All,
Today I’d like to introduce you to a new tool I’ve recently added to my “Option Toolbox.” It was developed by my fellow investing buddy, Patrick. Patrick has just added a new feature to his Market Timing Research web-site (www.mtrig.com). The new feature is a call and put options search tool. With Patrick’s new tool you can search online for options which meet your desired criteria.
You can search by: Market Sector (i.e., Utilities, Technology, etc.), Option Type (Call or Put), Desired ROIC (i.e., 1%, 2%, etc.), Expiration Date, Range of Stock Prices (ex. $10 to $50), Range of Price/Earnings Ratios (ex. 5 to 20), and Dividend Yield.
Patrick has purposely limited the universe of stocks in his searchable database to 734 large-caps; no small-caps allowed! In our current volatile market environment I think that is a plus! These are all well-established, more stable companies.
Search results contain the following fields: Stock Symbol, Stock Price, Option Type, Strike Price, Expiration Date, Last Traded Price of the Option, Bid and Ask Prices on the Option, Total ROI, Monthly ROI, Last Trading Day Volume, and the Open Interest. The search results are displayed in a scrollable box on the screen. Patrick has also provided a convenient way to export the search results to Excel. In addition, you can quickly pull up a chart of the underlying stock. The chart pops up in a new window.
So, why do I like this new tool? Well, first and foremost, it is quick and easy to use. Also, it is web-based so you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection.
Downsides? Well, some might be disappointed with the limited number of stocks in the database. However, as I mentioned above, I think this is a plus. Also, this tool isn’t intended for you day-traders out there. By that I mean that it is limited to closing prices. In other words, if you run a search at noon on Monday, you will get the previous Friday’s closing prices. This tool is more targeted towards the guy who gets home from work at night and wants to look for potential trades to enter the next day.
Here’s a link to the tool on Patrick’s site: http://www.mtrig.com/Members/OptionSearch.aspx. Go check it out! You’ll notice it is in a “members only” section of Patrick’s site. However, because the tool is currently in BETA mode, access is free. Once Patrick is done testing and adding an initial list of desired enhancements it will become a paid feature. Speaking of which, if you do encounter a bug or data anomaly, let Patrick know. He’ll get it fixed right away. Also, if you have an idea for a cool addition to the tool, let Patrick know about that as well. He’s already added a couple of my suggestions.
Regards,
Troy
The Money Tree 