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By Austin Bouley •

Option Screener 101

Discover how to use the free Options Trading Toolbox screeners to find profitable options trades.

Finding profitable options trades can be challenging, especially with thousands of contracts available every day. Many traders spend hours scanning the market and still miss opportunities. That’s where the Options Trading Toolbox comes in. This platform offers completely free option screeners that help you filter, analyze, and visualize trades in one place.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to use the option screener and strategy screener, explore all the filters available, save and load your favorite setups, and even visualize potential trades using the integrated tools. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to identify high-probability options trades efficiently and confidently.

What is the Options Trading Toolbox?

The Options Trading Toolbox is a free online platform for options traders. It provides tools to screen individual options contracts, build complex strategies, and analyze trade setups.

The platform has two main screeners:

  1. Option Screener – Helps you find single options based on price, volatility, Greeks, and other criteria.
  2. Strategy Screener – Combines multiple options to create strategies like credit spreads and iron condors.

These tools are designed to save time, reduce guesswork, and help you make more informed trading decisions.

Getting Started with the Option Screener

To start using the screener, go to https://optionstradingtoolbox.com/ and click on the Options Screener. The screener allows you to locate single options that fit your trading goals.

Some common uses include:

  • Buying a call to go long on a stock.
  • Shorting a put to collect credit.
  • Selecting a key option to build strategies like credit spreads or iron condors.

The platform tracks over 391,000 different option contracts at any given moment, so the screener is essential for narrowing down your choices.

Exploring the Filters in the Option Screener

Basic Information Filters

These filters let you sort options by:

  • Ticker symbol – Search for a specific stock, ETF, or index.
  • Option type – Choose between calls or puts.

Pricing Information Filters

Pricing filters help you focus on contracts that meet your budget or trading goals:

  • Stock price – Set minimum and maximum price levels.
  • Stock change – See how much a stock has moved since the last day.
  • Premium percentage – Check the premium as a percentage of the stock price.
  • Expected move – Estimate the price range the stock might move in the next 30 days.

Volatility Filters

Volatility is key to options trading. The screener lets you filter by:

  • IV rank – Relative volatility compared to historical levels.
  • IV percentage – Current implied volatility as a percentage.

Options Greeks Filters

Greeks are important for understanding risk and reward. You can filter by:

  • Delta – Target a specific delta range (e.g., 5–30).
  • Gamma – Measure how delta changes as the stock moves.
  • Theta – Look for contracts with a desired rate of time decay.
  • Vega – Track sensitivity to volatility changes.

Hover over each field to see a short explanation of what it means.

Additional Option Information Filters

These filters refine your search even further:

  • Bid and ask range – Focus on tighter spreads for easier trading.
  • Bid-ask spread ratio – Identify contracts with favorable liquidity.
  • Option changes – Track contracts that moved significantly (up or down).
  • Expiration dates & DTE – Filter by upcoming expiry or days to expiration.
  • Open interest – See how many contracts are active.
  • Probability of being in/out of the money – Measure potential success.
  • Put-call open interest ratio – Gauge market sentiment.

Earnings, Dividends, and Dark Pool Activity

You can also screen for:

  • Upcoming earnings or dividends – Plan trades around significant events.
  • Dark pool activity – Filter for block trades, sweep orders, or unusual volume.
Tip: Dark pool filters are strict and may filter out many contracts. Use them carefully.

Saving and Loading Filters

Once you find a filter setup that works:

  1. Click Save Filter.
  2. Name your filter for easy recall.
  3. Click Load Filters to view all saved and default filters.

The platform also includes preset filters, such as:

  • High premium options
  • Momentum trades
  • Deep in-the-money contracts
  • Dividend capture strategies

This makes it easy to reuse your favorite setups quickly.

Strategy Screener

The Strategy Screener helps combine multiple options into a complete trade:

  • Popular strategies include call credit spreads, put credit spreads, and iron condors.
  • It uses the same filters as the option screener, but also includes strategy-specific metrics:
    • Probability of profit
    • Return on capital
    • Return on risk
    • Win rate
    • Max profit & loss
    • Credit received

Like the option screener, you can save your favorite strategy setups for repeated use.

Visualizing Trades with the Options Calculator

Once you select a strategy, the Options Calculator allows you to:

  • Visualize profit and loss.
  • Adjust strike prices, implied volatility, and other parameters.
  • Understand how the strategy behaves in different market scenarios.

This integration ensures you’re not just selecting trades—you’re confirming they meet your goals before committing capital. It eliminates guesswork and provides a clear view of potential outcomes.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Screeners

  • Experiment with filters – Test different settings to find profitable setups.
  • Use the visualizer – See how trades perform under various market conditions.
  • Start simple – Focus on basic strategies before moving to complex spreads.
  • Save your favorites – Quickly access your preferred filters and strategies.
  • Check earnings and dividends – Align trades with upcoming events for better opportunities.

The Options Trading Toolbox is a powerful, free resource for options traders. It allows you to screen thousands of contracts, build and filter strategies, and visualize potential trades—all in one place.

By mastering the option and strategy screeners, you can save time, reduce guesswork, and make more informed trading decisions. Start experimenting with filters, explore strategy setups, and use the visualizer to confirm trades.

Take action today: go to https://optionstradingtoolbox.com/ and start using the screeners to identify your next profitable options trade.

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