Tools for the Professional Options Trader
Options Data
Volatility T Bars - arrow pointing to vertical chart bars
Real-time ASX derivatives data is available to active subscribers providing a full list of Exchange Traded Options in a customisable table format. You can immediately access live market value bid/offer spreads, implied volatilities, historical volatility, Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega and Rho.
You can customise your search. For example, you might sort your Call Options by the amount of volume traded that day, or sort your Put Options by strike price so you can keep an eye out for any bargains in the out-of-the-money Option trades.
Position Analysis Tools
Leading industry Options expert Barry Littler has lent his expertise in the development of a series of fully integrated Option Analysis Tools. This set of tools is a "must have" for any trader contemplating putting their cold, hard cash on the line in the Option markets. Even on the simplest of Option trades you must cross-reference the implied volatility of the Option to the historical volatility of the mother stock. The Market Analyser turns this procedure into a simple routine.
Option trading can become quickly complex. In the most humble of spreads, strangles or straddles the Option Trader is trying to juggle price and volatility risk that is morphing every time the mother stock price moves, volatility shifts or time passes. In this multidimensional trading game the Option Trader has to work out what is the best trade now, then what is the best way to manage that trade.
The Market Analyser has pioneered an Option Analysis Tools package that is conceptually accessible to the average trader. At the same time this analysis package delivers relevant, timely and useful information that can be used to trigger, manage and exit Option trades in a value added manner.
The Options Analysis Tools package achieves this by allowing the trader to view potential or actual Option trades in three dimensional space so that the effects of price and time can immediately be viewed with respect to profit or loss. This contour map of the Option position allows the trader to understand at an intuitive level, the likely risks and returns across the entire term of the Option and to do so at a glance.
The Long Butterfly (As the text books don't show it)
This contour map is integrated with the other visual tools in the Options Analysis Tools package to allow the trader to drill down and understand the various risks in more detail. If you want to know how implied volatility risk (Vega risk), is interacting with changes in the mother stock price (Delta risk), then we can take a horizontal slice off the front of the contour map (just like cutting a cake!) by looking at the Price Risk Chart. The Price Risk Chart shows exactly what can happen to your position today! This includes our proprietary Volatility T Bars that allow you to assess how your Vega and Delta risks are interacting right now. Many novices don't understand how their Vega risk changes continually as the mother stock price moves. With the Market Analyser Option Price Chart you can easily assess how your Vega is changing and incorporate this important part of trading into your initial trade design and your ongoing trade management.
If you want to look more specifically at your time decay (Theta), then look at the Time Sensitivity Chart. Often your volatility exposure changes as time goes by. Again, with the Option Analysis Tools what used to be hard becomes easy. Just overlay the proprietary Volatility T Bars onto your Time Sensitivity Chart, and you will have an easy and intuitive visual on how time is affecting your exposure to implied volatility. For experienced Option Traders, it is this factor that often has a heavy influence on the timing of exit strategies.