Option chain
The chain lists an expiration’s calls and puts with live quotes from Interactive Brokers (TWS or IB Gateway) or thinkorswim. Use it to find the strike and expiration that pays best, see what you already hold there, and put legs into a trade with one click: a bid sells a contract, an ask buys one. The legs go to the trade builder and risk graph as you click.
The same chain runs in a workspace and, in a drawer, on every trade page. The workspace chain adds the Account and Trade pickers and some buttons, because it is not tied to one trade.
The chain toolbar on a trade page.
- 1 Underlying price
- 2 Expiration selector
- 3 Show only strikes near your legs
- 4 Chain view
- 5 Chain settings
How traders use the chain
Section titled “How traders use the chain”- Sell the 16-delta put in the expiration that pays best. Switch to the Delta chain, pick the expirations to compare, and read the strike at each target delta. Click a cell to open that strike in Matrix and sell it there.
- Check what the market expects before you pick wings. Turn on Implied price distribution: each expiration shows its ±1σ expected move and strikes are shaded by it.
- See your trade’s strikes on the chain. The Pos column marks each leg (+2 long, −4 short). P/L zones at expiry tint strikes by the result at expiration of what the risk graph plots.
- Build a spread without typing. Click the bid of the short strike and the ask of the long strike. Click again to add another contract.
Articles
Section titled “Articles”- Pick a symbol and expiration
- Chain views: Matrix, Focus, T-Chain and Delta chain.
- Show one side of the chain: the calls-only or puts-only ladder.
- Columns and settings: strike step, columns and Legs.
- Chain layers: expected move, volume bars, delta rails and P/L zones.
- Add legs from the chain
- Move modeled legs
- Read the Pos column: your position, the pickers and the workspace buttons.