Ticker Lab
See what an options trade can make or lose, before you place it
The free calculator builds any strategy on a real ticker, no account needed. The Lab adds which contracts are cheap or rich against fair value, then ranks structures around your plan.
Payoff Diagram — live demo
Sample structures on a $100 example underlying
Defined-risk bullish — buy the 100 call, sell the 110 call.
This is a sample. The full Ticker Lab prices your real structures off live chains — forward-time theta/vol curves, AI-ranked strategies, hedge shopping, IV rank and more.
What is Ticker Lab? How to read it
What is Ticker Lab?
Ticker Lab is an options workbench for pricing a trade before you place it. Pick a symbol and an expiration, grade every contract in the chain as rich or cheap against a fitted fair-volatility curve, build single or multi-leg structures, and see payoff, breakevens and profit and loss across price and date.
How to read it
- The rich/cheap score runs from -100 (cheap) to +100 (rich). Rich contracts favor selling premium and cheap contracts favor buying it, after allowing for the cost of crossing the spread.
- Lenses reweight the whole chain for a trade style: premium selling, directional buying, LEAPS or 0DTE. Each lens favors a delta and a days-to-expiration window that suits that style.
- Switching the lens resets the expiration, so the chain is re-picked inside the lens's window.
- The payoff diagram shows profit and loss at expiry and over time, and the heat matrix shows profit and loss at each price and date combination, so you can see how time decay affects the structure.
- Gamma levels can be overlaid on the price map so you can see where your strikes sit relative to dealer positioning.
How TraderMatrix computes it
For the chosen expiration, the service fits a fair implied-volatility smile from the chain itself, separately for calls and puts. Each contract's implied volatility is compared with the fitted fair value, and the same contract is repriced at the fair volatility with Black-Scholes to estimate the dollar mispricing. The result is a rich/cheap score from -100 to +100, plus an execution-quality score and an edge figure after estimated spread costs. Lenses multiply the grade by how well each contract's delta and expiration fit the style, which re-sorts the whole grid. The default expiration is one that is liquid and roughly a month out. Results are analytical estimates from market quotes, and real fills will differ.
FAQ
What does rich or cheap mean for an option?
A rich option is priced at a higher implied volatility than the fitted fair curve for that chain, which favors selling. A cheap option is priced lower, which favors buying. It is a relative measure within one chain, not a guarantee of profit.
What are the lenses in Ticker Lab?
Four trade styles: Premium Sell, Directional Buy, LEAPS and 0DTE. Each prefers a target delta and a range of days to expiration, and re-ranks the whole chain accordingly.
Can I model multi-leg strategies?
Yes. You can build multi-leg structures and see the payoff diagram, breakevens, maximum gain and loss, and a profit and loss matrix across price and date.
Does Ticker Lab place trades?
No. It is an analysis and modeling tool for planning a trade. It does not route orders.
Educational information, not investment advice.