robinhood-options-mobile

Options Flow Analysis

RealizeAlpha provides advanced Options Flow Analysis to help traders gauge institutional sentiment and identify potential market moves before they happen.

Features

Real-Time Flow Monitoring

• Sweeps & Blocks: Detect large institutional orders executed across multiple exchanges (sweeps) or as single large blocks.
• Unusual Activity: Identify options contracts with volume significantly higher than open interest, indicating aggressive positioning.
• Dark Pool Activity: Monitor off-exchange trading volume to spot hidden institutional accumulation or distribution.

Smart Tags & Flags

Our system automatically tags trades with specific characteristics to help you identify the nature of the flow. Tap on any flag in the app to see its definition.

• Super Whale: Massive premium > $5M. Represents the highest level of institutional conviction.
• WHALE: Large premium orders (>$1M), indicating massive institutional conviction. Follow the big money.
• Institutional: Large block trade > $2M premium. Often indicates institutional rebalancing or positioning.
• Large Block: A single trade execution with significant size (>$200k premium), indicating institutional activity in one transaction.
• Golden Sweep: Aggressive sweep orders with >$1M premium, executed out-of-the-money. Often a strong directional signal.
• Steamroller: Massive size (>$500k), short term (<30 days), aggressive OTM sweep.

Advanced Filtering

You can filter the options flow real-time feed to focus on specific opportunities:

• Expiration Date: Filter by time to expiration (0DTE, 1DTE, 7DTE, etc.) to target short-term gamma plays or longer-term positioning.
• Flow Type: Filter by specific tags like “Sweep”, “Block”, “Golden Sweep”, etc.

• Min Premium: Set a minimum premium threshold to filter out noise.

• Mega Vol: Volume is >10x Open Interest. Extreme unusual activity indicating a major new position.
• Vol Explosion: Volume is >5x Open Interest. Significant unusual activity.
• High Vol/OI: Volume is >1.5x Open Interest. Indicates unusual interest.
• New Position: Volume exceeds Open Interest, confirming that new contracts are being opened.
• Gamma Squeeze: Short-dated (<7 days), OTM calls with high volume (>5k) and OI (>1k). Can force dealers to buy stock to hedge, fueling the rally.
• Panic Hedge: Short-dated (<7 days), OTM puts with high volume (>5k) and OI (>1k). Indicates fear or hedging against further downside.
• Floor Protection: High volume deep OTM puts. Likely institutional hedging/insurance.
• Earnings Play: Options expiring shortly after an upcoming earnings release (2-14 days). High volatility expected.
• IV Crush Risk: High IV just before earnings. Risk of volatility crush.
• Bullish Divergence: Call buying while stock is down. Smart money betting on a reversal.
• Bearish Divergence: Put buying while stock is up. Smart money betting on a reversal.
• Contrarian: Trades that go against the current stock trend (>2% move).
• Extreme IV: Implied Volatility > 250%. Extreme fear or greed, potential binary event.
• High IV: Implied Volatility > 100%. Market expects a large move.
• Low IV: Implied Volatility < 20%. Cheap premium, often good for long positions.
• Cheap Vol: High volume (>2000) on low-priced options (<$0.50). Speculative activity on cheap contracts.
• High Premium: Significant volume (>100) on expensive options (>$20.00). High capital commitment per contract.
• Tight Spread: Bid-Ask spread < 1%. Indicates high liquidity and potential institutional algo execution.
• Wide Spread: Bid-Ask spread > 10%. Warning: Low liquidity or poor execution prices.
• ATM Flow: At-The-Money options (strike within 1% of spot). High Gamma potential, often used by market makers.
• Deep ITM: Deep In-The-Money contracts (>10% ITM). Often used as a stock replacement strategy.
• Deep OTM: Deep Out-Of-The-Money contracts (>15% OTM). Aggressive speculative bets.
• Aggressive: Orders executed above the ask (buying) or below the bid (selling), showing urgency to get filled.
• Above Ask: Trade executed at a price higher than the ask price. Indicates extreme urgency to buy.
• Below Bid: Trade executed at a price lower than the bid price. Indicates extreme urgency to sell.
• Mid Market: Trade executed between the bid and ask prices. Often indicates a negotiated block trade or less urgency.
• Ask Side: Trade executed at the ask price. Indicates buying pressure.
• Bid Side: Trade executed at the bid price. Indicates selling pressure.
• Cross Trade: High volume trade executed exactly at the Bid or Ask price. Often pre-arranged and neutral in sentiment.
• 0DTE: Contracts expiring today. High risk, high reward speculative trading.
• 0DTE Lotto: High volume (>1000) OTM options expiring today. Extremely speculative “lotto” ticket bets.
• Lotto: Far OTM (>15%) contracts expiring within 2 weeks with low premium (< $1.00). Low probability, high payout bets.
• Weekly OTM: Out-of-the-money contracts expiring within a week with volume > 500.
• LEAPS: Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities. Contracts expiring in > 1 year (365 days). Long-term conviction.
• Leaps Buy: Long-term OTM bullish speculation.

