Real time options data API

Realtime Options does not have a public API. There is no endpoint to query, no key to request and no plan that unlocks one — it is dashboard software for visual research. If you need real-time options data in code, you want an exchange-licensed market data vendor, and this page explains what that costs so you do not waste a trial finding out.

Public API
None, on any plan
Data export
Not offered
What to buy instead
An OPRA-licensed market data vendor
Realistic cost
Hundreds per month plus entitlements

Why there is no API

The market data behind these dashboards is licensed, and the licence covers display, not redistribution. Exposing it through an API would be redistributing someone else's feed, which is a different product with a different licence and a different price.

There is also a product answer: the value here is the aggregation and the visual layer, not the raw prints. Anyone who wants prints in code wants them from the source, not from a middle layer that has already made analytic decisions on their behalf.

What to buy if you need options data in code

Vendor classes differ more by licence than by technology. Pick by what you are allowed to do with the data, then by latency.

  • OPRA-entitled vendors: full real-time US options prints and quotes. Exchange fees apply per user and per feed; budget in the hundreds per month minimum.
  • Delayed or aggregated API vendors: 15-minute delayed chains and end-of-day data, considerably cheaper, fine for backtesting.
  • Broker APIs: real-time quotes and chains through your funded account, often free, but rate-limited and rarely built for bulk history.

When dashboards beat an API

If the end product of your work is a decision rather than a program, an API is a detour. Building the aggregation, the strike-level bucketing, the gamma calculation and the charting is weeks of work that reproduces what a subscription already renders.

The honest split: if you are running systematic execution or backtests at scale, buy the feed. If you are researching where premium is going so you can decide what to do at your broker, the dashboards are cheaper and faster.

Questions people ask about this

Will you add an API later?

Not planned. The data licence covers display rather than redistribution, so an API would be a separate product under a separate agreement rather than a feature toggle on the current one.

Can I export the data to CSV or Excel?

No. There is no bulk export. The same licensing constraint applies to a file download as to an endpoint.

Do you have a webhook or notification integration?

Notifications on data thresholds are configurable inside the platform and by email. They deliver alerts, not raw data, so they are not an export route.

Realtime Options is a data analytics and visualisation platform. It does not provide financial advice or trading recommendations, and it is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer. Options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.