Watch the tape
Each print is a trade with price, size, and contract identity (underlying, strike, expiry, call/put).
Glossary
What Is Options Flow? Definition for Traders & Developers
Options flow is the live (or delayed) stream of individual option trades — the tape — showing where premium is printing across strikes, expirations, and call/put side.
Unique context: on OptionData, options flow arrives as OPRA-licensed WebSocket prints (~10M+/day) with up to 30+ fields including premium, sentiment, and Greeks — not just end-of-day aggregate volume.
How options flow is used
Flow helps desks and apps see aggression and positioning as it happens, then confirm whether patterns repeat in history.
Measure premium
Premium (roughly size × price × multiplier) ranks economic significance beyond raw contract count.
Add analytics fields
Greeks and IV on the print help estimate directional vs volatility intent when building scanners.
Validate historically
Replay similar conditions with SQL on stored trades (2.8B+ on OptionData) before automating alerts.
Options flow vs related concepts
- Options flow = sequence of trades (prints), often real-time
- Volume = summed contracts over a period (daily/aggregate)
- Open interest = open contracts, not the same as today’s prints
- Unusual activity = flow filtered by rules (premium, sweeps, DTE, etc.)
- Option chain = snapshot of quotes/Greeks across strikes at a point in time
- API access: WebSocket for flow, SQL for history, REST for chains
Example: summarize today’s flow premium by side
-- Reconstruct session flow intensity for a symbol
SELECT
symbol,
side,
count() AS prints,
sum(size * price * 100) AS premium
FROM RawOptionTrades
WHERE date = today() AND symbol = 'SPY'
GROUP BY symbol, side
ORDER BY premium DESC;Put the definition to work
Move from definition to APIs and workflows with unique product pages.
Options flow FAQ
What is options flow in simple terms?
Options flow is the stream of individual option trades as they occur. It shows which contracts are trading, at what size and price, so traders can infer where money is moving in the options market.
Is options flow the same as options volume?
No. Volume aggregates contracts over a window. Flow is the trade-by-trade sequence (the tape). You can compute volume from flow, but volume alone loses timing and print-level detail.
How do developers access options flow data?
Typically via a streaming API. OptionData exposes OPRA-licensed U.S. equity option trades over WebSocket with filters and analytics fields, plus SQL history for research.
Why do flow tools show premium and Greeks?
Premium ranks economic size; Greeks and IV help interpret whether activity looks directional or volatility-driven. OptionData can attach these fields to qualifying prints and chain snapshots.