Universes

Equity Options

Introduction

An Equity Options universe lets you select a basket of contracts for a single Option. LEAN models Option subscriptions as a universe of Option contracts.

Create Universes

To add a universe of Equity Option contracts, in the Initialize method, call the AddOption method. This method returns an Option object, which contains the canonical Symbol. You can't trade with the canonical Option Symbol, but save a reference to it so you can easily access the Option contracts in the OptionChain that LEAN passes to the OnData method.

UniverseSettings.Asynchronous = true;
var option = AddOption("SPY");
_symbol = option.Symbol;
self.UniverseSettings.Asynchronous = True
option = self.AddOption("SPY")
self.symbol = option.Symbol

The following table describes the AddOption method arguments:

ArgumentData TypeDescriptionDefault Value
tickerstringstrThe underlying Equity ticker. To view the supported underlying Equity tickers, see Supported Assets.
resolutionResolution?Resolution/NoneTypeThe resolution of the market data. To view the supported resolutions, see Resolutions. The Equity resolution must be less than or equal to the Equity Option resolution. For example, if you set the Equity resolution to minute, then you must set the Equity Option resolution to minute, hour, or daily.Nonenull
marketstringstrThe underlying Equity market.Nonenull
fillForwardboolIf true, the current slice contains the last available data even if there is no data at the current time.Truetrue
leveragedecimalfloatThe leverage for this Equity.Security.NullLeverage
extendedMarketHoursboolA flag that signals if LEAN should send data during pre- and post-market trading hours.Falsefalse

If you add an Equity Option universe but don't have a subscription to the underlying Equity, LEAN automatically subscribes to the underlying Equity with the following settings:

SettingValue
Fill forwardSame as the Option universe
Leverage0
Extended Market HoursSame as the Option universe
Data NormalizationDataNormalizationMode.Raw

If you already have a subscription to the underlying Equity but it's not Raw data normalization, LEAN automatically changes it to Raw.

To override the default pricing model of the Option, set a pricing model.

option.PriceModel = OptionPriceModels.CrankNicolsonFD();
option.PriceModel = OptionPriceModels.CrankNicolsonFD()

To override the initial guess of implied volatility, set and warm up the underlying volatility model.

Filter Contracts

By default, LEAN subscribes to the Option contracts that have the following characteristics:

  • Standard type (exclude weeklys)
  • Within 1 strike price of the underlying asset price
  • Expire within 35 days

To adjust the universe of contracts, set a filter. The filter usually runs at the first bar of every day. When the filter selects a contract that isn't currently in your universe, LEAN adds the new contract data to the next Slice that it passes to the OnData method.

To set a contract filter, in the Initialize method, call the SetFilter method of the Option object. The following table describes the available filter techniques:

Method
Description
SetFilter(int minStrike, int maxStrike)SetFilter(minStrike: int, maxStrike: int)Selects the contracts that have a strike price within a minimum and maximum strike level relative to the underlying price. For example, say the underlying price is $302 and there are strikes at every $5. If you set minStrike to -1 and maxStrike to 1, LEAN selects the contracts that have a strike of $300 or $305. This filter runs asynchronously by default.
SetFilter(TimeSpan minExpiry, TimeSpan maxExpiry)SetFilter(minExpiry: timedelta, maxExpiry: timedelta)Selects the contracts that expire within the range you set. This filter runs asynchronously by default.
SetFilter(int minStrike, int maxStrike, TimeSpan minExpiry, TimeSpan maxExpiry)SetFilter(minStrike: int, maxStrike: int, minExpiry: timedelta, maxExpiry: timedelta)Selects the contracts that expire and have a strike within the range you set. This filter runs asynchronously by default.
SetFilter(Func<OptionFilterUniverse, OptionFilterUniverse> universeFunc)SetFilter(universeFunc: Callable[[OptionFilterUniverse], OptionFilterUniverse])Selects the contracts that a function selects.
// Select contracts that have a strike price within 1 strike level above and below the underlying price
option.SetFilter(minStrike: -1, maxStrike: 1);

// Select contracts that expire within 30 days
option.SetFilter(minExpiry: TimeSpan.FromDays(0), maxExpiry: TimeSpan.FromDays(30));

// Select contracts that have a strike price within 1 strike level and expire within 30 days
option.SetFilter(minStrike: -1, maxStrike: 1, minExpiry: TimeSpan.FromDays(0), maxExpiry: TimeSpan.FromDays(30));

// Select call contracts
option.SetFilter(optionFilterUniverse => optionFilterUniverse.CallsOnly());
# Select contracts that have a strike price within 1 strike level above and below the underlying price
option.SetFilter(minStrike=-1, maxStrike=1)

# Select contracts that expire within 30 days
option.SetFilter(minExpiry=timedelta(days=0), maxExpiry=timedelta(days=30))

# Select contracts that have a strike price within 1 strike level and expire within 30 days
option.SetFilter(minStrike=-1, maxStrike=1, minExpiry=timedelta(days=0), maxExpiry=timedelta(days=30))

# Select call contracts
option.SetFilter(lambda option_filter_universe: option_filter_universe.CallsOnly())

The following table describes the filter methods of the OptionFilterUniverse class:

