About Spreadsearch
Spreadsearch was built to answer a narrow question: where, and how much, do options bid-ask spreads widen?
Answering it in practice means measuring, not guessing. Spreadsearch connects to your Interactive Brokers account, scans the optionable US tickers you select, and measures bid-ask spread behavior in real time.
The Story
The project started from personal trading experience. While analyzing options markets, I kept noticing how far bid-ask spreads could widen in less liquid names, and how quickly that widening came and went. A spread that wide is not free money. It is the price the market charges for thin liquidity, for names that are harder to hedge, and for the risk of trading against someone better informed. I wanted to see that behavior measured properly, across many names at once, rather than caught by eye one at a time. Spreadsearch is the tool I built to do that.
The Approach
Spreadsearch is built on two pillars:
1. Observation: Scanning options chains to measure bid-ask spread behavior across expiries and strikes, surfacing the wide spreads that most platforms filter out.
2. Research: Exporting each scan to CSV to build a dated dataset over time, where the value is not any single scan but the series you accumulate, measured the same way, session after session.
Technology
Spreadsearch is built on FastAPI, Interactive Brokers TWS integration, and parallel processing for speed, with a clean desktop interface. The focus is on reliability and data accuracy.
The platform prioritizes user privacy and control. Spreadsearch never executes trades, stores trading data, or accesses your account beyond market data. You connect your own TWS locally and keep full control of your data and trading decisions.
Current Status
The desktop application is live and available for Pro subscribers. Scanning runs locally against your own Interactive Brokers connection, and your data stays on your machine.
David Lalire
Founder, Spreadsearch