Trade Template - Part 1 - Trade Type & Strike Selection

Symbol

Select the symbol for this trade. Available symbols may vary depending on the broker you are using.

Trade Type

CallCalendar - A call calendar with a short strike in one expiration and a long strike in a later expiration, entered for a debit. 

TAT does not manage the short and longs separate for Calendar trades. You should plan to close the trade prior to expiration of the short leg(s).

CallDebitSpread- A call spread with a higher strike long option and a lower strike short option, entered for a debit. 

CallSpread - Short Call spread

DoubleCalendar - A calendar involves selling a short option and buying a longer data option at the same strike. A double calendar is opening both an OTM Put calendar and OTM Call calendar in the same trade. A double calendar is opened by paying a debit.  

TAT does not manage the short and longs separate for Calendar trades. You should plan to close the trade prior to expiration of the short leg(s).

IronCondor - Short Put spread and Call spread entered in a single 4 leg entry trade. If selecting short strikes by credit, TAT will look for a put and call spread that each meet the desired premium. Once filled, the stop loss and profit targets are managed separately on the resulting put spread and call spread.

IronCondor-Full - Short Put spread and Call spread entered in a single 4 leg entry trade. If selecting short strikes by credit, TAT will look for a put and call spread that each meet the desired premium. Unlike the IronCondor, once filled, the stop loss and profit targets are managed as a single trade. If the stop is place on the Vertical, then it will start on all 4 legs. If the stop is place on the short only, it will be on the two short legs together.

IronFly - Short Put spread and Call spread entered in a single 4 leg entry trade. In this case, the short leg of both spreads will be at the same strike, closest to the current SPX price. TAT will only enter the Iron Fly position if both the put and call spreads that each meet the desired premium. Once filled, the stop loss and profit targets and managed together in a single trade. If the stop is place on the Vertical, then it will start on all 4 legs. If the stop is place on the short only, it will be on the two short legs together. 

LongCall- Single long call option

LongPut- Single long put option

LongIronCondor-Full- Put debit spread and Call debit spread entered in a single 4 leg entry trade. If selecting strikes by credit, TAT will look for a put and call spread that each meet the desired premium. Unlike the IronCondor, once filled, the stop loss and profit targets are managed as a single trade. If the stop is place on the Vertical, then it will start on all 4 legs. If the stop is place on the short only, it will be on the two short legs together. 

This trade type can also be used to enter a long at the money iron fly by setting the Max OTM to -2.5 and targeting the highest of a delta range from 30-70, for example.

LongStrangle - Long Strangle, which consists of a long put and a long call entered and managed together as a single trade. 

This trade type can also be used to enter a long at the money straddle by setting the Max OTM to -2.5 and targeting the highest of a delta range from 30-70, for example.

PutSpread - Short Put spread

PutCalendar - A put calendar with a short strike in one expiration and a long strike in a later expiration, entered for a debit. 

TAT does not manage the short and longs separate for Calendar trades. You should plan to close the trade prior to expiration of the short leg(s).

PutDebitSpread- A put spread with a higher strike long option and a lower strike short option, entered for a debit.

ShortCall - Naked short call

ShortPut  - Naked short put

ShortStrangle - Short Strangle, which consists of a naked short put and a naked short call entered and managed together as a single trade.

Short Strike Selection

Short strike selections can now be entered separately for puts and calls in an iron condor trade template. This would allow you to target 10 delta puts and 20 delta calls, or $2.00 puts and $1.00 calls, for example.

Credit

Short strike selection is done by giving a range of acceptable premium to collect when selling your vertical spread of for each side of an iron condor. In this example, only spreads with a mid-price between 0.75 and 1.00 we be entered. For Iron Condor entries, both the call spread and the put spread much each have a mid-price in the target range. For multi-leg trades, the Credit refers to the net premium on the trade, including both short and long legs.

By default, TAT will choose spreads matching your criteria starting with the highest premium. If you select the "Perfer Lower Target" checkbox, then spreads starting on the lower end of the premium range will be selected first.

When an Iron Condor is being entered the two most closely matching premium call/put spread premiums will be selected in an effort to balance the premium on each side as evenly as possible.

Delta

Short strike selection is done by giving a range of acceptable Delta values for the short leg(s) of the trade. For example, if you target a range of 10 to 15 delta, then the short leg selected will be the strike with the highest delta between 10 and 15. If "prefer lower" is checked, then TAT would choose the lowest available delta strike between 10 and 15.

