# Optionscanner

> An analytics dashboard for options traders: rule-based signal scanning, options-chain analysis with a Black-Scholes greeks engine, expiration scoring, defined-risk spread screening, and live position monitoring against user-configured exit rules. Users link their own brokerage account; the software is not a broker-dealer and not a registered investment adviser, and nothing it displays is investment advice.

Key facts:
- Deterministic rules produce every score; an AI assistant explains the numbers and is structurally prevented from inventing them.
- Defined-risk options structures only; sizing derives from worst-case loss.
- The engine's methodology is published openly: one page per component with every threshold quoted from the code.

## Pages

- [Home](https://optionscanner.ai/): what the product does, FAQ, access.
- [About](https://optionscanner.ai/about): who builds it and the boundaries it keeps.
- [Pricing](https://optionscanner.ai/pricing): one plan, $99 a month, first 60 days free, everything included.
- [Methodology](https://optionscanner.ai/methodology): how every number is computed, one page per engine component (conviction score, structure selection, NVRP, probability of profit, expiration scoring, tape fit, the agent's confidence gate, exit rules).
- [Earnings this week](https://optionscanner.ai/earnings-this-week): which tracked companies report this week and next, with the session, from SEC filing history; estimated dates carry their window.
- [Learn library](https://optionscanner.ai/learn): plain-English explainers of the measures and screening rules.
- [Options glossary](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary): one page per term.
- [Free calculators](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators): expected move, probability of profit, single-leg profit or loss, and position size, each with its formula and assumptions explained.
- [MCP server for assistants](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/mcp): the same calculators and this library as Model Context Protocol tools at https://optionscanner.ai/mcp (streamable HTTP, no key, no account data): price any multi-leg trade, run what-if scenarios, search and read every page here. Tool reference: https://optionscanner.ai/learn/mcp/tools.
- [Research library](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/research): three literature reviews of the engine against roughly 340 published sources, with the divergences and the fixes published openly.
- [Training videos](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/videos): short walkthroughs of each part of the platform. Every video page carries the full transcript, so the content is readable without watching.

