An option chain is a table that lists all available call and put options for a stock, including various strike prices and expiration dates. It displays key data like the bid and ask prices, last traded price, volume and open interest. The strike price increments can vary for different assets, ranging from $0.50 to $50 depending on the underlying. Open interest refers to the number of open or outstanding option contracts, while volume means the daily trading volume, which are not necessarily the same figures. Liquidity can be assessed by both the level of open interest and the size of the bid-ask spread.

1. What options does a particular stock have?
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Options Trading

2. What is an Option Chain?
An Option Chain is a table belonging to a particular stock that includes all call
and put options and contains all possible target prices and expiration dates.
Components of the Option Chain:
Expiration month: date of expiry
Strike price: target price
Call/Put: call options are on the left, put options with the same target
prices are on the right
Ask: the price at which you can buy the option
Bid: the price at which you can sell the option
Last price: the latest price
Volume: the total daily volume that was traded from a particular option
Open Interest: the number of open option contracts, that is, how much is
out there in the hands
Symbol: the unique identifier of the option
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3. Target price
The target price of the option can change by 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.5, 5, 10 or 50.
For example here is the SPY, which is a special ETF index product, the target
price changes by 0.5:
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4. Apple Target Price
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Here is the AAPL, the target price changes by 1:

5. Google Target Price
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Here is the GOOG, the target price changes by 2.5:

6. Gold Futures Target Price
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Here is the /GC, which is the Gold Futures, the target price changes by 5:

7. Cocoa Target Price
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Here is the /CC, which is the Cocoa, the target price changes by 50:

8. Expiration
You can see that the volume is 0, because the market has
not opened up yet and there has been no trading today.
You can also see in the pictures, that I have chosen from
each of them options that expire in November or
December.
In case of /GC and /CC, you will notice that JAN, FEB and
MAR are in the picture as well, so there are options that
expire in January, February and March, too. In general, the
different monthly maturities of options are priced for 1-2
years in advance.
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9. Open Interest and Volume
As many novice option traders mix, what is the difference
between Open Interest and Volume?
Here is a brief explanation:
Open Interest (OI) is the number of currently open contracts
for a particular option. We consider an option open if we have
bought it but have not sold it, nor have we practiced our
buying/selling rights, so the transaction has not been closed.
The volume means the daily trading volume. These two
numbers are not necessarily the same, as OI can be 1000, while
the daily trading volume is only 10-20 pcs.
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10. Open Interest and Volume
Do not be misled by the two amounts.
Just because the volume is low, OI might be high. OI is worth
watching, because the higher the value of OI is, the more likely
you can close the transaction, that is, the higher the liquidity
of the particular option is.
Another method of measuring liquidity is the size of
the Bid/Ask spread.
What does it mean? The bid is the price for which you can sell
an option, ask is the price for which you can buy it. If there is a
huge gap between the two, it can significantly reduce our
profitability index.
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11. Feel free to ask me!
Email: gery@optionsrules.com
My webpage: http://www.optionsrules.com/
You can find me:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OptionsRules1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/optionsrules
Twitter: https://twitter.com/optionsrules
LinkedIn: http://hu.linkedin.com/pub/gery-nagy/6a/513/261
Skype: opcioguru
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