Option Research & Technology Services

What Option Research & Technology Services does

Option Research & Technology Services, LLC (ORATS) is a Portsmouth, New Hampshire-incorporated private LLC founded in 2001 that operates a self-serve options analytics platform for US equity markets. The company serves advanced individual options traders, hedge funds, institutional trading desks, and quantitative developers with a suite of trading tools (Strategy Optimizer, Trade Ideas, Option Scanner, Options Backtester, Stock Scanner, Ticker Analysis, Trade Builder), three tiers of data APIs (Delayed, Live, and Live Intraday), and historical options datasets spanning back to 2007 for near end-of-day data and August 2020 for 1-minute intraday data across 5,000+ symbols.

The platform is built on ORATS' proprietary Smoothed Market Values (SMV) system, which aligns put and call implied volatilities by applying put-call parity with dividend and residual-yield assumptions, producing consistent Greeks and theoretical option values across the chain. Around this core engine ORATS packages 98 proprietary indicators (ex-earnings IV, IV percentiles, ORATS volatility forecasts, slope/derivative/curvature, confidence/R-squared scores), a pre-compiled backtesting corpus of 300+ million runs across 15+ strategies, and a statistical validation layer that uses p-value thresholds and 3,000-permutation Monte Carlo testing to separate signal from noise. Native integrations with Interactive Brokers, Tradier, and TradeStation allow users to route orders from the ORATS dashboard directly to their brokerage account.

The business is a subscription SaaS plus data-license operation. Recurring revenue comes from the $99/month Individual Trading Tools bundle and three API tiers priced at $99, $199, and $399 per month. Non-recurring revenue comes from one-time historical data purchases ($599 for near-EOD archive since 2007, $1,500 for the 1-minute intraday archive) and physical hard drive delivery of approximately 50TB of intraday history. Distribution is entirely self-serve via orats.com and api.orats.io, supplemented by content marketing through ORATS University, a YouTube channel hosted by founder Matt Amberson (an ex-market maker), and earned media placement in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Nasdaq, Risk Magazine, Yahoo! Finance, and the Options Insider podcast. No outside funding, parent company, or institutional investor has been disclosed.

Name

Option Research & Technology Services

Legal name

Option Research & Technology Services, LLC

Website

https://orats.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ORATS is a self-serve options analytics platform serving advanced US equity options traders, hedge funds, and quant developers with proprietary Greeks (SMV), 98 indicators, 300M+ backtests, and APIs and historical data back to 2007 for 5,000+ symbols.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Options Trading Analytics

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Computer Related Services (541519), Commodity Contracts Intermediation (52316)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Options Brokerage (FSAEACAI)

Keywords

• Options trading analytics
• Historical options data
• Options backtesting platform
• Volatility forecasting
• Options data API

