Whole-chain REST responses
Request a symbol and receive calls and puts across expirations and strikes without stitching many contract calls together.
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Option Chain API
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API overview and examples
Option chain API
Option Chain API for U.S. Stock Options
Option chain API for full U.S. stock option chains in one POST: strikes, expirations, bid, ask, last price, volume, open interest, implied volatility, and Greeks for the latest session or any historical trading day.
option chain apioptions data apistock options apioptions market dataoption chain data
Ask ChatGPT or Claude Code
Copy this prompt, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex, then add your question. It tells the model to read our public docs first — no API key needed for that step.
You are helping me use OptionData (https://www.optiondata.io/), an OPRA-licensed U.S. equity options data API.
Before answering, fetch these public files (no login required) and treat them as the source of truth:
- https://www.optiondata.io/llms.txt — short product map (same content as https://www.optiondata.io/llm.txt)
- https://www.optiondata.io/llms-full.txt — full API reference
- https://www.optiondata.io/openapi.json — HTTP OpenAPI
Do not invent endpoints, fields, tables, or limits. Prefer `Authorization: Bearer apikey_…` for HTTP APIs. Realtime uses `wss://ws.optiondata.io` with a `token` query parameter.
Products:
- Realtime trades WebSocket: wss://ws.optiondata.io
- Historical SQL: POST https://www.optiondata.io/api/historical/sql
- Option chain: POST https://www.optiondata.io/api/option-chain
- Market structure: GET https://www.optiondata.io/api/v1/market-structure/{symbol}
I am asking about: Option Chain API
- Product / playground page: https://www.optiondata.io/option_chain/
- Markdown: https://www.optiondata.io/md/option-chain-api/
- HTML docs: https://www.optiondata.io/docs/option-chain-api/
My question:
Complete market context
Responses include bid, ask, last price, volume, open interest, implied volatility, and Greeks for option-chain analysis.
Latest or historical chains
Use the newest available session for live products or specify a past trading date for backtests and research.
Best for
- Options chain tables and screeners
- Volatility surface workflows
- Strategy builders and payoff tools
- Historical chain research
Common API questions
Can I get a complete option chain from one API call?
Yes. The option-chain endpoint returns calls and puts across strikes and expirations for a requested U.S. equity symbol.
What fields are included in the option chain API?
See the option-chain API reference for the current request and response fields. This product page does not keep a second copy of the schema.
Can I request a historical option chain?
Yes. You can request the latest available chain or provide a historical trading date for research and backtesting.
How often does option-chain data update, and how often should I poll?
Current-session responses can reflect intraday updates for contracts that trade. Poll broad or full-chain requests about every 5 minutes; for a narrow symbol, expiry, or strike range, every 1-2 minutes is reasonable.
Is full option-chain data available over WebSocket?
No. Full option-chain data is available through the REST API. The OptionData WebSocket feed provides realtime options trades and flow, not full option-chain snapshots.
What do trading_date and as_of mean?
trading_date identifies the market session returned. as_of is the UTC timestamp of the latest data update represented in the response and should be used to evaluate freshness.
How the option chain API works
POST JSON or form fields to https://www.optiondata.io/api/option-chain with a required symbol. Optional filters include date, expiration, put/call, and strike ranges.
Responses return { data[], meta } with per-contract quotes, open interest, IV, and Greeks. trading_date and as_of describe the session and freshness. The field list is in the option-chain docs.
Full chains are REST-only — the WebSocket is for trade flow, not whole-chain snapshots. Poll roughly every 1–5 minutes depending on breadth. Trial and active realtime plans include chain access.
Example: latest SPY chain snapshot
curl -X POST 'https://www.optiondata.io/api/option-chain' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
"symbol": "SPY"
}'Request and response schema
Field names, types, filters, limits, and error codes live in the public API reference. This product page does not keep a second copy of the schema.