MarketXLS Blog

Understanding option symbols breakdown showing underlying, expiration, type, and strike components

Commodity options give the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a commodity (usually a futures contract) at a set price. How they work, how hedgers use them, and the risks for buyers and sellers.

High IV options carry high implied volatility, so their premiums price in bigger expected moves. What that means for buyers, sellers, and spreads.

Open interest is the number of option contracts still open at the end of the day. How it differs from volume, what changes in it signal, and how to use it.

Bollinger Bands plot a band two standard deviations above and below a 20-day moving average. How to read them, their limits, and how to calculate them in Excel.

Vega is how much an option price changes for a 1 percentage point change in implied volatility. How long and short vega positions work and how to calculate vega in Excel.

High option volume usually means tighter bid/ask spreads and easier fills, and unusual volume can flag news or positioning. How to read and track it.

An option scanner filters option contracts across many stocks by expiry, volume, open interest, IV, and premium. What it screens for and how the MarketXLS Option Scanner works.

Option moneyness compares the stock price with the strike: a call is in the money above the strike, a put below it, and at the money when they are equal.

Out-of-the-money calls have strikes above the stock price and no intrinsic value. How they are priced, why many expire worthless, and how to manage risk.

Option delta formula explained with the Black-Scholes calculation, call and put delta ranges, ITM ATM OTM behavior, and real-time Greeks tracking in Excel using MarketXLS.

Option volume counts contracts traded today; open interest counts contracts still open at the end of the day. What each tells you and how to use them together.

Uncover the Secrets of Professional Options Traders Professional options traders rely mostly on a few defined structures rather than single option bets: vertical spreads (bull call and bear put...

Get a live option chain in Excel with =QM_GetOptionChain("AAPL") from MarketXLS, then read strikes, premiums, implied volatility, Greeks, and open interest.

QQQQ was the old ticker of the Nasdaq-100 ETF, now QQQ. How QQQ options work: calls, puts, pricing, Greeks, implied volatility and risk.

Option Greeks measure how an option price reacts to the stock price (delta, gamma), time (theta), volatility (vega), and rates (rho). How to read them with a calculator.