Unusual options activity, without the casino confetti.
Rank contracts by volume, estimated premium, open-interest pressure, spread quality, and time to expiration. The score is a liquidity and attention filter, not a buy or sell label.
Scanner method
How to read unusual options activity without overfitting the alert
The scanner ranks contracts that deserve review. It does not infer trade direction from volume alone, and it keeps quote quality, DTE, and open-interest context visible so noisy rows are easier to reject.
| Signal | Interpretation | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Volume and premium | Large same-day volume and notional premium identify contracts that deserve inspection before lower-activity contracts. | Large prints are not automatically directional. Confirm side and quote context before treating the row as flow. |
| Volume versus open interest | Volume above open interest can indicate fresh participation or repositioning in a contract. | Open interest updates after the close, so intraday volume/OI pressure is an attention filter rather than proof of new exposure. |
| Spread quality | Tighter bid/ask spreads make the displayed premium and fill assumptions more useful for scanners and alerts. | Wide spreads can turn a visually interesting contract into a poor execution candidate. |
| DTE and moneyness | Short-dated and far-OTM contracts can move quickly, so the scanner keeps DTE, distance, IV, and delta visible. | Short expiry magnifies noise. Treat the score as ranking pressure, not as a trade recommendation. |
Build path
Turn scanner rows into a production workflow
Start with chain snapshots for discovery. Add quote and trade history when alerts need execution-side validation, and keep put/call aggregation separate from individual contract ranking.
Options chain API
Fetch contract-level Greeks, IV, volume, open interest, quotes, and underlying price for a watchlist ticker.
Options liquidity scanner
Rank contracts by spread quality, volume, open interest, delta, and quote context before modeling trades.
Quote vs trade timeline
Validate whether bid, ask, midpoint, and prints support the fill assumption behind an alert.
Put/Call ratio API
Move from single-contract activity to market-wide or ticker-level put/call participation features.
No contracts match the current filters.
Score inputs
Volume, estimated premium, volume/open-interest pressure, spread quality, and DTE are weighted into one scanner score.
Direction limits
Call flow and put flow are shown by contract type. The snapshot does not infer whether trades lifted the ask or hit the bid.
Build path
Use chain snapshots for scanners, then add trades and quotes endpoints when you need execution-side confirmation.