Options Scan Hacker in ThinkorSwim

YungTraderFromMontana

Well-known member
Does anybody have the code for an options scanner that can implement P/C ratio or sizzle? I wanted to use a scan like this to confirm options plays that I was thinking of doing. This could save a lot of time from going into options statistics if I'm looking through a lot of stocks. Thank you.
 
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Solution
The ToS Options Hacker Module doesn't allow the using of custom studies to scan against options related data. The Options Scanner cannot be customized, it utilizes pre-defined filters.

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Here is an example of the 'native filters' available in the Options Hacker Scanner which are limited to the use of minimum / maximum
https://usethinkscript.com/threads/stock-price-trades-higher-than-the-option-chain.10865/#post-95715
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I am trying to make a scanner that will search all optionable tickers (excluding futures) that will show me things that have good options volume. Basically I am trying to find the most liquid optionable tickers out there (hoping for a list of 200ish tickers, this becomes my master list I use to scan for other things) I would like them to also have decent regular volume on the shares so if I decide to trade the shares instead I can.

I have done a scan but it isnt returning the best results sometimes... I cannot figure out how to post a picture in this thread but basically:
  • It looks for Open interest 12k and above
  • Stock last price $12.00 and above
  • Study average volume 10 period simple is greater than 2,000,000 all of this is on the daily time frame.

What can I tweak? what am I doing wrong to get the best results?

I put the image in I think, I would prefer to have a scan that includes just something that has a bunch of options (dont care if it is calls or puts)and not just one for calls and one for puts, but if that is the only way to do it I will accept that as well.

LqraQ12.png


Thanks for any and all help
 
@tc5953 Let's take a step back before proceeding... First, what are your intentions as far as the options your scan finds...??? Are you looking to scalp, day trade, swing trade, exercise the options to purchase underlying stock...??? This all makes a big difference when it comes to locating the right options...

Let me give you an overview of how I trade options... I scalp, day trade, and sometimes swing trade options... I never Sell/Write options and don't play complex strategies like straddles. spreads, strangles, etc... I trade options like they are penny stocks and am only concerned with short term gains... I know what Stocks and ETF's have the most volatility and trade the most options and only monitor a handful that has options within my trading comfort zone on an ongoing basis... My scans only look at my short watchlist of those symbols for options that fall within my criteria... That list only consists of about 25 Stocks and ETF's... From that list I mainly focus on about 8 of those at a given time due to how they are performing in the overall market on a given day... I am going to provide my symbol list as well as my two scans for Calls and Puts for your perusal and you can tweak from there or we'll try to assist you from there... Please note that I generally only trade options just in or just out of the money...

My current watchlist consists of: AAL, AAPL, AMD, BAC, COST, CSCO, EEM, GDX, GLD, MSFT, MU, NIO, PFE, SPY, SQQQ, TNA, TLT, TWTR, UNG, UVXY, VXX, WFC, WMT.

Edited to add: There are probably only about 80 - 100 symbols that I have ever and will ever trade options for...

a3E7Z71.jpg


xLnfyIv.jpg
 
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@rad14733 Thanks for your help on this. I am not actually trying to scan for a specific type of option (delta, days to exp etc) I have a custom built scanner on another platform that I use to scan for specific things...This scanner I am requesting is more so I can get a list of tickers that are pretty fluid with options volume so I do not waste my other scanner on things that are not liquid (can only load about 200ish tickers in it at once) I truly do not care if they are puts or calls and I don't care if it is a long term move or a short term move (I am like you I do scalp trading, day trading and swing) I am mainly just looking for something that will give me a list of liquid tickers on the options side so I don't waste energy scanning non-liquid stuff
 
@rad14733 Thanks for your help on this. I am not actually trying to scan for a specific type of option (delta, days to exp etc) I have a custom built scanner on another platform that I use to scan for specific things...This scanner I am requesting is more so I can get a list of tickers that are pretty fluid with options volume so I do not waste my other scanner on things that are not liquid (can only load about 200ish tickers in it at once) I truly do not care if they are puts or calls and I don't care if it is a long term move or a short term move (I am like you I do scalp trading, day trading and swing) I am mainly just looking for something that will give me a list of liquid tickers on the options side so I don't waste energy scanning non-liquid stuff
have you tried Scan>Option Hacker? then add filter>Option>Volume....i saw an EEM jan call with 65k volume...no lie...last week when someone else asked about scans....i wouldn't trade it but i answered his question....i did a similar thing to Rad and you, i created my list of 98 stocks with volume above 2M that i might want to enter via options...then i just have to continually scan that for my ideal setup. you'll see varied option volume depending on the DTE and other stuff like upcomings earnings, or fed meetings minutes...there's just too much that moves options volume to reliably count on it being consistent for that particular symbol. could scan for increases in implied volatility, that can denote increased interest in options for that underlying...usually goes hand in hand
 
