The put-call
ratio is a popular tool specifically designed to help
individual investors gauge the overall sentiment of the market. The ratio is calculated by dividing the number
of traded put options by
the number of traded call
options. As this ratio increases, it can be interpreted
to mean that investors are putting their money into put options rather than
call options. An increase in traded put options signals that investors are
either starting to speculate that the market will move lower, or starting to hedge their portfolios in case of a sell-off...