You're checking 5 different tabs on your broker's platform. Email alerts are scattered. Your portfolio spreadsheet has outdated prices. Your options Greeks are from yesterday. You have no idea whether your portfolio is in good shape or about to blow up.
This is chaos. Professional traders don't operate this way. They have a single, comprehensive view of their portfolio: a dashboard that consolidates everything that matters, updates in real-time, and alerts them to problems before they become crises.
An options trading dashboard isn't a luxury—it's the operational center of your trading business. This guide walks you through designing one.
The Dashboard Philosophy: What Gets Measured Gets Managed
Before building anything, understand the principle: You cannot optimize what you don't measure.
Most traders operate on gut feel and broker notifications. They stumble into losses or missed opportunities. A dashboard forces discipline. You're committing to measure specific metrics, review them regularly, and act on deviations.
The dashboard should answer these questions at a glance:
- Am I where I want to be? (Risk profile: delta, theta, vega, etc.)
- What's my income this month? (Premium collected YTD vs. target)
- What's about to expire? (Upcoming expirations and assignment risk)
- What's my biggest risk? (Largest loss position, concentration)
- Am I hitting my targets? (Actual vs. planned returns)
The Four-Layer Dashboard Architecture
Layer 1: Portfolio Health (One-Glance View)
This is your executive summary. At a glance, you see:
PORTFOLIO HEALTH SUMMARY (Updated Real-Time)
Account Value: $150,000
Excess Liquidity: $45,000 (30% buffer)
Net Delta: +38 (slightly bullish)
Portfolio Theta: +$125/day (profiting from decay)
Current Month Premium: $950 (target: $1,200)
Upcoming Expirations: 7 positions in next 7 days
Traffic Light Status:
🟢 HEALTHY - Excess liquidity above 25%
🟢 HEALTHY - Delta aligned with tolerance
🟡 WARNING - Premium below target (-$250)
🟢 HEALTHY - No margin requirement
Next Critical Date: Jan 31 (5 expirations, 2 dividend capture risks)
This layer should fit on your phone screen. No drilling required—just one quick look tells you the status.
Layer 2: Position-Level Details
Drill down to see each position:
| Symbol | Type | Strike | Exp | Stock Price | ITM/OTM | Days | P&L | Delta | Theta | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VTSAX | Call | $148 | 1/31 | $147 | -$1 OTM | 4 | +$185 | -0.45 | +$32 | WATCH (Dividend 1/30) |
| VTI | Call | $220 | 2/07 | $215 | -$5 OTM | 11 | +$150 | -0.12 | +$18 | HOLD |
| SPY | Put | $450 | 2/14 | $445 | -$5 OTM | 18 | +$75 | +0.08 | +$22 | HOLD |
| SOXX | Put | $380 | 1/31 | $378 | -$2 ITM | 4 | -$45 | +0.35 | +$28 | CLOSE (underwater) |
This view lets you see every position's Greeks, profitability, and risk. You can sort by theta (to find income earners), delta (to check market exposure), or P&L (to find problem positions).
Layer 3: Risk Analysis
Group by risk categories:
RISK BREAKDOWN
Market Exposure:
- Net Delta: +38 (bullish lean)
- Gamma: +15 (long market moves help, short market moves hurt)
- Action: Moderate risk; acceptable
Volatility Exposure:
- Net Vega: -25 (profit if IV falls)
- IV Rank: 45 (below average volatility)
- Action: IV compression likely; premiums may fall
Income Risk:
- Unrealized Theta: +$875 (14 days to collection)
- Risk of Assignment: 3 positions likely to assign
- Action: Plan capital for assignments
Concentration Risk:
- VTSAX: 32% of portfolio (largest position)
- VTI: 28% of portfolio
- Action: No single position exceeds 35% limit
Capital Risk:
- Margin Used: 5% of account
- Excess Liquidity: 30% (target: 25-35%)
- Action: Room to deploy more capital
Layer 4: Performance Metrics
Track what matters:
PERFORMANCE TRACKING (Month-to-Date)
Premium Collected: $950 / $1,200 target (79% of target)
Capital Deployed: $112,000 average
Monthly Return: 0.85% (annualized: 10.2%)
Win Rate: 88% (22/25 positions expired profitably)
Avg. Days Held: 32 days
Largest Win: +$320 (VTSAX call)
Largest Loss: -$180 (SOXX spread)
Trend Analysis (Last 3 Months):
Jan: 10.2% annualized | Feb: 9.8% annualized | Mar: 10.5% annualized
Status: STABLE (within normal range)
Building Your Dashboard: Tech Stack Options
Option 1: Google Sheets (Best for Getting Started)
Pros:
- Free
- Collaborates easily
- Formulas are powerful
- Can embed real-time data
Cons:
- Requires manual price updates
- Limited automation
- Slow to build complex formulas
- Not ideal for 50+ positions
Setup:
- Create columns for each position (symbol, strike, expiry, current price)
- Use formulas to calculate Greeks, P&L, and aggregated metrics
- Import live prices via
GOOGLEFINANCE()or manual update - Use conditional formatting for traffic light status (red/yellow/green)
- Create summary row that pulls from position details
Time commitment: 2 hours to build; 20 minutes weekly to update prices.
Option 2: Excel + Power Query (Better for Automation)
Pros:
- More powerful than Sheets
- Power Query can pull data from multiple sources
- Excel connectors can link to brokers (if supported)
- Better for complex analysis
Cons:
- Requires more setup
- Desktop-only (though Excel online exists)
- Steeper learning curve
Setup:
- Install broker API connector (if available; IBKR, etc.)
