Reading an order
What a row tells you: the side, the tags, the Flow Score, and the contract view that opens when you click it.
- A row is one order: the contract, the size, the fill against the quote, and the money.
- The side says where the fill sat: at the ask leans bought, at the bid leans sold.
- Tags and the Flow Score sort out sweeps, spreads, unusual size and how directional an order looks.
- Click a row for the contract drilldown: its whole day, every fill and its history.
What a row shows
- Ticker, with ×N when several fills were joined into one order. Click the ticker to show only that symbol.
- Strike, C/P, Exp and DTE: the contract. Today's expiration (a DTE of 0) is highlighted.
- Fill and Bid · Ask: the price paid and the quote at that moment.
- Size and Premium: contracts, and the money that changed hands. Premium is bold from $1M and gold from $5M.
- Vol, OI and V/OI: the contract's volume today, its open interest, and their ratio (above 1× it stands out).
- Orders bigger than the contract's open interest get a tinted row and an accent bar.
The side
| Side | Where the fill sat |
|---|---|
| Above ask·Ask | At or above the ask: the buyer paid up, so most likely a purchase. |
| Mid | Near the middle of the quote: no clear read. |
| Bid·Below bid | At or below the bid: the seller gave way, so most likely a sale. |
Calls bought and puts sold lean bullish; calls sold and puts bought lean bearish. A lean is a starting point, not a fact about the trader: bought puts are also the most common way to protect shares.
Tags
| Tag | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sweep | Filled across several exchanges in the same instant: someone chose speed over price. |
| Block | One large print that is not a sweep. |
| Stock | Traded together with shares. |
| Strategy names | One leg of a larger order, such as Vertical, Calendar, Straddle, Iron condor, or Multi-leg. Read the legs together: one leg's side can mislead. |
| Cross·Auction·Floor | How the order was matched. Crosses are arranged in advance and have no side. |
| Vol>OI·Size>OI | Today's volume, or this order alone, is above the open interest: likely new positions. The next day's open interest is the check. |
| Repeat ×N | Earlier orders on the same side of the same contract in the last 30 minutes. |
Hover any tag for its explanation in the app.
The Flow Score
Every order gets a score from −100 (looks strongly bearish) to +100 (looks strongly bullish). Its direction comes from the type and the side; how far it goes depends on the conviction the order shows: how aggressive the fill was, whether it swept, how far out of the money, how soon it expires, its size against the symbol's typical order, and implied volatility. Hover a score to see its breakdown.
The contract drilldown
Click a row to open its contract: the symbol, strike, type and expiration, the days to expiry and the underlying's price. Day before and Day after step through days with flow.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Contract flow | Volume over time in Contracts or Premium, split by bid, mid and ask, over 1D·5D·20D·90D·1Y and more, with average-price and IV lines. Click an intraday bar to list its trades, or a daily bar to open that day. |
| The underlying | The symbol's Net premium through the day, or its premium By strike. |
| Orders | The day's orders of $10K and more, sortable. |
| Trades | Every fill in the bar you picked, small ones included, to the millisecond. |
| Vol / OI history | Day by day: volume, open interest and its change, prices, IV and premium. Click a day to open it. |
Go in with a question that could come out either way, such as "was this contract bought all day, or only in this order?", and let the history answer. More on reading flow is in the Academy's Flow track.
Still stuck? Ask in the TrueGEX Discord, or write to [email protected].