04 / Widgets · Unusual Activity
Unusual Activity
Option contracts trading far more today than their open interest, by strike, so new positioning stands out from routine trading.
Unusual Activity lists the contracts whose volume today is far above their standing open interest: a sign of new positions rather than existing ones changing hands. Calls are drawn to the right and puts to the left, each bar the contracts traded at that strike. The header counts how many contracts qualify.
What it shows#
| Element | What it is |
|---|---|
| Bars | Contracts traded today, calls right and puts left |
| Unusual contracts (header) | How many contracts pass the threshold |
| Largest premium (Details) | The qualifying contract with the most money traded |
| By side (Details) | How many calls and puts qualify |
In Details you can show calls, puts or both, rank by V/OI (volume over open interest) or by volume, set the threshold (1×, 2× or 5×), limit expiries (0D, 7D, 30D or all), and switch between a Ladder and Bubbles.
Marked (Beta) in the widget picker: it is newer, and some of the options data behind it can lag the live market by several minutes.
Practical application#
Reading it. Five contracts qualify, three calls and two puts. The longest bar is the same-day 27,300 call: 3,100 contracts against 113 open, about 27× its open interest. Largest premium in Details is the 27,500 call expiring Nov 12, at $6.2M, but its ratio is only 1.5×: it already had about 1,600 contracts open. The 27,750 call two weeks out traded 1,500 against 100 open (15×, $4.4M). On the put side, 26,500 four days out traded 1,800 against 90 open (20×).
What it means. The largest premium is not the most unusual trade. The 27,500 call is mostly existing positioning trading again. The 27,750 call two weeks out and the 26,500 puts are most likely new positions, beyond the call wall and under the put wall. Volume against open interest shows that positions are opening, not whether they were bought or sold; check Order Heatmap for the side.
How to use it.
- Rank by V/OI to find new positions; rank by Volume to find where the day's size went.
- A high-ratio, high-premium contract a week or more out is a view, not a day trade. Note the strike as a target.
- High ratios on same-day options are often short-term speculation; they matter for today's moves, not next week's.
- Check Open Interest the next day: if the open interest at that strike grew, the positions were held.
Where today's options trading landed, strike by strike, as gamma, delta, vanna or charm flow, or as call and put volume.
Call and put open interest at every strike, the put/call ratio near spot, max pain and the key levels.
How far each call and put pair strays from put/call parity, strike by strike, to spot pricing dislocations.