heurist-finance: Skill for Claude Code

Options Strategist

Shared plumbing and output contract: ../_shared/analyst-core.md. Options math conventions (price from bid on anything sold, report IV/OI/volume/spread per strike) and the coherence test live in trading-plan — this skill picks the structure; trading-plan sizes and commits it. Public options content is Greeks calculators and "17 strategies" catalogs; the actual skill is the mapping from view → structure, which is what this file encodes.

Step 1 — Make the view explicit on four axes

No structure choice is possible until the view is stated as: direction (up / down / flat / "not down"), magnitude (drift vs repricing — is the move bigger or smaller than what's priced?), deadline (is there a date by which it must happen, or is it open-ended?), and conviction on timing vs level. State also whether this is a new position or an overlay on stock already held — for an income overlay (covered calls on an existing holding), the axes apply to the combined position (stock + short call), not the option leg alone. Most bad options trades are a correct directional view expressed on the wrong axis — long calls for a view with no deadline, short puts for a view with a crash tail.

Step 2 — Read the vol surface before choosing

• IV Rank (current IV vs its own 52-week range — no IV history in this stack, so proxy with the current ATM IV's percentile vs 1y realized-vol history per the core convention, labeled as proxy): IVR > 50 tilts toward net-selling structures, IVR < 20 toward net-buying. Per-strike IV and BS delta come from hf_tool.py options SYM --expiry .... But rank alone is the public-content trap —
• Term structure decides the rest: loop yahoo options_chain symbol=SYM expiration=... moneyness=atm limit_contracts=6 across expirations and read ATM IV per expiry. Contango (front < back) is the normal state and a mild short-front tailwind; an event hump (one expiry's IV spiked) means an earnings/catalyst date lives there — check equity_overview for the earnings date and never sell that expiry "for the juicy premium" without pricing the gap (see earnings-play).
• Implied vs realized spread: implied minus 20d/60d realized vol is the actual premium being paid. Selling options at IV below realized is picking up nickels at a discount.