Hello and welcome to the Quick Start video for the Options chain available on Schwab's StreetSmart Edge platform.
First, let's load the options chain. It can be found in the All in One trade tool as well as the Symbol Hub, for now let's load the All in One trade tool and click on options chain.
In the main lower panel, the chains load with basic information about each option in the chain, like Call/Put, Symbol, Last, change, bid, ask, mid-point, volume and open interest.
Add Greeks, Probability, or other Quote data in the Manage Columns and Setting page. It can be accessed through the Actions drop-down or through right clicking in the chain and selecting Columns and Settings.
For simple calls and puts, click the arrow at the beginning of each row to display the available contracts for a particular expiration date.
For more details about each option, click the arrow next to the contract to display the contract specifications along with other data.
When you have selected a multi-leg strategy to trade, click the arrow at the beginning to of each row to display the legs in each set.
The Option Chain Filters row allows you to determine which contracts or pairings are available for you to view and choose from when setting up an options trade. The filters include Strategy Selector (where you can pick single or multi-leg strategies. The option chain will display contracts that match your choice of strategy), Expiration Filter (Choose whether to view options expiring in the Nearest 30-60 Days, specific expiration dates, or All Expirations), Number of Contracts/Pairings to Show (You can chose how many contracts or pairings display for a particular expiration date. Click the drop-down and select from All to 10 or fewer) and when applicable, Width (which shows spread pairings equal to the strike range you specify).
To remove Adjusted Options out of your option chains display, you will need to un-check it in the Option Chains Settings. You can filter Weekly and Quarterly Options here as well.
Trade directly from the option chains! Be sure you are in the strategy selector tab, once there all you have to do is click on your strategy of choice. The trade ticket updates to your strategy and the contracts or eligible pairings will display in the option chains below. Click on the contract or pairing you want and it is loaded in the trade ticket above! This sets up a limit order set to the natural price for that strategy. You can easily adjust the limit price to midpoint, just click on the midpoint for the option you want to purchase and it will load the order with the limit set to the midpoint.
In the Action Field, choose whether to create a BUY to OPEN, BUY to CLOSE, SELL to OPEN, or SELL to CLOSE order.
Max Gain, Break Even, Max Loss and Estimated Cost calculations will be displayed depending on your action.
Lastly, we have the Views Selector which includes Theoretical (which is a view of the calls and puts that allows you to select a Greek model and make changes to the different parameters that affect option pricing as calculated in that model in order to see how those changes would affect the prices and Greeks in that chain.) and Covered Call (which shows calculations for Covered Call (Buy-Write & Unwind) or Covered Put (Sell-Write & Unwind) trades).
The covered call calculator gives traders an idea of how a buy-write might work for or against them at expiration based on what they paid for it and where the stock price was at expiration. These are both estimates based on a mathematical model, but it can be used as a baseline for planning an options trade!
This concludes this Quick Start Guide for the Options Chain on Schwab's StreetSmart Edge platform.
Please check out the Learning Center, and the Online Help Manual, both of which are located under the Help Menu.
Additionally, you can visit the calendar on Schwab.com/live for a schedule of upcoming live platform videos.
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