I'm trying to use the custom study in the Option Hacker, however the results are shown up for the stocks which are satisfied with the mentioned indicator.

Example: If I try to display the option contracts which are moving beyond RSI overbought. It displays the option contracts in the Option Hacker(TOS scan) but the RSI 70 crosses for the stock and not the listed option contract.

rtGbKne.png
 
Even though you are in option hacker it will scan for the underlying asset and scan for the underlying assest's RSI. TOS will not let you scan using option hacker or stock hacker for the option contract's RSI. Any custom study you add will be scan against the underlying symbol. TOS will not let you scan against options (individual option contracts) with any custom scan other that the built in scans that are defined under OPTIONS filter.
 
@XeoNoX Sure thanks. I have got the option filter. I'm using option filter along with study filter where I would like to display the option contracts to meet those two filters (options filter and Scan). Now I understand that scan works against Symbol and not the option contractor.

Can we do any other way to apply study filter against option contracts to get the results :)
 
@tc5953 Let's take a step back before proceeding... First, what are your intentions as far as the options your scan finds...??? Are you looking to scalp, day trade, swing trade, exercise the options to purchase underlying stock...??? This all makes a big difference when it comes to locating the right options...

Let me give you an overview of how I trade options... I scalp, day trade, and sometimes swing trade options... I never Sell/Write options and don't play complex strategies like straddles. spreads, strangles, etc... I trade options like they are penny stocks and am only concerned with short term gains... I know what Stocks and ETF's have the most volatility and trade the most options and only monitor a handful that has options within my trading comfort zone on an ongoing basis... My scans only look at my short watchlist of those symbols for options that fall within my criteria... That list only consists of about 25 Stocks and ETF's... From that list I mainly focus on about 8 of those at a given time due to how they are performing in the overall market on a given day... I am going to provide my symbol list as well as my two scans for Calls and Puts for your perusal and you can tweak from there or we'll try to assist you from there... Please note that I generally only trade options just in or just out of the money...

My current watchlist consists of: AAL, AAPL, AMD, BAC, COST, CSCO, EEM, GDX, GLD, MSFT, MU, NIO, PFE, SPY, SQQQ, TNA, TLT, TWTR, UNG, UVXY, VXX, WFC, WMT.

Edited to add: There are probably only about 80 - 100 symbols that I have ever and will ever trade options for...

a3E7Z71.jpg


xLnfyIv.jpg
Hi Rad... Can you please let me know:
  • What stock setups or criteria do you use to choose where to trade the options selected from the scanner?
  • Are the scanners run on Daily or intraday basis?
  • Do you have a profit target and/or stop based on the stock itself?
Your enlightening on this is really appreciated.
Thanks
JR
 
The criteria is as follows:
Sizzle index greater than .70
Vol index greater than 35.0

The part I’m confused on is custom quotes for 2 min, 5 min, and daily momentum which is also color coded green for bullish, etc

My goal is to then input into the marketwatch dashboard.

Any help would be appreciated, I’m new to this.

Thank you
 
Hello,

I am looking at this as described above: a script to narrow the results of a scan to symbols that have a given price spread amplitude/size.
The code would be something like:

priceType.asK - priceType.BID <= (priceType.LAST*0.1)/100

When I have this above in TOS, I get 'double expected' (?)

Thanks in advance.
 
it works as a chart study and column but wont work as a option scan as Thinkorswim doesn't let you scan against custom option related references.
 
I am struggling to write a ThinkScript that would return a option symbol given , Security symbol (GetSymbol()), Days To Expiry, ITM probability and Option Type.

As an example,

Input - MSFT, 5 DTE, 10% and Put. Today (4/5/21)
Output (today 4//21) - .MSFT210409P240 (4 DTE & 9.65%)

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

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