Best Options Screener
We may receive a commission if you click on links in this article. Learn more.
Brokerage platforms are great all-in-one tools for traders with integrated functionalities for all types of investment-related activities. However, those platforms are not explicitly designed for options traders, resulting in limited options analysis functionality.
That’s where the best options screeners come into play. They are designed to serve options traders with the best possible data and analysis features. Below we have listed the screeners to track unusual options activity, analyze options flow and provide state of the art analysis tools.
Best Options Screener
- InsiderFinance – Best Options Data Analytics Tool
- Black Box Stocks – Best Options Trading Community and App
- TrendSpider – Best for Technical Analysis
- Market Chameleon – Best for Detailed Options Data Analysis
- Benzinga Pro – Best All-In-One Trading Tool
- PowerX Optimizer – Best Options Scanner to Identify High Options Premium
- Options Trading Alert Services – Best for Options Picks
1. InsiderFinance
InsiderFinance developed an effective web-based trading software focusing on dark pool activity and options flow analysis. Preset option screeners for categories like momentum plays and option sweeps make it easy to use for beginner investors. InsiderFinance is not limited to options screening. It also enables investors to analyze crypto, forex and stocks. High-quality unfiltered raw data feeds are the data pool with over 15 million options contracts and equity prints every day used for analysis purposes.
InsiderFinance created a proprietary method to pinpoint algorithmic-based trading ideas and a computerized technical analysis system to detect possible trade entries, but also profit targets and stop-loss price levels. This functionality is fully included in the subscription price, and users can easily connect a free TradingView account with InsiderFinance for even more technical analysis and trading system features.
In addition, InsiderFinance utilized the TradingView API and integrated functionalities for comprehensive technical analysis with charting, trading indicators, annotations like trendlines and more directly within the InsiderFinance tool. You can also join the free trading masterclass, where you learn how to use the platform step-by-step.
All paid plans provide subscribers with full access to all features and cost $75/month, $195 per quarter, or $660 annually.
Please consider reading the Insider Finance Review for detailed insights into the options flow analysis platform. Below, you find a special offer that saves you 20% on the first subscription, independent of which plan you choose.
Best Offer: Click here for more platform details and use the promotion code DAYTRADINGZ20 during checkout to save 20% on your first order (valid for all subscriptions, if there is an active promotion, then the promotion code reduces the price by additional 20%)
2. Black Box Stocks
Black Box Stocks offers a powerful options screener with options trade alerts, options flow analysis, market news and a stock options heat map. The screener results include the time stamp of the trade alert, the stock symbol, expiration date, value, strike price, spot type, C/P, IV, and value.
Similar screeners are available to scan for unusual options activity, dark pool stock trades, and more. In addition, Black Box Stocks also has a Discord chat room for traders where people talk about trading signals, options trading basics, stock market analysis and more.
Black Box Stocks is an all-in-one combination of powerful trading tools and an active community for traders. Stock- and options screeners, trading education for options and stocks, financial market discussions in the chat room and weekly educational events make them an all-in-one solution for beginner traders.
Black Box Stocks costs $99 per month or $959 per year.
Best Offer: Full access to Black Box Stocks for only $79.97 in the first month (20% Off, the discount will be applied automatically).
3. TrendSpider
TrendSpider is primarily a visually appealing charting tool for technical analysts, but they recently included pre-defined options activity scans. In addition, TrendSpider monitors stock options and keeps track of block trades and option sweeps with the new Options Flow feature.
The Options Flow can be added as a widget to the analysis right beside the chart. It includes a heatmap, option prices, strike prices, expiration price per options contract, etc. Users can adjust the screener criteria and modify filters by using the slider controls using the mouse.
TrendSpider is an all-in-one solution for traders, where the options screener feature is only one of many. Extensive charting capabilities, a backtest engine, various screeners and user-defined trading alerts make the offer complete.
TrendSpider Essential costs $39, Elite $79 and Elite Plus $179 monthly. Annual subscriptions include 2-3 free months.
Best Offer: TrendSpider 7-Day Free Trial
4 .Market Chameleon
Stock and options traders utilize Market Chameleon’s screening and analysis features. The most popular options screener features are options activity, implied volatility, options contract volume, buy-write research, open interest analysis, and order flow sentiment.
Various options screeners, a dividend monitor, an earnings calendar, an options chain, and various web-based research tools are available. Here are some additional functionalities:
- Best option screener for covered calls and UOA
- Historical option chain values
- Dividend announcements and earnings release updates
- VWAP minute data and historical option price downloads via spreadsheet
- Block trade reports for options and trade reports
The total access package for $99 per month provides the best value with an incredible range of options screeners, stock research and data. Options Traders can also subscribe for $69 per month with options only feature access. A remarkable aspect is that subscribers can download multiple datasets to their devices for further analysis.
