An options trader's FAQ

Last updated 2026-09-26

Quick answers for an options trader using this desk. Every answer names the screen it comes from. For the full evening walk, screen by screen, see An options trader's evening.

At a glance

How do I find names to sell premium on this desk?

Three ways. On Market Scan, add the "IV rank 50+" chip, then read the IV rank column high to low. Ask the assistant for the sell premium screen: IV rank highest first, then IV minus realized vol. Or open Trade Cards and look at the Leaders board for the highest IV ranks.

How do I find names to buy premium?

The mirror image. On Market Scan, add "IV rank under 50" and read IV rank low to high. Ask for the buy premium screen: IV rank lowest first. Or open Trade Cards and look at the Leaders board for the lowest IV ranks.

What is the sell premium screen, exactly?

A list ordered by IV rank, richest first. Where two names tie on IV rank, the one with the wider gap between IV and its own realized volatility sorts first. Each row states the side and strategy, the IV rank word, and IV against realized vol. It also states priced move against model move, the vol outlook, the pullback chance, and whether a report falls before expiry.

What is the buy premium screen, exactly?

The same row shape, ordered by IV rank, cheapest first.

What does "this scan" mean when I ask about it?

It scopes the answer to the rows on your screen right now, under whatever chips and filters you have set. Ask "sell premium from this scan" and the Ask reads only what is visible, then names any richer names sitting outside it.

What are the Leaders boards, and do they help an options trader?

The boards on the Trade Cards Leaders tab, one reading per board. Three suit an options trader: the highest IV ranks, the lowest IV ranks and the most volatile names. See Trade Cards for the full list of boards.

What is IV rank?

Where tonight's implied volatility sits against that name's own weekly record, 0 to 100. Near 0 its options are as cheap as they have been. Near 100, as rich. It never compares one name's options with another name's. Market Scan prints it for every name and filters on it. Volatility History draws the weekly record it is read against.

Why is IV rank 50 the cutoff between rich and cheap?

It is the midpoint of the name's own year. Market Scan's IV rank filter and Trade Cards' own strategy rule both split there: 50 or more reads rich, under 50 cheap. A pane that instead prints a three way word, rich, middle or cheap, uses a wider band around the middle. Say which pane you mean if the two disagree.

What is the difference between IV rank and implied volatility itself?

Implied volatility is a number, the market's own price for a possible move, quoted as a percentage a year. IV rank is a place in that name's own history of that number, 0 to 100. A stock can carry a high implied volatility and a low IV rank at once, if its own history runs even higher.

What is IV versus realized vol, and why does it matter for selling?

Implied volatility is what options currently charge. Realized volatility is what the shares actually moved, over the last 20 trading days, annualized. When implied sits above realized, selling collects more premium than the recent move has cost. When it sits below, buying costs less than the shares have recently moved.

What is priced move?

The option market's own one standard deviation move to the near expiry. The up leg and the down leg are read separately, then averaged for one figure on the scan. It restates today's quotes and is not a forecast.

What is model move?

The model's expected size of the move over the next 20 trading days, a single figure, not a direction. It comes from the same model that ranks the name, not from the option chain.

Why don't priced move and model move match exactly?

They measure two different things about the same kind of move: a one standard deviation figure against an average size. For a typical distribution of moves those two figures sit close to 1.25 times apart. Seeing that gap is normal, and it is not a sign either figure is wrong. Key difference. Priced move is the option market's own number. Model move is the model's own number. Reading them side by side is a check, not a disagreement to resolve.

What does vol outlook mean for a seller?

Whether the model reads realized volatility over the next 20 trading days as rising, steady or falling against the last 20. A seller reading "falling" sees a tailwind: the move the shares make tends to shrink toward what was sold against. "Rising" argues the other way.

What does vol outlook mean for a buyer?

The same reading, read the other way. "Rising" favors a bought position, since the shares are expected to move more than they recently have. "Falling" argues against paying for that extra movement.

What is pullback chance, and how does it relate to put selling?

The model's chance of a fall of 6 percent or more within the next 20 trading days. A higher pullback chance is a headwind for a cash secured put or a bull put spread. The short strike is more likely to be tested. It is a chance, not a certainty, and it says nothing about how far a fall would run.

What structure does Trade Cards print by side and IV rank?

One rule, read off the side and the IV rank. Bullish with IV rank 50 or more prints a cash secured put; bullish under 50 prints a bull call spread. Bearish with IV rank 50 or more prints a bear call spread; bearish under 50 prints a bear put spread. A name with no signal and no clear side is different again. It prints an iron condor at IV rank 50 or more. Below 50, or when IV rank is not held for the name, it prints a long straddle.

Why a cash-secured put and not some other bullish credit structure?

It is the desk's own fallback order for a bullish signal with rich options. Cash secured put comes first, then a bull put spread, then a long call, then a bull call spread. Each is tried in turn until the option chain prices one. The row says when a later structure printed instead of the first choice.

Why iron condor above 50 and a straddle below it?

That is the industry's own rule of thumb for a name with no side. Sell premium when it is rich against its own history, and buy it when it is cheap. Neither structure carries a paper record on this desk; the row says so.

Is the Trade Cards structure the only one that fits?

No, but it is the only one this desk states as its own pick. It is the structure the fixed rule chose and priced for that name tonight. The Read-out and the desk's view quote it word for word: its legs, its expiry, its limit and the market's own odds of profit. Neither names a different family of its own. Options strategy families teaches the wider set and which readings argue for each one.

Why did the Read-out once print a different family than Trade Cards?

