At 68 with $780,000, should you live on dividends or sell shares? Three ETFs show how to do both
247 Wallst · 10/08
Undercurrent · Money-flow snapshot
IEI Max Pain, Dark Pool & Options Flow
IEI max pain was $114 as of 10/11.
What the institutional money is doing on IEI right now — dark pool, options positioning, and where the news and the money disagree. Free.
The money right now
Dark pool share
42.8% (market avg 50%)
Dark pool volume vs its norm
0.4×
Short share of that
52.1% (norm 51%)
Max pain
$114
as of 10/11
Call wall
$115
as of 10/11
Put floor
$113
as of 10/11
Put/Call ratio
0.00
as of 10/11
Squeeze pressure
42
as of 10/11
Dark pool share: Off-exchange volume was quiet at 0.4× its norm
Off-exchange prints never touch the public book, so they move size without moving the quote. That is the point of using them. Large players were quiet in this name that day. The share (42.8%) may look normal, but the absolute size behind it was thin.
Source: FINRA · Wed 10/14 close
News vs the money
Bond valuations show a higher bar for capital, with real yields driving September's rise in 10-year Treasury yields
ETF Trends · 10/08
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF compared with iShares Treasury Bond ETF
The Motley Fool · 10/08
US 30-year Treasury yields climb back to their highest since 2002 as oil prices lift inflation fears
Bloomberg Markets and Finance · 10/07
Rockland Trust Co. buys 6,631 shares of the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF
Defense World · 10/06
See it live, free
Get Undercurrent — the news behind the money →Add IEI 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