This article was originally published in The Option Strategist Newsletter Volume 2, No. 10 on May 27, 1993.
We often refer to the put-call ratio in our Sentiment Indicators section. However, judging by questions we have received from subscribers, it might be beneficial to expand on the concept. We will cover the subject both generally and then specifically, in regard to the way we prefer to interpret the ratio. The put-call ratio is simply the number of puts traded, divided by the number of calls traded. It can be computed daily, weekly, or over any other time period. It can be computed for stock options, index options, or futures options.
This article was originally published in The Option Strategist Newsletter Volume 7, No. 22 on November 25, 1998.
Using options as a contrary indicator to aid in predicting the forthcoming path of the underlying instrument is one of our favorite technical tools. When option speculators agree en masse about something, they are generally wrong. So, as astute traders we should do the opposite (the exception, of course, is in stock options where someone might be acting on inside information, in which case we would want to go along with them).
This article was originally published in The Option Strategist Newsletter Volume 21, No. 15 on August 10, 2012.
In a continuation of the irregular series, explaining our analytical techniques, we are going to discuss how we interpret put-call ratio charts. This series began two issues ago with an article on naked put selling. Future articles in this series will encompass other aspects of position selection: calendar spreads, volatility skew-based trades, ratio spreads, and so forth.
