Show HN: A small tool for visualising option chains
I've always been intrigued by prediction markets and the concept of "skin in the game". It's fascinating to see where people are placing their bets rather than just hearing their theories. This led me down the rabbit hole of option markets - a complex yet intriguing betting arena.
The challenge with option markets, I found, is the steep learning curve just to understand what you're looking at in an option chain. So, in an attempt to peel back some of that complexity, I created a simple tool that helps visualise option chains through vega lite's expression language. This allows for a more intuitive understanding of options by visualising various metrics and comparisons.
Here are a few examples of what you can do with my tool:
# Option Price vs. Strike Price: See how the price changes relative to the strike price. Link: https://opts-visualizer.vercel.app/?fieldT=datum.ask&fieldX=datum.strike&symbol=SPY
# Strike as Percentage: For those who prefer percentage-based comparisons, this visualisation uses the datum.relativeStrike variable for a different perspective. https://opts-visualizer.vercel.app/?fieldT=datum.ask&fieldX=datum.relativeStrike&symbol=SPY
# Comparing TSLA vs MSFT Curious how the market expects TSLA and MSFT to move? https://opts-visualizer.vercel.app/?fieldColor=datum.ul.symbol&fieldFilter=inrange%28datum.relativeStrike%2C%5B-0.2%2C0.0%5D%29&fieldT=datum.ask%2Fdatum.ul.ask&fieldX=datum.relativeStrike&symbol=TSLA%2CMSFT
This is a fun side project I've been tinkering with. It's entirely free and open source, hoping it might help demystify options a bit for those interested. Feedback, contributions, or just a quick test drive would be immensely appreciated!