OptionTrader

OptionTrader is a robust trading tool that lets you view and trade options on an underlying. Display option chains on the underlying based on the criteria you define, including strike, expiry and exchange, and view the Greeks for each option. Use the Strategy Builder to create multi-leg combination orders by clicking displayed option chains.

To open OptionTrader, please take the steps outlined below.

1. For Mosaic - Click the New Window button in the top left corner and select OptionTrader

   For Classic TWS - Click the Trading Tools button across the top of the page and select OptionTrader

2. The OptionTrader opens displaying the linked/selected underlying. The toolbar,statistics panel and buttons panel can be hidden using the toggle buttons in the top right corner. Panels can also be contracted/expanded using the down/up arrows. The different sections are identified in the image above which corresponds to the following list:

   

   1. The toolbar. Hide by clicking the "T" in the toggle set.

   2. The toggle set. Display and hide features by clicking the buttons. "T" controls the toolbar. "B" controls the Buttons panel, and "S" controls the Statistics panel.

   3. The Quote Panel which shows the underlying asset. You can create orders on the underlying by clicking the Bid or Ask from the Quote Panel. New orders will be displayed in the Orders tab of the Trading panel.

   4. The Statistics panel, which displays option-related statistical data.

   5. The Buttons panel, which holds custom action buttons that you can use to initiate common actions. Once you arm the panel, any button that you had defined for instantaneous transmit in the button panel will be identified by an asterisk (*) next to the button name.

   6. The Trading Panel which includes tabbed pages for orders, activity log, filled trades for the day on that underlying, the Portfolio for the underlying, and the Strategy Builder.

   7. The Strategy Builder, which lets you create multi-leg complex spread orders without leaving the OptionTrader.

   8. Option chains for the underlying. These can be loaded using Tabbed View (shown) or List View, which shows all Last Trading Days in a list rather than as tabbed section.

   9. Load My Chains will load option chains for positions in your portfolio.

For more information on loading option chains and configuring buttons and panels, see the TWS Users' Guide topics.

You can see option chains in the OptionTrader, or download chains on their own using the Option Chain tool.

To load Option Chains, please take the steps outlined below.

1. For Mosaic - Click the New Window button in the top left corner and select Option Chain

   For Classic TWS - Click the Trading Tools button across the top of the page and select Option Chain

   

2. Open the Strategy Builder to easily create a multi-leg complex spread.

   

3. Click a bid or ask price to generate the trade in the Strategy Builder.

Click to view a short video on Accessing Options Chains.

Use the Strategy Builder tab within OptionTrader to define and submit complex multi-leg orders that use stock and option legs, based on the current OptionTrader underlying.

To create a combo order please take the steps outlined below.

1. Select Strategy Builder from the Trading tabset.

   

2. Add legs by clicking the desired option in the Option Chains area.

   

3. Click on the left "Call" side to add calls. Click on the right "Put" side to add puts.

4. Click the Bid price to add a Sell leg; click the Ask price to add a Buy leg.

5. You can quickly modify the Action, Last Trading Day, Strike or Put/Call designation using the drop-down arrow in the Combo window.

6. Use the optional feature buttons as needed:

   • Use "Add Stock" to add a stock leg.

   • Use "Make Delta Neutral" to add a stock leg with the delta quantity based on the system generated delta.

   • Use "Add to Quote Panel" to set up the quote line for transmission at a later time.

   • Use "Transmit" to submit the combo order using the order parameters shown.

Making the Combo Neutral

1. Click Make Delta Neutral at the top of the Strategy Builder window.

   

2. The stock leg is added at the bottom of the window, and the hedging quantity is generated automatically using the system calculated delta. If you modify the delta the stock leg quantity will change, and if you modify the stock leg quantity the delta value will update.

3. Modify the prices if needed. The Net Option Price is the limit price for the combo's option legs only. The Stock Price is displayed separately.

4. Choose to Transmit the delta neutral combo, or add the combo line to the Quote Panel.

   

Many of the trading tools provide a configurable Buttons panel that you can elect to hide or display, and which lets you create new and edit buttons that perform the defined trading action with a single click.

To configure the buttons panel, please take the steps outlined below.

1. From within the current tool, click the configure wheel icon to open Global Configuration for the tool.

   

2. Select Buttons in the left pane.

3. The existing buttons and their actions are displayed at the top of the page.

4. Click New to create a new button/action, or select a button and click Edit to modify an existing button.

5. Use the Button Appearance section to change the label, the text color and the background color.

6. Select an action to associate with the button using the Select Action dropdown.

7. Fine-tune the action by entering data in the Customize Action area. For example, for the action Increase price or size, you can specify the price or size field to which the button applies, and set the interval by which to increase the field value.

Note: If you check the instantaneous transmit feature, the button will display an asterisk next to its name in the Buttons panel.

An optional Statistics panel displays option-related statistical data for contracts with a stock underlying. If you do not see this option populating, please select the S button in the top right corner.

You can elect to display the following statistics:

Use the OptionTrader configuration page to define basic settings, order presets, hotkeys, buttons and to control the visibility of column fields.

To define OptionTrader configuration settings please take the steps outlined below.

1. Click the Configure wheel icon in the top right corner of the OptionTrader window

   

2. The Global Configuration window will appear allowing you to set parameters. These have been listed below.

   

   Settings

   Components

   • Display menu - Check to see the OptionTrader menu.

   • Display or hide toolbar - Check to see the Option Trader toolbar.

   • Display Quote panel - check to display the Quote Panel, which displays a single line of market data for the asset. You can create an order from the Quote panel by click the bid or ask price.

   • Display user-configurable buttons - hide or display buttons you create using the Buttons panel.

   • Display or hide Statistics - a configurable, optional panel that shows option-related data and statistics.

   Miscellaneous

   • Jump to order- automatically puts the cursor on the newly created order in the Orders panel.

   • Allow multiple untransmitted orders - if checked, you can create more than one order in the Underlying panel. Otherwise, only one untransmitted order is allowed.

   • Show all orders - check to view all orders for the underlying.

   • Show option prices in volatility - check to view volatility instead of dollar prices.

   • Show last trading day headers - check to sort option chains using a single header for the Last Trading Day followed by a list of strike prices. This helps save room in the option chain Description column.

   • Link option chains to windows groups - If checked, the Mosaic Option Chains window (not full OptionTrader) will be linked to the windows group allowing selected option chain contracts to act as the source and change focus in all grouped windows.

   • Auto refresh chains after updating filters - If checked, option chains update immediately when any filter criteria (strike, right etc) are changed. If unchecked, you must manually update chains using the Load Chains button.

   • Order Ref - A user-defined reference name to help identify where the order originated.

   • Order Presets - OptionTrader-specific default order settings. The OptionTrader preset is linked to the selected Order Ref. above. Create a preset for both Stock and Options with the same title and link to the Order Ref by selecting it or by creating a new preset. These presets will control the default order parameters for any stock and options orders created from the OptionTrader. If you do not create a stock preset for the OptionTrader, the default stock preset will be used for stock orders created in the OptionTrader.

   Auto-Loading

   OptionTrader automatically loads option chains based on the criteria you set in this area.

   • Assume underlying is a SMART stock - Uses Smart instead of a specific exchange.

   • Quick stock entry - Check to auto load stock and bring up the exchange dialog immediately when you enter an underlying.

   • Load the closest N strikes to the money - Choose a number to limit how many options load in the chain.

   • Load the nearest N expiries - Only shows you those options with the N closest expiries.

   • Load specific months - Specify the exact months' options you want to see.

   • Auto-resize columns on load - When checked, data columns will resize appropriately to accommodate revised data.