Well, it is either Omega or Lambda depending on where you look. In any case, I am just STUNNED that this indicator is not included in most softwares. I think this is a much more useful indicator than delta, especially for risk management. When I buy an option, I want to know what my risk is, precentage-wise, for a 1% in the stock. And I want to know how it changes over time, so that I can get rid of my options when they look not recoverable. Delta helps you with this decision but it is way less accurate as it does not take into account the price of the underlying or of the option. I would love to be able to always buy let's say 10 contracts of options that all have the same Omega, knowing that I always take the same kind of risk. I am going to create an excell spreadsheet and use the export function from TOS to poulate it, but I can't believe they don't include it.
Some good sites to clear all of this up for you... www.cboe.com www.theoptionsinsider.com www.888options.com www.oicoptions.com Peruse these sites, which are all free, and you should have all of your questions answered.
TOS software has a column named margin. If you trade spreads or sell options in general the required margin is how much you can loose.
Ouch--really? A new crop/old crop wheat spread had a $250 margin. In one day, people trading that spread lost $5000 per contract.