Option Chain in Excel, never buy an option before checking these 6 cells

About this tutorial

Option Chain in Excel is exactly what this live session builds from scratch, giving options traders a real-time dashboard that pulls live strike prices, implied volatility, open interest, and Greeks directly into a spreadsheet without any manual data entry. Whether you are evaluating a covered call, sizing a vertical spread, or scanning for unusual activity before an earnings event, this demo shows you how MarketXLS makes the full option chain actionable inside Excel or Google Sheets. What you'll see in this session: - Pulling a full option chain for any ticker using the MarketXLS mxs_option_chain function, returning calls and columns side by side in a structured table. - Filtering strikes by delta range so you see only the contracts closest to your risk target, not every line of noise in a 200-row chain. - Adding a live implied volatility column and using conditional formatting to flag strikes where IV is elevated above the 30-day average, a common signal before entering a short premium trade. - Calculating the at-the-money straddle price in a single formula to give you an expected move estimate for the current expiration cycle. - Building an open interest heatmap across expiration dates so you can spot where market makers are most heavily positioned and where price tends to pin near expiration. - Pulling bid-ask spread as a percentage of the midpoint to filter out illiquid strikes that look attractive on paper but cost you on the fill. Why this matters: most retail options traders make entry decisions by staring at a brokerage chain screen, copying numbers by hand, or relying on a single metric like delta. That workflow breaks down the moment you want to compare multiple expirations, backtest a strike selection rule, or share a structured view with a partner or portfolio manager. Bringing the option chain into Excel means every filter, sort, and decision rule is auditable, repeatable, and connected to live data. You can build a watch list of twenty underlyings and scan all their chains in one sheet refresh rather than clicking through twenty separate brokerage tabs. The six cells highlighted in this session, delta, IV versus 30-day average, open interest, bid-ask spread percentage, straddle price, and days to expiration, are the minimum checks a systematic options trader should confirm before placing any order. Skipping even one of them is where avoidable losses come from. Built live in Excel with MarketXLS real-time data during the broadcast. Try the functions yourself using the free trial linked at marketxls.com. Demo workbook link posted in the comments after the session ends.