As we create, test, and release new features, we always make sure they are easily accessible on our mobile site. Whether you’re checking out unusual options volumes, evaluating trading strategies, or paper trading with options, it does not matter: all our features are mobile-friendly. Here is a quick list of some ideas you can use on the go.
Tip #1: Spot Options with Unusual Trading Volume to Follow the Big Players
Knowing what the “smart money” is doing on the market can always give you a big advantage over an average trader. This does not mean that you’ll always be right if you follow the large volume in trading, but what big players are doing is always something you can look at to understand the market.
One way to do this is by using predefined scans like “Unusual Call Volume” and “Unusual Put Volume,” as you can see below.
By checking both of these scans before a major event, you can get an idea of whether the market is expecting a more bullish or bearish movement, and what range the stock may move within.
Tip #2: Trade Stocks after a Huge Price Change
When a big news event hits a stock, its price might shoot up or plummet. This situation may be a golden opportunity for option traders. Why? Because you can bet the stock won’t swing back to its pre-event price quickly (we even ran a backtest on this type of strategy, and you can use our file to run your own backtest on any ticker).
We offer scans for “Bull Put Spread on Stocks with a positive shock” and “Bear Call Spread on Stocks with a negative shock.”
These strategies limit your potential losses, giving you a smart way to play these big price changes. It’s straightforward, no-nonsense trading aimed at capitalizing on post-event volatility.
Tip #3: Check out a Strategy to Trade in the Earnings Season
To get the most out of earnings season, you can easily find the “Earnings” tab within our predefined strategies section. Here, you will find two types of trades – before earnings and after earnings.
For example, you may build a long straddle or short iron condor trade in advance to take advantage of the price volatility around earnings announcements. Similarly, as we discussed previously in the section on post-earnings trades, you can use different strategies to react to the stock’s movement after earnings are released.
Tip #4: Never Miss an Analyst Upgrade
It may be hard to follow the market on a daily basis, and even harder to spot those cases where at least one analyst has upgraded a stock price. This is why we’ve designed the “Buy cheap Calls on Analyst Upgrades Last Month” scan to help you keep track of these important opportunities.
The scan only looks for calls that have a maximum loss of 5%, which is a conservative approach to minimize potential losses. Furthermore, the scan automatically sorts the results by analyst recommendation and breakeven price, making it easier for you to identify strong buy signals with relatively low breakeven prices.
Tip #5: Create your Custom Market Scans
One of the best features that you can enjoy on the go is creating your own custom market scan with just a few clicks.
You can either create a new scan from scratch or edit an existing predefined scan to suit your trading style better. With dozens of different filters to choose from, you can easily customize your scans to focus on specific stocks, industries, or sectors that interest you.
Tip #6: Paper Trade with Options
Option trading can be hard, it really does not make sense to deny it. There are so many factors to consider, and operational risk is always a concern when going from theory to practice. The difficulty of finding a broker that allows paper trading options only adds to the challenge. This is why, even though we are not a broker ourselves, we have decided to offer our users access to a real paper trade section.
You can learn about new strategies, test them out in our paper trade mode, make any necessary edits and then retest. This way, you can gain confidence before using the strategy in real trades.
Tip #7: Evaluate different market scenarios to compare trading strategies
Suppose you have an idea for Apple (AAPL), expecting it to reach a given price by the end of the next month. Our “Scenario” tab allows you to simulate this scenario and compare different strategies based on your assumptions. Simply enter the ticker of the stock you are interested in, choose the date for your scenario, and set your price target. You can also play with advanced parameters like volatility, bid-ask level, and stock price drift to fine-tune your simulation.
The output will provide you with a series of strategies that you can balance based on the maximum return and probability of profit, giving you trade ideas to consider for your market scenario.
Tip #8: Consult our blog to learn more about how to use our scanner and study new content
Our blog is a valuable resource for options traders of all levels. We publish new articles every week to help you better understand how the option market works and how to make the most out of it.
Our articles are always written in clear and easy-to-understand language, with real-life examples to show different strategies and features.
Tip #9: Keep Track of a Stock’s Key Information and Ratios
You should never trade a company’s stock without first doing thorough research. Our screener allows you to easily access key information and financial ratios for each company included in a potential trade by clicking on the “Stock” tab.
This includes the company’s market cap, sector, and industry – all crucial aspects to consider when making investment decisions. In addition, our screener provides more advanced information such as analyst’s target price and level of insider transactions, among others.
Tip #10: Compare IV and HV for Any Option
Implied Volatility (IV) is an essential factor to consider for option traders. Generally, high IV corresponds to a higher option premium, while low IV corresponds with a lower premium. The general consensus is that IV tends to anticipate movements in the actual volatility (or “historical volatility,” HV) of the underlying asset.
If you compare the recent movement of IV and HV on the “Options” tab, you can see how IV tends to anticipate movements in HV.
This comparison can help traders make more informed decisions about which options to trade, based on their desired risk and potential profit levels.
Tip #11: Create Alerts for Any Scan
Another easy-to-use feature for any mobile user is the alert function. For any screener (be it predefined or created by a user), you can set up alerts to notify you of any new additions that fit the screener’s criteria. Just click the “Watch” button and wait for the alert.
Tip #12: Access Our Technical Analysis Engine
Another helpful feature for mobile traders is our Technical Analysis Engine, which allows you to access real-time indicators while scanning the market. For instance, you can customize scans with different time frames and filter out specific options based on criteria such as zones, crosses, and percentiles.
… and more
We are constantly working to improve our platform and add new features for our users. All our features are accessible on mobile (in fact, you may want to check our short guide on how to create Option Samurai icons on mobile). Check back regularly for updates and additions to make your trading experience even more efficient and successful.
