What is an options scanner and how do you use one?

What is an options scanner?

An options scanner is software that evaluates a very large set of possible option trades and shows you the few that match your rules. The trades can be single contracts, such as one call or one put, or multi-leg structures, such as credit spreads, iron condors, covered calls and calendars. For each candidate it works out what the trade costs or pays, the most it can make and lose, the breakeven, the greeks and an estimated probability of profit, so you do not have to price it by hand.

The reason traders use one is scale. Optionable stocks have hundreds of strikes and expirations each, and a spread multiplies that again because every pair of strikes is a different trade. Reading chains one stock at a time cannot compare them. A scanner turns the market into a ranked list you can filter, which makes it practical to ask a question such as which puts on liquid large companies pay at least 15% annualized with an 80% modeled chance of expiring worthless.

Options scanner vs options screener: is there a difference?

In everyday use the two names mean the same tool, and many products use both. If there is a distinction, it is where the filtering happens. A stock screener filters companies on things like price, market capitalization, earnings growth, dividend yield and technical indicators. An options scanner filters the options on those companies, on option-level data such as strike, expiration, premium, greeks and implied volatility.

The stock-level filters still matter to an options trader. A covered call seller usually wants a company they are willing to hold, and a put seller wants one they would own at the strike. The most useful tools therefore combine the two in one scan: choose the stock traits first, then the option traits. When you compare products, ignore whether they call themselves a screener or a scanner and check which filters they offer and which strategies they cover.

How an options scanner works

Behind the screen, a scanner follows the same sequence each time. It reads the option chain of every stock in its universe, builds each possible trade of the strategy you picked, calculates the metrics for each, removes the ones that fail your filters, sorts the rest by your sort key and returns the top of the list. Because the calculation covers every candidate in advance, the result appears in seconds.

Two details affect how much you can trust the numbers. First, pricing: a scanner usually values a trade at the mid price between bid and ask, and a more conservative setting values a sale at the bid and a purchase at the ask. Second, freshness: option quotes are a snapshot refreshed during the day, not a live feed, so the price you can actually trade at can differ from the one shown. Treat scanner prices as an estimate and check the live quote at your broker before you act.

The key filters and what they measure

A scanner can offer dozens of filters. Five groups decide most results, and they are the ones to understand first.

Delta. Delta is a theoretical estimate of how much an option's price changes when the stock moves $1. The Options Industry Council notes that some traders view delta as a rough probability that an option finishes in the money, so a 0.30 delta option has roughly a 30% chance. In a scanner, delta filters the main leg of a trade: the short leg for credit trades and the long leg for debit trades. It is one leg's delta, not the net delta of a multi-leg position, so look at net delta separately when direction matters.

Days to expiration. DTE is the calendar days until the option expires, and for calendars and diagonals it is the front leg. It sets how fast the option decays and how much time a view has to work. Time value generally erodes as expiration approaches, which is why many premium sellers scan 30 to 45 days out and many buyers choose more time than they think they need. DTE also drives annualized return, because the scanner scales return by 365 divided by DTE, with DTE counted as at least 1.

IV rank and IV percentile. Implied volatility is the market's estimate of how far the stock may move, built into the option price. IV rank shows where today's implied volatility sits between its one-year low (0) and high (100): with a low of 20% and a high of 60%, a current 50% is a rank of 75. IV percentile is the share of days in the past year with lower implied volatility, which is less distorted by a single spike. A high rank means options are expensive compared with their own history, which favors sellers; a low rank favors buyers.

Probability of profit. The scanner estimates the odds that a trade makes at least a cent by expiration, using the option prices and a model of where the stock could finish. A related figure, the probability of expiring worthless, is the chance every short option expires out of the money, the target of premium sellers. Both are estimates, and a high probability can come with a small gain and a large loss, so read them next to max profit and max loss.

Liquidity: open interest, volume and bid-ask spread. Open interest is the number of contracts outstanding, volume is the contracts traded today, and the bid-ask spread is the gap between the buy and sell price. In a scanner these read the weakest leg of the trade, because a trade is only as easy to exit as its least liquid leg. A spread of 10% on a contract priced at $1.05 means a gap of about $0.10, and you cross it on the way in and on the way out. Liquidity filters keep a result list to trades whose quoted return is actually available.

How ranking works

After filtering, a scanner sorts by one metric and shows the top results. Which metric you sort on changes the answer more than most filters do. Sorting credit trades by return on risk or annualized return puts the richest premiums first, which are often on the most volatile stocks. Sorting debit trades by probability of profit favors trades that are likely to win a little. Sorting by market capitalization puts the largest companies first and accepts lower returns. Sorting by distance to breakeven puts the trades with the smallest hurdle first.

