Options flow, explained
Options flow is the stream of options orders as they print. Reading it well means separating routine hedging from orders that carry real conviction.
What makes an order unusual
Size relative to that contract’s normal activity, premium paid, and whether the order lifted the offer or hit the bid. A large order that pays up across multiple exchanges is a different statement than a passive resting bid that eventually filled.
Sweeps versus blocks
A sweep splits an order across venues to fill immediately, accepting worse prices for speed — that urgency is the signal. A block is negotiated and printed at once, often as part of a hedge or a spread, and carries less directional information.
The most common misreading
A large call buy is not automatically bullish. It may be one leg of a spread, a hedge against a short stock position, or a covered-call roll. Treating every big call print as a bet on upside is the single most common error in reading flow.
What we show
We publish the flow alongside standing positioning — open interest, max pain, walls — so a single print can be read in the context of what was already there. One order rarely means much; one order against a shifting position often does.