robinhood-options-mobile

Retail Order Flow & Robinhood Sentiment

RealizeAlpha integrates first-party Robinhood market data to provide real-time retail customer order flow dynamics, net buy/sell ratios, volume trends, and historical sentiment shifts directly within the instrument view.

Overview

Retail investor sentiment and order routing behavior provide unique insights into retail positioning, momentum, and potential retail-institutional divergences. By tracking first-party Robinhood customer buy and sell ratios along with volume percentage shifts, traders can identify whether retail flows are accumulating or distributing an equity.

Core Features

1. Retail Net Buy/Sell Ratios

• Buyers vs. Sellers Split Bar: A visual two-tone ratio gauge highlighting the proportion of Robinhood customer buy orders versus sell orders.
• Net Retail Bias: The difference between buy and sell percentages ($\text{Buy \%} - \text{Sell \%}$), indicating net retail accumulation (positive) or distribution (negative).
• Sentiment Regimes:
  • Strong Bullish: Buy orders $\ge 70\%$ indicating aggressive retail accumulation.
  • Bullish: Buy orders between $55\%$ and $70\%$ reflecting sustained buying interest.
  • Neutral: Buy orders between $45\%$ and $55\%$ reflecting balanced order flow.
  • Bearish: Buy orders between $30\%$ and $45\%$ reflecting net retail selling pressure.
  • Strong Bearish: Buy orders $< 30\%$ indicating heavy liquidation or capitulation.

2. Order Volume & Momentum Shifts

• Volume Shift Percentage: Day-over-day and rolling trend shifts in customer order volume for the instrument.
• Total Customer Orders: Order count breakdown between buy and sell orders where provided by the endpoint.
• Contextual Guidance Banners: Actionable summary callouts interpreting retail momentum and conviction.

3. Historical Daily Sentiment Trend

• Interactive Trend Table: An expandable history view tracking daily buy percentage, sell percentage, net flow, and volume shift across recent sessions.
• Educational Guidance: Context explaining how first-party order flow reflects retail trader positioning, net accumulation/distribution, and momentum shifts.

Architecture & Data Flow

Endpoint

• Retail Order Flow Summary: https://api.robinhood.com/marketdata/equities/summary/robinhood/{instrument_id}/

Example Response

{
  "instrument_id": "943c5009-a0bb-4665-8cf4-a95dab5874e4",
  "daily_transactions": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-12",
      "net_buy_percentage": 6.733010406913009,
      "net_sell_percentage": -6.733010406913009,
      "buy_volume_percentage_change": null,
      "sell_volume_percentage_change": null
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08-13",
      "net_buy_percentage": 2.2814620083776327,
      "net_sell_percentage": -2.2814620083776327,
      "buy_volume_percentage_change": -34.70567348204625,
      "sell_volume_percentage_change": -28.611824946031497
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-09-09",
      "net_buy_percentage": 31.58138057168694,
      "net_sell_percentage": -31.58138057168694,
      "buy_volume_percentage_change": 112.82247169835675,
      "sell_volume_percentage_change": 54.81522591529
    }
  ]
}

The data binding engine:

1. Maps daily_transactions into a chronologically sorted sequence of RetailOrderFlowPoint instances.
2. Derives explicit buy/sell ratios from net_buy_percentage ($\text{buy} = 50\% + \frac{\text{net_buy}}{2}$, $\text{sell} = 100\% - \text{buy}$) when explicit buy/sell percentages are not provided.
3. Automatically sets the current RetailOrderFlow metrics from the latest available transaction in daily_transactions.
4. Captures both buy_volume_percentage_change and sell_volume_percentage_change to visualize directional customer volume shifts.

Service Interface

• IBrokerageService.getRetailSentiment(BrokerageUser user, String instrumentId)
• Implemented in RobinhoodService (live production endpoints) and DemoService (deterministic mock environment for offline and testing workflows, supporting tickers such as TSLA, GME, AAPL, and bearish equities).

Models & Widgets

• Models: src/robinhood_options_mobile/lib/model/retail_order_flow.dart (RetailOrderFlow, RetailOrderFlowPoint).
• UI Component: src/robinhood_options_mobile/lib/widgets/retail_order_flow_widget.dart (RetailOrderFlowWidget).
• Instrument Integration: Embedded in src/robinhood_options_mobile/lib/widgets/instrument_widget.dart CustomScrollView slivers for equity instruments.

Testing & Verification

Unit and widget tests validate model normalization, regime classification, demo service responses, and expandable widget rendering:

flutter test test/retail_order_flow_test.dart test/retail_order_flow_widget_test.dart