## Learn articles

- [IV Rank vs IV Percentile: What Each Measures](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/what-is-iv-rank): IV rank vs IV percentile: the two formulas, a worked example where one spike makes them disagree, and the situations where each one misleads.
- [Implied vs Realized Volatility: the Volatility Risk Premium (NVRP)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/what-is-nvrp): Implied vs realized volatility in one number: NVRP, the net volatility risk premium, measures how far the options market prices volatility above what the stock delivers. The formula, a worked example, and why premium sellers read it before IV rank.
- [VIX Regimes: What Different VIX Levels Mean for Options](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/vix-regimes): A five-band VIX regime map from complacent to panic, what each band historically means for option premium, and why regime labels are smoothed with a five-day median.
- [VIX Term Structure: Contango, Backwardation, and Sizing](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/vix-term-structure): How the relationship between VIX9D, VIX, VIX3M, and VIX6M classifies the volatility regime, and why backwardation is treated as a position-sizing signal.
- [Credit Spreads vs Debit Spreads: How Volatility Decides](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/credit-spreads-vs-debit-spreads): A rule-based mapping from directional signal and volatility regime to spread structure: when defined-risk premium selling fits and when paying a debit fits.
- [Iron Condor Entry Screening: What the Rules Check First](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/iron-condor-entry-screening): The entry gates a disciplined iron condor passes before it exists: volatility premium, liquidity on both wings, event screens, and honest expectations from the CBOE benchmark.
- [Best Delta for Credit Spreads: Why Short Strikes Sit at 0.15 to 0.30](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/delta-bands-for-short-strikes): Delta as a probability proxy, and the reasoning behind placing credit-spread short strikes inside a disciplined 0.15-0.30 delta band.
- [How to Choose an Options Expiration: DTE, Theta, and Gamma](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/choosing-an-expiration): Why premium-selling disciplines concentrate in the 30-45 DTE window, how theta decay and gamma risk trade off, and what a 0-100 expiry score is made of.
- [The Wheel Strategy: Cash-Secured Puts to Covered Calls](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/the-wheel-strategy): The wheel as a state machine: selling cash-secured puts, taking assignment, selling covered calls above cost basis, and the rules that keep the cycle honest.
- [Probability of Profit: What POP Means and How It's Computed](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/probability-of-profit): POP as the market-implied odds of an options position finishing profitable: the N(d2) math, per-strike volatility, smile corrections, and honest limits.
- [Options Greeks Explained: Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Rho](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-greeks-explained): The five first-order greeks and the higher-order trio (charm, vanna, vomma): formal definitions, intuitions, and which ones matter for which trades.
- [Dealer Gamma Exposure (GEX): Walls, Flips, and Regimes](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/dealer-gamma-exposure): How aggregate dealer gamma is estimated from open interest, what positive and negative gamma regimes mean for index behavior, and the honest limits of GEX on single stocks.
- [Earnings and Implied Moves: What Option Prices Predict](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/earnings-and-implied-moves): Reading the implied earnings move from a straddle, why premium-selling rules black out earnings weeks, and when the pre-earnings window prices volatility fairly.
- [Options Screening Software vs Manual Screening](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/screening-software-vs-manual-screening): A factual comparison of rule-based screening software and hand screening: what each does well, what software cannot do, and where the human decision always remains.
- [How to Evaluate a Credit Spread Before Entry](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/how-to-evaluate-a-credit-spread): A step-by-step walk through the checks a disciplined credit spread passes before it exists: volatility, strike placement, liquidity, events, compensation, and sizing.
- [When to Close a Credit Spread: 50% Profit, 21 DTE and Stops](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/exit-rules-for-credit-spreads): Why mechanical exits define premium selling: the 50% profit target, the 21-DTE time exit, loss stops anchored on credit, and why exits are never gated.
- [How to Roll a Losing Options Position, and When Not To](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/rolling-options-positions): What rolling actually does, the trigger conditions worth encoding, and the honest distinction between extending a trade and deferring a loss.
- [Options Assignment: When Short Options Become Stock](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-assignment-explained): How assignment works for American-style equity options, when early assignment becomes likely, and why defined-risk structures keep it a bounded event.
- [Position Sizing for Options: Worst-Case First](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/position-sizing-for-options): Sizing defined-risk options positions from worst-case loss, normalizing size across volatile and quiet stocks, and capping the portfolio's aggregate exposures.
- [Options Liquidity: Screening Open Interest and Quote Width](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-liquidity-screening): The three-part liquidity screen for options: open interest, session-aware volume, and bid-ask width, and why the exit is the trade liquidity actually protects.
- [Reading Volatility Skew: What the Smile Says About Risk](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/reading-volatility-skew): How the volatility smile is read in practice: why equity skew slopes toward puts, what unusual skew signals, and how skew feeds strike selection and probability math.
- [Calendar Spreads: Trading the Volatility Term Structure](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calendar-spreads-and-term-structure): How calendar spreads monetize differences between near and far implied volatility, and why earnings dates create their cleanest setups.
- [Breakout Bases: Volatility Contraction Before the Move](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/breakout-bases-and-volatility-contraction): The measurable anatomy of a pre-breakout base: prior leadership, tightening pullbacks, contracting volatility, drying volume, and objective trigger levels.
- [LEAPS: Using Long-Dated Options for Multi-Month Theses](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/leaps-long-dated-options): How long-dated options substitute for stock in multi-month positions: the deep in-the-money convention, the greeks that start mattering, and the post-earnings drift setup.
- [Paper Trading: What Simulated Results Do and Do Not Prove](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/paper-trading-before-real-money): Using paper trading honestly: what a simulated track record can validate, the fill-quality gap that flatters it, and the graduation criteria worth requiring of a discipline.
- [Trade Journaling and Calibration: Auditing Your Own Odds](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/trade-journaling-and-calibration): Journals as datasets: capturing entry state, labeling outcomes, comparing forecast probabilities against realized results, and mining behavioral patterns.
- [How a Composite Technical Signal Score Works](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/how-a-composite-signal-score-works): Blending RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands, ADX, and moving-average structure into one bounded score, and why a composite beats any single indicator.
- [Reading a Price Cone: Expected Moves on a Chart](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/reading-a-price-cone): What the widening cone drawn over a price chart represents: one-standard-deviation expected moves through time, and how strikes and breakevens read against it.
