Reading the options table

Let's see how to read the options table. Below the text box, in the Create a strategy in Options menu, pick Options table. The question is already written for you: Nvidia, next monthly expiry. Press Send, and the table opens on the right.

At the top you see the expiry, the days left, and the date of the data with the stock price. In the middle are the strikes, that is, the exercise prices. Calls on the left, puts on the right: same row, same strike. The blue line is the stock price. The coloured cells are the in-the-money options: calls with a strike below the price, puts with a strike above it. Bid is the price buyers are offering, ask is the price sellers are asking. They are per share: one contract covers a hundred shares. Vol is the volume traded in the session. OI is the open interest, the contracts still open. High numbers point to options that many traders are watching. Show greeks adds the greeks. Delta: how much the option moves for each dollar of the stock. Gamma: how much the delta changes. Vega: the effect of volatility. Theta: the value lost each day.

The same menu has Most traded strikes: inside a conversation you'll find it among the suggested questions. The answer lists the strikes with the most volume, for calls and puts.

Here the volume is concentrated on the two hundred thirty and two hundred sixty calls, and on the two hundred put: you'll find the same numbers in the table.

To sum up: strikes in the middle, calls on the left, puts on the right, and on every row prices, volume and open interest.