Entering a Position
You can enter a position to analyze by clicking on ‘Ask’ for buying or ‘Bid’ for selling. You can also directly enter the quantity in the entry box. (Note: make sure to indicate a selling position with a minus (-) sign).
For positions that include the underlying stock, such as Covered Calls, Protective Puts & Collars, enter the stock quantity in the upper right corner of the chain window.
You can change the click quantity amount by changing the default-click parameter (found at the top of the Option Table) for 1x, 5x or 10x.
Start Date
Click the Calendar and select any past Market date. You can quickly choose a previous date by clicking on the “month” then arrow back by year. The closing price for that stock will be displayed.
You are now ready to create the position to analyze – either by clicking “Bid” or “Ask” or by entering the quantity in the appropriate box(es).
Note: In order to ‘backtest’, the platform needs to establish an orientation point in time. If you change the ‘start date’, the option expiration cycle may change to re-establish the reference point in which to pull information from.
Analyze Date
After the position is entered, click on the “Analyze Date” calendar to select the date.
You can click “EXP” to further analyze the trade on the option’s expiration date or use the arrows to move the original analyze date forward or back.
Your Position Analysis will display with estimated gain/loss calculations and the P/L Graph.
The P/L Graph will also display the stock price on the analyze date via the vertical line.
Note: The prices in the options chain will show the start date prices. The prices in the Analysis Panel will reflect the Analyze Date prices.
Once you have selected your date for analysis, you can edit the position, or try a different position, and the analysis will dynamically update.
Backtesting Trade Finder scans
You can ‘look back’ (Backtest) Trade Finder Scans by following these steps:
- Select your Scan (example: Bull Put – Stock above 200 SMA).
- Click on the Calendar at the top of the screen to select a previous date (clicking on the month allows you to select a previous month, or arrow back to a previous year).
- Select stock symbol, click on action icon to ‘Analyze Position’.
- The trade template will populate with the specific scan, note the date on the screen is the ‘start date’
- Select the Analyze Date, or click ‘EXP’ to analyze the position on Expiration Day.
Use SNAP to Backtest Positions
The Snapshot feature is also available with Backtesting.
- Click ‘Backtest’ on the Option Table
- Set up position
- Click one of the camera icons:
- Repeat the first step using the Rolling Icons to adjust the initial position to a new scenario:
- Click the 2nd camera icon & repeat the above steps for the last comparison.
- Select the ‘Analyze Date’ using the Date Picker (Calendar) or “EXP” to analyze the position on Expiration Date.
Trading from the Option Template
From Template to trade is easy.
Simply click the “Trade” button on the Option Template and the Order Ticket will be filled in for you. This not only saves time, but eliminates order entry errors.
You can connect directly to select brokerage firms right from the platform and execute the trade.
From Strategize to Analyze to Trade
Any strategy-specific options trade will have ‘Analyze’ and ‘Trade’ in the Action Icon.
Click ‘Analyze’ to see the trade in the options chain. From there, you can edit or click ‘Trade’ to have the trade sent to the Order Ticket of your brokerage account.
Give it a try!
Other Navigation
Icons = Navigation
The Action (Arrow) icon will provide different actions depending on where you are in the platform. For example if you are in the Market or Find tab, ‘Detail‘ will provide a Quote Popup. ‘Research‘ will take you to the Dashboard – overview – of the stock. ‘Options‘ will take you to that part of the platform etc.
When in a “Trade Finder Scan” (identified by the icon), the Action icon choices includes: ‘Analyze Position’ which will take you to the Options tables and/or ‘Trade’ which will lead you to the Order Ticket of the Brokerage Account from the menu.
The Action Icon is also found in the Journal. Under the “Positions” tab, clicking on the icon allows you to Expand/Collapse details of the trade, Analyze or Close the trade among other choices.