Listing Specific Strikes and Expirations

A useful macro application is to list the calls or puts for a specific out-month contract that have a specific relationship to the at-the-money strike. This involves using the pound sign macro, the expansion macro, and, optionally, a strike modifier. If you want to list calls from the second out-month of the S&P 500 Index, you would enter

SP#1@C

In this symbol, SP is the symbol root, #1 specifies the first out month, the expansion macro specifies a list of all strikes, C specifies calls. If the current date is 1/1/94, this option symbol will display a list of all call strikes on the June S&P 500 future. To view calls from the second out-month contract, you would enter SP#2@C, to view the third, SP#3@C, and so on. You can view calls and puts by entering CP at the end of the symbol.

Now, suppose you want to see only the in-the-money puts on the second out-month of the S&P 500 Index. To do this, you would include a strike modifier,

SP#1@+P

where #1 specifies the first out month, the expansion macro specifies a list of all strikes, the plus sign indicates “in-the-money” and the P specifies puts. If the current date is 1/1/94, this option symbol will display a list of all in-the-money put strikes on the June S&P 500 future. To view in-the-money puts from the second out-month contract, you would enter SP#2@+P, to view the third, SP#3@+P, and so on. You can view calls and puts by entering CP at the end of the symbol.