ShortCredit

For short credit trades, you can target the credit (premium) desired on the short leg of the trade ONLY (ignoring the price page for the long). This is especially helpful for those trying to match backtests from OptionOmega, which targets premium on the short leg only.

Short Strike Selection Preference

There are a number of choices for how you would like TAT to select your short strike:

Highest Credit/Delta

The trade with the highest entry credit (or delta if targeting by delta) will be selected for entry. (If entering an iron condor trade, the highest and most closely matching put and call premiums will be selected.) 

For example, if your target entry premium range is .80 to 1.20, then a trade that is closest to 1.20 will be selected. Keep in mind it could be higher or lower than the mid price. If trades with premiums of .90, 1.05 and 1.20 are available, the 1.20 trade would be selected.

If targeting delta between 10 and 20, and there are trade options with short leg deltas of 10, 16, and 19, the trade with the 19 delta would be selected because it is the highest.

Mid Credit/Delta

The trade with the entry credit (or delta if targeting by delta) that is closest to the mid point of your range will be selected for entry. For example, if your target entry premium range is .80 to 1.20, then a trade that is closest to 1.00 will be selected. Keep in mind it could be higher or lower than the mid price. If trades with premiums of .90, 1.05 and 1.20 are available, the 1.05 trade would be selected.

If targeting delta between 10 and 20, and there are trade options with short leg deltas of 10, 16, and 19, the trade with the 16 delta would be selected because it is closest to 15.

NOTE: If you wish to just target the trade closest to a single price/delta, you can enter the same value in for both Target Minimum and Maximum and select Mid Credit/Delta for the selection preference. For example, if you enter 20 for both target min and max delta, TAT will select the trade with the delta closest to 20 (which could be higher or lower than 15). This works similar to backtesting tools that target a single delta/premium.

Lowest Credit/Delta

The trade with the entry credit (or delta if targeting by delta) that is lowest will be selected for entry. For example, if your target entry premium range is .80 to 1.20, then a trade that is closest to .80 will be selected. Keep in mind it could be higher or lower than the mid price. If trades with premiums of .90, 1.05 and 1.20 are available, the .90 trade would be selected.

If targeting delta between 10 and 20, and there are trade options with short leg deltas of 10, 16, and 19, the trade with the 10 delta would be selected because it is the lowest.

Narrow Width

The trade with the most narrow spread width (distance between the short and long strikes) will be selected. This option is useful if you are trying to minimize the amount of buying power used by each trade.

Matching Width

This option will ensure that when entering an iron condor trade that the spread width on both sides is the same. This is necessary in some countries to ensure that you are not charged buying power for both puts and calls because they are different widths.

Most OTM

This option will first select from the possible trade options that have the most OTM short leg, and then select the trade with the highest premium that uses that short strike if there are multiple trade options. For example, if put spread options are listed below, the 3995/3945 trade for $1.05 will be selected because it uses the most OTM strike (3995), and has the highest premium.

4000/3950 $1.20

3995/3945 $1.05

3995/3950 $1.00

3995/3955 $0.95

Least OTM

This option will select the trade that is closest to the money and then select the highest premium trade. In almost all cases, this will result in the same trade selection as the Highest Credit option.

Min Distance OTM 

This allows you to control how far out of the money your short strikes must be to open a trade. If you set this to 10 points and SPX is trading at 4205, then TAT will not select a put spread where the put strike is higher than 4195 or a call trade where the strike is lower than 4215.

NOTE: To allow a trade to be entered where the short strike is already in the money (ITM) you can provide a negative number, such as -5.

Ratio

A ratio trade can be set up when trading an iron condor, where you sell more put than calls or vice versa. For example, you could sell a ratio of 2 puts to 1 call.

Long Strike Selection 

Long strikes can be selected in one of two methods: Width or Max Premium.

Width

The long strike for your spread will be selected based on the width(s) you provide as available options.

TIP: You can provide more than one acceptable width options by providing a comma separated list as in the example above: 45,50,55. In this case TAT will evaluate all 45, 50, and 55 point wide spread when selecting the strikes to enter. This allows for more options which helps to find equal premium sides and also to avoid overlapping strikes with previous trades.

Max Premium

To enter a spread where you want to spend only a maximum amount on the long wings, you can configure a max premium. In this example, your long wings will be selected from strikes that can be bought for .10 or less.

You can also specify a Max Width to ensure that TAT doesn't select a trade that would be too wide and use more buying power than desired. In the event that no long strike is available that can be purchased for your max premium and stay within your specified Max Width, then a trade will not be placed.