A defect, fixed 2026-09-25. The Read-out used to pick its own family from a three way pricing word, rich, middle or cheap. That is a different cut from Trade Cards' own fifty percent line on IV rank. A bearish name could sit under 50 on the fifty percent line and above it on the three way word. The two screens then named two different structures for the same name on the same trading day. The Read-out now quotes Trade Cards' own row whenever one exists. Otherwise it falls back to the same side and IV rank rule, so the two cannot disagree.

Probability of profit and the model's chance look like the same kind of number. Are they?

No. They are two different numbers, and this is worth getting right. The model's chance is how often names ranked like this one finished the horizon on that side, measured over past years, with any stock beside it. Probability of profit is the option market's own odds, read off the short strike's delta. One is the desk's measured record. The other is the market's own price for risk. Trade Cards prints both on every signal row: the chance beside any stock, and the probability of profit under Trade.

Why does a structure hold for the signal's horizon plus 21 days to expiry?

The expiry is chosen so time is left on the contract after the signal's own horizon ends, 45 or 20 trading days out. The time stop then closes the position at that date or with 21 days left to expiry, whichever comes first, before time decay runs fastest.

What is the natural price, and what does the limit at the mid mean?

The order is placed at the combination's mid price, the average of its own bid and ask. Natural is what actually crossing the spread would fill at, the bid on a credit or the ask on a debit. It sits beside the limit so a trader can see the cost of not waiting for the mid to fill.

Does the desk check for an earnings report before the expiry?

Yes. When a report date falls inside a structure's own expiry, the row says so and names the date. It never says whether that changes the odds.

What does "liquid options" mean on the filter?

At least 1,000 option contracts traded on that name tonight, and a spread that reads tight or fair rather than wide. It is a floor on how easy the contract is to trade, not a view on the name.

Can I trade SPX or other index options here?

Trade Cards carries an Indexes tab: SPY, QQQ, IWM and DIA. Each one runs a single measured rule. Sell a put spread near 0.25 delta, the long leg near 0.05 delta below it, 21 to 45 days to expiry, held to expiry. It is the one options structure tested on sixteen years of real index chains. The stock rows' own rule is not used there.

Why does a name carry no signal at all?

Two reasons, either on its own. Its rank is not in the top or bottom band at 45 or 20 trading days. Or its realized volatility is 25 percent a year or under, which the signal rule also requires. A row with no signal can still carry a measured outlook and a structure with no side.

What model is the desk running?

The desk is running its current model, the newest it has trained. Every weekday evening it ranks about a thousand US names at 45 and 20 trading days. A 10 day rank is shown too, for context only, because it failed its own holdout test. Beside the rank it carries a pullback chance, a vol outlook and a model move, all over the next 20 trading days. Options readings sit inside the model too: IV rank, skew, net gamma, the walls and put to call. They feed the model as inputs, not only as separate figures on the options screens.

Does the model publish a return, a hit rate or a performance number?

Not on this page, and not from the Ask. The desk's own paper record, labelled paper trading, lives on the Record page with the coin flip beside every figure. Nothing here restates it as a forecast.

When do the figures update?

Options figures update at the close, from that trading day's own option chain capture. Signals publish once, after the close, as part of the evening build. The footer on Market Scan states both dates so neither is mistaken for the other.

Does the desk calculate max pain?

No. The nearest reading it does carry is on Gamma Map: the call wall, the put wall and where open interest clusters by strike. See Words the desk uses for the other terms no pane on this desk shows or builds.

What is dollar gamma?

Dollar gamma is gamma stated in dollars, for a one percent move in the share price, summed over the open contracts at every captured strike. The desk prints it two ways. Net dollar gamma is calls minus puts, and its sign is a convention. Total dollar gamma adds both sides together. Neither figure says who holds the contracts, dealers or anyone else. Gamma Map draws it strike by strike. Options Screener and Options Snapshot print the whole name's figures.

Can the desk tell whether dealers are long or short gamma?

No. Open interest shows how many contracts are open, not who holds them. So no pane can say whether dealers are long or short gamma, on SPY or any other name. Net dollar gamma is calls minus puts, a sign convention. The Hedging pressure tab on Gamma Map reads the same figures under the standard assumption, and labels it as one. Under that assumption, the open calls are held by hedgers and the open puts are sold by them. It is an assumption, not an observation.

Why does implied volatility fall after an earnings report?

Before a report, option prices carry the size of the move the report might bring. Once the report is out, that unknown has passed, so implied volatility tends to drop. Traders call this the IV crush. It is a general pattern in how options are priced, not a reading the desk forecasts for any one name. Volatility History shows where a name's implied volatility sits against its own past. Earnings Radar shows the next report date. Priced Range shows the move option prices carry out to each expiry, including one that spans a report.

Does the desk show live or intraday options flow?

No. The desk reads the option chain once, at each trading day's close. Changed Hands shows what traded that day against the contracts already open. Since Yesterday shows what changed in open interest and implied volatility overnight.

How is RingMaster different from Unusual Whales or Market Chameleon?

RingMaster pairs a model rank on about a thousand names with that evening's option readings, published the same for every reader. The desk does not describe other products, so this answer is about RingMaster alone. Each evening the current model ranks the names at 45 and 20 trading days. Beside each rank sit the option readings from the close: IV rank, priced move, skew, the walls and dollar gamma. Trade Cards turns each signal into one option structure, picked by a fixed rule. The paper record of what the desk published is on the Record page, beside the coin flip. It is an evening read, not a live tape of trades. It also reaches Claude and other AI assistants through the RingMaster connector. See RingMaster in your AI.

Will the Ask give me a price target?

No. The model ranks names; it does not forecast a price. See Rank Not Return for what a rank is and is not.

Will the Ask tell me what to do with my own account?

No. Every answer is the same published research for every reader, never advice about your own money, your holdings or your account. See What this desk can and cannot tell you.