Historical equity-option data — IV, greeks, prices for PAST dates

Use this to read an option's implied volatility or greeks on historical dates (a historical IV series, backfilling option greeks over a period, etc.). This is PAST option data — different from subscribing a live chain to trade (see chained-universes-options).

There are two routes. Prefer (A) for a straight historical IV/greek read; use (B) when you need a custom IV (e.g. the average of the ATM call and put IV, or a specific pricing model) or intraday (minute/second) values — Route A is daily / end-of-day only.

Route A — OptionUniverse history (pre-computed daily IV/greeks)

The history request takes the canonical option Symbol for the underlying — it returns ALL tradable contracts each day (no filter needed; any SetFilter only affects the live OnData chain). Obtain the canonical symbol whichever way the algorithm is built:

• static single underlying: var canonical = AddOption("AAPL").Symbol (AddIndexOption for SPX);
• dynamic equity universe via AddUniverseOptions: the canonical symbols are the KEYS of the option chains in OnData — foreach (var (canonical, chain) in slice.OptionChains) { ... };
• from any contract Symbol you already hold: var canonical = contractSymbol.Canonical.

var history = History<OptionUniverse>(canonical, start, end);   // or (canonical, TimeSpan.FromDays(30))
foreach (var optionUniverse in history)                // one daily chain per element
{
    var day = optionUniverse.EndTime;
    // every tradable contract that day:
    foreach (var c in optionUniverse.Data.Select(contract => contract as OptionUniverse))
    {
        var (iv, delta) = (c.ImpliedVolatility, c.Greeks.Delta);  // c.Greeks.Gamma/.Vega/.Theta/.Rho ; c.Price ; c.Volume ; c.OpenInterest
        // strike/expiry/right are NOT properties of OptionUniverse - read them off the symbol:
        var (strike, expiry, right) = (c.Symbol.ID.StrikePrice, c.Symbol.ID.Date, c.Symbol.ID.OptionRight);
    }
}

These IV/greek values are daily, pre-computed (end of the prior trading day), one value per contract per trading day, and cannot be customized. If that is fine (e.g. a single ATM contract's IV on a given date), Route A is simplest. For an intraday series, or a custom IV, use Route B. Pick ATM by delta ≈ 0.5:

var calls = optionUniverse.Data
    .Select(contract => contract as OptionUniverse)
    .Where(c => c.Symbol.ID.OptionRight == OptionRight.Call
        && c.Symbol.ID.Date.Date == targetExpiry && c.ImpliedVolatility != 0m)   // drop 0-IV (no-quote) contracts
    .ToList();
var atmCall = calls.OrderBy(c => Math.Abs(Math.Abs(c.Greeks.Delta) - 0.5m)).FirstOrDefault();
var atmCallIv = atmCall?.ImpliedVolatility;      // average with the ATM put for a call-put ATM IV

Route B — IV / greek indicators (custom computation and intraday; historical via IndicatorHistory)

When you need to control how IV is computed — e.g. averaging an ATM call-put pair, or using a specific pricing model — build an indicator on the specific contract, using the mirror (the paired call/put). This is also the only way to get intraday (minute/second) historical IV/greeks — Route A returns one value per trading day. First identify the contracts (current chain):

var chain = OptionChain(underlying);   // contracts with Expiry, Strike, Right, UnderlyingLastPrice
// Filter: chain.Where(c => c.Expiry >= target), keep the min expiry, keep min Math.Abs(c.Strike - c.UnderlyingLastPrice) -> the ATM call & put Symbols.
AddOptionContract(call); AddOptionContract(put);    // subscribe both contracts (and the underlying)

Automatic — helper methods IV (IV), D (delta), G (gamma), V (vega), T (theta), R (rho). Signature IV(symbol, mirrorOption = null, riskFreeRate = null, dividendYield = null, optionModel = null, resolution = null); defaults: risk-free from the Interest Rate Provider, dividend from the dividend model, optionModel = OptionPricingModelType.BinomialCoxRossRubinstein, resolution = the contract subscription's resolution.

_iv = IV(call, put);                                             // mirror = the put
_iv.SetSmoothingFunction((iv, mirrorIv) => (iv + mirrorIv) * 0.5m);   // = the average of the ATM call+put IV

Manual — construct the indicator class directly for full control (own models / feed your own data). Classes ImpliedVolatility, Delta, Gamma, Vega, Theta, Rho; constructor (option, riskFreeRateModel, dividendYieldProvider, mirrorOption, optionPricingModel):

var div = new DividendYieldProvider(underlying);
_iv = new ImpliedVolatility(call, RiskFreeInterestRateModel, div, put, OptionPricingModelType.ForwardTree);
// then in OnData(slice): option+mirror IV come from QUOTE bars, the underlying from TRADE bars (or use IndicatorHistory)
var q = slice.QuoteBars;
var b = slice.Bars;
if (q.ContainsKey(call) && q.ContainsKey(put) && b.ContainsKey(underlying))   // guard: all three present this bar
{
    foreach (var dp in new[] {
        new IndicatorDataPoint(call, q[call].EndTime, q[call].Close),
        new IndicatorDataPoint(put,  q[put].EndTime,  q[put].Close),
        new IndicatorDataPoint(underlying, b[underlying].EndTime, b[underlying].Close) })
    {
        _iv.Update(dp);
    }
    var value = _iv.Current.Value;
}

Historical values (either construction) without hand-feeding: IndicatorHistory(_iv, new[] { call, put, underlying }, periodOrDates, resolution) — it resets the indicator, requests history for those symbols, and replays it. Iterate the resulting points (.Current.EndTime, .Current.Value). Resolution sets granularity: Resolution.Minute/Resolution.Second give an intraday series, Resolution.Daily one value per trading day. (For streaming IV updates instead of IndicatorHistory, granularity follows the contract subscription resolution — AddOptionContract(call, Resolution.Minute).)

Rules

• History uses the CANONICAL option symbol (get it any of the three ways in Route A), not individual contract symbols; it returns ALL contracts each day and is empty if there is no data in the window — always check.
• IV = c.ImpliedVolatility. Greeks under c.Greeks.* (.Delta/.Gamma/.Vega/.Theta/.Rho). Strike/expiry/right are NOT properties of OptionUniverse — read them off the symbol: c.Symbol.ID.StrikePrice / c.Symbol.ID.Date / c.Symbol.ID.OptionRight.
• Guard empties and zeros. History is empty when the window has no data — if (!history.Any()) return;. And a contract's ImpliedVolatility/greeks are 0 on days it had no quote (illiquid strikes/far expiries) — drop them before averaging, ranking, or dividing by IV: .Where(c => c.ImpliedVolatility != 0). FirstOrDefault() returns null on an empty sequence, so check it before dereferencing.
• Cost: option data is heavy — request per underlying and only over the window you need (e.g. a single month rather than the whole history), never the whole universe over the whole backtest at once.
• Research Environment is identical (this→qb). Route A: var qb = new QuantBook(); var option = qb.AddOption(ticker); qb.History<OptionUniverse>(option.Symbol, start, end). Route B: qb.AddOptionContract(call); qb.AddOptionContract(put); var iv = qb.IV(call, put); qb.IndicatorHistory(iv, new[] { call, put, underlying }, TimeSpan.FromDays(30), Resolution.Minute).