is a web-based tool to create, simulate and analyze options strategies. What makes it different from other tools is the fact that values such as the Security Price, DTE and Volatility can be adjusted smoothly via a slider control. The P/L Diagram as well as the Profit Table will be updated in real-time.

The main feature of is the What-If Simulator. It makes it possible to track the changes on a daily basis. The time slider starts on day 0 (the current date) and ends on the expiration day (the expiration of the longest running position in the strategy). All strategies can be saved in your personal account. Additionally, you can export and import them to or from your local device.

consists of 4 views. The Navigation, the Profit Table, the Slider Controls and the Diagram.

1. The Profit Table displays all positions of the current strategy.

2. The Slider Controls Slider Controls allow to adjust some values such as price and volatility smoothly.

3. The Diagrams can display several types of diagrams such as: P/L, Delta, Gamma, etc.

4. The Navigation Panel provides controls for 3 areas: the Strategy, the Position Table and the Diagram. By clicking the small arrow symbol at the top of the navigation panel it can be closed resp. opened.

When you login to for the first time, the Profit Table is empty. You need to create a new strategy first to start with.

offers a set of predefined strategies ready-to-use. You can import them and adapt them to your personal needs. Or you can create a new strategy from scratch. To do so you want to click the new strategy link in the navigation panel. This will open a security selection dialog. It lists all predefined underlying securities available. Select that one and click the Select button. In case you have your own underlying security files then click the From File button and navigate to the folder where your security configuration files are located. Select a security and click the Open button.

You have now a new but still empty options strategy. To add a new position click the add position link in the navigation panel. This will open the Add New Position dialog. In the dialog, you can set the Amount, the Option Type, the Strike Price, and the DTE. When ready click the Add button. The new position is added to the strategy and appears in the Profit Table and the P/L Diagram.

However, the strategy is still unnamed. You can save the new strategy by clicking the save or save as link in the menu panel. Both ways open the Save Strategy As dialog. Enter a new name for the strategy and click the Save button. In case the name you have choosen already exists a warning will pop up on top of the dialog.

In a position is a Put or Call Option either short or long. Up to 4 positions can be managed. For each, following values can be adjusted: Amount, Type, Strike, Implied Volatility and DTE.

Long positions have a green background, short positions a red background and temporarly excluded positions (amount equals 0) have a black background.

The Profit Table lists all positions of the current strategy. In a strategy can consist of up to 4 positions of the same options class.

The Demo Version features an ES Iron Condor (S&P 500 E-Mini Options) strategy which is constructed of 4 options (legs). 2 call options OTM (leg 1+2) and 2 put options also OTM (leg 3+4). Each pair represents a Credit Spread (a two-legged spread). The positions above the market (leg 1+2) represent a Bear Call Spread and the positions below the market (leg 3+4) represent a Bull Put Spread. The underlying security price for this example is at $2,645.

At the bottom of the table is the summary row. It displays the sums of the price, delta, gamma, vega, and theta measures.

The Navigation Panel consits of 3 parts.

A state change of a strategy is indicated by a yellow label to the right hand side of the strategy name.

The Profit/Loss Diagram, also called a Payoff Diagram or Risk Graph, is one of the main features of . It displays the current strategy graphically. The diagram draws 2 curves. One curve represents the prices at expiration day (white color) and the other curve represents the prices at the current date (yellow color). The difference between the two curves is the time left until expiration. The more time is left the more time value (yellow curve) the option has, also called extrinsic value or risk premium. At expiration, the time value is 0. You can simulate this effect within the What-If Simulator.

Another main feature of are the B/E lines. A strategy can have several break-event points. Each B/E point is represented by a vertical line, the B/E line. B/E lines are numbered from left to right (B/E 1, B/E 2, etc.). The price of each break-even point is displayed in the upper-right corner of the diagram. In the example below B/E 1 is at $2,481.25 and B/E 2 is at $2,818.75.

The Summary located at the upper-right corner of the display shows information such as max. profit and max. loss on the expiration date, the premium (strategy price), and the multiplier. In the example above the cursors stands at the current security price which is $2,645.00. In the upper-left corner of the diagram, 3 values are displayed. The current underlying security price, the current P/L (yellow dot) and the current Payoff (white dot) of all options combined. Which is $18.75 (rounded). Since the contract size is 50, we have to multiply $18.75 by 50 to get the premium which is $937.38. This is our credit (because we receive more money for the short positions than we pay for the long positions). If we would close (buying back) our position right now (all other factors being equal) we would have to pay exactly the same amount of money as we received — which results in a p/l of $0.

