One strategy for getting the best fills on options orders is by automatically bidding limit orders at attractive prices, waiting, updating the order price, and repeating until filled. Leg into options spreads in one click.
Video Walkthrough
How It Works
Through patience and not taking instant liquidity, we can potentially get better pricing by letting more market participants compete for our order over longer periods of time. Due to the intense adverse selection in markets, getting filled often means the counterparty (who probably knows more than us) filled us at an unfavorable price.
To mitigate this, Helium Trader can automatically:
- Start bidding with limit orders below the bid price (at very favorable prices) where we probably won’t get filled
- Wait for potential sellers/buyers
- Replace order with a slightly higher price
- Repeat until filled, or until we hit a customizable maximum price
By slowly moving up our bid, we can be patient and get filled at the best price the market is willing to sell at. Helium will automatically maximize the wait time between orders in order to get filled by market close and sit near the best bid/offer for as long as possible. Users can link their TD account to have their orders automatically placed with Helium Trader. Helium takes no responsibility in any way and is for informational purposes only.
Trade Submission
For options spreads, Helium will leg in first with the long option(s), then with the short option(s). For the short leg, everything is exactly the same, except the direction is reversed (eg we start by placing sell limit orders above the asking price and adjust downwards).
Trade Settings
Bidding end: This is the maximum proportion of the bid-ask spread that you are willing to pay. A Long Option Max Bid value of 0.5 means bidding will stop at the mid price, and a value of 1 means that bidding will stop at the ask price (bid price for selling options). Higher values will result in a higher likelihood of getting filled, but at potentially less attractive prices.
Sizing: Easily scale the number of options contracts for each leg of the trade.
Early profit taking percent: Increase the likelihood of success by opportunistically taking profits. For long options, this is the percent of the initial debit payed. For debit spreads, this is the percent of max gain. For short options spreads, this is the percent of the inital credit received. After opening the trade, Helium will wait a day to avoid the unamerican PTD rule, then check every 10 minutes to see if a closing order can be placed.
- Percent Stop Loss: Only for short volatility trades. Based on only the short leg e.g if as part of a spread you sell an option for $1 and your Percent Stop Loss is 50%, a stop limit order will be submitted at $1.5 for a max loss of $0.5 on the leg.
Example Fill Results
Helium users will receive a summary email once submission is complete:
On the day before (earliest) options expiration, Helium will send a reminder email to close out any options that might expire in-the-money.
By automatically waiting and making small price adjustments, Helium Trader helps you get options positions filled at market-best prices in one click.
One Click Options Entry
Using Helium Trader Can Reduce the Likelihood of:
- Getting filled quickly, but at a bad price e.g overpaying for instant liquidity
- Not getting filled and missing out on a potentially profitable trade