General

How do you charge for the system?

We charge a fixed, monthly rate for the service. The amount varies by the components of the system included in your package, type of deployment, and number of users. The different components are offered a la carte so you can subscribe to the tools that fit your workflow best.

What types of customers and workflows do you support?

The FT Options platform is highly customizable and can be adapted to benefit a wide variety of workflows. Options portfolio risk management and trade idea generation are key workflows leveraged by diverse customer types, including proprietary trading groups, hedge funds, buy-side/sell-side bank desks, insurance companies, investment advisors, broker dealers and individual traders.

How do I get access to the platform? Can I access it at my company where there are security restrictions for third-party applications?

The FT Options platform is delivered using Citrix, which allows simple, secure and flexible access to the applications. Citrix virtual apps are commonly implemented in restricted environments. We are happy to work with your company’s security team to facilitate access to the platform. An additional benefit of Citrix virtual apps is they are remotely hosted and running on our servers, which puts significantly less strain on your computer while providing a nearly identical user experience.

Can I use the platform if I am not located in the U.S.?

There are no restrictions based on location to use the platform. Use of the platform requires an annual subscription agreement that is subject to legal and compliance review by Cboe Global Markets.

Risk Analysis Solutions

What kind of pricing model do you use to calculate options Greeks and implied volatilities?

We use a high-iteration, binomial model with discrete dividends along with intraday decay and a configurable business-day calendar. Additionally, we use an implied-borrow solver and real-time volatility surface fitter. You can override any of the system modeling parameters, including dividends, rates and volatility surfaces.

Can I risk manage multiple accounts, portfolios and strategies?

Yes. We offer multiple aggregation methods to give you flexibility, including tagging positions with custom strategies, sectors, account mappings, etc.

Do you provide real-time normalized risk analytics of large portfolios?

Yes. Calculating real-time analytics for large portfolios is one of our specialties. Across a large portfolio, it is critical to have high-level, actionable and meaningful risk analytics to make trading decisions. Our analytics include Dollar Delta, Standard Deviation Delta, Beta Dollar Delta, Dollar Gamma Percent and Weighted Vega Percent and more. We also provide portfolio risk slides that allow volatility normalized price shocks, beta-weighting and time-weighted volatility shocks.

Do you have a FLEX calculator?

Yes. We provide a calculator that leverages our implied borrow solver as well as our volatility surface fitter to calculate Greeks and theoretical values for FLEX contracts. The pricing model is also dividend- and earnings-event aware for pricing equity FLEXs. FLEXs can be modeled in the system and added to the portfolio at any time even if they have not yet traded on the exchange.

Do you support OTC contracts?

Yes. The FT Options portfolio risk engine can model vanilla OTC contracts, and we can work with you to add additional non-vanilla contract types as needed.

Are your theoretical values and Greeks stable during periods of poor market quote quality?

Yes. The FT Options implied borrow solver and the volatility surface fitter are key components to providing stable Greeks and theoretical values during periods of poor market quote quality. The systems have stabilization and noise-filtering processes to provide the key portfolio risk metrics when they are critically needed in times of market duress.

Can I test trade ideas and see how they may impact my portfolio risk?

Yes. The platform allows multiple facilities to add simulated trades in both a single-stock view and a portfolio view.

Do you model VIX options using the futures price for each expiration?

Yes. Each VIX option class is properly modeled using the corresponding future. For scenario risk analysis of VIX positions, you can make price adjustments to each future, which allows you to evaluate portfolio risk for a modified term structure of VIX futures.

Can you value SPX options correctly outside trading hours when the SPX index is not ticking?

Yes. The platform allows multiple modes for setting the hedge price for SPX options including an Implied Forward mode, which will leverage the options markets to determine the hedge price used by market participants. Additionally, the platform provides a forward price calculated from the index and dividends, as well as a forward price calculated from the front month ES future.

Can you help me identify Pin Risk situations in my portfolio?

Yes. There a variety of portfolio reports available in the platform to help identify contracts or positions with specific characteristics such as Pin Risk. Additionally, the reports can be customized to adapt to your specific perspective or use case.

Can you help me identify contracts that may be assigned or optimally should be exercised ahead of expiration?

Yes. There are a variety of views and portfolio reports available in the platform to help identify contracts or positions with specific characteristics such as Call Exercise. Additionally, the reports can be customized to adapt to your specific perspective or use case. The option chain in Mosaic also provides a real-time indicator of contracts that are optimally exercised or assigned on the current trading day.

Does the system handle corporate actions and dividends correctly for U.S. listed equity options?

Yes. The system has up-to-date contract definitions and dividend information for U.S.-listed equity options. Customer position information is typically loaded directly from the custodian, and in most cases, corporate actions are handled in a timely manner by the custodian. The system does allow for manual adjustments to positions if needed.

Do you have historical data for options vols and Greeks in my portfolio? Can I use this to track my trading and performance over time?

