Flow and tape

Positioning is what is already there. Flow is what is trading today.

Options flow#

For any ticker, today's options activity classified by side:

• Net premium: bullish premium minus bearish premium. A call bought is bullish, a call sold is bearish, and a put sold is bullish too.
• Put/call ratios for today's volume and for the standing book. Volume running well above the standing ratio means fresh positioning is building.
• Flow against the book, per strike: today's activity next to the existing positioning, tagged reinforcing (the wall is hardening) or fighting (the wall is being eaten and more likely to fail).
• 0DTE flow: the same read for today's expiry only.

Live flow#

A streaming tape of individual options prints with premium, size and strike, the largest prints of the day and a per-strike summary. An unusually large print far from price, or in a quiet expiry, is worth a second look. Check it against the regime and the walls before treating it as a signal.

Order flow#

Bid and ask aggression and cumulative delta from the futures tape.

Skew and drift#

• Net drift: running call dollars against put dollars traded today. Sustained put dollars while price falls corroborates the move; while price holds or rises, it is more likely hedging.
• Net flow: the same as bursts per interval. Useful for spotting a fresh wave, or flow drying up before a turn.
• Volatility skew: how puts and calls are priced around spot.

Scanner#

Unusual options activity across a watchlist or the wider market, plus trade ideas ranked by a composite score. Backtests use modelled prices, not real fills.