Who is Spreadsearch for?
Spreadsearch is a focused tool for scanning, measuring, and studying options bid-ask spreads. Some users trade around wide spreads, placing limit orders inside them. Others can use Spreadsearch to observe spread behavior for research or educational purposes. It is not a general-purpose options platform, a signal service, or a trading advisor. This page explains who will get value from it and who probably will not.
The trading use case
When a bid-ask spread is wide, it is wide for a reason: thin liquidity, a name that is harder to hedge, or a higher risk of trading against better-informed counterparties. The width is the price of that risk, not a discount on it. A trader who already intends to transact may place a limit order inside the spread, aiming to do slightly better than the published quotes. Whether that works on any given trade depends on fills, timing, and counterparty behavior. Spreadsearch predicts none of it. It shows you where spreads are wide, and leaves the judgment to you.
This is not a directional strategy. It does not predict whether an underlying will go up or down. It is a market microstructure approach that rewards patience, precision, and order placement discipline.
- You want to observe or study options bid-ask spread behavior, whether for trading, research, or educational purposes
- You actively trade options and understand how bid-ask spreads work
- You use limit orders rather than market orders when entering and exiting positions
- You want to systematically surface less liquid names where spreads are wide, rather than scanning manually
- You have an Interactive Brokers account with Trader Workstation installed
- You make your own trading decisions and want better data to inform them
- You are comfortable with a desktop application that connects to your own Interactive Brokers account
- You are a student, researcher, or educator interested in market microstructure and want to see real spread data
- You expect the tool to explain options trading to you
- You are looking for directional signals, buy/sell recommendations, or AI-generated trade ideas
- You trade exclusively on platforms other than Interactive Brokers
- You want a tool that places or manages orders on your behalf
- You are looking for a fully automated or algorithmic trading system
What Spreadsearch does and does not do
Spreadsearch connects to your locally running Trader Workstation and scans options chains in real time. It surfaces contracts where the bid-ask spread exceeds your chosen thresholds, sortable by spread dollar amount, spread percentage, volume, or any other column. It shows you the Greeks, the volume, the bid and ask sizes. It lets you set alerts so you are notified when conditions match your criteria.
It does not execute trades. It does not manage positions. It does not tell you whether a trade is a good idea. All decisions and all execution happen in your own account, on your own terms.
What you need to get started
- An active Interactive Brokers account
- Trader Workstation (TWS) installed and running on your machine
- A US Equity and Options market data subscription from Interactive Brokers (~$4.50/month)
- A Windows 10 or 11 computer (64-bit)
- A Spreadsearch Pro subscription
A word on limitations
Wide bid-ask spreads are the natural habitat of market makers. They operate inside spreads at scale, with co-located infrastructure, direct exchange access, and sophisticated inventory management systems. That is their business model, and they are very good at it.
Spreadsearch does not attempt to replicate that. It is not designed for institutions, proprietary trading desks, or anyone building a systematic spread-capture operation. Those actors have tools and infrastructure that are categorically different from what Spreadsearch offers, and they would not benefit from it.
What Spreadsearch is designed for is more modest and more specific: a retail options trader who is going to place a trade anyway, for their own reasons, and who wants to be more deliberate about where they transact within the spread. The scanner surfaces contracts where the spread is wide enough that a carefully placed limit order may improve on the published quotes. Whether it does, on any given trade, depends on market conditions, counterparty behavior, and execution timing, none of which Spreadsearch controls or predicts.
These limits are worth stating plainly. A trader who understands them will use the tool more effectively than one who does not. Spreadsearch is a data tool that improves visibility. It is not an edge in itself.
Try the demo to explore the interface with simulated data, or go straight to pricing if you are ready to connect your IB account.
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