Yes. We store the entire contents of your portfolio into a client-specific archive that contains risk, pnl attribution and everything that is available in the system. We also capture the implied vols and Greeks for all options trades done for edge management and historical analysis. We have tools in the front end that make this simple to do. The data can be exported to Excel for custom studies.

Can you do scenario analysis of my portfolio?

Yes. We support shocking underlyer prices, implied volatility and time. We handle exercise and assignments across expirations correctly, and do time-weighted volatility slides that are fully vol-surface aware. Our slides support Betas, correctly handle definitional negative Beta names, such as reverse ETFs and VIX, and allow normalized price slides to be done using Standard Deviations (SDs) that are calculated using Implied Volatility per name.

Can you tell me in real time if I exceed my risk limits or my haircut exceeds a threshold?

Yes. You can configure screens and alerts for this in the system.

Can you calculate my risk using my own dividends, Betas, vols, etc?

Yes. You can provide your own overrides to these parameters or use the system defaults, which are maintained by FT Options.

Is my position confidential?

Absolutely. All customer risk data is segregated onto custom, dedicated server instances per client.

Volatility Analysis Solutions

How can I model additional non-earnings catalysts?

The FT Options Earnings Calculator is designed for this. You can have a custom, one-day move for as many additional catalysts as you like, e.g., macro events, special announcements, etc.

Do you have analytics and tools for Dispersion trading or Implied Correlation strategies?

Yes. We have tools that allow you to calculate implied correlation for customizable baskets of underlyers for various tenors and Delta points of implied volatility.

Do you have a quote blotter that will help me track options or spread values against market values or my own theoretical value?

Yes. The Mosaic Vault tool, which is ideally suited for sell-side and buy-side workflows, calculates and tracks theoretical values for multiple spreads. The tool allows full flexibility to override hedge prices, volatility and other pricing parameters.

Do you have heat maps that help me visualize Open Interest or trading activity?

Yes. The Expiration Map tool in Mosaic allows you to create and view customized heat maps of market metrics and position information at the underlyer level.

Do you have intraday volatility and price change alerting?

Yes. The Advanced Market Monitor (AMM) tool allows you to create and view intraday changes for a wide variety of customizable metrics. AMM also provides visual and audible alerts.

Do you have a customizable interface where I can create and track custom analytics?

Yes. The Advanced Market Monitor is a highly customizable, real-time interface that allows you to comingle risk and volatility analytics in a modular interface that provides tabular data and charts.

Do you have preconfigured or customizable scanners to identify intraday trade ideas?

Yes. VolEdge offers a wide variety of customizable scanning tools. With 100s of different analytics and several preconfigured tools, you can identify trade ideas based on price moves, implied volatility moves, sector rankings, skew rankings, historical rankings and much more.

Can I use the VolScan to search the entire optionable universe in real time?

Yes. You can scan the entire market of U.S.-listed options in real time, and can have multiple simultaneous scans targeting your own custom strategies. The Vol Scan allows you to define a custom universe of names, target your own custom volatility surfaces, and then filter and rank the entire optionable universe in real time for the best trade ideas based on your inputs and assumptions.

I have my own volatility surface. Can that be imported into the system for screening, scanning and risk?

Yes. You can import an unlimited number of custom volatility surfaces, and many surfaces can be built entirely using our tools with no programming or external resources.

What tools are available to build my volatility surfaces for scanning and screening?

You can construct your volatility surfaces in Excel using our Excel data integration tools and directly import them into the system. Or you can use our surface visualizing and editing tools to construct your surfaces. Volatility surfaces can be loaded in bulk or tweaked on a case-by-case basis.

How comprehensive is your Volatility Analytics data? How can I access it?

We have historical implied and realized volatility data going back to 1998, and intraday summarized surface data going back to 2013. We also have historical earnings dates that are correctly matched to the trading day of the announcements. Our system is able to combine the real-time implied and realized volatilities with deep history to build hundreds of value-added metrics that are accessible in our desktop applications, directly in Excel, or via direct programmatic access.

Can I rank or Z-Score a list of stocks based on their historical relationship relative to a benchmark such as an index or ETF?

Yes. We allow ranking and Z Scoring a user-defined basket of names relative to any index or ETF. This can be done against the time series of many metrics, such as implied atm volatility, skew, kurtosis, realized volatility and many others.

Can I see trading activity in real time for specific names so I can see unusual volume, react to volatility changes quickly, etc?

Yes. We have several very powerful tools for monitoring volume and trade activity in the market. Some aggregate and show high-level activity such as “this stock or group of stocks has traded outsized volume in front month with a large (or small) implied vol change.” Others assess same strike vol changes across a large list of names that all meet your filtering criteria, or show every single print in the market with its corresponding implied vol, vol change on the day and relative volume traded. All these tools can also compare traded implied volatility to your custom vol surfaces so you can see the edge per line or per trade.

Can I see the fit volatility surface of a stock along with my custom volatility surface?

