OptionsPlay Strategy Center
Last updated
Last updated
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This StockCharts-exclusive OptionsPlay tool allows you to quickly and easily rank daily technical trade ideas based on your options strategy preferences and risk profile.
In just a few clicks, you can spot the trade ideas that best fit your options trading style and are worth a closer look.
The OptionsPlay Strategy Center can be accessed on the Charts & Tools menu at the top of each page.
StockCharts members can also access it by clicking on the OptionsPlay Strategy Center button at the top of the dashboard.
This page is part of the OptionsPlay Add-On subscription that members can purchase from the StockCharts Marketplace. Members who have not subscribed can still see the OptionsPlay Strategy Center, but they can only see five of the trading ideas, and cannot customize any of the settings.
Learn More: OptionsPlay Add-On
As part of the OptionsPlay add-on subscription, the OptionsPlay team provides daily trading ideas for six different technical setups. The OptionsPlay Strategy Center allows you to quickly rank those trading ideas based on your preferred options trading strategy, timeline, and risk tolerance.
Specify these preferences using the settings menus above the table:
It takes just a few clicks to receive your ranked list:
Select a scan group from the six available options in the Technical Scan menu, such as Bullish Trend Following, Bearish Counter Trend, Bullish Outperformance, etc.
Choose an options strategy from the Strategy menu based on your trading objectives (e.g., Covered Call, Long Puts, etc.).
Customize the strategy to suit your trading style by selecting your preferred Days to Expiration (DTE) from the Timeframe menu, and Risk Profile (conservative, balance, or aggressive) from the Risk Profile menu.
Select your total maximum risk for the trade from the Max Risk menu. The Strategy Center will automatically calculate how many contracts you can trade and still stay within your risk parameters, ensuring a strategy that aligns with your risk tolerance.
After adjusting these settings, click the Update button. The Strategy Center will present all of the trade ideas in that group, ranked based on the best available options strategies based on your selections, total risk, and current market data.
For most of the options strategies, the list will be ranked by OptionsPlay score, a quick and easy way to determine whether a trading idea has an above-average, average, or less-favorable risk/reward. For income-generating strategies (Covered Calls and Short Puts), the trading ideas will be ranked by Raw Return.
To access more information about the strategy, risk, and reward for a trade idea in the table, click the arrow in the far left column for that symbol. A new section will open up with more information on that trade idea.
Hover over the symbol in the table to see a quick mini-chart for the symbol. The links column allows you to launch other chart types, add the symbol to a ChartList, or create a price alert.
Once you have identified the optimal trade ideas, you can further analyze them within the StockCharts platform by reviewing both the technical charts and the options strategy in one place. Just click the stock name in the table, and you will be taken to the SharpCharts Workbench, where you can view a technical chart for the symbol, look at the options chain, and use the OptionsPlay Explorer tool to fine-tune your trading plan for the security.
The OptionsPlay add-on provides subscribers with six read-only OptionsPlay ChartLists, updated daily with fresh options trading ideas based on technical scans:
Bullish Trend Following: OptionsPlay uses the CCI indicator to scan for stocks that are generally moving in a bullish trend but have recently taken a small step back or paused. This slight drop or pause may give you an opportunity to buy at a better price before the stock continues to move higher.
Bearish Trend Following: OptionsPlay uses the CCI indicator to scan for stocks that are generally moving in a bearish trend but have recently experienced a small rise or pause. This increase or pause might give you a good opportunity to sell or take a bearish position before the stock continues to move lower.
Bullish Counter Trend: OptionsPlay uses the RSI indicator to scan for stocks that have moved sharply downward in a very bearish trend but are showing signs that they might start reversing upward. These situations can offer an excellent opportunity to buy at a lower price before the stock potentially begins a new upward trend.
Bearish Counter Trend: OptionsPlay uses the RSI indicator to scan for stocks that have moved sharply upward in a very bullish trend but are showing signs that they might start reversing downward. These situations can offer an excellent opportunity to sell at a higher price before the stock potentially begins a new downward trend.
Bullish Outperformance: OptionsPlay uses relative strength to find stocks that are breaking out and outperforming the broader market, specifically the S&P 500. It looks for stocks that are gaining strength compared to the market, which may signal an opportunity to buy into a stock that is leading the pack.
Bearish Underperformance: OptionsPlay uses relative strength to find stocks that are breaking down and lagging behind the market. It focuses on identifying stocks that are losing ground compared to the S&P 500, signaling potential selling or short-selling opportunities.
The symbols on these six read-only ChartLists match the trade ideas used in the six scan groups in the OptionsPlay Strategy Center, which broadens the range of tools you can use to analyze those trading ideas.
These read-only OptionsPlay ChartLists can be viewed like any other ChartList, allowing you to quickly go through the technical charts and options chains for each of the trading ideas on the list.
While you can't edit read-only ChartLists (adding or deleting charts, changing chart settings, or annotating), you can clone the list, making a copy of the list as it is on that day, and then edit your cloned list. This feature is only available to Extra and Pro users who have space in their account to add a new list.
To clone a read-only ChartList:
Open the list in any ChartList view.
Click the Clone List button at the top of the view.
Your new editable copy of the list will be created immediately and displayed in the view.
Reminder: When the read-only list is refreshed with new symbols the next day, your cloned list will not be updated.
The OptionsPlay Add-On includes new ChartLists of trading ideas daily, based on six technical setups - that's up to 300 ideas/day. The OptionsPlay Strategy Center offers a quick and easy way to pick the top trading ideas from those lists to fit your options trading style.
Learn More: OptionsPlay Add-On
