If you’re an options trader, there’s a good chance you might also be a developer, engineer, or someone comfortable building systems. It’s a common story: you’re analyzing trades, managing Greeks, or automating some aspect of your strategy, when you realize — “I could build something better.” You’re probably focused on your idea and not thinking about OPRA fees.
Maybe it’s a dashboard that shows real-time IV crush. Or an app to scan for unusual options activity. Or a tool that syncs your trades to Excel. Before you know it, you’ve prototyped an app that works — and maybe even looks good enough to share.
But here’s the catch: if your app shows real-time or delayed U.S. options data, you’re now dealing with OPRA — the Options Price Reporting Authority — and their licensing rules. Many developers don’t realize this until late in the game. Some launch without even knowing they needed a license at all.
This guide is here to save you time, money, and potential legal headaches. We’ll walk through the different OPRA fees and help you understand exactly what it costs to legally show options data in your app or on your website.
What Is OPRA Data?
OPRA data refers to real-time, 15-minute delayed, or historical market data feed provided by the Options Price Reporting Authority. It includes two core types of information: quotes (bid/ask prices) and last sale reports (trades that have occurred). This data covers listed options on equities, ETFs, and indexes — but not futures.
The OPRA feed consolidates data from all U.S. options exchanges, giving you a unified view of pricing and activity across the entire market. As of today, the following exchanges are participants in OPRA:
- NYSE American Options
- NYSE Arca Options
- Nasdaq PHLX (PHLX)
- Nasdaq BX Options (BX Options)
- Nasdaq ISE
- Nasdaq GEMX
- Nasdaq MRX
- Cboe Options Exchange (Cboe)
- Cboe C2
- Cboe BZX Options
- Cboe EDGX Options
- MIAX Options
- MIAX PEARL Options
- MIAX Emerald
When you access OPRA data, you’re not just getting a subset from one venue — you’re seeing the full national market for listed options in the United States.
OPRA Fees: The OPRA Licensing Structure
If you plan to display options data in an app, website, or any public-facing tool, you’ll need a formal license from OPRA. Specifically, you must enter into an official Vendor Agreement with the Options Price Reporting Authority.
This is a direct agreement between your company and OPRA, and it’s required for anyone who wants to redistribute OPRA data — whether that’s through an API, mobile app, trading dashboard, or even a browser plugin. Without this agreement in place, OPRA data may only be used internally, either inside a company or by an individual using the data for personal investment purposes.
This is why none of the self-service plans at Market Data include redistribution rights. Even if you’re licensed with us as a customer, that only covers your access to use the data internally — not the right to show it to others. Redistributing OPRA data requires a separate, formal relationship with OPRA itself.
If you’re building an app or tool that will show options data to anyone other than yourself — even one person — this requirement applies to you.
Redistributor Fees: The Cost of Showing OPRA Data
The most important fee for independent developers and startups is the $1,500/month flat fee charged by OPRA to anyone who redistributes their data. This fee applies whether you have one user or one million — if you’re showing OPRA data externally in an app, tool, or website, you’re considered a redistributor and this fee is required.
This $1,500/month redistributor fee is the baseline cost for compliance. It gives you the legal right to present OPRA data to others, including via mobile apps, web dashboards, APIs, or embedded widgets. Without paying this fee and having a Vendor Agreement in place, you cannot legally show OPRA data to your customers.
Once you’re approved as a redistributor, you also need to handle per-user display fees for real-time data. These fees are:
- Nonprofessionals: starts at $1.25/month per user, with volume discounts as your user count grows.
- Professionals: $31.50/month per user or per device. There are usually no discounts on these fees.
However, if you only display delayed or historical options data (older than 15 minutes), OPRA does not charge per-user display fees. This makes delayed data an attractive option for free tools, public websites, or low-cost trial tiers — but the $1,500/month redistributor fee still applies, even if you’re only showing delayed data.
Paying this redistributor fee is what allows you to move beyond internal use and share options data with the public. It’s a critical cost to budget for if you’re planning to launch any tool that visualizes or transmits OPRA data to others.
Non-Display Use: Internal Calculations Trigger More OPRA Fees
Some developers building tools for options traders might not display raw OPRA data — instead, they use it under the hood. Maybe you’re building a tool that calculates Greeks. Maybe you’re developing a trading engine that scans for mispriced volatility. Or maybe you offer portfolio risk metrics to your users. In all of these cases, you’re using OPRA data — just not displaying it.
This kind of usage is what OPRA calls non-display use, and it still requires licensing. If you’re using real-time OPRA data in the backend of a commercial product, you must pay additional fees, even if the data is never shown to the user directly. If you’re showing the OPRA data to end users and making backend use of the data for calculations, you’ll pay both redistributor fees and non-display use fees.
OPRA breaks non-display use into three categories, each with a flat fee of $2,000/month:
- Category 1: Internal use on your own behalf (e.g. your own trading bot or analytics engine).
- Category 2: Calculations performed on behalf of customers (e.g. calculating Greeks or implied vols for end users).
- Category 3: Internal matching engines (e.g. dark pools, internal crossing systems).
Example: imagine you’re building a tool that allows users to track their options portfolio and visualize their P&L over time. To power this, your backend ingests real-time OPRA quotes and uses them to value each open contract in the user’s portfolio. Even though you’re not showing the raw bid/ask of each contract in the portfolio to the user, you’re still using OPRA data to value the portfolio. This is considered Category 2 non-display use, and you would owe OPRA $2,000/month for that usage.
These fees stack. So if you also run your own strategy engine for internal use (Category 1), your total cost becomes $4,000/month.
