# Risk reversal skew

`GET` `https://api.unusualwhales.com/api/socket/risk_reversal_skew`

**NOTE:**
This is the documentation for the websocket channel `risk_reversal_skew`.
Websocket access for personal use is only available through the [Advanced plan](https://unusualwhales.com/pricing?product=api).

You can find fully-functional examples that stream data from many channels here:

- Python: [https://github.com/unusual-whales/api-examples/tree/main/examples/ws-multi-channel-multi-output](https://github.com/unusual-whales/api-examples/tree/main/examples/ws-multi-channel-multi-output)
- Javascript: [https://github.com/unusual-whales/api-examples/tree/main/examples/ws-multi-channel-multi-output-nodejs](https://github.com/unusual-whales/api-examples/tree/main/examples/ws-multi-channel-multi-output-nodejs)



Connect to the websocket URI:

`wss://api.unusualwhales.com/socket?token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>`

then `join` the `risk_reversal_skew` channel.

Each message carries the risk reversal skew — the put implied volatility minus the call
implied volatility — at one delta bucket for one expiry of one ticker. A positive value
means puts are more expensive than calls, the usual state for equity index options.

### Delivery characteristics

Read these before writing a client, they are not obvious from the payload:

- **Updates arrive in a batch at most every ~30 seconds**, not continuously.
- **The channel is only live between 04:00 and 16:00 ET.** Outside that window nothing
  is published at all and the socket is silent. This is expected, not a fault.
- **One message per (ticker, expiry, delta) pair.** Because this is a global channel
  covering the whole option universe and each ticker has many expiries, every batch is a
  large burst of messages. Your client must read from the socket promptly: a slow
  consumer is not disconnected, but frames it fails to keep up with are dropped.
- Only two delta buckets are published: `25` and `10`.

This is the live counterpart of the [`/stock/:ticker/historical-risk-reversal-skew`](https://api.unusualwhales.com/docs/operations/PublicApi.TickerController.historical_risk_reversal_skew)
endpoint, which returns the identical value under the same `risk_reversal` name. Note only
that the REST endpoint renders it as a decimal string, while this channel sends a JSON number.

Payload format:

```
[
  "risk_reversal_skew",
  {
    "ticker": "AAPL",
    "date": "2026-08-20",
    "expiry": "2026-09-18",
    "delta": 25,
    "risk_reversal": 0.0142
  }
]
```

### Field reference

| Field           | Type    | Description |
|-----------------|---------|-------------|
| `ticker`        | string  | Ticker of the underlying. |
| `date`          | string  | The trading date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format. |
| `expiry`        | string  | The option expiry this entry belongs to, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format. |
| `delta`         | integer | The delta bucket as a whole number out of 100: `25` means the 0.25 delta, `10` means the 0.10 delta. |
| `risk_reversal` | number  | Put implied volatility minus call implied volatility at that delta. Positive means puts are more expensive than calls. |



## Authentication

```
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
```



## Example

### curl

```bash
curl -X GET "https://api.unusualwhales.com/api/socket/risk_reversal_skew" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"
```

### Python

```python
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api.unusualwhales.com")
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY", "Accept": "application/json"}
conn.request("GET", "/api/socket/risk_reversal_skew", headers=headers)
response = conn.getresponse()
print(response.read().decode("utf-8"))
```

## Response Example

```json
{
  "data": []
}
```