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Real-time Quotes and Option Chains from Charles Schwab

Note:  Quotations and option chains through Charles Schwab are currently only available to customers who migrated from OptionsXpress during October 2017. 

If you have a Charles Schwab  account which was established as a result of the OptionsXpress migration in October 2017 then you can use free real-time quotes and option chains for US equities, indices and futures (CBOT, CME, NYBOT, NYMEX) from Schwab:

	with the Hoadley Options Strategy Analysis applications
	in your own Excel spreadsheets.

The Options Strategy Evaluation Tool  will retrieve live equity, index and futures options chain snapshots from Schwab for the US market for advanced analysis of options strategies, including strategy comparisons, probability of profit analysis, ROI, position hedging, early exercise analysis and much more.

The Implied Volatility Calculator will use Schwab equity, index and futures option chains for monthly volatility smile/skew analysis, implied volatility surface analysis including 3D volatility surface graphing, valuation analysis and hedging optimization.
 

The Hoadley Finance Add-in for Excel contains a function to connect your own spreadsheets directly to the Schwab data service (US markets). 

The quotes (for equities, indexes, futures, equity options index options and futures options) are real-time snapshot with optional auto-refresh. The quote functions  can be used in your spreadsheets in exactly the same way as you would use any of the normal Excel functions (SUM, AVERAGE, NPV...).

The Hoadley Finance Add-in for Excel does not use Microsoft's obsolete DDE technology for bringing quotes into spreadsheets.  Instead it uses the newer RTD (Real-Time Data) technology developed by Microsoft to replace DDE. 

RTD is much more robust and flexible than DDE.  For instance, with DDE you need to "hard-code" symbols and field names in your spreadsheet formulas.  The Hoadley Finance Add-in for Excel on the other hand does not require the "hard coding" of symbols and field names in formulas. It therefore provides much more power, flexibility and ease of use compared with conventional DDE solutions.

A function Wizard in the Finance Add-in for Excel guides you through the simple process of inserting quotes into your own spreadsheet cells. No programming is required and the add-in includes sample worksheets containing examples using Schwab data.

The add-in also includes a component for bringing live option chain snapshots into your own spreadsheets for analysis for the US equity and futures markets.

This combination of the Finance Add-in for Excel plus live data from Schwab provides a powerful analysis platform for traders.  You can use the power of Excel with the Hoadley Finance Add-in to look behind market data to gain a much deeper understanding of option pricing, volatility, probabilities, and hedging.
 

For details, see Finance Add-in for Excel system requirements.
 

Options Strategy Analysis Tools - overview of tools.

Options Strategy Analysis Tools - home page.