Enhancements to Options Support in TradersPost: Advanced Control with Webhooks

Control Option Chain Scanning From Webhook

You can now control the option chain scanning functionality from webhooks! In this example, it will buy SPY calls that expire in 6 months, are in the money and are 2 strikes away from at the money. It will calculate a quantity dynamically for $1000 worth of calls.

{
    "ticker": "SPY",
    "action": "buy",
    "expiration": "+6 months",
    "optionType": "call",
    "intrinsicValue": "itm",
    "strikesAway": 2,
    "quantityType": "dollar_amount",
    "quantity": 1000
}

Send Specific Options Contract From Webhook

You can directly send a specific options contract symbol via the webhook, eliminating the need to scan the option chain to find a contract to trade.

To send a specific options contract through the webhook, include the contract symbol in the ticker field in your payload. This field should contain the full symbol of the option contract you wish to trade. Here's an example of how to structure your payload:

{
    "ticker": "SPY 240510C516",
    "quantity": 1
}

In this example, SPY 240510C516 represents the symbol for a specific SPY contract. The structure of this symbol is broken down as follows:

• SPY is the underlying asset.
• 240510 indicates the expiration date, which is the 10th of May, 2024.
• C signifies a Call option.
• 516 refers to the strike price of $516.

By specifying the contract symbol in this manner, you ensure that the exact desired options contract is selected for trading, bypassing the need to scan the option chain to find a contract dynamically. You can manually pick which contract you want to trade ahead of time and keep it up to date as contracts expire.

You can also optionally specify the specific contract to trade with individual field instead of using the symbol format in the ticker field.

{
    "ticker": "SPY",
    "action": "buy",
    "expiration": "2024-05-10",
    "optionType": "call",
    "strikePrice": 516
}

Give Feedback on Option Chain Scanning

The option chain scanning feature now includes a snapshot of the option chain at the moment a trade was executed. This allows users to visually see the selected contract according to their configured settings. You will see this option chain snapshot when editing your strategy subscription and when you are viewing an individual subscription trade.

Send Options Prices in Webhooks

You can now send prices in webhooks for options trades. Previously, if you were to send a limitPrice for an options trade, it would be ignored and we would always fetch a quote and use the price from the quote for the limitPrice.

{
    "ticker": "SPY 240510C516",
    "quantity": 1,
    "orderType": "limit",
    "limitPrice": 1.2
}

This feature is disabled for all existing options strategy subscriptions that predate this feature and is enabled for all new strategy subscriptions created after this change. You can enable and disable this feature in the Entry or Exit sections when editing your settings.

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Conclusion

The latest updates to TradersPost's options support bring a new level of control and customization to your trading strategies. By leveraging webhooks for option chain scanning and specific contract selection, you can fine-tune your trades to align perfectly with your trading goals. We’re committed to continually enhancing our platform to make automated trading accessible, precise, and efficient for all traders. Stay tuned for more updates and innovations!