- [Portfolio Greeks: Beta-Weighting a Book of Options](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/portfolio-greeks-and-beta-weighting): Aggregating delta, vega, and theta across positions, why beta-weighting to a common index makes the sum honest, and what portfolio-level caps protect against.
- [Meta-Labeling: A Second-Opinion Model for Rule-Based Trades](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/meta-labeling-a-second-opinion-model): The meta-labeling architecture: a rules engine decides what qualifies, a learned model estimates which qualifying trades win, and the model may only veto or downsize.
- [Options Order Execution: Limit Prices, Fills, and Slippage](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-order-execution-quality): Where execution quality is won and lost on options orders: limit pricing relative to mid, package orders for spreads, reprice discipline, and measuring fills.
- [Dividends and Options: Pricing and Assignment Effects](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/dividends-and-options): How expected dividends shift option pricing, why short in-the-money calls face assignment before ex-dividend dates, and what a dividend-aware workflow checks.
- [Screening Tools, Not Investment Advice: Where the Line Sits](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/screening-tools-vs-investment-advice): Analytics software is not investment advice: the functional difference between descriptive output against user-chosen rules and the directed, personalized instruction a registered investment adviser provides.
- [Credit Spread Screener: What Optionscanner Screens For](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/credit-spread-screener): How Optionscanner screens for bull put and bear call credit spreads: the gates, the default thresholds, what is logged on a reject, and what is out of scope.
- [Iron Condor Screener: What Optionscanner Screens For](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/iron-condor-screener): How Optionscanner screens for iron condors: when a condor is selected, the gates each wing passes, the default thresholds, and what is out of scope.
- [Covered Call and Wheel Screener: What Optionscanner Screens For](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/covered-call-screener): How Optionscanner screens covered calls on shares you hold and cash-secured puts for the wheel: lots per account, the cost-basis floor, and what is out of scope.
- [Options Trading Plan: A Rules Template You Can Copy](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-trading-plan-template): An options trading plan template: the rules for entries, sizing, exits, events and review, written as numbers you decide once and check every trade against.
- [Put Credit Spread vs Cash-Secured Put: Risk, Capital and Assignment](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/put-credit-spread-vs-cash-secured-put): Put credit spread vs cash-secured put compared on one example: premium, maximum loss, capital tied up, return on capital, and what assignment means for each.
- [Managing a Tested Iron Condor: Close, Roll or Hold](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/managing-a-tested-iron-condor): What changes when one side of an iron condor is tested, and each response: close it, roll the tested side, roll the untested side in, or hold to the stop.
- [How to Start Trading Options: A Rules-First Path](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/how-to-start-trading-options): How to start trading options in order: the basics, options approval levels, defined-risk structures, paper trading, a written plan, sizing, and reviewing results.
- [Optionscanner vs Unusual Whales: Flow Data or a Rules Engine?](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/optionscanner-vs-unusual-whales): A factual comparison of Unusual Whales (options flow, unusual activity, alerts) and Optionscanner (rules-based screening, monitoring, paper-first automation).
- [Optionscanner vs Market Chameleon: Data Depth or Workflow?](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/optionscanner-vs-market-chameleon): Market Chameleon (deep options and earnings analytics, screeners) compared with Optionscanner (rules-based screening, monitoring, paper-first automation).
- [Optionscanner vs OptionStrat: Strategy Builder or Rules Engine?](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/optionscanner-vs-optionstrat): OptionStrat (strategy builder and visualizer, flow) compared with Optionscanner (rules-based screening, position monitoring, paper-first automation).
- [Optionscanner vs Barchart: Market-Wide Screens or a Rules Engine?](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/optionscanner-vs-barchart-options-screener): Barchart's market-wide options screeners compared with Optionscanner's rules-based screening, position monitoring and paper-first automation.
- [Optionscanner vs Option Samurai: Market Scanner or Rules Engine?](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/optionscanner-vs-option-samurai): Option Samurai (market-wide options strategy scanner) compared with Optionscanner (rules-based screening, position monitoring, paper-first automation).
- [Options Scanners in 2026: An Honest Category Guide](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/options-scanners-in-2026-an-honest-category-guide): The kinds of options scanners and analysis platforms in 2026: flow trackers, analytics sites, strategy builders, market-wide screeners and rules engines.
- [AI Options Tools: What They Actually Do, and Do Not](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/ai-options-tools-what-they-actually-do): What AI actually does inside options tools: explaining, summarizing and second opinions, versus the rules and arithmetic that decide, and how to tell them apart.
- [When a Credit Spread Gets Tested: The Mechanics of Each Path](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/managing-a-tested-credit-spread): A short strike under pressure has four mechanical paths: hold under the rules, close early, roll for credit, or adjust. What each one actually does to risk and outcome.
- [How the Conviction Score Is Computed](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/conviction-score-methodology): The 0-100 conviction score: a signal layer plus an options layer, minus an earnings penalty, graded A to F. Every component and its cap, from the code.
- [How a Structure Is Chosen: Signal, Volatility, VIX](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/strategy-selection-methodology): A signal and an implied-to-realized volatility regime map to one defined-risk structure through a fixed matrix; the VIX regime adds a lean, not a pick.
- [How NVRP Is Computed: the Volatility Risk Premium Gate](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/nvrp-methodology): NVRP is implied minus realized volatility over realized, with the realized window matched to days to expiry and a z-score against the stock's own history.
- [How Probability of Profit Is Computed and Checked](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/probability-of-profit-methodology): POP is the log-normal chance price finishes beyond the breakeven, N(d2), with a smile-slope correction, a probability of touch, and a calibration check.
- [How an Expiration Is Scored](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/expiry-selection-methodology): Every expiry is scored 0-100 on five 20-point dimensions: days to expiry, implied volatility level, term structure, gamma risk and theta-to-vega, by side.
- [How Tape Fit Scores a Strike Against the Chart](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/tape-fit-methodology): Tape fit blends strike placement against the recent range (50%), triggered patterns against the trade (30%) and regime (20%), with a dealer-gamma cap.
- [How the Paper Trading Agent Decides: the Gate](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/agent-confidence-gate-methodology): The agent's confidence is a weighted blend of seven subscores plus blocking flags: below 50 rejected, 75 and above approve band, between is human review.
- [How Exit Rules Are Applied to Open Positions](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/exit-rules-methodology): Every position verdict cites a rule the user adopted and the observed value: profit share, loss share, days to expiry, short-strike delta and roll credit.