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Trading Tools Subscription: Monthly subscription to all-in-one options research, backtesting, trading, and risk management tools. Includes Strategy Optimizer, Trade Ideas, Option Scanner, Options Backtester, Stock Scanner, Trading, Ticker Analysis, and Trade Builder. Integrates with Interactive Brokers, Tradier, and TradeStation. Two tiers: Individual at $99/month and Professional tier.
2. Delayed Data API: Monthly subscription providing delayed options data augmented with hundreds of proprietary indicators. Includes 20,000 API requests per month. Covers tickers, strikes history, monies implied, monies forecast, SMV summaries, core data, daily price, historical volatility, dividend history, earnings history, IV rank, and more.
3. Live Data API: Monthly subscription for real-time options data with less than 10 seconds of market delay. Includes 100,000 API requests per month. Covers live strikes, strikes by expiry, strikes by OPRA, expiration dates, monies implied, monies forecast, and SMV summaries. Requires signing live data agreements.
4. Live Intraday API: Monthly subscription providing access to all ORATS API endpoints including intraday strikes chain and history, intraday monies, and intraday SMV summaries. Includes 1,000,000 API requests per month.
5. Near End-of-Day Historical Data: Historical data (2007-present) sold as a one-time purchase at $599, providing a complete snapshot of US equity options market 14 minutes before close for 5,000+ symbols. Includes strikes, Greeks, theoretical values, and IVs via FTP download. Recurring subscription at $99/month for ongoing daily data.
6. 1-Minute Intraday Historical Data: Historical data from August 2020-present sold as a one-time purchase at $1,500. Includes full SMV greeks, theoretical values, and IVs for every minute of the trading day for 5,000+ symbols, delivered via AWS S3. Recurring subscription at $199/month for ongoing data. Additional S3 storage and transfer fees of approximately $1-2k may apply.
7. Hard Drive Delivery: Physical hard drives shipped with complete historical intraday data. 1-minute data (October 2020 to present) on 20 TB USB drives (approximately 28 TB of data). 2-minute archive (January 2015 through September 2020) at approximately 11 TB. Three 20 TB USB drives shipped via insured two-day courier with SHA256 checksum manifests.
8. Dividend Data Feed: Daily FTP download service with expected ex-div dates and forecasted dividend amounts for the next 2.67 years for all stocks with US exchange listed options, provided in partnership with Wall Street Horizon.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ORATS provides a self-serve options research, backtesting, and trading platform for US equity options, anchored by a proprietary Smoothed Market Values (SMV) analytics engine and 98 proprietary indicators. Its offering comprises monthly subscriptions to an integrated Trading Tools suite (Strategy Optimizer, Trade Ideas, Option Scanner, Options Backtester, Stock Scanner, Trading, Ticker Analysis, Trade Builder), three tiers of options data APIs (Delayed, Live, Intraday), and historical data products (near end-of-day back to 2007 and 1-minute intraday back to August 2020) for 5,000+ symbols, distributed via website self-serve, APIs, FTP, AWS S3, or physical hard drives.

Product overview

ORATS is a unified platform-plus-modules architecture for advanced options trading. The core offering consists of Trading Tools ($99/month) including Strategy Optimizer, Trade Ideas, Option Scanner, Options Backtester, Stock Scanner, Trading, Ticker Analysis, and Trade Builder. Data products include Delayed Data API ($99/month), Live Data API ($199/month), Live Intraday Data API ($399/month), Near End-of-day historical data (back to 2007), and 1 Minute Intraday historical data (back to August 2020). Education is provided through ORATS University. All tools connect to brokers Interactive Brokers, Tradier, and TradeStation for execution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ORATS Trading Tools Subscription Monthly subscription providing an all-in-one suite of options research, backtesting, scanning, optimization, trading, and risk management tools for advanced individual options traders on the ORATS platform, including 2,000 backtests per month and broker connectivity for execution.
• Delayed Data API $99/month API tier providing 15-minute delayed options data augmented with hundreds of proprietary ORATS indicators, with 20,000 monthly requests covering tickers, strikes, implied and forecast monies, SMV summaries, core data, daily price, historical volatility, dividend and earnings history, IV rank, and near EOD history.
• Live Data API $199/month API tier providing real-time options data with less than 10 seconds of market delay and 100,000 monthly requests, extending Delayed Data API with live strikes by expiry, expiration dates, live monies, and live summaries for active traders and systematic clients.
• Live Intraday Data API $399/month API tier providing access to all ORATS API endpoints with 1,000,000 monthly requests, including intraday strikes chain, intraday strikes by OPRA, intraday monies, and intraday SMV summaries for systematic and AI-driven trading workflows.
• Near End-of-Day Historical Options Data Historical options dataset covering a complete snapshot of the US equity options market 14 minutes before the close of each trading day for 5,000+ symbols, available as a $599 one-time purchase of records back to 2007 or as a $99/month recurring subscription of ongoing daily data via FTP download.
• 1-Minute Intraday Historical Options Data 1-minute intraday historical options dataset with full SMV greeks, theoretical values, and implied volatilities for 5,000+ US symbols from August 2020 to present, available as a $1,500 one-time purchase or $199/month recurring subscription delivered via AWS S3 (approximately 50TB of data with potential $1-2k S3 transfer fees).
• Hard Drive Historical Data Delivery Physical hard-drive delivery of ORATS's complete historical intraday options dataset on three 20TB USB drives (approximately 60TB total capacity) shipped via insured two-day courier to clients who prefer not to transfer roughly 50TB over the internet, with SHA256 checksum manifests, free US/Canada shipping, and 1-2 week turnaround.

