5 Best Options Screener for Beginners of 2024

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 our favorite screeners you can use to analyze options flow with state of the art options analysis tools.

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Best Options Screeners

InsiderFinance – Best Options Data Analytics Tool
BlackBoxStocks – Best Options Trading Community and App
Market Chameleon – Best for Detailed Options Data Analysis
TrendSpider – Best for Technical Analysis

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 with advanced strategies 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.

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2. BlackBoxStocks

BlackBoxStocks 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, BlackBoxStocks also has a Discord chat room for traders where people talk about trading signals, options trading basics, stock market analysis and more.

BlackBoxStocks 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.

BlackBoxStocks costs $99 per month or $959 per year.

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3 .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.

Market Chameleon 7-Day Free Trial

4. 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 costs $149 per month, or $1,788 per year.

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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 Options Screener Conclusion

The TradingView options screener and Finviz options screener are great solutions for traders looking mainly for a stock screener, which has some basic stock options screener capabilities. Traders looking specifically scanning for options, including dark pool and unusual options activity, consider using one of the listed options screeners having their primary competence in options instead of stocks.

Using an options screener can move the needle in a favorable direction and 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.

Is It Worth It Using a Free Options Screener?

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.

How Do I Screen for Stock Options?

You screen for options by using an options screener, which scans the market in real time for the setups you are looking for. Be it unusual options volume, specific spreads, options strategies, or put call ratios – a screener can help.

First, you determine the investment objectives (e.g., stock options investing or active trading), and then you define your risk tolerance (e.g., $100 risk per trade). You educate yourself by learning all options market specifics, using fundamental and technical analysis to read charts correctly, developing an options trading strategy, and then using the options screener to scan for the specific options you want to trade. In a perfect world, you then import all your trades to an options trading journal to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your strategies and improve further.

Benefits of Stock Options

Flexibility: You can speculate on the price of an underlying asset without actually owning it. So you can profit from rising and falling markets.
Risk management: Options can be used to hedge against losses in your portfolio. For example, buying puts can protect against a stock you own falling.
Leverage: Options require less upfront cash than buying the underlying asset outright. This can boost returns but also increases risk.
Diversification: Options can be used to diversify your portfolio by adding exposure to different assets and markets. This can spread risk and improve overall performance.

Choosing the Right Options Screener

An options screener is a tool to filter and analyze options based on certain criteria such as strike price, expiration date and implied volatility. Choosing the right options screener is key for traders and investors to find the best options trading opportunities. A good screener will help you find trades that fit your trading strategy and risk profile, so it’s a must have for options trading.

Options Screener Features To Consider

When choosing an options screener consider:

Customization: Look for a screener that allows you to customize your search criteria based on your trading strategy and preferences. This will allow the screener to fit your needs.
Data coverage: Make sure the screener has broad data coverage including options on various underlying assets such as stocks, ETFs and indices. More data means more information.
Implied volatility analysis: A good options screener should have implied volatility analysis so you can see what the market thinks the underlying asset will do in the future. This is key to assessing the risk and reward of an options trade.
Fine-tune: Look for a screener that allows you to fine tune your search results based on specific criteria such as delta, gamma and theta. These advanced metrics will help you refine your trading strategies and get more accurate.
User interface: Choose a screener with a user friendly interface that’s easy to use and provides clear and concise results. A good interface will save you time and reduce errors.

By considering these key features, you can find an options screener that meets your trading needs and helps you make informed investment decisions.

Here are some more options screeners reviewed: Optionstrat Review, Option Samurai Review, Cheddar Flow Review, FlowAlgo Review