Zooming the strike range (X-Axis) of the diagram works by clicking one side of the zoom range (A) and dragging to the other side of the zoom range (B) while keeping the mouse button pressed. By releasing the mouse button the diagram zooms in. Reset the zoom by double-clicking somewhere on the diagram.

Zooming the price range (Y-Axis) of the diagram works by clicking one side of the zoom range (A) and dragging to the other side of the zoom range (B) while keeping the mouse button pressed. By releasing the mouse button the diagram zooms in. Reset the zoom by double-clicking somewhere on the diagram.

Panning (shifting) works by pressing the ALT key and clicking the diagram somewhere at the same time. Now the diagram can be dragged in any horizontal (X Axis) direction (ALT key can now be released).

Notifications inform you about subscription updates like Subscription Confirmed, Subscription Canceled, etc. They appear at the upper-right corner of the page and disappear automatically after a while.

The Slider Controls are one of the top features of . The sliders allows to adjust the Volatility, the Security Price and the DTE seemlessly while the Profit Table and the currently selected Diagram update instantly.

TIP Once a slider got the focus you can use the arrow keys to move the slider backward and foreward.

Beside the Slider Controls the What-If Simulator is second top feature of . The What-If Simulator let you simulate any time in the future (until the expiration date which is furthest in the future) and analyse how your strategy performs. Positions which expire before that date will be excluded from the strategy automatically and marked as expired. This allows you to analyse calendar spread where one leg(s) expired before the other(s).

TIP Check out our Calendar Spreads video.

provides configuration files which represent an Underlying Security. They configuration file contains the security symbol, name, multiplier, tick value, tick size, type, style, and a list of strike prices of this security.

Underlying Security file format JSON:

{

                      "symbol": "ES",

                      "name": "S&P 500 E-Mini",

                      "multiplier": 50,

                      "tickvalue": 12.51,

                      "ticksize": 0.251,

                      "type": 1=Stock, 2=Futures, 3=Index

                      "style": 1=American, 2=European

                      "strikes": [3300, 3275, ... 1890, 1880]

                    }

Extension naming convention:

filename.scf (security configuration file)

Example:

ES Sep'18.scf

Security files do not contain expiration dates associated to the strike prices. In case you need strike prices per expiration date then just copy an existing security file and modify the strike prices accordingly.

FREE Download our predefined security files. You are free to adjust them to your personal needs or use them as a template for other securities¹.

can import and export strategies. The export file contains all positions as well as the entire security contract data.

Extension naming convention:

filename.osf (options strategy file)

Example:

ES IronCondor Jun'18.osf

At the moment supports Facebook® and Twitter® and uses the WYSIWYG technique.

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The mobile view of has limited functions due to the smaller view size. An additional feature is the fullscreen diagram view. By flipping the device into landscape position the current diagram turns into fullscreen (see screenshot below).

In the desktop version of you will find the Settings page. A description of all settings can be found below.

provides a set of predefined strategies which are ready-to-use. Just click on the strategy you want to download. When finished, you can import the strategy and save it to your personal storage. All predefined strategies are using the S&P 500 E-Mini as an underlying security. You can customize them to your needs¹. Feel free to share them. The download location depends on the settings of your browser.

The Greeks are a measure of sensitivity and indicate how much the options price will change when the underlying security price, the volatility or the days to expiration changes 1 point/day. The diagrams below show which parameters are required to calculate the Greeks (B) and how the Greeks in turn influence the options price (A).

The options price and the greeks are calculated by the Black-Scholes formula. The formula expects the following 6 input parameters: Price, Strike, Time, Volatility, Interest Rate and Options Type.

The greek RHO which is associated to the risk-free interest rate is not considered here since it has little influence.

The two most important factors in options trading, in my opinion, are Time and Volatility. So, why that? Let's see. Stocks and Futures trading belong to the so-called directional trading. The profit of the investment depends on the direction the Stock or Futures price moves. So, what about time and volatility? Well, these two measures do not depend on the direction of the underlying security (at least time. Volatility typically rises when the underlying security price falls). Trading options in that fashion is referred to non-directional trading. Non-directional trading means that we can make a fortune no matter what the market is doing. If the market is going up we can make a profit, if the market is going down we can make a profit. If the market moves sidewards, we can make a profit. Doesn't this sound great? And actually, it is great.

So, how can we profit from it? We can profit from it by selling options when the volatility is high. If the volatility is high, the options price is high a well. And when to buy back? When time passed by! Because volatility will go down when time passes by, i.e. when the market calms down. And then time decay enters the game. Time decay means that the options will lose value (time value) over time. A measure for this is theta. So, assumed the underlying security didn't crash or explode, we can close our position by buying it back (for a much cheaper price) and make a profit. This strategy is also called selling volatility or volatility arbitrage.