How to read the put/call ratio
The put/call ratio divides put activity by call activity. P/C volume uses contracts traded (the last 24 hours for crypto, today for US options); P/C OI uses open interest, the positions still open. A ratio above 1 means more puts than calls; below 0.7 means calls dominate.
- By underlying adds up every loaded expiry, for a quick read on each market.
- By expiry splits it per expiry date, since a big put position in one monthly expiry can be a hedge that says little about next week.
Many traders read extreme put/call ratios as a contrarian sign: heavy put buying often comes near short-term lows, when fear is high.
Delayed/indicative data, not financial advice. Options are risky and can lose their whole value.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal put/call ratio?
It depends on the market. US index ETFs such as SPY usually carry more puts than calls because funds hedge with them, so a ratio above 1 is normal there. Single stocks and crypto often run below 1. Compare a market with its own usual level rather than with a fixed number.
Which markets can it scan?
Two, picked with the Market buttons above the table. Crypto options (the default) come from Deribit’s public data, the biggest crypto options exchange: BTC and ETH, plus USDC-settled options on SOL, XRP, AVAX, TRX and HYPE. They need no key, and if Deribit can’t be reached the screener falls back to OKX’s BTC and ETH options. US options cover a watchlist of about 65 of the most active US stocks and ETFs (SPY, QQQ, IWM, NVDA, TSLA, AAPL and more) with your own free Alpaca key.
Is the data real-time?
No. Treat it as delayed and indicative, and not as financial advice. Deribit’s numbers are close to live (volume covers the last 24 hours). Alpaca’s free plan uses an indicative options feed: quotes may be delayed or modified, and trades are delayed. US open interest is published once a day, from the previous session. Turn on auto-refresh next to the results to update the table in place every 30 seconds, minute or 5 minutes.
Why do US options need a key?
US options prices (OPRA data) are licensed, so a website can’t hand them out for free. Alpaca gives anyone a free market-data key that includes an indicative options feed. Your key is saved only in your browser and sent only to Alpaca, never to us. Option open interest comes from Alpaca’s trading API, which free paper-trading keys can use too. See how to get a free Alpaca key.
How are crypto option prices and sizes shown?
Deribit quotes BTC and ETH options in coins; the screener converts every price to US dollars per coin using the expiry’s forward price. Volume and open interest are in coins (one Deribit BTC option is 1 BTC), so ratios such as volume ÷ open interest and put/call are directly comparable. Delta is worked out in your browser with the Black-Scholes formula from Deribit’s mark implied volatility.