Best Offer: Market Chameleon 7-Day Free Trial
For more details, please consider reading the Market Chameleon review.
5. Benzinga Pro
Benzinga.com is one of the best platforms for free stock market news and research. They also offer a paid premium tool – Benzinga Pro.
The tool is primarily designed for stock traders since a wide variety of filters can be utilized to find the best match for your scanning criteria out of thousands of news per day. Options traders can use their signals tool to scan for stock option trading activities, large block trades, and also option sweeps within the signals tool feature.
An interesting feature is that users can see if an option order was executed at the bid, ask, or outside bid-ask. Similar to Black Box Stocks, Benzinga Pro comes with many different stock screeners, access to a big trading chat room and trading strategies education.
The entry plan Benzinga Basic only has delayed quotes and costs $27 per month. The premium subscriptions are Benzinga Essential for $197 per month and the Options Mentorship for $457 monthly. Annual payments reduce the price by 16%-17%. Additional discounts are available when starting with the free trial.
Best Offer: Benzinga Pro 14-day free trial and Benzinga Pro 35% Off
6. PowerX Optimizer
The PowerX Optimizer is a powerful options scanner developed by Rockwell Trading. The company was founded by Markus Heitkoetter and belonged to the top 10 independently rated trading platforms for profitability, consistency and low risk.
The tool currently has two main components.
The stock-options scanner The Wheel within the PowerX Optimizer was developed with the idea of helping traders collect high premiums by selling options. Usually, researching stock options with high options premiums, specific expiration dates, and strike prices are time intensive and requires a deep understanding of the options market. The Weel scanner helps traders find opportunities with high annualized ROI faster.
The identified options can be used for covered call options trading strategies and to collect options premiums considering the risk of getting assigned by becoming an owner of the underlying stock for a discounted price. There are various ways to use the scanner beneficially; the most important thing is knowing what you are doing. The daily live sessions, learning center, community and explainer videos help to understand everything in depth.
The options scanner settings are multi-fold, and a couple of nice features are integrated within the platform. For example, users can choose between different risk-reward ratios, see the historical performance per strategy and stock, compare options contracts and even connect a broker to the platform. New features are added continuously, and the web-based scanner works on any device.
There is also a second tool integrated within the PowerX Optimizer. It is the PowerX Analyzer, primarily designed for stock trading signals. The identified signals include a buy-to-open price, stop loss level, the number of shares, trading strategy historical performance, profit factor and win-ratio per stock ticker. The platform shows the chart and comes with various drawing tools, indicators and a list of all historical trades.
But The PowerX Analyzer system also identifies the best call and put options for each trade so that options traders use the signals to trade options instead of the underlying stock. The identified options are shown with bid and ask strike prices and price projections (stop loss and price target).
In addition, users can scan for various risk reward levels, financial markets and cryptocurrencies. The results can be shown for only long, short or both directions, and it is possible to define multiple scanner values.
The PowerX Optimizer lifetime license typically costs $3,997. There are no recurring fees.
Best Offer: Here, you get a 50% discount on the lifetime license. The one-time payment of $1,997 unlocks permanent access to the PowerX Optimizer without any recurring fees. (the offer includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.)
7. Options Trading Alert Services
Analyzing the options market takes a lot of time. That’s why some investors prefer to follow specific trade alerts directly to:
- Trade such option picks and trade ideas
- Learn more options trading strategies
- Better understand the options market.
Best Options Screener Conclusion
Using an options screener can move the needle in a favorable direction. Moreover, having insights at hand that most traders don’t have can be beneficial. Still, the decision to use paid options screeners or free options screeners is essential.
Free options screeners are often included in trading platforms from brokers like TD Ameritrade and E-Trade. However, those free integrated tools do not necessarily have the insightful features that specialized services and option screeners have.
Most of the tools mentioned in this list have a free version, a free trial or can be tested for a small fee. It is worth it to take the time to test one tool by the other to evaluate if the benefit created by using such a tool is meaningful enough to justify the associated expenses.
Remember that using free option screeners might sound good at first, but data quality plays an essential role in options trading. Using free tools offered by brokerages is most often okay, but entirely free platforms that do not monetize anything might not be able to provide high-quality data. That’s because data costs money, and exchanges charge a significant amount of money.
Therefore, it is okay to use entirely free web-based platforms to learn more about options trading. Still, a data quality evaluation is highly beneficial if the data should be used for live trading.
In any case, options trading comes with high risk, and paper trading should be practiced first by using a simulated trading account or by tracking hypothetical options trades in a spreadsheet.
You Might Like:
