How to track options strategy ideas with scenarios
Scenarios allow you to save options strategy ideas and revisit them over time without re-entering legs. This makes it easier to track how an idea develops as market conditions change and to refine the analysis before committing to a trade.
What is saved in a scenario
When you save a scenario, the structure of the strategy is stored, including all option legs and their parameters.
Chart settings and configuration are not saved as part of the scenario. When a scenario is opened, the calculator keeps using whatever chart view is currently active, rather than restoring a previously saved configuration.
Where scenarios are stored
If you are signed in, scenarios are saved to your account and can be accessed from any device.
If you are not signed in, scenarios are stored locally in your browser. When you sign up after saving browser-based scenarios, they are transferred to your account as a one-time operation.
To avoid losing scenarios due to browser data being cleared or corrupted, signing in is recommended.
How pricing behaves when reopening a scenario
When you open a saved scenario, the calculator loads current market prices for the option legs.
If a leg is not priced in the current trading session or has expired, the prices from when the scenario was saved are shown instead. This ensures that the strategy can still be viewed even when live pricing is unavailable.
Scenarios vs sharing a strategy
Scenarios are intended for tracking and refining your own strategy ideas. Sharing a strategy serves a different purpose.
When you share a strategy, the calculator creates a snapshot that includes:
- all option legs
- option prices at the time of sharing
- chart settings and parameters
Anyone opening a shared link sees the calculator in the exact state it was in when the link was created.
If you want to view a shared strategy using current market prices, you can refresh prices using the control next to the underlying symbol. This updates the prices in your current session, but does not modify the shared link itself, which always reflects the state at the time it was created.
When to use scenarios
Scenarios are useful when:
- exploring multiple roll candidates
- tracking potential trades over time
- revisiting ideas as pricing and exposures evolve
They are designed to support ongoing analysis, not to act as a trade log or journal.