Interpretation Recommendations

Definitions explain why a trade received a flag; recommendations explain what to verify before using that flag in a trading thesis. Tap a flag in the feed or detail view to open a structured guidance sheet with its definition, detection reason, and recommendation. The detail view also promotes the three highest-priority checks in an Interpretation Checklist, with the complete trade-specific list available on demand.

• Confirm direction: Check whether the trade executed near the bid or ask, whether it may be one leg of a spread, and whether related flow points in the same direction.
• Confirm positioning: Intraday volume above prior open interest suggests unusual activity but does not prove contracts were opened. Recheck next-session open interest when available.
• Confirm price action: Use the underlying trend, support or resistance, and repeated same-direction flow to validate a directional interpretation.
• Account for events and volatility: Compare the option-implied move with the expected catalyst move and plan for post-event implied-volatility contraction.
• Protect execution: Prefer limit orders, especially for wide spreads, and avoid treating contract price or premium size as proof of liquidity or conviction.
• Define risk: Use smaller or defined-risk exposure for short-dated, far OTM, extreme-IV, and contrarian trades. A low-priced contract can still have a high probability of total loss.
• Treat institutional flow as context: Blocks, dark-pool activity, whale orders, and put volume may represent hedges, transfers, or multi-leg strategies rather than outright directional bets.

Sentiment Analysis

• Bullish/Bearish Flow: Visualize the ratio of bullish (calls bought, puts sold) vs. bearish (puts bought, calls sold) flow.
• Premium Analysis: Track the total premium spent on bullish vs. bearish positions.

Conviction Score

A proprietary 0-100 score that rates the significance of each trade based on:

• Premium Size: Larger premiums (> $1M) carry significantly more weight.
• Flow Type: Sweeps (urgent execution) score higher than Blocks (negotiated).
• Urgency: OTM, short-dated (especially 0DTE), and aggressive fills add to the score.
• Unusual Activity: Volume exceeding Open Interest (up to >10x) boosts the rating.
• Smart Money Flags: Golden Sweeps, Whales, Gamma Squeezes, Steamrollers, Earnings Plays, and Divergences apply multipliers or bonuses to the final score.

Filtering & Alerts

• Smart Filters: Filter flow by sector, market cap, expiration, moneyness (ITM/OTM), and specific flags (e.g., “Show me only Golden Sweeps”).
• Custom Alerts: Set up push notifications for specific flow criteria (e.g., “TSLA Call Sweeps > $1M”).
• Option Flow Notifications: A dedicated notifications page collects triggered flow alerts with search and filter tools for rapid review.

How to Use

1. Navigate to the Search tab.
2. Select Options Flow from the menu.
3. Filter: Use the filter bar to narrow down results by symbol, sentiment, or specific flags like “WHALE” or “Earnings Play”.
4. Analyze: Tap on a flow item to open the Detail View. This shows all active flags, moneyness, and detailed contract stats.
5. Review recommendations: Read the visible Interpretation Checklist before treating the flow as directional. Open the complete checklist when more than three recommendations apply.
6. Learn a signal: Tap any flag to open its persistent guidance sheet with separate Definition, Why it was detected, and Recommendation sections.
7. Open the guide: Use the book icon in the Options Flow app bar for definitions, methodology, analysis tips, and strategy context.
8. Sort: Use the sort menu to rank trades by Premium, Time, or Volume/OI ratio.
9. Review Alerts: Open the Option Flow Notifications page to search, filter, and review triggered alerts.

Methodology

Our flow analysis engine aggregates data from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive view of the options market. We use proprietary algorithms to classify trades as aggressive (buying on the ask) or passive (selling on the bid) to determine sentiment.