# Options Scanners



## topsy (25 July 2008)

Hello,
I am a beginner looking to trade options on the US market. I would love to hear peoples opinions on the various options scanners available. Are there good and bad ones? Do different scanners suit certain strategies? Any links, advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

Topsy


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## wayneL (25 July 2008)

topsy said:


> Hello,
> I am a beginner looking to trade options on the US market. I would love to hear peoples opinions on the various options scanners available. Are there good and bad ones? Do different scanners suit certain strategies? Any links, advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks
> ...



Topsy,

The general rule is that if the scanner is marketed with gimmicks, pictures of trading on the beach with laptops, people saying you can live this dream or that dream, or this lifestyle or that lifestyle:

* It will cost many 000's more than it should
* It will be rubbish

There is no substitute for study in options and anyone who says you can trade options successfully with a weekend course and a piece of expensive software should be arrested.

Unfortunately, these people know how to work around the rules and if consumer complains publicly, they are threatened with litigation. That's the ugly truth.

Go to the bookshop and look for:

Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence McMillan
Options Volatility and Pricing by Sheldon Natenburg.

A fraction of the cost of what you are probably looking at and a 5000 times more info.

Scanners cannot help you unless you know how to evaluate what the scanner returns.


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## topsy (25 July 2008)

Thank You Wayne


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## cutz (22 November 2008)

*Option Scanners*

Hi everyone.

I’ve often come across the term Option Strategy Scanner, is it a piece of software that finds strategies? Say if you’re looking at going short volatility can it sorts out stocks via implied volatility ect. I assume is it something provided by particular brokers, if anybody has had experience with so called scanners could you please enlighten me on there usefulness.

BTW I’ve heard of dodgy get quick rich with options schemes but I’m not referring to those.

Thanks in advance.

Cutz.


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## mazzatelli1000 (22 November 2008)

*Re: Option Scanners.*



cutz said:


> Hi everyone.
> 
> I’ve often come across the term Option Strategy Scanner, is it a piece of software that finds strategies? Say if you’re looking at going short volatility can it sorts out stocks via implied volatility ect. I assume is it something provided by particular brokers, if anybody has had experience with so called scanners could you please enlighten me on there usefulness.
> 
> ...




Cutz, 

The strategy scanner - you select a strategy you want e.g. covered calls and then define for example the minimum underlying price e.g. $20 and above and IV e.g. 40% and lower. It can be useful to quickly identify opportunities.

I used to use strategy scanners, but like any model the output is only as good as the input that is put through.

But for my trading nowadays I only focus on underlyings I know well, - for me the indices, a handful of ETF's and a couple of stocks, so the strategy scanner has been rendered obsolete


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## cutz (23 November 2008)

*Re: Option Scanners.*



mazzatelli1000 said:


> But for my trading nowadays I only focus on underlyings I know well, - for me the indices, a handful of ETF's and a couple of stocks, so the strategy scanner has been rendered obsolete




Thanks for the info mazza,

Yep, sticking to a few underlyings sounds like a good plan.

I have no experience in overseas markets but would I be right in assuming you can use something like iShares S&P 500 EFT to create a delta hedge on an options position you may have set up on the S&P 500 index, as an alternative to futures contracts?


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## Grinder (24 November 2008)

*Re: Option Scanners*



cutz said:


> Hi everyone.
> 
> I’ve often come across the term Option Strategy Scanner, is it a piece of software that finds strategies? Say if you’re looking at going short volatility can it sorts out stocks via implied volatility ect. I assume is it something provided by particular brokers, if anybody has had experience with so called scanners could you please enlighten me on there usefulness.
> 
> ...




www.impliedvolatility.com.au

Not a big fan of scanners myself.


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## mazzatelli1000 (24 November 2008)

*Re: Option Scanners.*



cutz said:


> Thanks for the info mazza,
> 
> Yep, sticking to a few underlyings sounds like a good plan.
> 
> I have no experience in overseas markets but would I be right in assuming you can use something like iShares S&P 500 EFT to create a delta hedge on an options position you may have set up on the S&P 500 index, as an alternative to futures contracts?




Yes, for the S&P there are the futures, SPY ETF's and its option series and index options - and all of them are very liquid, so can be used interchangeably to hedge each other.


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## camel96 (9 April 2010)

*Option Scanners: Any suggestions?*

Does anyone know of any good products for options scanning and possible database programs for consolidating option trades?


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