Ratio Put/Call
Put/call ratio (or put–call ratio, PCR) is a technical indicator demonstrating investors’ sentiment.[1] The ratio represents a proportion between all the put options and all the call options purchased on any given day. The put/call ratio can be calculated for any individual stock, as well as for any index, or can be aggregated. The ratio may be calculated using the numbers of puts and calls or on a dollar-weighted basis.
Generally, a lower reading (~0.6) of the ratio reflects a bullish sentiment among investors as they buy more calls, anticipating an uptrend. Conversely, a higher reading (~1.02) of the ratio indicates a bearish sentiment in the market. However, the ratio is considered to be a contrarian indicator, so that an extreme reading above 1.0 is actually a bullish signal, and vice versa
Nos dice el profesor Brett Steenbarger:
I’m currently working on creating better indicators of stock market sentiment. Above is a five-day moving average of the equity put/call ratio: the ratio of put volume traded for all listed individual stocks divided by their call volume (no index volume included; raw data from e-Signal). You can see that spikes in the ratio have corresponded pretty well with buying opportunities in the past year.
Of course, the put/call ratio is influenced by price change. In fact, the correlation between the percentage of stocks trading above their five-day moving averages and the five day equity put/call ratio is less than -.56. In other words, when markets have been strong over the short term, there has tended to be call buying relative to put buying and vice versa. Perhaps the most important takeaway here is that sentiment in stocks has been very fickle with traders/investors shifting over surprisingly short time horizons.
Looking at 2014 to the present based on a simple median split, if you bought the SPX when the proportion of stocks that closed above their five-day moving averages was high, the next five days averaged a gain of +.14%. If you bought when the proportion of stocks above their five-day averages was low, the next five days averaged a gain of +.38%. If you bought when the five-day equity put/call ratio was in the top half of the distribution, the next five days averaged a gain of +.44%. If you bought when the ratio was low, the next five days averaged a gain of only .08%
In short, over the past year, short term weakness has led to relative bearishness and superior short term returns. Short term strength has led to relative bullishness and inferior short term returns. Teasing apart sentiment and concurrent price change could provide a purer view on sentiment that might inform short-term trading decisions and the execution of longer-term positions.