Strategy Guides
In-depth guides to options trading strategies with real examples and scoring data. Learn how to run the wheel strategy, iron condors, covered calls, credit spreads, and more.
Activity Pillar: Is Something Unusual Happening?
Learn how 9 activity checks detect unusual options activity, volume surges, OI build-up, and why knowing when NOT to trade is an edge.
Liquidity Pillar: The Hidden Tax Destroying Your Trades
Understand bid-ask spreads, slippage, order book depth, and why poor liquidity turns winning trades into losers.
Sentiment Pillar: What Are Options Traders Actually Betting?
Go beyond put/call ratios. Learn how 7 sentiment checks reveal flow direction, moneyness breakdown, and smart money positioning.
Timing Pillar: Is Now the Right Time to Trade?
Master event proximity, theta decay curves, IV crush, term structure, and gamma risk to time your options entries perfectly.
Value Pillar: Are Your Options Priced Right?
Learn how the Value pillar analyzes IV Rank, IV/HV ratio, term structure, and skew to determine if options are cheap or expensive.
Options Trading Blog
Weekly market analysis, strategy breakdowns, and data-driven options insights. IV trends, gamma exposure patterns, and scoring analysis across 5,900+ stocks.
Strategies to Explore: How Our Scoring System Surfaces Favorable Options Setups
See how AAPL's strategy bias shifted from Wheel Strategy to Bull Call Spread over a weekend — and why premarket updates gave traders a head start before the +7.2% rally.
How to Trade Options Around Earnings: A Complete Guide
A real case study from January 2026 earnings season showing how the 5-pillar scoring system evaluated TSLA, META, MSFT, and IBM before and after earnings.
The 5 Questions We Ask Before Every Options Trade
Most options expire worthless because people ask the wrong questions. Here's the 5-pillar framework that evaluates opportunity quality, not just direction.
Options Trading Glossary
Key options trading terms and definitions. Greeks (delta, theta, gamma, vega), strategies (iron condor, wheel, spreads), and metrics (IV rank, put/call ratio, open interest).
0DTE
Zero days to expiration — options expiring the same day. Extremely high gamma and theta make them fast-moving and risky.
Assignment
When a short option seller is obligated to fulfill the contract — delivering shares (calls) or buying shares (puts).
ATM Spread
The bid-ask spread of at-the-money options. A key measure of execution cost — narrower is better for traders.
Bear Put Spread
A vertical spread strategy that profits from moderate price decreases. Buy a higher strike put and sell a lower strike put to reduce cost and define risk.
Bid-Ask Spread
The difference between the highest price a buyer will pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (ask). Wider spreads mean higher trading costs.
Block Trades
Large option orders (typically 50+ contracts) executed as a single transaction. Often signal institutional conviction.
Bull Call Spread
A vertical spread strategy that profits from moderate price increases. Buy a lower strike call and sell a higher strike call to reduce cost and cap risk.
Calendar Spread
A strategy that profits from time decay differences between two expirations. Sell a near-term option and buy a longer-term option at the same strike.
Cash-Secured Put
Selling a put option while holding enough cash to buy the shares if assigned. A core component of the wheel strategy.
Contango
When longer-dated options have higher IV than shorter-dated ones. The normal state of IV term structure.
Covered Call
Selling a call option against shares you own. Generates income from premium while capping upside potential.
Days to Expiration (DTE)
Number of days until an option expires. Affects time value, theta decay rate, and strategy selection.
Delta
The rate of change of an option's price relative to a $1 move in the underlying. A delta of 0.50 means the option gains $0.50 for each $1 stock move.
Event Risk
The risk of a large price move triggered by earnings, FDA decisions, or other scheduled catalysts.
Execution Quality
How efficiently you can enter and exit trades, measured by bid-ask spreads, fill rates, and slippage.
Gamma
The rate of change in delta for a $1 move in the underlying. Highest for ATM options near expiration.
Gamma Exposure (GEX)
The aggregate gamma of market makers across all strikes and expirations. High GEX at a strike creates price pinning; negative GEX amplifies moves.
Implied Move
The expected price range based on ATM straddle pricing. Shows what the market is pricing in for movement.
