A terminal application for tracking options trading metrics. This application gets your list of stock tickers and based on your basic parameters displays the most profitable option trades within defined boundaries. See user config for more details.
The interface:
The app relies on three main files in order to run effectively:
- system config file
theta_tracker_system.conf - user config file
theta_tracker_user.conf - stock tickers list to track
tickers2watch.txt
System config file consist of:
{"api_key": "YOUR_td_ameritrade_api_key", "finnhub_api_key": "YOUR_finnhub_api_key", "refresh_interval": 600}
In order to obtain your api keys for both portals please visit and register at: https://developer.tdameritrade.com/apis and https://finnhub.io/
User config file consist of:
{"max_delta": 0.3, "dte_range_min": 24, "dte_range_max": 45, "buying_power": 50000.0, "default_sorting_method": "arr"}
These are the example values and if you don't have this file, the app will ask for your values.
The meaning of the configuration options are:
max_delta - this is simply speaking a maximum risk you want to take into account when selling the option. The possible values are between 0.0 and 1.0. Don't bother with negative sign, just use the absolute value, it will work.
dte_range_min - this is a minimum number of days you want to consider when selling the option. Valid values are between 0 (today) and 365.
dte_range_max - this is a maximum number of days you want to consider when selling the option. In other words: second bracket of a time window for your trades. Valid values are between previously entered dte_range_min and 365.
buying_power - this is a buying power you want to take into account when trading. The minimum value is 1000USD. This might include your margin, but remember - trading on margin increases your risk!
The general rule is that this is a hard limit when calculating possible positions by the application. In short: if you want to sell covered PUTs, put your available cash on trading account. If you want to sell naked - do what you want but be warned! 🤓
default_sorting_method - this parameter tells what should the app use to sort the possible option trades. You should by default use 'arr', as this gives utilizes to the maximum your capital in the assumed time period. Other possible values are:
premium_usd
premium_per_day
delta
You will be able to change it later, in the app.
Tickers' list should be put into the tickers2watch.txt file - please note that you might want to put them in a specific order, for instance from the best in the first line to the least attractive in the last one.
The best way to obtain the most attractive list of tickers is to use a tool such as finviz screener or even run a script like https://github.com/RudolfTheOne/FinVizStockSelector.
Note: if you will not provide any list, the application will present option chains for SPY ETF.
Once you have your tickers and proper config files, you run the app and see its main interface. Here is the explanation of what the app's main interface tells you:
In this part of the screen the app will report:
ThetaTracker - its name 😎
Date: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM - current date and time
Buying power: $XXXXX.00 - your buying power in USD
Market: Open - market status (can be Open or Closed).
Bottom part of the interface gives you a brief overview of hotkeys, as:
q - the app will exit
c - configuration setup, allowing you to change user config options:
s - sorting method, see:
r - forced refresh: this will force the app to retrieve all the data from the external sources again and refresh displayed position on the screen. It might take a while, especially for larger number of tickets.
First row displays ticker along its position from the tickers2watch.txt file in the square
bracket.
The assumption is that if you sorted your tickers from best to worst, you might want to
consider that info when choosing the trade. Next are Bid and Ask prices along with their
sizes and Volatility followed by Strike Price.
Second row gives position description (along with type of the option), followed by the delta
value (remember - rule of thumb is the lower delta, the less risky is the trade),
underlying price followed by difference between this price and strike price (in the
bracket it will display d: $2.0 0.04% meaning the difference between the underlying price
and the strike price is 2 dollars which translates to 0.04% of the difference.). The last
value in the row is Days to Expiration.
Third row displays the most essential data for the trader: Premium Total in USD - this calculates the total premium you will get for selling the total number of contracts.
NOTE: this doesn't take into account your trade fees from your broker!.
The next value says about premium you will earn per day (that's simply premium total
divided per days to expiration) followed by ARR. The ARR reflects the percentage rate of return
expected on an investment extending the result on one trade to a full year. It's the most
useful indicator of how profitable your trade is in specific time window.
The last constant thing displayed is Number of contracts to write: this tells you how many options you can sell having your previously defined buying power.
Note: in case the specific trade's underlying has an earning report within defined time window, you will see a warning:
This app has been written by Chat GPT 4.
Happy trading! 💵💪
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