The practical rule is to filter first and sort second. Set the floors that define a trade you would actually place, such as minimum open interest, a maximum spread, an earnings exclusion and a range of delta, and only then sort for return. If you sort by return on a loose filter set, the top of the list is filled with the widest spreads and thinnest markets, where the quoted return cannot be earned. Results are also paged, so a good scan is one whose first page is already worth reading.

How to use an options scanner, step by step

The same sequence works for any strategy.

1. Pick the strategy that matches your view: covered calls and cash-secured puts for income, spreads for defined risk, long calls and puts for direction.
2. Choose the universe: the whole market, or a watchlist of stocks you already follow.
3. Set the stock filters: a market capitalization floor, no funds if you want individual companies, and an earnings exclusion if you do not want a report inside the trade.
4. Set the option filters: a delta range for the risk you accept, days to expiration for the pace you want, and a minimum annualized return or probability that fits the strategy.
5. Set the liquidity filters: a minimum open interest, a minimum volume and a maximum bid-ask spread.
6. Sort, then open the top candidates and read the details: the legs, max profit, max loss, breakeven and the payoff chart, then check the live quote before you trade.
7. Save a scan that works so it runs the same way next time.

What an options scanner cannot tell you

A scanner is good at searching and poor at judging. These are the limits worth keeping in mind.

• Where the stock will go: a scan finds trades that fit your criteria, not stocks that will move your way.
• News and events: unless you filter for earnings or ex-dividend dates, a trade can run straight through them.
• Whether the probability is right: odds come from option prices and a model, so they are estimates and ignore events the model cannot see.
• Whether you can fill at the price shown: quotes are a snapshot, mid prices are not guaranteed, and thin contracts move when you trade them.
• What fits your account: a scanner does not know your cash, your existing positions or how much risk you can carry.
• Assignment and taxes: early assignment, dividends and tax treatment need your own review.
• Execution: most scanners find trades but do not place them or manage them afterward.

How to pick an options scanner

Start with what you trade. If you sell premium, check for the strategies you use, delta and probability filters, IV rank and a clear definition of return. If you buy options, look for breakeven distance, scenario returns and time decay figures. Then compare the practical details: how many strategies and filters it offers, whether custom multi-leg scans are supported, whether you can save scans and scan your own watchlist, how fresh the quotes are, whether it works on your phone and whether it connects to an AI assistant.

Test two tools on the same question, for example the same strategy with the same delta and days to expiration, and compare what each returns. For a side-by-side look at the main options scanners and screeners, see our guide to the best options screeners. We make OptionClaws, which is one of the tools in that guide, so the guide states its facts from each company's public pages and links them as sources.

Using OptionClaws as an options scanner

OptionClaws scans the optionable market for 23 strategies plus custom multi-leg structures of up to four legs, with more than 80 filters that combine option, stock, volatility, liquidity, dividend, technical and fundamental data. You can start from a preset, build your own scan, save it, scan a watchlist instead of the whole market, and run scans from the web, the iPhone and Android apps, or from ChatGPT and Claude. Quotes are refreshed intraday. Every result is a candidate to evaluate, not a recommendation, and OptionClaws does not place trades. The screeners hub lists a landing page for each strategy.

Frequently asked questions

What is an options scanner in simple terms?

It is a tool that searches the options market for trades that match rules you set, such as delta, days to expiration and liquidity, and ranks the results. It saves you from reading option chains one stock at a time.

What is the difference between an options screener and an options scanner?

In practice they are the same kind of tool and the names are used interchangeably. If anything, a screener filters on stock-level traits like fundamentals and a scanner on option-level data. Compare tools by their filters and strategies instead of the label.

How do you use an options scanner?

Pick a strategy, choose a universe, set stock filters, set option filters such as delta and days to expiration, add liquidity filters, then sort and open the top results to check the legs, max loss and breakeven. Verify the live quote at your broker before you trade.

What filters matter most on an options scanner?

Delta, days to expiration, IV rank, probability of profit and liquidity (open interest, volume and bid-ask spread). Liquidity filters matter because the highest quoted returns are often on the thinnest markets.

Is an options scanner accurate?

It calculates metrics correctly from the quotes it has, but probabilities are model estimates and quotes are a snapshot. A scanner is accurate about what a trade would have returned at the quoted price, not about what the market will do or whether you will be filled there.

Can an options scanner tell me which trade to make?

No. It lists candidates that meet your criteria and ranks them by the metric you choose. Choosing among them, sizing the position and deciding whether to trade at all remain your decisions.

Sources

• Options Industry Council: Understanding options Greeks (checked 2026-11-04)
• Options Industry Council: Delta (checked 2026-11-04)
• Options Industry Council: Options pricing (time value and volatility) (checked 2026-11-04)
• FINRA: Options (risks and assignment) (checked 2026-11-04)
• OCC: Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (checked 2026-11-04)

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