TOOLS — ORDER FLOW

Flow Tape: Real-Time Options Order Flow

The Flow Tape displays a live feed of notable options trades as they happen during market hours, enriched with server-side classification including sweep detection, OI exceedance flags, and dealer side inference.

What It Shows

Every options trade above $25,000 notional value appears on the Flow Tape in real-time. Each entry shows the ticker, strike, expiration, call or put, size, premium, and whether the trade hit the bid or the ask.

Server-Side Enrichment

Unlike flow tools that dump raw data to your browser, Gamma Sonar enriches every trade at the server before you see it. This includes: sweep/block classification (detecting multi-exchange sweeps), OI exceedance flags (when trade size exceeds existing open interest), ITM/ATM/OTM classification, dealer side inference (estimating which side the dealer is on), and wall proximity tagging (flagging trades near structural levels).

Reading the Tape

ASK-side trades (green) hit or crossed the ask — commonly interpreted as buyer-initiated. BID-side trades (red) hit the bid — commonly interpreted as seller-initiated. This classification uses the Lee-Ready tick test and is an estimate, not a certainty.

What Flow Cannot Tell You

You cannot determine intent from a single trade. A large call purchase might be bullish speculation, a hedge against a short stock position, one leg of a spread, or a roll from one expiry to another. The Flow Tape shows what happened — not why it happened. Trade classification (buyer vs. seller) is estimated and may not always be accurate.

CONTINUE READING

Dealer Hedging
Why flow matters structurally
What Is GEX?
Structural positioning context
Pressure Field
See flow in structural context

See the Structure Live

Gamma Sonar recomputes GEX from live greeks every 60 seconds on SPX, SPY, QQQ, and major indices — plus 90+ additional tickers on 5-minute cycles.

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Gamma Sonar provides structural analytics for educational purposes only. Not financial advice. All models involve assumptions. Past patterns do not guarantee future results.