Best cheap stocks for options trading
Top sub-$20 stocks for options trading — covered calls, CSPs, the wheel — accessible for small accounts. Liquid chains, real underlying businesses.
Sub-$20 stocks are the entry point for small-account options income. Each contract requires only $1,500-2,000 of collateral on a CSP, meaning a $5K account can run 2-3 positions simultaneously. The list below avoids penny stocks (too illiquid for options) and biotech lottery tickets (too event-driven) — these are actual businesses with weekly option series.
The list
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Around $17. Fintech with real revenue. High IV, real business. The favorite small-account income vehicle.
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Ford at $11-14. Cyclical but established. 4-5% dividend. Wheel-friendly.
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AT&T at $18-22. High dividend (5%+). Income trifecta candidate (premium + dividend + cap).
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Bank of America in the $35-40 range — above the $20 cutoff but close enough to mention. Wheel-friendly bank with dividend.
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Palantir in the $14-25 range. Very high IV. Lottery-ticket flavor but real business growth.
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Chinese EV at $5-8. Extremely high IV. Speculative wheel only — don't go in if you wouldn't hold the stock.
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Meme territory at $4-8. Only sell CSPs at strikes you'd genuinely own at.
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Same as AMC — meme + high IV. For aggressive small-account speculation only.
Run the math live
The reasoning above is qualitative. For the quantitative side, click any ticker symbol to see live yields, or use the calculators directly:
- Live opportunities — top yields across the full universe
- Covered call calculator
- Cash-secured put calculator
- Strike screener
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Which is the single best stock from this list?
There's no single answer — it depends on your account size and risk tolerance. For small accounts, focus on the lower-priced names. For larger accounts, the more liquid mega-cap names typically win on consistency. Run the math on each in the linked calculator before committing.
How often is this list updated?
This list reflects analyst judgment as of 2026. The underlying tickers don't change frequently — businesses with deep liquid option chains stay that way. But IV regimes do shift; check the live opportunities dashboard for current premiums.
Where do I see live premiums for these tickers?
Click any ticker symbol to open its per-ticker dashboard with the live option chain ranked by annualized yield. Or use the live opportunities dashboard to compare across all 80+ tracked tickers in real time.