Option TradingTo read an option chain, you can look for the following information:
Strike price: The price at which the stock is bought if the option is exercised
Premium: The price of the options contract, or the upfront fee paid by the investor
Expiry dates: The dates on which the option expires, which can affect the premium
Open interest (OI): The total number of outstanding option contracts that have not been settled
Implied volatility (IV): A percentage that indicates the expected price fluctuations, and the level of uncertainty or risk in the market
Bid: The best available price at which the option can be sold
Ask: The best available price at which the option can be purchased
Volume: The number of transactions that have occurred on the current trading day
Net change: The net change of LTP, where a positive change indicates a rise in price and an unfavorable change indicates a decrease in price
Bid qty: The number of buy orders for a specific strike price
Ask qty: The number of open sell orders for a specific strike price
Here are some other tips for reading an option chain:
The option chain is divided into two sections, calls and puts, with calls on the left and puts on the right
The current market price is displayed in the center
ITM call options are usually highlighted in yellow
Higher open interest usually indicates higher liquidity and market activity
