Use the Put-Call Open Interest Ratio Historical Function for Deeper Market Insights

The “opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical” function in MarketXLS provides a simple way to retrieve historical end-of-day put-call open interest ratio values for a specific underlying symbol on a given date. This ratio is helpful in gauging market sentiment—comparing open interest in put options (often used in bearish or protective strategies) versus call options (often used in bullish strategies) on a specific day.

By analyzing this ratio over time, traders and investors can identify potential shifts in sentiment and complement broader technical or fundamental analyses.

Why Use This Function?

• Get Historical Insight: Quickly see how put-call interest fluctuated on a particular date in the past.
• Gauge Market Sentiment: A higher put-call ratio may indicate a more bearish/protective tone, while a lower ratio can signal bullish sentiment.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Enhance your trading strategies by incorporating historical option interest datasets without leaving Excel.
• Convenient Excel Integration: Effortlessly fetch data with a simple formula and combine it with other MarketXLS or Excel functions.
• Perfect for Research & Strategy: Combine multiple historical ratio data points to uncover trends or test out new option trading ideas over time.

How to Use in Excel

=opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical("UNDERLYING_SYMBOL", DATE_VALUE)

• “UNDERLYING_SYMBOL” should be a valid ticker (e.g., "AAPL").
• “DATE_VALUE” can be entered directly (e.g., "12/30/2022") or referenced from another cell.

1. Open Excel with the MarketXLS add-in installed.
2. Select a cell where you want the put-call OI ratio to appear.
3. Type the formula as shown above, specifying the correct underlying symbol and the date of interest.
4. Press Enter to view the historical ratio.

Parameters Explained

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. Simple retrieval for an equity symbol:
   =opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical("AAPL", "12/30/2022")
   • This returns the put-call OI ratio for Apple on December 30, 2022.
   • If data is available, you’ll see a numerical value in the cell.
   • If no data is found, the cell displays "NA".

2. Referencing a cell for the date:
   A1: “AAPL”
   A2: 12/30/2022
   A3: =opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical(A1, A2)
   • This setup helps when you want to easily adjust the underlying or date without editing the formula directly.

3. Using today’s date dynamically (for demonstration of date references):
   =opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical("AAPL", TODAY() - 1)
   • Requests yesterday’s put-call OI ratio.
   • Ensure that your workflow or strategy accommodates potential data availability delays.

Advanced Scenarios

1. Building a Historical Table:

   • Suppose you have a list of dates down column A and a single underlying symbol (e.g., "MSFT") in B1.
   • In column B (from row 2 down), you can reference each date to retrieve the ratio for that day.
   • This allows you to chart the put-call OI ratio trend over time to see if bearish or bullish interest is growing.

2. Integrating with Other Excel Functions:

   • Combine the result of opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical with moving averages, standard deviation calculations, or correlation analyses to compare market sentiment shifts alongside price movements.
   • For instance, you might create a custom measure of volatility by comparing the put-call OI ratio to price volatility in real time.

3. Options Strategy Insights:

   • Some traders watch for unusually high or low put-call ratios. By automating historical lookups, you can quickly see if a sudden spike or drop might indicate noteworthy market positioning.
   • Use conditional formatting in Excel to highlight cells where the ratio rises above a threshold, e.g., 1.2, indicating more puts in open interest vs. calls.

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

• “Why am I getting ‘NA’?”

• Possible reasons include invalid dates, unsupported ticker symbols, or missing data for the specified date. Double-check your inputs.

• “Why am I seeing ‘Refreshing’?”

• MarketXLS might still be fetching data from the API. If you see this message, allow it time to complete or refresh again later.

• “How do I handle different decimal separators in my Excel locale?”

• The function automatically adjusts for locale differences by using MarketXLS’s internal parsing (GetNumericValue). If you still encounter issues, ensure your locale settings in Excel are correct.

• “License Validity?”

• The function checks if your MarketXLS license is valid. If not valid, the function may return a license-related message. Make sure your subscription is active.

• “Can it return data for indices too?”

• Yes, many major indices (e.g., SPX) are supported. Ensure the ticker is recognized by MarketXLS (e.g., “^SPX” is often replaced by “SPX” as shown in the backend logic).

Remember to verify that your chosen ticker and date are available in the MarketXLS database, especially for less common symbols. By leveraging opt_PutCallOIRatioHistorical to analyze historical put-call OI ratios alongside other market indicators, you’ll gain a broader perspective of market sentiment—empowering more data-driven decisions in your trading or investment strategies.