Bailey Nevener 83 Posted March 19, 2021 (edited) This is a short guide on how to read option symbols in DAS Follow my Journal on BBT where I record my trading results: https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/topic/2516-youtube-video-journal-see-the-progress-profitloss/page/4/ When you initiate an option position in DAS, it can be confusing knowing how to interpret the Symbol Column referencing the Option Contract. For example: A DAS Position Window with a closed option position. Symbol Reference Guide + SYMBOL ^ YEAR MONTH DAY STRIKE "+" - denotes an option position SYMBOL - the underlying symbol "^" or " * " - denotes whether the option is a Call ( ^ ) or Put ( * ) YEAR - the year the option expires, represented by: 2020 - A 2021 - B 2022 - C etc... MONTH - the month the option expires, represented by: 1 - January 2 - February 3 - March 4 -April 5 - May 6 - June 7 - July 8 - August 9 - September A - October B - November C - December DAY - the day the option expires, represented by: 1 - 1 2 - 2 3 - 3 4 - 4 5 - 5 6 - 6 7 - 7 8 - 8 9 - 9 A - 10 B - 11 C - 12 D - 13 E - 14 F - 15 G - 16 H - 17 I - 18 J - 19 K - 20 L - 21 M - 22 N - 23 O - 24 P - 25 Q - 26 R - 27 S - 28 T - 29 U - 30 V - 31 STRIKE - the strike price of the option (the decimal, if there is one, will also be displayed) ** While holding an Option Position in DAS it is important to know, ** the Shares column will actually show the # of Option Contracts you are holding instead of shares. ** (1 Option Contract is actually 100 Shares, but it would be displayed as 1 in the Shares column) Let me know if there are any clarifications I can make. I got all of this information from DAS's website at https://dastrader.com/documents/OptionSymbols.pdf Good luck trading maties! Edited December 21, 2021 by Bailey Nevener Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Choppy 0 Posted June 10, 2021 Thanks -- this is really helpful. I'm new to options, BBT and Das Trader. Would you happen to know where I can get pre-defined layouts for trading options? It took me a while to get Trader Workstation (Interactive Broker), and while it works, it's cumbersome, and the charting isn't very good. DAS Trader looks great so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bailey Nevener 83 Posted June 11, 2021 (edited) Hello Choppy, This was my configuration when traded option in DAS before. I anchored a chart window to the option's montage and traded from there as well. (Bottom Window) If I wanted to trade any spreads I would use the Complex Options Window. (Top Window) I'm sure that there are hotbuttons that can be configured to make them work even better, but I didn't need them because I was mainly trading covered calls at the time. (So I just needed to short the amount of call contracts equivalent to my share position). It's not worth sending my whole layout for this because these windows are available from Trade > Complex Options Order and Quotes > Option Chain. If you stumble upon a hotkey layout that can manage risk for these windows please post it below. I'm sure if I spent enough time I could make Kyle's hotkeys work for this with slight modifications to the order type. If I end up needing to do that I will definitely post the scripts. Edited June 11, 2021 by Bailey Nevener Share this post Link to post Share on other sites