Retrieve Historical Total Open Interest with MarketXLS

The opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical function is designed to help you effortlessly retrieve the total historical open interest of options for a specified underlying symbol directly within Excel. This ensures you have quick access to critical options data to support your trading or investment decisions without leaving your spreadsheet.

Why Use This Function?

• Simplifies options analysis by returning aggregated open interest data.
• Lets you specify a particular date for historical data points.
• Enables filtering results for Calls, Puts, or all options combined.
• Helps in spotting trends and significant changes in open interest over time.
• Ideal for analyzing the liquidity and market sentiment toward a symbol on a specific past date.
• Easily integrates into Excel-based trading workflows or custom dashboards.

How to Use in Excel

=opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical(Underlying, PastDate, Direction)

1. Enter the function into any cell where you want the total open interest data displayed.
2. Specify the underlying symbol (e.g., "AAPL") in quotes or a reference to a cell containing the symbol.
3. Provide a valid past date (e.g., "12/15/2022") to retrieve the open interest for that date.
4. Choose the direction ("Call", "Put", or "0" for both). If left blank or invalid, it defaults to "0" (both).

Parameters Explained

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. Retrieve total open interest for Apple (AAPL) on December 15, 2022 for both calls and puts: » =opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical("AAPL", "12/15/2022", "0")

2. Retrieve only Call open interest for Tesla (TSLA) on August 01, 2021: » =opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical("TSLA", "08/01/2021", "C")

3. Retrieve only Put open interest for the S&P 500 (^SPX) on May 01, 2023: » =opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical("^SPX", "05/01/2023", "P")

In these examples, the function sends a request to the backend, returning the sum of open interest across all matching option contracts on the specified date, filtered by direction.

Advanced Scenarios

1. Integrating with Other Excel Functions:

   • Use your result from =opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical in cell references for additional calculations, such as comparing open interest to trading volume or implied volatility from other MarketXLS functions.

2. Historical Portfolio Analysis:

   • Build a table of PastDates in consecutive rows to track how the total open interest for an underlying changed over time. This helps identify trends or unusual open interest activity.

3. Options Strategy Adjustments:

   • Check how open interest for calls vs. puts evolved near specific news events or earnings dates. This can help identify shifts in market sentiment that might inform adjustments to your position strategy.

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

1. “Call/Put flag has invalid format. Please check your inputs.”

   • Make sure you use "C" or "P" or leave it blank (i.e., “0”) for both. Any other text triggers this error.

2. “NA” Return Value

   • Indicates an error or missing data was encountered. This could be due to an invalid date format, unavailable data for the symbol/date, or temporary connectivity issues.

3. Mixing Up Date Formats

   • Ensure PastDate is a valid date recognized by Excel (e.g., “12/15/2022”). The function automatically converts it internally to a “YYYY-MM-DD” format before calling the backend.

4. Cache Behavior

   • Data may temporarily be cached. If you suspect outdated results, refresh or recalculate your worksheet as needed.

Remember:

• Carefully check your underlying ticker symbol, direction, and date inputs.
• The function is especially helpful for US market equities and indexes.
• Combine with other MarketXLS functions (e.g., implied volatility, volume analysis) to build comprehensive strategies.

By using opt_TotalOpenInterestOptionsHistorical, you can quickly gauge market interest for specific time periods in Excel, simplifying your data analysis and supporting more informed decision-making.