Help with OptionConnect.
First steps, answers to common questions, and how to reach us if something does not work.
Your first row of prices.
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Open the panel
In Excel, go to the Home tab and click OptionConnect. The panel opens on the right.
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Choose a contract
Type a ticker, for example TLT. Pick the expiry, the strike, and Call or Put. The panel shows the current quote.
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Tick your columns
Choose the values you want in the sheet, such as Bid, Ask, Delta and IV.
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Insert
Click an empty cell, then click Insert into sheet. To add another contract, choose it and click Insert again; it goes on the next row.
When something looks wrong.
Bid and Ask are empty. Why?
The US options market is open from 9:30 to 16:00 New York time, which is 15:30 to 22:00 in Central Europe. Outside those hours there are no live bid and ask prices.
OptionConnect then shows the quotes from the last session where it has them. Where it has none, Bid and Ask stay empty and Mid shows the last traded price. The Status column tells you which case applies: Market open, Closed - last session, or Closed - last trade.
How often do the prices update?
As often as you set in the panel under Refresh: every 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or manually only. The setting applies to all OptionConnect formulas in all open workbooks.
Click Refresh now to update everything at once. It can take up to 20 seconds until every cell has its new value. Add the Updated column to see the time of each contract's last refresh.
A cell shows the formula as text instead of a value.
This happens when the cell is formatted as Text, or when there is a space in front of the equals sign. Set the cell format to General, remove the space, and press Enter again.
A cell shows #NAME?
Excel does not know the OPTIONS functions yet. Open the OptionConnect panel once from the Home tab, so that the add-in loads, and wait a few seconds. If the button is missing, the add-in is not installed in this Excel; add it again from Home > Add-ins.
Should I type commas or semicolons in the formula?
That depends on your Excel. English Excel uses commas. Excel in German, Norwegian and several other languages uses semicolons:
If you insert rows from the panel, you do not need to think about this. The panel writes the form your Excel expects.
I ticked more columns, but my list did not change.
New columns are added when you next insert a contract with the cursor inside the list. If the cells to the right of the list are already in use, OptionConnect leaves them alone and tells you so in the panel. Clear those cells or move the list, then insert again.
The values look old after I reopened my workbook.
Open the panel and click Refresh now. If a value still does not change, close Excel completely and open the workbook again.
What does OptionConnect send from my computer?
Only the contract you ask about: ticker, expiry, strike, call or put, and the value you want. Your workbook, its file name and your other cells stay on your computer.
How do I remove OptionConnect?
In Excel, open Home > Add-ins > More Add-ins > My Add-ins, click the three dots on OptionConnect and choose Remove. The values already in your sheet stay as they are, but the formulas stop updating.
Still stuck? Write to us.
Tell us your Excel version, what you did and what you expected. A screenshot of the sheet and the panel helps us most.