From AlphaVantage — Realtime Options¶

Looking for a second source of option Greeks alongside AlphaVantage, or an alternative realtime options API with dividend-aware, early-exercise-aware pricing and extended Greeks? Lavender delivers independently computed Greeks through AlphaVantage's own wire format — no code changes required.

Already fetching option Greeks from AlphaVantage? Two changes to switch to Lavender:

What Changes¶

Your current callWith Lavender

curl "https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=realtime_options&symbol=AAPL&require_greeks=true&apikey=YOUR_KEY"
#     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

curl "http://localhost:2112/query?function=realtime_options&symbol=AAPL&require_greeks=true&apikey=YOUR_KEY"
#     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That's it — swap the host. Your apikey parameter is accepted and ignored. The path, parameters, and response shape are identical.

Try it in your browser¶

http://localhost:2112/query?function=realtime_options&symbol=SPY&format=html

Paste this into any browser to see AlphaVantage-format Greeks rendered as an HTML table. No code needed.

Same Response Format¶

The JSON you get back has the same envelope and field names you already parse:

{
  "endpoint": "Realtime Options",
  "message": "success",
  "data": [
    {
      "contractID": "AAPL261218C00230000",
      "symbol": "AAPL",
      "expiration": "2026-12-18",
      "strike": "230.00",
      "type": "call",
      "last": "0.00",
      "mark": "0.00",
      "bid": "0.00",
      "bid_size": "0",
      "ask": "0.00",
      "ask_size": "0",
      "volume": "0",
      "open_interest": "0",
      "date": "2026-03-13",
      "implied_volatility": "0.24500",
      "delta": "0.58300",
      "gamma": "0.01980",
      "theta": "-0.00039",
      "vega": "0.00312",
      "rho": "0.00301"
    }
  ]
}

Market data fields are zeroed

Fields like bid, ask, last, mark, volume, and open_interest are returned as "0.00" or "0". The Greek and IV fields contain Lavender's computed values.

Parameters¶

All parameter names and values are case-insensitive — same as AlphaVantage.

Parameter	Type	Required	Allowed Values	Default
`function`	string	Yes	`realtime_options`	—
`symbol`	string	Yes	Any underlying ticker (e.g., `AAPL`, `SPY`)	—
`require_greeks`	string	Yes	`true`, `1`, or `yes`	—
`datatype`	string	No	`json`, `csv`, `ndjson`, `html` (ndjson/html are Lavender extensions)	`json`
`contract`	string	No	OSI contract symbol (e.g., `AAPL261218C00230000`)	—

Setting require_greeks to false or omitting it returns 501 Not Implemented — Lavender only serves Greeks, not raw quotes.

Response Fields¶

The response envelope has three fields:

Field	Value
`endpoint`	Always `"Realtime Options"`
`message`	Always `"success"`
`data`	Array of option contract objects

Each contract object contains:

Contract Identification¶

Field	Format	Example	Description
`contractID`	string	`"AAPL261218C00230000"`	OCC/OSI symbol (compact, no padding)
`symbol`	string	`"AAPL"`	Underlying ticker
`expiration`	string	`"2026-12-18"`	Expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`strike`	string	`"230.00"`	Strike price (2 decimal places)
`type`	string	`"call"` or `"put"`	Option right (lowercase)

Market Data (zeroed)¶

The market data fields (last, mark, bid, bid_size, ask, ask_size, volume, open_interest) are present for wire compatibility but always contain "0.00" or "0". The date field contains the current date in Eastern Time (YYYY-MM-DD). The JSON example above shows the exact values.

Greeks¶

Field	Format	Example	Description
`implied_volatility`	string, 5dp	`"0.24500"`	Annualized IV (or `"-"` if unavailable)
`delta`	string, 5dp	`"0.58300"`	\(\partial V / \partial S\)
`gamma`	string, 5dp	`"0.01980"`	\(\partial^2 V / \partial S^2\)
`theta`	string, 5dp	`"-0.00039"`	\(\partial V / \partial t\) — per calendar day
`vega`	string, 5dp	`"0.00312"`	\(\partial V / \partial \sigma\) — per 1% IV move
`rho`	string, 5dp	`"0.00301"`	\(\partial V / \partial r\) — per 1% rate move

All values are strings

Following AlphaVantage convention, every field is a string — including numeric values. Greeks are formatted to 5 decimal places; prices to 2 decimal places. Unavailable Greeks are represented as "-".

Greek Scaling¶

All Greeks pass through without conversion. AlphaVantage uses the same per-1% convention as the Lavender API for vega and rho — this is the standard across 8 of 9 supported vendors.

Greek	Convention
Theta	Per calendar day
Vega	Per 1% IV move (0.01)
Rho	Per 1% rate move (0.01)
Delta, Gamma, IV	Standard units

Comparing across vendors

If you're comparing Greeks between AlphaVantage and ThetaData, note that ThetaData is the only vendor that returns vega and rho per unit (raw BSM) rather than per 1%. ThetaData values will be 100× larger. See the ThetaData compatibility guide for details.

Filtering by Contract¶

Pass an OSI symbol in the contract parameter to fetch a single contract:

curl "http://localhost:2112/query?function=realtime_options&symbol=AAPL&require_greeks=true&contract=AAPL261218C00230000"

The response data array will contain exactly one element (or be empty if the contract isn't found).

CSV Output¶

Set datatype=csv to receive comma-separated output with a header row. The response includes a Content-Disposition header for download:

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=realtime_options_AAPL.csv

Column order matches the JSON field order.

How Lavender's Greeks Differ¶

AlphaVantage provides the standard five Greeks, but its computation methodology is not publicly documented. Running Lavender alongside AlphaVantage gives you:

Early exercise — Lavender prices American options, which is important for equity options where early exercise around ex-dividend dates can meaningfully affect option value
Discrete dividends — Lavender uses the actual dividend schedule rather than a continuous yield approximation
Implied borrow rates — Lavender solves for the borrow rate per expiry to enforce put-call parity, producing consistent call/put Greeks even in hard-to-borrow names
Two views of time decay — conventional theta (\(\partial V / \partial t\)) on this endpoint, plus a separate decay metric (expected change to next trading day, accounting for weekends and holidays) on the Lavender API
Extended Greeks — second and third-order Greeks (vanna, charm, volga, speed, and more) via the Lavender API

Migrating to the Lavender Native API¶

AlphaVantage	Lavender API
`symbol`	`root` (or `underlying` for multi-root)
`expiration_date`	`expiry`
`underlying_price`	`und_price`
`implied_volatility`	`lav_vol`
`theoretical_price`	`lav_theo`
`contractID`	`osym` (always included)

Error Responses¶

Status	Condition
`200`	Success
`400`	Missing or invalid `symbol`, unsupported `function`, invalid `datatype`
`501`	`require_greeks` not set to true (quote-only not supported)
`502`	Upstream data unavailable