MethodDescription
Strikes(int minStrike, int maxStrike)Strikes(minStrike: int, maxStrike: int)Selects contracts that are within minStrike strikes below the underlying price and maxStrike strikes above the underlying price
CallsOnly()Selects call contracts
PutsOnly()Selects put contracts
StandardsOnly()Selects standard contracts
IncludeWeeklys()Selects non-standard weeklys contracts
WeeklysOnly()Selects weekly contracts
FrontMonth()Selects the front month contract
BackMonths()Selects the non-front month contracts
BackMonth()Selects the back month contracts
Expiration(TimeSpan minExpiry, TimeSpan maxExpiry)Expiration(minExpiry: timedelta, maxExpiry: timedelta)Selects contracts that expire within a range of dates relative to the current day
Expiration(int minExpiryDays, int maxExpiryDays)Expiration(minExpiryDays: int, maxExpiryDays: int)Selects contracts that expire within a range of dates relative to the current day
Contracts(IEnumerable<Symbol> contracts)Contracts(contracts: List[Symbol])Selects a list of contracts
Contracts(Func<IEnumerable<Symbol>, IEnumerable< Symbol>> contractSelector)Contracts(contractSelector: Callable[[List[Symbol]], List[Symbol]])Selects contracts that a selector function selects

The preceding methods return an OptionFilterUniverse, so you can chain the methods together.

// Example 1: Select the front month call contracts
option.SetFilter(optionFilterUniverse => optionFilterUniverse.CallsOnly().FrontMonth());

// Example 2: Select the contracts (including weeklys) that expire in the next 90 days
option.SetFilter(optionFilterUniverse => optionFilterUniverse.IncludeWeeklys().Strikes(-20, 20).Expiration(0, 90));
# Example 1: Select the front month call contracts
option.SetFilter(lambda option_filter_universe: option_filter_universe.CallsOnly().FrontMonth())

# Example 2: Select the contracts (including weeklys) that expire in the next 90 days
option.SetFilter(lambda option_filter_universe: option_filter_universe.IncludeWeeklys().Strikes(-20, 20).Expiration(0, 90))

To perform thorough filtering on the OptionFilterUniverse, define an isolated filter method.

// In Initialize
option.SetFilter(Selector);
    
private OptionFilterUniverse Selector(OptionFilterUniverse optionFilterUniverse)
{
    var symbols = optionFilterUniverse.PutsOnly();
    var strike = symbols.Select(symbol => symbol.ID.StrikePrice).Min();
    symbols = symbols.Where(symbol => symbol.ID.StrikePrice == strike);
    return optionFilterUniverse.Contracts(symbols);
}
# In Initialize
option.SetFilter(self.contract_selector)
    
def contract_selector(self, option_filter_universe: OptionFilterUniverse) -> OptionFilterUniverse:
    symbols = option_filter_universe.PutsOnly()
    strike = min([symbol.ID.StrikePrice for symbol in symbols])
    symbols = [symbol for symbol in symbols if symbol.ID.StrikePrice == strike]
    return option_filter_universe.Contracts(symbols)

Some of the preceding filter methods only set an internal enumeration in the OptionFilterUniverse that it uses later on in the filter process. This subset of filter methods don't immediately reduce the number of contract Symbol objects in the OptionFilterUniverse.

Navigate Option Chains

OptionChain objects represent an entire chain of Option contracts for a single underlying security. They have the following properties:

To get the OptionChain, index the OptionChains property of the Slice with the canonical Symbol. After you get the OptionChain, you can sort and filter the Option contracts in the chain.

public override void OnData(Slice slice)
{
    if (slice.OptionChains.TryGetValue(_symbol, out var chain))
    {
        // Example: Find 5 put contracts that are closest to at-the-money (ATM) and have the farthest expiration
        var contracts = chain
            .Where(x => x.Right == OptionRight.Put)
            .OrderByDescending(x => x.Expiry)
            .ThenBy(x => Math.Abs(chain.Underlying.Price - x.Strike))
            .Take(5);

        // Select the contract with the delta closest to -0.5
        var contract = contracts.OrderBy(x => Math.Abs(-0.5m - x.Greeks.Delta)).FirstOrDefault();
    }
}

public void OnData(OptionChains optionChains)
{
    if (optionChains.TryGetValue(_symbol, out var chain))
    {
        var contracts = chain.Contracts;
    }
}
def OnData(self, slice: Slice) -> None:
    chain = slice.OptionChains.get(self.symbol)
    if chain:
        # Example: Find 5 put contracts that are closest to at-the-money (ATM) and have the farthest expiration
        contracts = [x for x in chain if x.Right == OptionRight.Put]
        contracts = sorted(sorted(contracts, \
            key = lambda x: abs(chain.Underlying.Price - x.Strike)), \
            key = lambda x: x.Expiry, reverse=True)[:5]

        # Select the contract with the delta closest to -0.5
        contract = sorted(contracts, key=lambda x: abs(-0.5 - x.Greeks.Delta))[0]

You can also loop through the OptionChains property to get each OptionChain.

public override void OnData(Slice slice)
{
    foreach (var kvp in slice.OptionChains)
    {
        var canoncialSymbol = kvp.Key;
        var chain = kvp.Value;
        var contracts = chain.Contracts;
    }
}

public void OnData(OptionChains optionChains)
{
    foreach (var kvp in optionChains)
    {
        var canoncialSymbol = kvp.Key;
        var chain = kvp.Value;
        var contracts = chain.Contracts;
    }
}
def OnData(self, slice: Slice) -> None:
    for canonical_symbol, chain in slice.OptionChains.items():
        contracts = chain.Contracts

Selection Frequency

By default, Equity Option universes run at the first time step of each day to select their contracts.

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