Chapter 11: Important Tools & Indicators for Options Trading

Options trading is like a chess game within the financial markets, requiring a strategic approach and a keen understanding of the tools at your disposal.

These tools and indicators serve as your compass, guiding you through the complexities of the options landscape.

Whether you’re a novice or an intermediate-level trader, having the right instruments at hand can make a world of difference.

In this Chapter, we’ll explore the fundamental tools and indicators that can help elevate your options trading journey, empowering you to make more informed decisions and navigate the market with confidence.

1. Options Chain

Imagine the options chain as your menu in a restaurant, offering a selection of options contracts to choose from.

It displays various strike prices and expiration dates for a particular underlying asset.

This tool allows you to quickly assess the available options and their associated premiums, enabling you to select contracts that align with your trading strategy.

It’s like having a birds eye view of the different strike prices at once glance.

2. The Greeks

As we have learnt in our earlier Chapter, option Greeks are a set of metrics that provide insights into how options prices are likely to change in response to different factors.

Delta is your directional compass as it measures how much an option’s price is expected to change for a one-point move in the underlying asset.

Quite helpful to decide on stop losses and you can anticipate probable move in option price with respect to the change in the underlying.

Similarly all the other Greeks will help you to make smarter decisions while trading in options. <Read about all Greeks here>

3. Implied Volatility (IV) and Historical Volatility (HV)

These are like weather forecasts for the market. Implied volatility reflects the market’s expectation of future price swings.

High IV suggests greater anticipated volatility, potentially leading to higher option premiums.

Historical volatility, on the other hand, looks at past price movements, providing context for current market conditions.

4. Technical Analysis Indicators

While options trading often involves predicting short-term price movements, technical analysis tools can be invaluable.

They include indicators like moving averages and oscillators like:

  • Relative Strength Index (RSI)
  • Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)

These tools can help identify potential entry and exit points and sometimes reveal potentially lucrative trading opportunities.

5. Fundamental Analysis

For traders dealing with options on stocks, understanding the underlying company’s financial health is crucial.

Earnings reports, news releases, and financial ratios (like the price-to-earnings ratio) provide vital insights in spotting a good trade using option strategies.

6. Option Pricing Models

Tools like the Black-Scholes Model and the Binomial Model help estimate the fair value of options.

While they provide theoretical values, they can be used as a benchmark to evaluate whether options are overpriced or underpriced.

7. Open Interest and Volume

These metrics reflect the level of activity in a particular options contract. High open interest and volume suggest liquidity and interest in that contract.

Particularly helpful to judge market sentiments, as change in open interest of strike prices along with rising or falling volumes can indicate bullish or bearish market sentiments.

As an option trader, you should try to use a combination of tools available and see what works for you, based on your strategy, risk appetite, and other factors.  “ Try and try until you succeed“. Indeed, your hard work can reward you exponentially. 

On this note we come to the end of the Chapter.