Option Flow Sentiment Indicator for ThinkorSwim

[Camelotnite]

Is this like checking TOS top sizzling stocks.. and look for unusual option volume. eg. EQT with 16434 at 15 NOV 9 PUTS @ $0.80

 

[astrokjackk1]

Hi Steve what platforms are you using to find unusual options activity?

 

[MasterSteve]

How are you calculating position size?

Couple things. I'm running this how I would run about a $5,000 account. Play sizes typically land at about $250-600 each. Smaller plays I'll run a few contracts up to get into that range, and may go more if the play looks better. Some of the more expensive plays happen because of the stock value or me trying to get a different strike to be safer, but I typically play sizes in the $250-600 range. Now, if you're running a bigger account its pretty easy to scale up, keeping everything in a bigger adjusted range.

 

[MasterSteve]

Hi Steve what platforms are you using to find unusual options activity?

My original post https://usethinkscript.com/threads/using-flow-data-to-make-profit-strategy-in-testing-update.724/ can answer that question. Lmk if you have any others.

 

[MasterSteve]

Is this like checking TOS top sizzling stocks.. and look for unusual option volume. eg. EQT with 16434 at 15 NOV 9 PUTS @ $0.80

Short answer, similar but not really and much more effective. I'll give you a detailed answer tonight when I get some time.

 

[MBF]

Yeah TOS flow isnt great, gotta say. I was watching another flow while watching TOS's today.
Maybe I don't have it set up right but not one time did I see a $SPY sweep or block on TOS, while the other was showing a decent amount.

 

[MasterSteve]

Is this like checking TOS top sizzling stocks.. and look for unusual option volume. eg. EQT with 16434 at 15 NOV 9 PUTS @ $0.80

I tried to load TOS top sizzling stocks for unusual option volume and it took surprisingly long to load anything more than the top 10 stocks. Maybe it was just my TOS setup, but there's one difference between our programs. I can scan the entire option flow of the market in like a second.
Second, I don't think just finding a position with a large amount of call or put volume could give you an idea of what future movement could be. It is very common to have an unusual amount of a flow in a position only to find that was a hedge or part of a strangle. Just comparing the ratios won't tell you much. At that point you would check time and sales to see if you could find out what the trader was thinking. Can you see time and sales for previous days?
I can scan through time and sales to filter out the 80% of flow I don't care about so I can just focus on what I think is important. Being able to easily and effectively sort through thousands of data points at any given point with custom scanners that I can tweak makes the expense I pay every month worth it to me.
That's my opinion after messing around with it for a couple hours and seeing what other people do with it. Does that help or should I make a separate post to answer your question with more detail?

 

[Camelotnite]

I tried. to load TOS top sizzling stocks for unusual option volume and it took surprisingly long to load anything more than the top 10 stocks. Maybe it was just my TOS setup, but there's one difference between our programs. I can scan the entire option flow of the market in like a second.
Second, I don't think just finding a position with a large amount of call or put volume could give you an idea of what future movement could be. It is very common to have an unusual amount of a flow in a position only to find that was a hedge or part of a strangle. Just comparing the ratios won't tell you much. At that point you would check time and sales to see if you could find out what the trader was thinking. Can you see time and sales for previous days?
I can scan through time and sales to filter out the 80% of flow I don't care about so I can just focus on what I think is important. Being able to easily and effectively sort through thousands of data points at any given point with custom scanners that I can tweak makes the expense I pay every month worth it to me.
That's my opinion after messing around with it for a couple hours and seeing what other people do with it. Does that help or should I make a separate post to answer your question with more detail?

Steve, thank so much for your inputs. There isn't much materials detailed enough to explain exactly how order flow strategy works. From your generous reply, it does help me have better understanding. And I found some interesting youtubes on flowalgo (

) and blackbox (

). Example of the paid services able to push out alerts on unusual trades is really mind blowing. Conceptually I think now I kinda know how it works. I agree TOS does not provide the edge as compared to the paid services. You mentioned your preference is CBOE, but I cannot find much training videos. I would like to learn more about order flow strategy before choosing the paid services. Especially on how to dive into more details to filter out noise to find stocks that are about to move. Would very much appreciate if you are able to advise where to find more learning resources or starting platform (flowalgo/CBOE/Blackbox) for beginners. Once again, thanks so much for sharing your amazing work.

 

[John808]

Steve, thank so much for your inputs. There isn't much materials detailed enough to explain exactly how order flow strategy works. From your generous reply, it does help me have better understanding. And I found some interesting youtubes on flowalgo (

) and blackbox (

). Example of the paid services able to push out alerts on unusual trades is really mind blowing. Conceptually I think now I kinda know how it works. I agree TOS does not provide the edge as compared to the paid services. You mentioned your preference is CBOE, but I cannot find much training videos. I would like to learn more about order flow strategy before choosing the paid services. Especially on how to dive into more details to filter out noise to find stocks that are about to move. Would very much appreciate if you are able to advise where to find more learning resources or starting platform (flowalgo/CBOE/Blackbox) for beginners. Once again, thanks so much for sharing your amazing work.