Quantifiable outcome

• 300+ million pre-compiled backtests available across 100+ symbols and 15+ strategies
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Interactive BrokerscoreTechnology or IntegrationInteractive Brokers (IBKR) is integrated with the ORATS platform, enabling users to connect their IBKR accounts for direct order execution from the ORATS dashboard. The integration allows traders to go straight from research in ORATS to placing trades without needing to open the IBKR interface separately. ORATS explicitly notes that Interactive Brokers is not affiliated with and does not endorse or recommend ORATS.
• TradiercoreTechnology or IntegrationTradier is integrated with the ORATS platform as one of the supported brokerages for direct order execution. Users can connect their Tradier accounts to execute trades directly from ORATS tools and dashboards.
• TradeStationcoreTechnology or IntegrationTradeStation is integrated with the ORATS platform as one of the supported brokerages for direct order execution. Users can connect their TradeStation accounts to execute trades from ORATS.
• Wall Street HorizonsupportingTechnology or IntegrationORATS partners with Wall Street Horizon to deliver dividend information including expected ex-div dates and forecasted dividend amounts for the next 2.67 years for all stocks with US exchange listed options. This data is offered as a daily FTP download service and used to improve volatility and pricing calculations.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• OptionStrat: OptionStrat provides strategy discovery, profit/loss visualization, and probability analysis for multi-leg options strategies. While more focused on visualization than backtesting, it competes with ORATS for the same advanced retail options trader audience on a self-serve subscription basis.
• Unusual Whales: Unusual Whales is an options flow analytics platform providing real-time unusual options activity, dark pool data, and social-trading features for retail options traders. Comparable to ORATS on subscription pricing targeting advanced retail options traders and the use of proprietary analytics as the product differentiator.
• Theta Data: Theta Data is a leading options and stock market data vendor offering tick-level historical options data via APIs and bulk downloads. Directly comparable to ORATS on API tiers, historical options data back several years, and pricing for both retail and institutional quant clients.
• BlackBox Labs: BlackBox Labs/BlackBox Stocks delivers real-time options flow, alerting, and analytics to retail and pro traders via subscription. Comparable to ORATS on proprietary options analytics, subscription-based SaaS pricing, and self-serve onboarding for active options traders.
• tastytrade: tastytrade is an options-focused retail brokerage producing extensive options education content, research tools, and analytics. Comparable to ORATS on serving active options traders, combining research/data with execution, and using founder/host personalities to drive content marketing.
• SpotGamma: SpotGamma provides options-focused research, dealer positioning analytics, and implied volatility forecasting to professional and active options traders. Comparable to ORATS on proprietary volatility modeling (dealer gamma, vol surface forecasts) and subscription-based distribution.
• Option Omega: Option Omega offers a backtesting and options analytics platform emphasizing strategy-level performance analytics, IV crush modeling, and Greek-based trade evaluation. Comparable to ORATS on backtesting engine, indicator depth, and pro/retail options trader target.
• IVolatility: IVolatility is one of the longest-running options analytics and data providers, selling implied volatility rankings, options calculators, and historical data to retail and pro options traders. Directly comparable to ORATS on subscription pricing, IV-rank/IV-percentile indicators, and historical options data products.

Broad incumbents

• Polygon.io: Polygon.io is a real-time and historical market data provider covering stocks, options, forex, and crypto with API-first delivery. Comparable to ORATS on data-as-a-service distribution model and tiered API pricing, though Polygon is a broader multi-asset data vendor rather than options-specialized.
• CBOE Global Markets: CBOE is the largest US options exchange operator and offers market data products (CBOE DataShop), indices (VIX), and analytics through subsidiaries. While not a retail subscription product, CBOE is the upstream data provider and a natural extension of ORATS' analytics stack if it moved into proprietary index/derivatives analytics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/optionrats
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@orats
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/oak-park-and-river-forest-high-school

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Option Research & Technology Services