All Five Greeks on One Screen
Four inputs, six outputs, all live. The consolidation page for everything in this track.
Worth reading first: Delta: Three Questions, One Number, Gamma: Why Delta Refuses to Stay Still, Theta: Watching Time Value Bleed Out, Vega: The Greek That Moves Without the Stock
Course contents73 lessons · 28 questions
You have met the five greeks one at a time. This page puts them on a single screen with the four inputs that drive all of them, because the thing worth learning now is not what each one means — it is how they move together.
Drag any slider and watch every card react. Reading a position's greeks fluently is mostly a matter of having done this enough times that the pattern is familiar.
Four inputs, six outputs
A $95 strike against a $100 stock. Every greek and the theoretical price update from the same four inputs, and each sparkline shows that greek's own curve across the price range.
per $1 of stock
delta change per $1
per calendar day
per IV point
per rate point
The map, in one table
Everything in this track compressed into the reference you actually want to hand someone.
| Greek | Answers | Short option has | Biggest when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | How much do I move per $1? | Put: positive · Call: negative | Deep in the money |
| Gamma | How fast does delta change? | Negative | At the money, near expiry |
| Theta | What do I earn per day? | Positive | At the money, near expiry |
| Vega | What if volatility moves? | Negative | At the money, long-dated |
| Rho | What if rates move? | Put: positive · Call: negative | Long-dated |
Signs are given from the seller's perspective — the side this course is about.
Three patterns worth having by heart
Gamma and theta always travel together. Both peak at the money and both spike near expiration. Every configuration that pays generous daily decay also repositions violently on small moves. You are not choosing between them — you are choosing a point on a single line. Move the days slider to 5 and watch both cards jump at once.
Vega runs opposite to theta on the time axis. Theta is largest with days remaining in single digits; vega is largest with months left. A 7-day position is a bet on time passing; a 90-day position is substantially a bet on volatility.
Volatility flattens everything. Raise implied volatility and delta drifts toward 0.50, gamma spreads out, and every greek gets less extreme. High volatility is the market saying no strike is very certain, and the greeks reflect that by becoming less opinionated.
Adding greeks across positions
Greeks are additive, which is the property that makes them worth computing at all. Two short puts at 0.25 delta and one at 0.30 give a portfolio delta of 0.80 — or 80 share-equivalents of directional exposure, which is a number you can size against your account.
The same applies to the rest. Total portfolio theta tells you what the book earns per quiet day. Total vega tells you what a market-wide volatility spike does to it. This is exactly why correlation risk matters: five short puts on five tech names add up to one large delta and one large short-vega position, even though the position list shows five separate lines.
Where the model stops being the market
Everything on this page comes out of Black-Scholes, and it is worth being clear about what that buys and what it does not.
The model assumes volatility is constant, that price moves are smooth and lognormal, and that trading is frictionless. Real markets gap over weekends and earnings, real chains show a volatility skew the model does not contain, and real fills cost you the spread.
The greeks are still the right tool — they are the best available description of how a position responds locally. Just do not mistake them for a forecast. They tell you what happens for a small move from here, and they are silent about the gap.
What can go wrong
Treating greeks as constants. Every one of them is a snapshot that changes with price, time and volatility — which is precisely what the sliders demonstrate.
Optimising one greek in isolation. Maximising theta maximises gamma. There is no free corner of this space.
Trusting them across a gap. Greeks describe small moves. An earnings gap is not a small move, and the linear approximation breaks exactly when you need it.
Key takeaways
- The five greeks are five views of one price surface, driven by the same four inputs.
- Gamma and theta peak together — high daily decay always comes with fast repositioning.
- Vega runs opposite to theta across time: short-dated is a time bet, long-dated is a volatility bet.
- Greeks add across positions, which is what makes portfolio-level delta, theta and vega meaningful.
- They describe small moves from where you are now. They say nothing useful about a gap.
Check your understanding
1. You want high theta but low gamma on a short option. What configuration achieves it?
2. A short 30-day put shows positive delta, negative gamma, positive theta, negative vega. In plain English?
3. You hold three short puts with deltas 0.20, 0.25 and 0.35. What is your portfolio delta exposure?