## Glossary terms

- [Implied Volatility (IV)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/implied-volatility)
- [Historical Volatility (HV)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/historical-volatility)
- [IV Rank](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/iv-rank)
- [NVRP (Net Volatility Risk Premium)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/nvrp)
- [Expected Move](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/expected-move)
- [Delta](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/delta)
- [Gamma (Γ)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/gamma)
- [Theta](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/theta)
- [Vega (ν)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/vega)
- [Rho (ρ)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/rho)
- [Credit Spread](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/credit-spread)
- [Debit Spread](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/debit-spread)
- [Iron Condor](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/iron-condor)
- [Cash-Secured Put (CSP)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/cash-secured-put)
- [Covered Call (CC)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/covered-call)
- [Probability of Profit (POP)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/pop)
- [DTE (Days to Expiration)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/dte)
- [Open Interest (OI)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/open-interest)
- [Bid-Ask Spread](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/bid-ask-spread)
- [GEX (Gamma Exposure)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/gamma-exposure)
- [Volatility Skew](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/skew)
- [Straddle](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/straddle)
- [Strangle](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/strangle)
- [Vertical Spread](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/vertical-spread)
- [Calendar Spread](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/calendar-spread)
- [LEAPS](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/leaps)
- [Assignment](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/assignment)
- [Moneyness (ITM, ATM, OTM)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/moneyness)
- [Volatility Term Structure](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/term-structure)
- [Breakeven](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/breakeven)
- [IV Crush](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/iv-crush)
- [RSI (Relative Strength Index)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/rsi)
- [MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/macd)
- [Bollinger Bands](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/bollinger-bands)
- [ADX (Average Directional Index)](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/adx)
- [Beta-Weighted Delta](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/beta-weighted-delta)
- [Spread Width](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/spread-width)
- [Ex-Dividend Date](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/ex-dividend-date)
- [Limit Order](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/limit-order)
- [Mid Price](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/glossary/mid-price)

## Free calculators

- [Expected Move Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/expected-move-calculator): Free expected move calculator: stock price, implied volatility, and days ahead produce the one and two standard deviation price ranges the options market is pricing.
- [Credit Spread Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/credit-spread-calculator): Free credit spread calculator for bull put and bear call spreads: max profit, max loss, breakeven, return on risk, credit-to-width and model probability of profit.
- [Debit Spread Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/debit-spread-calculator): Free debit spread calculator for call debit and put debit spreads: max profit, max loss, breakeven, reward to risk and model probability of profit at expiration.
- [Probability of Profit Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/pop-calculator): Free probability calculator for options: the log-normal model probability that a stock finishes above or below a chosen level, the same family of arithmetic behind POP displays.
- [Options Profit Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/options-profit-calculator): Free options profit calculator for calls, puts and spreads: see profit or loss at any price and date, breakevens, max loss and the chance of profit in plain English.
- [Position Size Calculator](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/calculators/position-size-calculator): Free position size calculator for defined-risk options trades: account equity, a per-trade risk budget, and the maximum loss per contract produce the contract count that fits the budget.

## Research library

- [The Options Engine vs. the Literature](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/research/engine-vs-literature): A 130-source literature review of the Optionscanner engine: where the volatility-premium core matched published evidence, four places it did not, and the fixes shipped in v3.96.0.
- [Engine Components vs. the Literature](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/research/components-vs-literature): A 90-source review of chart patterns, expiration selection, the conviction engine, and probability of profit: what held up, what did not, and the v3.97.0 fixes.
- [The Agent Lifecycle vs. the Standards](https://optionscanner.ai/learn/research/lifecycle-vs-literature): A 120-source review of the automated agent's order lifecycle against SEC 15c3-5, MiFID II RTS 6, FIX-era engineering standards, and the human-oversight literature, and the v3.98.0 fixes.

Contact: support@optionscanner.ai