Learn Center
Live Flow
See the options activity behind the names you already watch.
How do you read live options flow?
Live options flow is the real-time tape of listed options prints. Each print is one fill: the underlying, the strike, call or put, expiration, size, premium, and where the fill sat versus the bid and ask. The public tape mixes hedges, spread legs, and market-maker activity with directional bets. That is why a large print is a prompt to look closer, not an order to follow.
Premium and size tell you whether enough capital moved to care. Side tells you whether the fill leaned toward the ask, the bid, or the middle of the spread. Order tags such as sweep or block describe how the trade was executed, not the trader's thesis. Expiration and how far the strike sits from spot tell you whether the activity is short-dated and tactical or further out.
On EZPZ, Live Flow is that full tape for the names you filter to. Unusual Activity keeps only large, sweep, and block prints. Unusual Activity Intraday is the session scan with a date range. $1M Plus Flow keeps only prints that already clear a million dollars of premium. 0DTE Flow keeps only prints that expire today. SPX and SPY Flow locks the same tape to SPX, SPXW, and SPY. Option Chain is the contract book for one ticker, not the tape.
How Live Flow works on EZPZ
Each row is one print: the contract, the size, the premium, and the tags that describe how it traded. It is not a score. Most people start with premium and size. If a row looks interesting, read SIDE, ORDER, LEGS, and DIRECTION next. When the full tape is too much, filter to a ticker you already care about, turn on sweeps, or raise the premium floor.
How Live Flow differs from Unusual Activity
Live Flow is the unfiltered options tape for whatever you filter to. Unusual Activity is already limited to Large, Sweep, and Block. $1M Plus Flow is the same tape with a fixed $1M premium floor. 0DTE Flow is the same tape locked to same-day expiration. Use Live Flow when you want every matching print, including the quieter ones around a standout. Use Unusual Activity when you only want the loud rows. SPX and SPY Flow is Live Flow with the universe locked to the S&P 500. Option Chain is the listed strikes for one ticker, not the prints.
Anatomy of a print
Read a row left to right: when it printed, what traded, then how it was executed. You do not need every column on every print. Use the tabs if you want a map of the fields.
These columns answer what printed, and when.
| Column | What you are looking at |
|---|---|
| TIME | When the print hit the tape. |
| TICKER | The underlying. Click it to open that name's option chain on EZPZ. |
| SIDE | ASK, BID, or MID. That is where the fill sat versus the quote. |
| STRIKE C/P | Strike price, and whether it is a call or a put. |
| EXPIRATION DTE | Expiration date and days left. A 0 here is usually same-day (0DTE) activity. |
These columns help you decide if the print is large enough to spend time on.
| Column | What you are looking at |
|---|---|
| SIZE | How many contracts printed. |
| PREMIUM | Dollar premium. This is the quickest way to rank the tape. |
| VOLUME | Volume on that contract. |
| OTM(%) | How far the strike is from the underlying, as a percent. |
| BID-ASK SPOT | The quoted spread, and the underlying price at the print. |
| FILL VS SPREAD | A bar showing where the fill landed in the spread. Green leans toward the ask. Red leans toward the bid. |
Tags describe the print. They do not score it, and they do not tell you the trader's reason.
| Column | What you are looking at |
|---|---|
| LEGS | SL is a single-leg print. ML means it looks like a multi-leg structure. |
| DIRECTION | Bullish, bearish, or neutral label on the row. |
| ORDER | How the print was classified when we have it: Normal, Floor, Sweep, Cross, Late, or Block. |
| TYPE | Extra markers on the row, like LARGE. |
Filter the tape
Click Filters in the toolbar. That drawer is how you cut a noisy tape down to a watchlist name, a sweep hunt, or a size screen. Reset puts the defaults back.
Toggles
- Option type: Calls and puts, on or off independently.
- Direction: Bullish, bearish, and neutral row labels.
- Order type: Normal, Floor, Sweep, Cross, Late, Block. Turn Normal off if you only want classified prints like sweeps and blocks.
Ranges
- Search ticker: Limit the tape to one underlying. The same search also lives in the toolbar.
- Strike, premium, volume, size, spot: Min and max. Leave a field empty and there is no cap on that side (shown as infinity).
On the toolbar you can also change how many rows you see (50 is a common setting), which columns are visible, and the text size. Those controls do not live in the Filters drawer.
Stay live
The right side of the toolbar controls whether the tape keeps moving:
- Live: newer matching trades can show up during market hours.
- Paused: the tape freezes so a row does not scroll away while you read it.
- Prev / Next: page toward newer or older prints that still match your filters.
How people actually use it
Watch one name
Filter to a ticker already on your radar. Leave Live on while you work the chart. You are listening for that name, not the whole market.
Start with size
Keep the $20k premium floor, or raise it. Add Sweep and Block when you care about urgency, not just dollars.
Sit with one print
Read SIDE, ORDER, LEGS, DIRECTION, DTE, and OTM. Then click TICKER to open the option chain and compare nearby flow.
Use it next to everything else
Live Flow is a tape, not a setup. Keep it open beside the chart, Unusual Activity, and gamma tools. One print means "look here," not "buy this."