Cboe DataShop Alternatives for Options Data

Cboe DataShop Alternatives for Options Data

Exchange historical options data is authoritative and raw. Research-ready universe feeds are what turn it into a backtest.

What Cboe DataShop Does Well

Cboe DataShop sells historical options and equities data directly from the exchange, including end-of-day and intraday options quotes, trades, and open interest. Its strength is authoritative, exchange-sourced data with deep history, delivered as files for purchase. For a researcher who wants the raw record straight from the venue, it is a primary source.

The product is raw exchange data delivered for purchase rather than a research-ready API. That authenticity is its value, and it means the work of cleaning, structuring, and building a tradeable universe is left to the buyer.

Why Researchers Look for Alternatives

The first reason is research-readiness. Raw exchange files are large and need significant processing before they can drive a backtest, where some researchers prefer a provider that delivers cleaned, structured data through an API. The second reason is delivery model: file purchases suit some workflows and not cloud-based, on-demand ones.

The third reason is the universe and context layer. Exchange data records the contracts and trades, and it does not package a point-in-time optionable universe or corporate-event context, which a systematic strategy needs around the raw data.

A concrete example: Cboe DataShop can give you authoritative historical options quotes. To backtest a cross-sectional options strategy, you still need to construct which underlyings were optionable on each date and clean the data into a usable form, which is substantial engineering on top of the raw files.

The Alternatives

For research-ready options data through APIs, our guide to the best options data providers for systematic trading research maps the field, and our roundup of volatility data providers covers the surface and Greeks. The universe question is addressed directly in our complete guide to which stocks have options.

The choice is between buying raw, authoritative exchange files and processing them yourself, or using a provider that delivers cleaned, structured options data ready for research.

Comparison Table

Where Cboe DataShop Still Wins

When you need authoritative, exchange-sourced options data with deep history and are willing to do the processing, Cboe DataShop is a primary source, and there is real value in working from the venue's own record. For verification, audit, or building a bespoke dataset from the ground up, raw exchange data is the right foundation.

The boundary is the engineering between raw files and a backtest. A provider that ships cleaned, structured data through an API saves that work, at the cost of relying on their processing choices. Match the source to whether you want raw authority or research-ready convenience.

The Universe Layer Raw Data Omits

A systematic options strategy needs a point-in-time tradeable universe, which underlyings had options on each historical date, so it does not trade names that were not optionable then. Raw exchange data records contracts and trades but does not package this eligibility history.

Alphanume's historical optionable tickers dataset provides exactly that point-in-time eligibility, and a historical market cap dataset adds size context. Paired with options data, raw or cleaned, they supply the universe layer a backtest depends on.

How to Choose

Choose Cboe DataShop when you want authoritative, exchange-sourced options data and can invest in processing it. Choose an options-data API provider when you want cleaned, research-ready data without the engineering. In either case, add a point-in-time optionable universe, because raw or cleaned options data still does not tell you which names were tradeable on each date.