Yes. Our Mosaic application will display a smoothed, parameterized implied fit volatility surface along with your custom volatility surface. Tools for fitting to the market, copying market shape with your own ATM levels and others give your workflow the efficiency of bulk automated operations. They also offer fine-grained control combined with visualization for instances in which you need to micromanage a surface.

Can I establish my own volatility surfaces and look for ideas using them?

Yes. You can have an unlimited amount of custom volatility surfaces and drive an unlimited number of strategies, scans, filtered and ranked reports, etc. You can also use your custom volatility surfaces to manage the edge of the positions in your portfolio.

Can I easily segregate a list of symbols for quick identification in the tools?

Yes. You can establish an unlimited number of watchlists of stocks in the system. You can then assign these watchlists to the tools for filtering, or you can color code symbols so you can quickly pick them out.

Infrastructure/API Solutions

Which clearing firms / prime brokers do you support?

We have existing relationships with most major clearing firms and prime brokers. We will support any clearing firm, prime broker, OMS or proprietary inventory management system.

Can I see my portfolio’s risk updated in real time as I execute trades throughout the day?

Yes. We allow for real-time drops from your Prime Broker or execution platform. Positions and portfolio risk analytics are updated in real-time.

Which execution providers do you support?

We can receive FIX drops of trades from all execution providers.

Can the system be configured with different account visibility for different roles in my firm?

Yes. Each user, even within the same firm, has a distinct login to the platform, which allows unique configuration for tool access and account visibility.

Can you handle multiple clearing firms/prime brokers/execution brokers?

Yes. We can handle any deployment scenario. We have several clients running with multi-prime and multi-FIX drop sessions. We do all the work necessary to set up this deployment.

Can I use FT systems if I have no IT or development resources?

Yes. Many of our clients are traders and portfolio managers who interface directly with FT and have limited or no IT resources. Of course, we are always happy to work with the IT teams of clients who have them.

I have a development team. Can my team access FT’s data and leverage the API for custom functionality or integration?

Yes. There are numerous mechanisms available for accessing the data in the system. We’re always happy to discuss this aspect of the system with clients to meet their needs.

I love Excel. What type of Excel support is available in the system?

You can load many of our data items directly into Excel using our data integration plugin. We also have a robust Excel-based volatility modeling solution that allows you to build models accessing historical and real-time analytics.

Background

When did FT Options get its start?

We started building the system in 2003 and have continued to enhance the platform’s functionality over time. FT Options was acquired by Cboe Global Markets in 2020 and is part of the Cboe Data Vantage suite of data and analytics services.

What securities does FT cover?

We have full coverage of all U.S.-listed equity and ETF options, listed and non-listed warrants, index options, futures and futures options.

What if I’m interested in something not presently covered?

Let us know, and we can likely find a solution. We set our priorities based on customer needs and are happy to change timelines to suit your business requirements.

I am only following about 10 stocks. Can FT help me? I am a very proactive (or reactive) trader. Is this system more of a market-making system?

Our system has been designed for a variety of trading styles and strategies. Whether you’re interested in 10 underlyers, or the entire optionable universe, there is value in the system. The same holds true for proactive versus reactive trading styles. We handle both and any combination thereof.

Do you do any off-shore development?

No. All of our development is done in the U.S.

What technology is FT built upon?

Our low-latency data is running on hardware accelerated Linux based systems. Our application layer is implemented using Windows, C# and SQL Server.

Have you been approved to be paid as a research product?

Yes, we have. If this is preferred, we can work with you on this.

Do you have documentation and do you offer training on the system?

Yes. There is full documentation for the system. We also have live training for new clients as well as ongoing training and support for existing clients. We really want our clients to get the most out of the system by tailoring it to their workflow and trading styles. We make training and application support a high priority.

How long does it take to get up and running on the system?

Getting the system activated can be done in less than an hour. Connectivity to clearing firm and execution providers can take a few days depending on the circumstances. This is entirely determined by the speed of your clearing firm or executing brokers. Many users start with the volatility analytics and a static snapshot of their positions, which can be set up immediately, so they can use the system while waiting for the trade and position feeds to be finalized.

Do I need special hardware or network connections?

Typically you don’t need anything special. You will want to allocate a bit of screen real estate to the system since we have so many different screens and tools to leverage. Some client deployments utilize a dedicated network connection, but this totally depends on the circumstances and client requirements.

Is there any risk of others knowing what I am doing?

No. Each client is only given access to their own information. Visibility of your client data can be selectively controlled per user even within the same customer firm.

Can I access the system from anywhere, even at home or when I am traveling?

Yes. Because we deliver the platform via Citrix, you can securely connect to our system in many ways, including using smart phones and tablets.

Do you offer free trials of the platform?

Yes. A two-week trial of the full client user experience is available. Click here to request access.

Can I import my own portfolio or positions during the trial experience?

Yes. This is highly encouraged as we understand the value in evaluating the tools with positions you are familiar with for the most productive trial experience.