QuikStrike puts a lot of information at your fingertips, and it’s important to know exactly what you’re viewing. Navigate to the QS.EDU tab and click the Contract Specs → Product Properties page to find tick data and scaling factors for an entire product group at a glance.
The Product Properties page also includes:
- name of the product
- brief description of the product
- pricing model used for the product
- premium/point
- premium multiplier
The information on the page is separated into Options, Futures and Scale Factors sections. It’s important to note the Tick Amount and Tick Values in each section. Tick Amount represents the minimum movement in price for a product, while Tick Value is the cash value of each tick. For example, Eurodollar options move in .01 ticks, so each tick is worth $25 (see the image below). Tick Size and Tick Values won’t be the same for all products and product groups.
Below is an image of the US Rates Product Properties page. Take a look at the the Premium/Point column. This number shows you how much traders would make or lose on a 1 full point move in the option. In our Eurodollar option example, if the price moves 100 ticks (1 point) a trader would make/lose $2,500. Don’t forget that Scale Factors are used to scale the output of the pricing models for display. For example, if the Delta of an option was .42, QuikStrike would multiply that number by 100 to get 42, and that’s how it is represented in the application.
You’ll see that the Premium Multiplier column is starred. To convert the premium from ticks to currency, multiply the premium value by the number in this column (NOTE: QuikStrike presents premium value in ticks).
It’s important to remember that this is the US Rates Product Properties page. Take some time to look at the Product Properties page for each product group to get acclimated with the Tick Amount, Tick Value, Premium per Point, Premium Multiplier and Scale Factors for all individual products you trade.
Come to this page in QuikStrike to find out the value of an option and what model is being used to price it. We hope this blog post clears up any questions you may have about our Product Properties page. Please get in touch with us if there is anything else you can help us with. Thanks for taking the time to read our blog!