Finally, you can specify a Minimum Premium as well as a Maximum. This is useful if you wish to target longs that are exactly .10, then you can set both the Min and Max settings to .10.

Days To Expiration

TAT now supports trading longer days to expiration than 0 DTE trades. You can specify the DTE of the position when the trade is opened to sell a longer dated option. For example, if you have a 1 DTE trade, you would enter 1 for DTE at trade entry. If left blank, 0 DTE is assumed.

Please note that this DTE setting is exact. If you open 1 DTE trades on Monday through Thursday and you also want to open a trade on Friday that expires on Monday, you'll need to have a second trade template set up for 3 DTE at entry to open on Friday.

To trade longer DTE trades, you need to configure TAT to request SPX option pricing data for additional DTEs. For more information, see this article.

Min/Max Entry Price

This setting allows you to set a minimum and/or maximum price that you would like to enter a trade at. This works for both credit and debit trades. This can work well for situations where you want to open a calendar but only want to spend up to a 10.00 debit or an iron fly you want to sell, but only if you receive a minimum 7.00 credit.

Double Calendar Setup

The UI to configure a double calendar is slightly different than other trades. For a double calendar you need to determine how to target the short strikes. You can choose Delta of the short strike or PointOTM, which is a certain number of points away from the current SPX price. You also will configure the DTE to use for both the short and the long trades. The DTE should be lower for the short legs than the long legs. Also, the DTE numbers are exact, so it would be impossible to open a 2/4 DTE trade on a Wednesday because 4 days away would be Sunday and there is not an expiration then.

To trade double calendars, you need to configure TAT to request SPX option pricing data for additional DTEs. For more information, see this article.

Reusing Existing Long Positions

Now available in version 2.0, TAT can be configured to re-use an open long left over from a trade that previously stopped on the short leg only. More information can be found here.

Managing Strike Selection in Spreads

Many traders use TAT to enter spreads throughout the trading day with the same expiration, and this

requires orchestration. For example, implementing a 0DTE multiple entry iron condor campaign

(MEIC) requires a series of trades with four different strikes—two long positions and two short

positions—all with the same expiration.

Managing these positions effectively is critical to avoid unintentionally offsetting existing positions,

which can lead to undesirable outcomes in your trading strategy.

Key Consideration: Avoiding Strike Conflicts

When establishing new spread positions, it’s essential to ensure strikes selected for new positions

do not conflict with the strikes of your currently held positions. Specifically:

Avoid Overlapping Strikes:

If an existing position includes a long strike at a certain price (e.g., 5500), you must avoid selecting

that strike price as a short strike in any newly created position. Doing so would cancel out the

existing long position at that strike, effectively neutralizing part of your strategy.

Maintain Integrity Across Positions:

Each strike in your inventory represents a defined role in your overall portfolio. Preserving the

distinction between long and short strikes ensures the intended risk/reward profile of your strategy

remains intact.

Role of Trade Automation Toolbox

Trade Automation Toolbox (TAT) simplifies this process by helping you manage strike selection

dynamically. The software keeps track of all your currently held positions, identifying which strikes

are assigned to long or short positions. When creating new spreads, TAT ensures:

Conflict Prevention: TAT prevents you from unintentionally selecting strikes that would conflict

with your existing inventory.

Efficient Position Management: By maintaining a clear record of your strike assignments, TAT

allows you to focus on strategy execution rather than manually tracking strikes.

Example Scenario

Imagine you have an existing iron condor position with the following strikes:

• Long Call: 5650

• Short Call: 5600

• Short Put: 5450

• Long Put: 5400

If you plan to establish a new iron condor position later in the day, TAT will avoid placing:

• A short position at 5650 (which would cancel out your existing long call at that strike).

• A long position at 5600 (which would cancel out your existing short call at that strike).

• A short position at 5400 (which would cancel out your existing long put at that strike).

• A long position at 5450 (which would cancel out your existing short put at that strike).

Instead, TAT looks for strike combinations aligned with your other template strategy setting

preferences while preserving the integrity of your existing portfolio.

Benefits of Using TAT

Minimized Errors: Automating strike selection reduces the risk of manual mistakes, such as

overlapping or conflicting strikes.

Enhanced Precision: TAT allows you to scale your multiple entry strategies confidently, knowing

that your positions remain cohesive.

Improved Efficiency: By handling strike management seamlessly, TAT frees up your time to focus

on higher-level decision-making.