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I have an in-the-money call option that expires shortly and I see further upward potential of the underlying stock, so I decide to roll over to a longer expiration date.

Now, if I choose to roll up to a higher strike price, say 5 dollars up, I can lock in some profit. When I submitted the order to the market, I saw Ask/Bid was -8.3/0.5, I asked -8 and the order was accepted. My question is, can the order be filled(theoretically), and can I get more than the rolling-up difference?

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When placing spread orders to roll a position, never trade at the market's price when the bid/ask spread is that wide. The midpoint is a reasonable place to expect a fill and I would start start working the order at an even better price.

Suppose the quote for a diagonal roll of a long call (up and out) is $3.25 x $3.75. Selling the spread for $3.25 means that you would be selling the call at a lower strike and buying a call at a higher strike for a later expiration for a credit of $3.25 if you traded at the market. $3.50 would be a reasonable expectation for a fill.

It's not clear from your description what your quote of -8.3/0.5 represents. Is that the market quote for the spread order to roll your long call up and out? While quotes are usually positive (-8.3 ?), custom combo orders can be negative (and orders where the legs have very wide B/A spreads) so more details are necessary. If you want an accurate answer, you should provide the bid/ask quotes for the two options that you are looking at.

And no, you will not get more than the strike price difference when rolling up. Not even the strike price difference. And if rolling to a later expiration, it will be much less since you'll be paying more time premium for the longer dated call.

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  • The call option I currently have is deep in the money, and its intrinsic value is about 11 dollars, so if I roll up and out 5 dollars, I still receive money. That's why the Ask price is negative. As you said, I can't get more than 5 dollars, so my order will never be filled unless I change it to -4.9, for example, Right? The one I have is trading 10.9/14.0 at the moment(I bought at 5.5 a few weeks ago), which expires tomorrow. The one I want to roll up to is trading at 5.2/10 with 5 dollars higher strike price and two months expiration. –
    – StopBuy
    Jul 15, 2021 at 16:25
  • I have no clue how you broker presents quotes but typically, the quote for rolling for a credit is positive. When you sell at a negative price, it means that you are paying a debit. If your current long call is 10.90/14.00 and the desired new position is 5.20/10.00 then a roll at the market would be for a credit of 90 cents (sell at 10.90 and buy at 10.00). With your quotes, the diagonal spread would have a quote of .90/8.80 and it would be foolish to trade at the market. That's giving money away.
    – Bob Baerker
    Jul 15, 2021 at 17:28
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Your broker must get you the best possible price. Hence you might end up getting more than you asked for. However, the options market is thinly traded and your broker is going to let the other players know about your order. Those players will tend not to pay for more than you asked for. So if your original order is inside the bid ask spread, it is very unlikely you will get a better fill then you asked for.

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  • If you place an order inside the bid/ask spread, you become the bid (or the ask), depending on whether you are buying or selling. And it is untrue that if you split the bid/ask that you are "very unlikely you will get a better fill then you asked for". Spreads often fill between the B/A of the legs. There are many stocks whose options are heavily traded and very liquid with many willing to trade in the middle.
    – Bob Baerker
    Jul 15, 2021 at 19:15

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