you'd need a TradingView setup or similar).
For a long-only investor writing covered calls only, the math on automation is:
Account size matters. If your covered-call sleeve is small, the monthly cost of a paid platform doesn't pencil. Free tier through Tradier on Option Alpha is the only one that obviously works for small.
Strategy complexity matters. If you're rolling on every challenge, automation pays for itself. If you're just letting calls expire worthless and writing new ones, you don't need it.
Bottom line: Tastytrade for the chain UI, Tradier if you want the Option Alpha free automation path, and only consider paid automation if your covered-call sleeve is large enough to justify it. For most long-only investors writing one or two calls a month, the answer is just learn the chain in your existing broker. NFA.