Option Chains

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This screen shows the options chains and quotes for the selected Underlying symbol. It is accessed from the Tools menu on the portfolio or Watchlist screen or from the right click menu on a symbol.  The screen that comes up will either be a link to web site shown in your web browser (which needs to be refreshed for updated and may be delayed) or a live real-time streaming screen as below if you are a TD AMERITRADE client and have at least one of the Data Sources configured for such an account:

 

 

The Underlying symbol shown is the one that you have selected to show the options for. You can change to another symbol on this screen directly by entering a new symbol and tabbing out of the box.

 

The information shown and how they are displayed depends on the selections made from the Chain Type, Strike and Exp (Expiration) drop down lists.  Depress the C button to show Calls, the P button to show Puts or depress both to show both Calls and Puts. Click again on a button to deselect it. The View menu  allows you to select the columns you want to display. The options available in the View menu is dependant on the other display selections that you make.

 

The current quote for the underlying symbol is shown below your selections.

 

•If a symbol in the list has a higher (last, bid or ask) price than it did previously, it will be highlighted in green in the corresponding column.
•If a symbol in the list has a lower (last, bid or ask) price than it did previously, it will be highlighted in red in the corresponding column.
•An * following the option symbol indicates that it is highly active (based on volume and open interest)  and is streaming.  The others are updated as well but not as often - in snapshot (refresh) mode.

 

Similar to a portfolio or Watchlist, you can also right click on a symbol for menu options as well as drag and drop symbols to another window.  When dragged to a portfolio or Watchlist window, you can select  columns in in the view that are specific to option symbols.

 

Use the Font buttons to increase (Up) or decrease (Down) the font size of the data display on this screen.

 

You can click on the Stop button to pause the screen and then on the Start button to restart it,

 

Clicking on the pushpin will link the selected symbol to other linked windows.