How do I read an options chain?
An options chain is just a menu. Pick an expiration date at the top, then read down the list of strike prices. Calls on one side, puts on the other, and each row shows what you would pay or receive, how much it moves with the stock, and how actively it trades. Once you know the columns, it stops looking like a wall of numbers.
Start with the expiration date. Most chains let you flip between weekly and monthly dates, and everything below applies to that date only.
Each row is a strike price. By convention calls sit on the left, puts on the right, strike in the middle. Strikes below the current stock price and strikes above it behave very differently (in-the-money versus out-of-the-money).
The columns that actually matter: bid and ask (what you can sell or buy at, and the gap between them is the spread you pay), last (the most recent trade), volume and open interest (how actively that contract trades, because thin contracts are a nightmare to get in and out of), and implied volatility plus the greeks (delta, theta) if your broker shows them.
Read a chain the way you read a stock’s level 2. Price first, then liquidity, then the greeks. A gorgeous-looking strike with no volume is a trap.