Blackbox will sometimes offer a 1-2 week free trial for their services. I've seen their trial period announced on the blackbox twitter account, might want to check there or shoot them a message. They also included videos on how to use the blackbox platform.

Also Flowalgo offers a 7-day free trial.

 

[Mordoor]

I have been using a service called https://www.blackboxstocks.com/. It is $99.97 p/mo and is the best market scanning software I have seen yet that is available to the retail trader. I mainly use the options flow tool that provides real time flow of unusual options activity. It scans the entire options market in real time. You can see the option flow in the stocks that the Najarian brothers talk about on CNBC before they even come on the show. They also have a discord room that provides many trading ideas. Check out some of their videos on Youtube. It also has dark pool prints which combined with option flow is very helpful.

 

[prasch]

Awesome, Master Steve, thanks for helping every one out.

 

[prasch]

Have anyone developed a scan in tos for UOA? Thanks

 

[MasterSteve]

Have anyone developed a scan in tos for UOA? Thanks

That question may be better posted in Indicators. I don't have one.

 

[MasterSteve]

Steve, thank so much for your inputs. There isn't much materials detailed enough to explain exactly how order flow strategy works. From your generous reply, it does help me have better understanding. And I found some interesting youtubes on flowalgo (

) and blackbox (

). Example of the paid services able to push out alerts on unusual trades is really mind blowing. Conceptually I think now I kinda know how it works. I agree TOS does not provide the edge as compared to the paid services. You mentioned your preference is CBOE, but I cannot find much training videos. I would like to learn more about order flow strategy before choosing the paid services. Especially on how to dive into more details to filter out noise to find stocks that are about to move. Would very much appreciate if you are able to advise where to find more learning resources or starting platform (flowalgo/CBOE/Blackbox) for beginners. Once again, thanks so much for sharing your amazing work.

There aren't any/many training videos on CBOE because they keep everything related to that service pretty locked up. They've got a bunch of training that you can access once you have their program, and anything you have questions about can be answered by one of their support agents. Resources wise, I would recommend you do each trial and try to learn as much as you can about each program. A lot of it is trial and error, and spending time trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. If that's not enough or specific enough for you, I'll be providing more information about these trades as the trial period continues on. I'll be running a $1000 account based solely on this data and will send out weekly trade recaps for interesting positions I think are worth learning about.

 

[MasterSteve]

I have been using a service called https://www.blackboxstocks.com/. It is $99.97 p/mo and is the best market scanning software I have seen yet that is available to the retail trader. I mainly use the options flow tool that provides real time flow of unusual options activity. It scans the entire options market in real time. You can see the option flow in the stocks that the Najarian brothers talk about on CNBC before they even come on the show. They also have a discord room that provides many trading ideas. Check out some of their videos on Youtube. It also has dark pool prints which combined with option flow is very helpful.

@John808 and @Mordoor I have been used flowalgo and blackbox stocks in the past, but not using as extensively as the things I am currently doing. I wasn't that impressed with Blackbox stocks. Blackbox does provide a significant amount of unusual options data, but it was hard to pick out what was useful and what wasn't out of the hundreds of alerts. Felt pretty similar about the dark pool prints, they were easy to be misread. Also, I couldn't make custom alerts to what I wanted to search for. However, its been a little while since I've played with blackbox and maybe it has improved since then. Plenty of ways to make money, different things work for different people. How have the alerts helped you trade?

 

[codydog]

you probably do this on a spreadsheet, but it would be helpful to see the IV and delta when you enter/exit trades

 

[MasterSteve]

you probably do this on a spreadsheet, but it would be helpful to see the IV and delta when you enter/exit trades

I do keep track of my entries and exits on a spreadsheet for personal use, but I don't track IV and delta nor have any plans to in the near future. I keep very busy tracking and noting the current flow, as well as testing/tweaking for this strategy and some future projects I have.

 

[mastaandy]

@MasterSteve do you follow the large institution trades exactly (same strike/exp) or do you use a shorter timeframe and close strike? And if so, how do you determine when to use a closer exp

 

[MasterSteve]

@MasterSteve do you follow the large institution trades exactly (same strike/exp) or do you use a shorter timeframe and close strike? And if so, how do you determine when to use a closer exp

I typically follow the large institution trades and only follow the ones that fit the price I feel comfortable with. For this swing strategy, I rarely if ever take the closer exp. and almost always take the farther exp. This strategy is not a get rich quick strategy. It takes a bunch of smaller plays and using a strict observation to risk management turns it into a steady safer profit. I almost always want more time for the positions to play out and be safer, than risk more for more reward. More info on this in the coming weeks when I switch to a real account.

 

[mikeraya]

MasterSteve, do you give alerts to paying members when you enter the trades vs. summaries at the end of the day?