- Use Power Query to pull position data automatically
- Create pivot tables for aggregated views
- Build charts for trending
- Set up conditional alerts
Time commitment: 4-6 hours to build; 10 minutes weekly if automated.
Option 3: Dedicated Options Dashboard Software (Best for Serious Traders)
Available platforms:
Tastyworks (Broker + Platform)
- Real-time Greeks and P&L
- Built-in portfolio analysis
- Alerts on risk thresholds
- Cost: Free (if you trade with Tastyworks) to $50/month
OptionStrat
- Trade analysis and planning
- Portfolio tracking
- Greeks and risk metrics
- Cost: $30-50/month
Portfolio Lab
- Comprehensive portfolio analytics
- Backtesting
- Performance tracking
- Cost: $30-60/month
Benzinga Pro
- Market alerts
- Options analytics
- Portfolio tracking
- Cost: $99/month
These solutions are all-in-one: no spreadsheet building required.
Option 4: Custom Python Dashboard (Best for Scale)
For serious traders with 50+ positions, consider building a custom dashboard using:
- Backend: Python scripts pulling from broker API (Interactive Brokers, etc.)
- Frontend: Streamlit or Flask to display real-time dashboard
- Data Storage: SQLite or PostgreSQL to store historical data
- Alerts: Automated email/SMS when thresholds breached
Example metrics auto-calculated:
- Position-level Greeks (pulled from API)
- Portfolio aggregation (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Rho)
- P&L tracking (real-time)
- Risk alerts (margin requirements, assignment probability)
Time commitment: 40-60 hours to build initially; minimal maintenance afterward.
Essential Dashboard Metrics (The Minimum Viable Dashboard)
If you're just starting, don't overthink it. Track these 10 metrics and nothing else:
- Account Value (real-time)
- Excess Liquidity (available margin)
- Net Delta (market exposure)
- Portfolio Theta (daily decay)
- Premium This Month (actual vs. target)
- Days to Next Expiration (urgency)
- Positions ITM (count of positions in trouble)
- Largest Position (concentration risk)
- Largest Loss (P&L worst case)
- Win Rate (success rate %)
These 10 metrics tell you 90% of what you need to know. Everything else is detail.
Setting Up Alerts
A dashboard is useless if you don't act on it. Set alerts for:
Daily Alerts (Morning Check)
- Delta drifted from target (e.g., was +30, now +50)
- Margin requirement approaching 20%
- Position went underwater (unrealized loss > $100)
Weekly Alerts (Friday Planning)
- 7 days to expiration on any position
- Dividend approaching on assigned positions
- Premium collection below target
Monthly Alerts (Month-End Review)
- Performance vs. target return
- Win rate vs. 85% target
- Largest position exceeds 35% of portfolio
Real-Time Alerts
- Gap down > 5% on underlying
- Assignment notification
- Margin call warning
Dashboard Update Frequency
- Real-time data: Account value, stock prices, P&L (if using automated pull)
- Daily updates: Greeks, risk metrics (check mornings before market open)
- Weekly updates: Premium collected, performance trending (Friday afternoon)
- Monthly updates: Performance review, strategy adjustment (end of month)
Don't obsess over real-time updates. Most retail traders are fine with daily morning reviews and weekly planning sessions.
Dashboard Maintenance
Your dashboard will decay without maintenance:
Monthly Maintenance:
- Review historical data (remove closed positions)
- Check accuracy of formulas
- Verify metrics align with broker data
- Update target returns if strategy changes
Quarterly Maintenance:
- Archive old data
- Review alert thresholds (are they too tight or loose?)
- Add new metrics if strategy evolves
- Rebuild if underlying data structure changes
Annual Maintenance:
- Complete rebuild if tools change
- Update account limits and targets
- Review performance vs. goals
- Adjust for major life changes
Common Dashboard Mistakes
1. Analysis Paralysis
You build a beautiful 50-metric dashboard and spend 3 hours weekly updating it. Paralysis. Most traders don't need 50 metrics; they need 10.
Start minimal. Add metrics only when you discover they're necessary.
2. Stale Data
Your Greeks are 2 hours old. Your stock prices are delayed. Your analysis is based on outdated information. If you're not pulling real-time data, set a specific update time and stick to it.
3. No Action Triggers
You review the dashboard daily but don't act on it. A dashboard without action thresholds is just a pretty spreadsheet.
For each metric, know your action threshold. Example:
- If Delta > +50: Sell some calls to rebalance
- If Margin > 15%: Close smallest loss position
- If Premium < 80% of target: Adjust strike selection
4. Over-Customization
You spend 60 hours building the perfect dashboard and abandon it because it's too complex. Better to have a simple 10-metric dashboard you actually use than a perfect 50-metric one you ignore.
5. Ignoring Context
Your premium was $800 (below $1,000 target), so you panic. But volatility was low that month (fewer profitable opportunities). Context matters. Review dashboard trends, not just this month's snapshot.
The Bottom Line
Your options trading dashboard is the operational command center of your trading business. Without it, you're flying blind. With it, you have clarity, data-driven discipline, and the ability to optimize ruthlessly.
Start simple. Build with Google Sheets. Track 10 essential metrics. Review every day. As you scale to 20+ positions or $200K+ capital, upgrade to better tools. But the principle stays the same: measure what matters, review regularly, and act on deviations.
The traders making consistent money with options aren't guessing. They're reviewing their dashboards, identifying opportunities, and executing systematically. Your dashboard is the foundation of that discipline.