ORATS
Smoothed options greeks and IV surfaces over REST, end-of-day back to 2007.
Last updated
What it is
ORATS sells one thing: cleaned US options data with the volatility work already done. Every strike
returns NBBO bid and ask, a theoretical value, the full greeks, and smvVol — a smoothed fit of the
implied volatility surface, reconciled with put-call parity, dividends and a residual rate rather
than left as a noisy mid between wide markets. The saving is not having to fit that surface across
thousands of tickers yourself.
This card covers the data — the REST API and the flat-file archives. The ORATS dashboard is a separate $99/month subscription that shares only the login.
Pricing
Four API plans, each including the one below it: Delayed at $199/month for 20,000 requests, Live at $299 for 100,000, Live Intraday at $599 for 1,000,000, All-In at $899. Four Tools APIs — option scanner, backtest finder, intraday backtester, time and sales — bolt onto any plan at $99 or $299 each, or come bundled in All-In.
Flat files are priced apart from the API: near-end-of-day is $99/month plus $599 once for the 2007 archive; the one-minute set is $199/month plus $1,500 for the backfill, and the vendor warns of $1,000–$2,000 in AWS charges on top.
Data & coverage
End-of-day to 2007, one-minute bars to August 2020, tick prints with greeks attached to September 2022, over 5,000 symbols. The October 2020 date the vendor prints elsewhere is a different set: the Intraday Backtester engine runs on a ~140-symbol snapshot taken every minute from 9:34 ET, not on the full one-minute archive. Delisted tickers are retained, which is what keeps a backtest clear of survivorship bias. Live endpoints need signed exchange agreements.
Integrations
REST and JSON, an OpenAPI 3.1 document, docs served as Markdown, and an official npm CLI that wires an MCP server. No Python client, no spreadsheet add-in.
Limitations
- No free tier and no trial. $199/month is the floor.
- US equity, ETF and index options only. No futures options, no non-US listings.
- The daily snapshot is taken 14 minutes before the close, so it will not reconcile with a 16:00 mark.
- One implied volatility and one delta per strike: SMV reconciles calls and puts, so the file cannot show where the two disagreed.
- Index underlyings carry a solved implied futures price per expiration, not the cash index.
- The end-of-day S3 archive is a 14-day download window, once.
Alternatives
Massive (formerly Polygon.io) and Databento sell raw options ticks cheaper if you intend to fit your own surfaces; OptionMetrics IvyDB is the institutional end-of-day set, back to 1996, and publishes no price. The rest of the field is in options data and flow analytics.
Specs
- Interfaces
- API, MCP server
- Export
- CSV, JSON
- Asset classes
- Stocks, ETF, Options, Indices
- Markets
- US
- Platforms
- Web, CLI
- AI features
- None
- Capabilities
- Scanning, Backtesting, Options analysis
- Pricing verified
- Capabilities verified
- Coverage verified
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- Market Chameleon — Earnings-move statistics and option strategy screeners in a browser. No API.
- Option Samurai — US options strategy scanner you configure, with an Excel and Sheets add-in. No API.
- OptionNET Explorer — Windows options backtester that replays positions on 5-minute US option history.
- Options Profit Calculator — Free Black-Scholes P/L tables by date and price for 22 named option strategies, with ads.
Named as a replacement for
FAQ
Does ORATS have a free tier or a free trial?
Neither. The vendor states plainly that it offers no free trials, and the cheapest way in is the $199/month Delayed Data API. Sample files at ORATS University are the only way to see the data before paying.
How far back does ORATS historical options data go?
End-of-day chains run to 2007 for over 5,000 symbols on every plan. One-minute intraday history starts August 2020 and needs the $599/month plan; tick-level time and sales starts 9 September 2022 and is a $299/month add-on.
Is the ORATS end-of-day snapshot taken at the closing bell?
No, and this is deliberate. Quotes are captured 14 minutes before the close, when spreads are tighter, so the numbers will not tie out against a vendor that marks at 16:00.
Does ORATS cover futures options or non-US markets?
No. Coverage is US equity, ETF and index options only. There are no futures options and no non-US listings at any price.