Options chain overview

An Options Chain (sometimes called an options board) is the features that lists all available option contracts for a given underlying asset. It is the foundation of options trading, showing you prices and key stats for each strike and expiration.

The Options Chain is the main entry point when you want to research or execute options trades for a particular underlying asset.

Where is it?

There are three places where you can meet the options chain on our platform.

1. The TV Options product, at https://tradingview.com/options,
2. In the right dock panel on supercharts,
3. On a symbol page of an underlying symbol, tab Options. Example.

Default look

When you first open chain, it looks like on the screenshot below.

Expiration selector

At the top of the table, there is an expiration selector control. This control is more convenient than a simple date dropdown, as it provides a visual overview of the expiration structure.

When you click a particular date, the table below displays the options data for that expiration.

Read more about expirations navigator.

Table

The table is the heart of the chain. On default view each row of the table corresponds to a single strike, which value is located in the center column titled Strike.

Left to the Strike column all columns correspond to call options, right to the strike – put options.

Where are 13 data columns for one option type (call or put):

• Volume – daily traded volume for the contract,
• Bid – best bid price,
• Ask – best ask price,
• Bid IV, % – best bid price converted into volatility space, 
• Ask IV, % – best ask price converted into volatility space, 
• Price
• Delta
• Gamma
• Vega
• Theta
• Rho
• Time value
• Intrinsic and time value of an option.
  

Row details pane

If you click the table row left or right to the Strike column, the row will be expanded and additional pane appears. When you click left to the Strike, data for call option is shown, overwise – for put option.

The aim of this pane is to carry any additional information about the option, that  doesn't fit table columns. Information from columns also duplicated in the pane, but it also contains more detailed information and several action buttons.

Settings

Options 

Alternative view

The default view described above is a classic. But sometimes one needs a different outlook on the market. For example, if a trader is sure about some price level of an underlying asset, but not sure about timing, he might be interested in selecting the right expiration, not the strike.

To switch chain to the alternative view, click the By strike button on the top right corner, near settings button. You will get a view, presented on the screenshot below.

The central column is now taken by expiration date, not strikes. At the same  time strikes went to the top control, that in default view was used to select expirations.

To switch back to the default view you can either click By expiration button on the top right corner or click on any expiration date in the central column.