Short bets on the COMT commodity ETF jumped sharply in September
Defense World · 10/01
Undercurrent · Money-flow snapshot
COMT Max Pain, Dark Pool & Options Flow
What the institutional money is doing on COMT right now — dark pool, options positioning, and where the news and the money disagree. Free.
The money right now
Dark pool share
70.4% (market avg 50%)
Dark pool volume vs its norm
0.9×
Short share of that
69.9% (norm 43%)
Max pain
—
as of 10/14
Call wall
—
as of 10/14
Put floor
—
as of 10/14
Put/Call ratio
5.00
as of 10/12
Squeeze pressure
20
as of 10/12
Dark pool share: 70% of the tape printed away from the public book — 20pp above the market
Off-exchange prints never touch the public book, so they move size without moving the quote. That is the point of using them. This name structurally trades more off-exchange than most. That day's size was normal, though, so the elevated share alone does not say something happened that day. Short share of it: 70% vs a 43% norm.
Source: FINRA · Fri 10/16 close
News vs the money
An investment firm newly bought into the COMT commodity ETF
Defense World · 09/14
Why analysts rate the COMT commodity ETF a buy right now
Seeking Alpha · 08/11
See it live, free
Get Undercurrent — the news behind the money →Add COMT to My Watchlist in the free SIGNUM HQ app (iPhone · Android) →New to this? Why'd It Move? turns today's move into a 60-second lesson →What is a “divergence”?
A divergence is when the news narrative and the institutional money flow point in opposite directions — a bearish headline while large call premium is bought, or heavy dark-pool selling under a bullish story. It signals the crowd and the desks may disagree.
How to read these numbers
Dark-pool volume — The share of trading executed off-exchange, at wholesalers and dark pools. About half of all US share volume prints there on an ordinary day, so the level by itself says almost nothing. What carries information is the distance from this name’s own recent norm, and whether the off-exchange size ran above its usual.
Off-exchange short share — How much of that off-exchange volume was sold short. The median across all listed names is about 49%, because wholesalers filling retail buy orders sell short and cover later. A reading near half is plumbing, not a bearish vote — compare it to the same name’s own 20-day norm.
Max pain — The price where the most options expire worthless — positioning often gravitates toward it near expiry.
Call wall / Put floor — Strikes with the heaviest call/put open interest — they often act as short-term resistance and support.
Put/Call ratio — Below ~0.7 leans bullish (more calls); above ~1 leans defensive (more puts).
Nearby tickers
Today’s off-exchange leaders → · See all tickers →Today’s rankings — what broke from normal
Learn the numbers