Trade Finder

The Trade Finder is a function of the Strategy Chain component that allows you to find single and multi-leg option strategies based on a set of pre-defined criteria: your market directional view and your time horizon.

Select one of the four quadrants from the market directional view circle and one of the four quadrants from the time horizon circle and Advanced Dashboard will populate all of the applicable single and multi-leg option strategy results that meet your selected criteria. Please note that trading with multi-leg option strategies is currently only available for US option-eligible securities. In event of selecting a Canadian option-eligible symbol, no results will be populated. If the selected Canadian symbol is interlisted, you will be prompted to use its US equivalent in order to generate all applicable single and multi-leg option strategy results that meet your directional view and time horizon criteria.

To trade any selected strategy, simply click on the price value in the To Open/Close columns, and then click on the ‘Create Order’ button next to the Mid-Natural Price slider.

There are four market directional views from which to choose: Bullish, Bearish, Neutral, and Volatile. The pre-defined search criteria for each strategy are as follows (please note that you cannot modify any of the pre-defined search criteria at this time):

Bullish

Strategy	Search Criteria
Bull Call Spread	Delta of Bull Call Spread >= 0.35 Maximum Strike Width = 3 Long call is either ITM or ATM. Short Call is ATM or OTM
Bull Put Spread	Delta of Bull Put Spread >= 0.25 Maximum Strike Width = 3 Short Put is OTM or ATM. Long Put is OTM.
Diagonal Bull Call Spread	Expiration Width <= 2 months Delta of Diagonal Bull Call Spread >=0.10 Long Call is ITM or ATM; Short Call is ATM or OTM
Diagonal Bull Put Spread	Expiration Width <= 2 months Delta of Diagonal Bull Put Spread >=0.10 Short Put is ATM or OTM. Long Put is OTM
Call Back Spread	Delta of Call Back Spread >= -0.10 Maximum Strike Width = 3
Call Ratio Spread	Delta of Call Back Spread >= -0.25 Maximum Strike Width = 3
Long Call	Delta of Long Call >= 0.6
Short Put	Delta of Short Put >= 0.30

Bearish

Strategy	Search Criteria
Bear Call Spread	Delta of Bear Call Spread <= -0.25 Maximum Strike Width = 3 Short Call is OTM or ATM. Long Call is OTM.
Bear Put Spread	Delta of Bear Put Spread <= -0.35 Maximum Strike Width = 3 Long Put is either ITM or ATM. Short Put is ATM or OTM.
Diagonal Bear Put Spread	Expiration Width <= 2 months Delta of Diagonal Bull Call Spread <= -0.10 Long Put is ITM or ATM, Short Call is ATM or OTM
Diagonal Bear Call Spread	Expiration Width <= 2 months Delta of Diagonal Bull Put Spread <= – 0.10
Put Back Spread	Delta of Put Back Spread >= 0.10 Maximum Strike Width = 3
Put Ratio Spread	Delta of Put Ratio Spread <= 0.25 Maximum Strike Width = 3
Long Put	Delta of Long Put <= -0.60
Short Call	Delta of Short Call <= -0.30

Neutral

Strategy	Search Criteria
Covered Call	Delta of Covered Call > 0.35 and <=0.80
Long Calendar Call Spread	Delta of Call Calendar Spread < 0.10 and > -0.10 Expiration Width = 1 month
Long Calendar Put Spread	Delta of Put Calendar Spread < 0.10 and > -0.10 Expiration Width = 1 month
Short Straddle	Delta of Short Straddle < 0.25 and > -0.25
Short Strangle	Delta of Short Strangle < 0.25 and > -0.25 Strike Width <= 10
Protective Put (Married Put)	Delta of Protective Put > 0.35 and <= 0.80

Volatile

Strategy	Search Criteria
Long Straddle	Delta of Long Straddle < 0.25 and > -0.25
Long Strangle	Delta of Long Strangle < 0.25 and > -0.25 Strike Width <= 10
Short Call Calendar Spread	Delta of Call Calendar Spread <0.10 and > -0.10 Expiration Width = 1 month
Short Put Calendar Spread	Delta of Put Calendar Spread <0.10 and > -0.10 Expiration Width = 1 month

 

The time horizon criterion is broken into four period categories:

• 1 month – strategies with less than 31 days to expiration
• 3 months – strategies with 31 to 90 days to expiration
• 3 – 6 months – strategies with 91 to 182 days to expiration
• 6+ months – strategies with more than 182 days to expiration

 

Disclaimer

The metrics and results are not reviewed or endorsed by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., The Toronto-Dominion Bank or its subsidiaries.

Options are not suitable for all investors as the special risks inherent to options trading may expose investors to potentially rapid and substantial losses. Please read ‘Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options’ before investing in options.