SPX Credit Spread Trader

skanan · May 30, 2006

Does anyone know how to convert SPX opra symbol to strike, expiration date, and type (put, call) ?

I downloaded spx option data from prophet.net for back testing purpose. It came with OPRA symbol such as SXYFT, SZPFS. I can't find reference on CBOE website on how to interprete these symbols. I can reverse engineer the current 06 data but the data I got was from 2001 and I can't seem to decipher everything.

Can someone please provide me the link or tables for those symbols especially sometime back 2001 ?

Thanks,
Nick

momoneythansens · May 30, 2006

Tradestation has been promising options on futures via their software for months but have not yet delivered :mad:

At the moment, you can only execute via RJO's MCD platform

RE: ToS, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Penson (used by ToS for clearing) are able to support commodities options. After that, it will be up to ToS to decide whether to implement or not. They told me it was also down to demand so perhaps the millions of readers of this thread could spam Penson to see what people power can do.

Quote from optioncoach:

It is highly unlikely that OX or ToS will have options on ES or ER2 futures. It requires a different type of account and clearing and the ToS guys, who would love to have options on futures, told me it is unlikely right now given all the hoops and requirements they would have to meet/do. Perhaps ToS will have it in a few years but for now, only IB has em at the discount retail level among the firms we discuss here...

www.cme.com will show delayed options on futures quotes...

momoneythansens · May 30, 2006

AFAIK, the OPRA symbology for SPX options shouldn't have changed from 2001 to date. I may be wrong though.

General codes for months, put, calls etc. can be viewed here

You'll need to extrapolate for the SPX strikes.

HTH.

MoMoney.

Quote from skanan:

Does anyone know how to convert SPX opra symbol to strike, expiration date, and type (put, call) ?

Can someone please provide me the link or tables for those symbols especially sometime back 2001 ?

Thanks,
Nick

Heatheranderson · May 30, 2006

Coach
I have been observing the S&P futures and S&P index.Also, from what i gathered from Cottle's book, here's my observation.
This morning when the Futures were down, that means, MMs were short in them.That means they are long in stocks.That means traders are short.
This is futures, stocks arbitrage, right?.Can we use this info to day trade SPY?.

momoneythansens · May 30, 2006

http://www.indexarb.com/

Enjoy!

Quote from Heatheranderson:

Coach
I have been observing the S&P futures and S&P index.Also, from what i gathered from Cottle's book, here's my observation.
This morning when the Futures were down, that means, MMs were short in them.That means they are long in stocks.That means traders are short.
This is futures, stocks arbitrage, right?.Can we use this info to day trade SPY?.

Heatheranderson · May 30, 2006

Hey thanks. this is a great site.

kartik_subbarao · May 30, 2006

Prophet.net provides a decoder ring for their data at:
http://www.prophet.net/satellites/marketData/prophetDirect/stockOptionsList.jsp

They also refer to:
http://www.cboe.com/TradTool/Symbols/SymbolDirectory.aspx

I'm potentially interested in this data as well, but I notice that prophet.net does not explicitly mention the bid/ask prices as being included in the data file. They just refer to open, high, low, close, volume and open interest. Do you know if the bid/ask data is included as well?

-Kartik

Quote from skanan:

Does anyone know how to convert SPX opra symbol to strike, expiration date, and type (put, call) ?

I downloaded spx option data from prophet.net for back testing purpose. It came with OPRA symbol such as SXYFT, SZPFS. I can't find reference on CBOE website on how to interprete these symbols. I can reverse engineer the current 06 data but the data I got was from 2001 and I can't seem to decipher everything.

Can someone please provide me the link or tables for those symbols especially sometime back 2001 ?

Thanks,
Nick

skanan · May 30, 2006

I'll have to look at tonight data and compare with data I got from thinkorswim. If there is no b/a, it could be less useful. I don't under there file format yet.

Quote from kartik_subbarao:

Prophet.net provides a decoder ring for their data at:
http://www.prophet.net/satellites/marketData/prophetDirect/stockOptionsList.jsp

They also refer to:
http://www.cboe.com/TradTool/Symbols/SymbolDirectory.aspx

I'm potentially interested in this data as well, but I notice that prophet.net does not explicitly mention the bid/ask prices as being included in the data file. They just refer to open, high, low, close, volume and open interest. Do you know if the bid/ask data is included as well?

-Kartik

skanan · May 30, 2006

Thanks Mo! I wish not to extrapolate the strike. It would be quite time consuming. I may have no choice.

Quote from momoneythansens:

AFAIK, the OPRA symbology for SPX options shouldn't have changed from 2001 to date. I may be wrong though.

General codes for months, put, calls etc. can be viewed here

You'll need to extrapolate for the SPX strikes.

HTH.

MoMoney.

momoneythansens · May 30, 2006

I'm not sure how you intend to manipulate/handle the data but it should be a fairly straight forward exercise to extrapolate the codes for the relevant strike prices:

1005 = A...1100 = T
1105 = A...1200 = T
1205 = A...1300 = T

Or is the problem figuring out which range is applicable for each month? Suspect we have our wires crossed.

Nonetheless, good luck! No pain, no gain.

Quote from skanan:

Thanks Mo! I wish not to extrapolate the strike. It would be quite time consuming. I may have no choice.