Every large options order hitting the tape, ranked by the premium behind it. Options flow is the record of what size is actually paying for, in real time, rather than what anyone says about it. Free, no account.
| Ticker | Type | Strike | Expiry | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading the tape… | ||||
Sweeps and blocks bought at the ask, ranked by total premium. Updated through the session. See the full sweeps board →
Options flow is the real-time record of options trades printing on the tape — especially the large, aggressive ones. It shows where big money is positioning: which strikes, which expirations, and whether they're buying calls or puts. Each ticker page shows that name's call vs put volume, its call/put ratio, and its most active contract.
Unusual options activity is options volume well above a contract's normal level — often large blocks or sweeps bought at the ask. Those aggressive prints carry the most signal because someone is paying up to get positioned fast. Each ticker's flow page flags whether the tape is leaning bullish, bearish or mixed.
Start with the lean: heavy call volume and a call/put ratio above 1 is bullish; heavy put volume is bearish. Then check whether the biggest contracts are being bought at the ask (aggressive, urgent) or sold on the bid. The most-active contract — its strike, expiration and IV — tells you where the crowd is concentrated. Full breakdown in how to read options flow.
The heaviest options flow is usually in the mega-cap tech names (NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, META, AMZN), the semis (AMD, MU, SMCI), high-beta crypto and fintech (COIN, MSTR, HOOD), and the index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, IWM) — all in the directory above.
Options flow is the stream of executed options orders, read as a signal about positioning. Every trade prints to the tape with its ticker, strike, expiry, size and premium, and flow analysis is the practice of filtering that stream down to the orders large enough and urgent enough to say something.
The two shapes that matter most are the sweep and the block. A sweep is one large order broken across multiple exchanges so it fills immediately, taking the ask instead of waiting at the bid. That trader is paying for speed. A block is a single large negotiated print, usually arranged off-exchange. Size makes both worth noticing; the method tells you about urgency. Sweeps vs blocks in full →
Premium beats contract count. Ten thousand contracts at $0.03 is $30,000 and usually noise. Two hundred contracts at $14 is $280,000 and someone made a decision. The board above ranks by premium for that reason.
Bought at the ask is the signal. An order lifting the offer is someone who wants the position now. The same size resting at the bid is someone being paid to provide it. Flow that does not distinguish the two is not telling you anything.
Not every call buyer is bullish. A large call sweep can be a hedge against a short stock position, the long leg of a spread, or a roll. The single most common mistake in reading flow is treating one leg of a multi-leg structure as a directional bet.
Context decides meaning. The same sweep means different things depending on where price sits in the options structure. A call sweep into a strike just under a heavy call wall is buying into resistance that dealers are positioned to defend. Check the gamma map for that ticker → before reading any print as a signal.
A scanner is only useful if the filter is honest. This board ranks by total premium and shows sweeps taken at the ask, which is the narrowest useful definition of options order flow worth watching: large, urgent, and paid for. Contract counts and mid-price fills are excluded because they generate volume without telling you who wanted the position.
If you want the same options flow data programmatically rather than on a page, every level behind it is available on the free API with no key, so you can build your own filters on top of it.
The terms get used interchangeably and they are not the same. Options flow is the whole stream. Unusual options activity is the subset that stands out against a contract's own history, typically volume far above its open interest, which implies new positioning rather than someone closing out.
Volume above open interest is the cleanest tell that a position is being opened rather than unwound. Volume vs open interest, explained →
The conviction desk scores every one of these names in real time — net premium, call/put ratio, relative volume and the biggest sweep of the day. Top flow is free to watch.
Data via Polygon · refreshes through the session · educational, not financial advice · options carry a substantial risk of loss.
The largest ask-side sweeps and the gamma levels that matter, sent before the bell. No spam.
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