Implied Volatility (IV)
The market's expectation of future price movement, derived from option prices. Higher IV means options are more expensive.
Iron Butterfly
A neutral strategy selling an ATM straddle and buying OTM wings. Profits from minimal price movement with defined risk.
Iron Condor
A four-leg options strategy that profits from low volatility. Combines a bull put spread and a bear call spread to collect premium within a defined range.
IV Crush
A sharp drop in implied volatility after a known event (earnings, FOMC). Destroys option value for buyers, benefits sellers.
IV Percentile
The percentage of days in the past year where IV was below the current level. More reliable than IV Rank for identifying truly elevated volatility.
IV Rank
Where current IV falls within its 52-week range. IV Rank of 80% means current IV is near the top of its annual range.
IV Term Structure
How implied volatility varies across different expiration dates. Contango (rising) is normal; backwardation signals near-term fear.
IV/HV Ratio
The ratio of implied volatility to historical volatility, indicating whether options are pricing in more or less movement than the stock has actually exhibited.
LEAPS
Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities. Options with expiration dates more than one year out, used for long-term directional bets or stock replacement strategies.
Liquidity Tier
A classification system that grades options chains based on trading volume, bid-ask spreads, and market depth to indicate execution quality.
Long Calls
Buying call options to profit from price increases. Limited risk (premium paid) with unlimited upside potential.
Long Puts
Buying put options to profit from price decreases or hedge existing positions. Limited risk with significant profit potential.
Max Pain
The strike price at which the largest number of option contracts would expire worthless, causing maximum financial loss to option holders.
Moneyness (ITM/ATM/OTM)
Where the strike is relative to stock price. ITM has intrinsic value, ATM is near the price, OTM has no intrinsic value.
OI Skew
The ratio comparing call open interest to put open interest, revealing whether options traders are positioned for upside or downside moves.
Open Interest
The total number of outstanding option contracts that have not been settled. Rising OI with rising volume confirms the strength of a trend.
Options Opportunity Score
A proprietary 0-100 scoring system that evaluates options opportunities across five pillars: Value, Activity, Sentiment, Timing, and Liquidity.
Pin Probability
The likelihood that a stock closes near a major strike at expiration due to dealer hedging (gamma exposure).
Poor Man's Covered Call (PMCC)
A diagonal spread that mimics a covered call using a deep ITM LEAPS call instead of stock shares, requiring significantly less capital.
Premium
The price paid to buy an option or received when selling one. Determined by intrinsic value plus time value.
Put Credit Spread
Selling a higher-strike put and buying a lower-strike put for a net credit. Profits when the stock stays above the short strike.
Put/Call Ratio
The ratio of put volume to call volume. Below 1.0 suggests bullish sentiment; above 1.0 suggests bearish sentiment.
Smart Money
Institutional or professional traders whose positioning often foreshadows market moves. Tracked via large block trades and dark pool activity.
Straddle
An options strategy that profits from large price moves in either direction. Buy both a call and put at the same strike price and expiration.
Strangle
An options strategy that profits from large price moves in either direction. Buy an OTM call and OTM put with the same expiration but different strikes.
Support/Resistance (OI Walls)
Price levels with concentrated open interest that act as barriers. Put walls provide support; call walls create resistance.
Theta
The Greek that measures an option's daily time decay in dollar terms. A theta of -0.05 means the option loses $0.05 in value each day from time passage alone.
Theta Decay
The rate at which an option loses value each day due to the passage of time. Accelerates as expiration approaches.
Unusual Options Activity
Options volume that significantly exceeds the historical average, often indicating institutional positioning or informed trading ahead of catalysts.
Vega
The rate of change in an option's price for a 1% change in implied volatility. Higher for longer-dated options.
Volatility Skew
The difference in implied volatility across strike prices. Typically, OTM puts have higher IV than OTM calls, reflecting demand for downside protection.
Volume Surge
A spike in trading volume significantly above the recent average. May indicate institutional interest or an impending move.
Volume/OI Ratio
Today's volume divided by open interest. High ratios may indicate new positions being established.
Wheel Strategy
A systematic income strategy that cycles between selling cash-secured puts and covered calls. Generates premium while potentially acquiring shares at a discount.