The below data are derived from options price chains. The full methodology is explained here. In short, behavioral finance adopted welfare functions are used to identify the frontiers between the portion of the market motivated to buy a particular option, sell that option, or sit on the sidelines (i.e. do nothing). Because securities are purchased by those at the margins of the market distributions, the median investor falls within the space of investors choosing to neither buy nor sell. By combining these frontiers for a variety of puts and calls, the overlapping sideline investor space diminishes, allowing us to pinpoint the options implied expected return and uncertainty of the median investor.
As securities are set by investors at the margins, not the median investor, these should not be interpretted as forecasts. I personally prefer to interpret these as measures of investor sentiment. This data will be updated at least quarterly.
The result of overlapping multiple option frontier lines is a diminishing sideline space, within which the median investor sits.
Every month, Placid Sound will send out the three-month expected returns of major indices implied by options prices. These will be sent out first by newsletter then posted to the Placid Sound "Data" page. Receive them before they are publicly available by signing up for the Placid Sound newsletter!