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Get Started

The Option Portfolio window runs off a sophisticated back-end algorithm that mathematically optimizes an options portfolio using the defining criteria and constraints that you enter via TWSalong with relevant economic criteria.

To open the Option Portfolio window

Select an underlying US stock or index on a trading page.
From the Trading Tools menu select Option Portfolio.

Note: If you don’t see Option Portfolio in the tools list, expand the hidden items using the arrow at the bottom of the menu.

The Option Portfolio window opens and you’re ready to define the query. To add a tab with another underlying to the Option Portfolio window, click the New Tab "+" icon.

The Option Portfolio algorithm works within the user-defined query constraints, and evaluates the comprehensive options market data (including bid and ask price and size) to minimize the sum of the following, and find the lowest cost solution:

Cost to execute, as represented by the bid/ask spread for each option in the Query Results list, specifically:

(ask - bid) x (contract multiplier) x quantity

summed over all orders in the Query Results list;

Commission charged to fully execute all orders in the Query Results list;
Cost to hold the Query Results list for a given period of time. This term is only relevant when the Hold until date is set to a value other then the current date. In this event, the holding cost is calculated as:

[(option value on “hold until” date) - (solution order price for the option)] x (contract multiplier) x (signed quantity)

summed over all orders in the Query Results list.

The algorithm continues to work and reevaluates the solution in the Query Results list every 30 seconds until the user submits the order group for execution, freezes the updates to evaluate the solution in more detail, or changes the query criteria.

Next: Define and Submit the Query