Option Valuation software

Hi,


Does anyone know any option valuation software that is being used by market-makers to print those valuation sheets that they bring to the pit?


tks


tsi

The name escapes me off the top of my head. But the main company - it will come to me later...


They usually come as part of a package of services from the clearing corporation, I think, seeing as the CC above anyone wants to know their delta!


leroy

It's been some time since I have been on the floor but different market makers use different software.Remember also that if a market maker has

a large position in 5 year note options it is possible his "sheet" in the Eurodollar option ring

may relect this.The large market making firms update frequently and will mix apples with oranges.The point is the sheets the marketmakers

use as well as their software is typically useless for the average person.

Tks to both eLROY and Dr.Bill.


I am thinking of becoming a pit trader. That is the reason why I asked about the potion pricing software.


The normal ones in the market are OptionStation, Option Vue, Essex and maybe a few more. But I was wondering if these are the ones market makers use as well or do they have some other different ones.


tks

To my memory, OptionVue was just a fancy plaything for academic geeks, and OptionStation is a newish back-testing and search/filtering platform for room traders. MicroHedge cranked out all the independent-trader sheets on the PSE and CBOE that I ever knew of.


So far as the statements on the floor, they are primarily position and delta sheets, rather than pricing sheets. Meaning, traders do not really look at those sheets to figure out what to pay for an option and when. There are option prices with various implied volatilities quoted all over the room, and the last place you need to look is a sheet.


Put differently, if your plan is to simply stand around until you can win a bid and get the price on your sheet, don't expect to live in a big house. A computer just reflects back the inputs you plug in, and those inputs are presumably designed to fulfill a result you originally cooked up in your head.


So far as handheld screens some people use, that is different. Some are brokers getting orders routed in by radio, rather than by hand or runners from wire operators, and some may be traders coordinating risk with a firm-wide portfolio, or something. But I haven't been down there in a dog's age, so I am sorry if no one else answers.


leroy