OPRA (Options Price Reporting Authority)

OPRA, the Options Price Reporting Authority, is the national market system plan that consolidates and disseminates trade and quote data from the US listed options exchanges. Its feed carries last-sale reports and quotations, as well as information such as contract volume, open interest and end-of-day summaries; it does not identify who traded or who holds positions.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

At a glance

Role
Consolidated trade and quote data of US listed options exchanges
Core content
Last-sale reports and quotations
Also disseminates
Contract volume, open interest, end-of-day summaries

What OPRA is

Each US options exchange runs its own order book, but market participants need one consolidated view of trades and best quotes. OPRA is the plan under which the exchanges pool that information and distribute it. In its own description, last-sale reports and quotations are the core of what it disseminates, together with other information such as the number of contracts traded, open interest and end-of-day summaries. Data vendors and brokers redistribute OPRA data, either in full or in reduced, delayed or indicative forms.

What it does not tell you

  • Identity and intent: a trade report gives price, size, time, venue and conditions, not the buyer, the seller or whether the trade opened or closed a position.
  • Aggressor side: it must be inferred by comparing the trade price with the quotes at that time.
  • Dealer positions: open interest counts outstanding contracts, not who is long or short, so any dealer gamma estimate is an assumption layered on OPRA data.
  • Greeks and implied volatility: they are computed by vendors or by the user from OPRA prices.

Access levels

Full real-time OPRA data is voluminous and licensed; many retail-facing APIs offer delayed or indicative versions, or real-time data on specific plans. The difference matters for flow reading: a feed that is fifteen minutes late cannot show what is trading now, and an indicative feed may not include every venue. Before interpreting prints, check the delay, the venues covered and whether quotes at trade time are available.

In Senzoukria

Option Flow states the delay of each source in its header: on the Alpaca free tier new trades arrive with a 15-minute delay, while an Alpaca plan with real-time OPRA access removes the clamp; the Tradier path is described as real time on a Lite account; the Databento path reads historical OPRA data that runs 5 to 15 minutes behind, and needs a live OPRA licence for the current session. The GEX module's hint on dealer positioning reminds that OPRA publishes open interest, never who holds it.

In the same section

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Does OPRA data show whether a trade was a buy or a sell?
Not directly. A trade report has a price and a size; whether the buyer or the seller initiated it is inferred by comparing the price with the bid and ask in force at that moment. Prints between the quotes cannot be classified reliably.
Is OPRA open interest updated during the day?
Open interest is a count established after each session, so the value available during a trading day reflects positions as of the previous close. Intraday opening and closing activity only appears in the next publication.

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