The good news: these fees only apply to real-time OPRA data. If you build your tool using delayed or historical data, you can legally bypass non-display use fees entirely. That’s a big cost-saver if your product doesn’t need to operate in real time.
Bottom line: if you’re selling or running an external-facing product that does backend analysis using live options data, OPRA licensing still applies, even if no quote ever appears on the screen.
How to Minimize OPRA Costs as a Developer
OPRA’s licensing fees can be significant, especially for indie developers and startups. But there are smart ways to reduce your costs — especially during development or while testing product-market fit. Here are a few proven strategies:
Use a Self-Service Plan as a Solo Developer
If you’re building and testing the app entirely on your own, and you are acting as a single natural person, you can use a self-service plan that includes OPRA data — as long as you don’t show that data to anyone else or charge any money for your app. As long as you are building your app and using the data on your own this is considered personal use under OPRA rules and doesn’t require vendor licensing.
This allows you to prototype and iterate on your app without triggering the $1,500/month redistributor fee or any non-display use fees. For many indie developers, this strategy can save thousands per month during development.
Start With Historical Data
Historical options data — meaning data that is at least one full trading day old — is completely exempt from OPRA licensing. You can use it freely to build features, test analytics engines, or train machine learning models without any licensing burden. Previous day options data is considered historical on the opening bell of the next session. This means Friday’s data can only be used on Monday at 9:30 AM.
If your tool doesn’t need to show current prices, starting with historical data is a zero-cost way to begin development and explore your market.
Launch With 15-Minute Delayed Data
Once you’re ready to launch and become a licensed OPRA vendor, another cost-saving move is to offer 15-minute delayed data instead of real-time data. OPRA does not charge per-user display fees or non-display use fees for delayed data.
While you’ll still need to pay the $1,500/month redistributor fee, you can avoid the much steeper charges for real-time display and non-display use — making this a smart middle ground for early-stage products or free tiers. When you use 15-minute delayed data you can also avoid the compliance burden of classifying your users as professionals or non-professionals.
Use the Greeks/IV Levels From Your Data Vendor
If your data vendor is calculating the greeks for you, you might not need to make use of real-time options data for your own non-display use. Your data vendor is already paying OPRA’s non-display use fee to calculate real-time greeks for you. This means you might be able to take advantage of your data vendor’s license.
Bottom Line
You don’t need to go all-in on real-time OPRA licensing from day one. Start small, use data responsibly, and upgrade only when your product is ready. These strategies can help you validate your idea and build traction without breaking your budget. Contact us and our team can help you navigate these issues with your app or website.
Compliance Obligations: What Developers Must Know
If you’re a developer new to the financial data world, it’s easy to underestimate the compliance side of things. But when it comes to OPRA data, especially real-time options data, compliance is not optional — it’s a critical part of your engineering and business responsibilities.
User Agreements and Audits
Every user who receives OPRA data through your app must sign a formal OPRA Subscriber Agreement. These agreements must classify each user as either:
- Nonprofessional – a natural person using the data for their own investments, not employed in finance or trading.
- Professional – anyone using the data in a business context, or employed in the financial industry.
As the vendor, you are required to store these signed agreements and all related user records during your user’s membership plus at least three years in case of audit. This applies even if the user stops using your app.
Monthly Reporting
Every month, you must generate a report for OPRA listing all active subscribers, broken down by professional and nonprofessional status. You are also responsible for paying the correct per-user fees based on this report.
Simultaneous Login Control
If your app offers real-time OPRA data, you must prevent users from logging into multiple devices at the same time to access the data. OPRA requires that each “device” or “user ID” be uniquely controlled, so multilogin enforcement must be built into your app’s architecture.
Many developers overlook this during early engineering, but it’s a requirement for real-time data delivery. Your system must either:
- Restrict users to one active session at a time, or
- Track and report each unique user ID/device receiving the data for billing and audit purposes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Working with OPRA data can be costly — not just in terms of fees, but also in terms of compliance risk. Many developers run into trouble simply because they didn’t realize what was required. Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid:
- Not budgeting for the $1,500 redistribution fee.
This monthly fee applies to any app or platform that displays OPRA data to external users. It’s the baseline cost of being a redistributor. It needs to be included in your budget. - Misclassifying professionals as nonprofessionals.
If you allow a professional (such as a financial advisor, broker, or anyone in the finance industry) to use your app at nonpro pricing, you could face retroactive billing and penalties if audited. Always collect proper documentation and err on the side of caution. If your app is targeting professional users of options data, they will have a higher OPRA fee. You will need to charge more to cover this cost. - Forgetting to require each user to sign the OPRA Subscriber Agreement.
Every user who accesses OPRA data through your app must electronically sign a Subscriber Agreement before you give them access to real-time options data. - Not building simultaneous login controls into your app.
OPRA requires that each user ID or device be uniquely entitled. You must enforce limits on concurrent sessions or track per-device usage if you’re delivering real-time data. Multilogin setups without enforcement are noncompliant.
Avoiding these mistakes can save you thousands in unexpected costs and help keep your app compliant as it grows.
Conclusion
If you’re building an options app, understanding OPRA fees and compliance rules is essential. From redistribution licensing to user classification and data usage rules, these costs and obligations can have a major impact on how you design, price, and launch your product.
The good news is: you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’ve helped many developers get started, and we’re happy to help you too. Whether you’re in the early prototyping stage or getting ready to go live, we can walk you through what’s required and help ensure your app is both innovative and compliant.
And while the documentation can sound intimidating, it’s worth noting — the folks at OPRA are genuinely helpful and want developers to succeed. If you’re committed to doing things right, you’ll find that they’re supportive and easy to work with.
So plan ahead, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to contact us. Building a great app is hard enough — we’ll help make compliance the easy part.