Options trading
OpenOption and CloseOption strategies, spreads, backtesting, sizing, and Aurora.
Options trading
NexusTrade supports algorithmic options strategies end-to-end: you define opening and closing rules in the same strategy / condition / action model as equities, run historical backtests on options data, and (depending on your brokerage) move toward paper or live deployment.
👉 Options overview (marketing) →
OpenOption and CloseOption
- OpenOption opens a new options position. You configure an options builder: underlying ticker (or a dynamic universe pipeline that picks underlyings), one or more legs (call/put, long/short), DTE windows, strike selection (percent, dollars, or delta from at-the-money), optional Greek filters per leg, optional spread type (vertical, iron condor, straddle, strangle, calendar, diagonal, custom), and allocation (percent of buying power, dollars, percent of portfolio, contracts, or percent of realized premium, which spends up to 100% of the Option Realized Premium balance and places no order while that balance is not positive).
- CloseOption closes existing option positions. Filters include underlyings, option type, direction, spread type, P/L percent (take profit / stop loss), DTE, days held, spread-level Greeks (delta, IV, theta), and quantity. Always use CloseOption to exit options—do not use Sell on option legs.
For how these fit into the strategy model, see Actions.
Strike selection
Each leg specifies how to find its strike price relative to the underlying:
| Method |
Description |
Example |
| Percent |
Distance as a % from ATM |
5 = 5% OTM |
| Dollars |
Distance in dollars from ATM |
10 = $10 OTM |
| Delta |
Target absolute delta |
0.30 = 30-delta option |
Positive distance always means OTM for both calls and puts. A distance of 0 means at-the-money.
Strike and expiration fallback ranges
If the target strike is unaffordable or no contract exists there, the system can search a fallback range. You specify a start distance, end distance, and iteration direction:
- OTMToITM — search from the cheapest OTM strikes inward toward ITM (most common).
- ITMToOTM — search from deeper ITM strikes outward toward OTM.
Similarly, an expiration fallback range lets the system search a wider DTE window (ShortestFirst or LongestFirst) when the primary DTE window has no available contracts.
Greek filters (entry)
Each leg can include optional Greek constraints that filter candidate contracts during resolution. Only contracts passing all specified bounds are considered.
| Filter |
Use case |
minDelta / maxDelta |
Target a specific delta range (e.g. sell 25–35 delta puts) |
minIv / maxIv |
Only trade when IV is in a desired range |
minGamma / maxGamma |
Filter by gamma exposure |
minTheta / maxTheta |
Filter by time decay |
minVega / maxVega |
Filter by volatility sensitivity |
minRho / maxRho |
Filter by interest rate sensitivity |
All fields are optional — omit any to skip that constraint.
Greek-based exits (CloseOption)
CloseOption supports spread-level Greek filters for dynamic exit rules beyond simple P/L thresholds:
| Filter |
Description |
minSpreadDelta / maxSpreadDelta |
Close when the net spread delta drifts outside a range |
minIv / maxIv |
Close when implied volatility crosses a threshold (e.g. IV crush) |
minSpreadTheta / maxSpreadTheta |
Close when daily theta decay is too small to justify holding |
These filters are applied at the spread level (aggregated across all legs). Spreads where Greeks are unavailable are skipped conservatively.
Ratio spreads
Each leg has an optional ratio field (default: 1). For a 1:2 ratio put spread, set the long leg to ratio: 1 and the short leg to ratio: 2. The system calculates contract quantities accordingly.
Supported spread types
Vertical, iron condor, straddle, strangle, calendar, diagonal, and custom. The spread type is auto-detected from the leg configuration if not specified.
Options indicators for conditions
NexusTrade includes seven option-specific indicators you can use in strategy conditions. All accept optional filters (underlying, option type, direction, spread type):
| Indicator |
Description |
| Option Spread Count |
Number of open spreads (use to gate entries, e.g. < 3) |
| Option Position Value |
Total market value of matching spreads |
| Option Position P&L% |
Weighted average P&L % across spreads |
| Option Days to Expiration |
Min or max DTE across spreads |
| Option Days Held |
Min or max days since entry |
| Option Collateral |
Total collateral locked |
| Option Unrealized P&L |
Total unrealized P&L in dollars |
For full parameter details, see Advanced Indicators.
Options order cooldowns
Two dedicated indicators measure time since your most recent option order:
- Days Since Option Order — with optional filters for underlying, option type, direction, spread type, position effect (open/close), and DTE range at order time.
- Minutes Since Option Order — same filters, for intraday cooldowns.
These let you build cooldowns like “don’t open another SPY spread for 30 minutes after the last one.”
Describing strategies to Aurora
In Aurora, describe concrete option structures (underlying, spread type, DTE, strikes, allocation)—not open-ended “research then trade options” tasks. Aurora maps your request to OpenOption / CloseOption via portfolio generation.
Example prompts:
”Create an SPY bull put spread when price is above the 200-day SMA: short 2% OTM put, long 5% OTM put, 30–45 DTE, 10% of buying power””Close all SPY options at +50% profit or −30% loss””Buy ATM calls on the top 3 S&P 500 stocks by 30-day momentum each Monday, 30–45 DTE””Sell 30-delta puts on SPY, 20–30 DTE, close at 50% profit or when delta exceeds −0.50”
Portfolio starting capital (important)
Standard equity portfolios often use $25,000 as a default initial portfolio value when you do not specify a size. Options consume much more buying power than the same dollar allocation in stock: each contract represents 100 shares of the underlying, and strategies like LEAPS or short premium on index ETFs can require very large notional or margin.
When you do not state an account size, NexusTrade’s assistants and generators assume:
- $25,000 for stock/ETF-only portfolios.
- $500,000 as a baseline initial value for options portfolios.
- $1,000,000 for LEAPS, multi-underlying selection (e.g. momentum-ranked names), or short premium on broad indices (e.g. SPY, QQQ), unless you specify otherwise.
If your backtest uses too small an initial value, you may see few or no fills. If you do use a small account, narrow the strategy: fewer underlyings, defined-risk spreads instead of naked short premium, shorter DTE, or smaller allocation per trade.
Backtesting options
Options backtesting is a premium feature available to paid subscribers. Options backtests use historical daily options data where configured for your run. Treat results like any backtest: watch for overfitting, test multiple date ranges, then paper trade before live capital. See Backtesting for general methodology.
Live trading and brokerages
Not every brokerage enables every option order type in automation. Supported multi-leg and options capabilities depend on the connected broker—see Live Trading & Deployment and your broker’s integration. Paper trading is the right first step for new options automations.
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