Unusual Option Activity Scanner for ThinkorSwim

[rad14733]

Is there a way to find UOA in single transactions? ie, OI =< 1000, find any transactions that => 3xOI?

We don't have the ability to query historic Time and Sales transactions, only the current Open Interest and Volume...

 

[theelderwand]

@alsniper What does golden sweep mean ?

 

[BenTen]

@theelderwand @XeoNoX Golden sweeps are as defined by FlowAlgo:

Option orders worth at least $1M, Volume > Open Interest, and filled via multi-exchange.

 

[XeoNoX]

@theelderwand @XeoNoX Golden sweeps are as defined by FlowAlgo:

a proprietarily filtered (in this case FlowAlgo) type of ISO transactions, nothing special you can filter ISO transactions yourself by your criteria and call them Platinum Sweeps, Mega Sweeps, just some gimmicky name for what the end of the day are filtered ISO transactions.

 

[Breakout Trader]

Not sure how to insert photos, it keeps showing for a link and i only know how to take screen shot, copy and paste. hope someone can find this info without photo. my UO Put scanner brings up two AAPL Puts Expiry March 12-2021, Strike $119 and strike $118, i go to the option chain and im able to find those two puts with over 10,000 and more than 19,000 traded but when i go to time and sales i cant find either one of them. does anyone know why that might be?

 

[XeoNoX]

Not sure how to insert photos, it keeps showing for a link and i only know how to take screen shot, copy and paste. hope someone can find this info without photo. my UO Put scanner brings up two AAPL Puts Expiry March 12-2021, Strike $119 and strike $118, i go to the option chain and im able to find those two puts with over 10,000 and more than 19,000 traded but when i go to time and sales i cant find either one of them. does anyone know why that might be?

condition is checked or unchecked may fix it, screenshot wouldhelp more to what you are trying to express

 

[Breakout Trader]

condition is checked or unchecked may fix it, screenshot wouldhelp more to what you are trying to express

Condition not checked, nothing checked

 

[XeoNoX]

Condition not checked, nothing checked

youre going to have to post a image of what your trying to explain,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_55eg00H-w

https://usethinkscript.com/threads/how-to-insert-image-in-a-post-thread.277/

thats how you post a image

 

[Breakout Trader]

AAPL shows Calls @118 and 119 in the scan

they do show up in the option chain

cant find any of those trades in the time and sales

 

[XeoNoX]

@Break Trader​

in my post #44 you will see a red arrow pointing to the right, click where the circle is and remove any check marks or click CLEAR ALL FILTERS and it should show you everything

or you can filter it specifically by choosing the series and strike as shown below in the screenshot

 

[Breakout Trader]

there arent any checks on the filter, i only sorted those by trade size, when through and checked 1 at a time separately to try and find those trades then i tried by checking all, but you are seeing it with no checks
I also noticed this morning that AAPL had 32,090 volume on the March 12 $120 calls, im pretty sure to reach a number like that you would probably have some pretty sizable blocks and that wasnt on the scanner or in the time and sales

 

[XeoNoX]

the scanner returns total volume for the day, times and sales returns the transactions. just because there was 32,090 doesnt mean that there had to be any blocks, its possible to have blocks and its possible to not have blocks. you might see a few sweeps split up but its something you have to get used to how to look for.

 

[Breakout Trader]

the scanner returns total volume for the day, times and sales returns the transactions. just because there was 32,090 doesn't mean that there had to be any blocks, its possible to have blocks and its possible to not have blocks. you might see a few sweeps split up but its something you have to get used to how to look for.

The scanner is new for me, I have always just used the Time and Sales, i was hoping the scanner would returns blocks, i know sweeps will be very hard to detect in the scan. Thank you

 

[XeoNoX]

The scanner is new for me, I have always just used the Time and Sales, i was hoping the scanner would returns blocks, i know sweeps will be very hard to detect in the scan. Thank you

(yes there are ways you can tell but it comes with experience). ....it shows you the blocks as well if you can find them, they are harder to distinguish than the sweeps, times and sales is just time and sales and it just shows you the ALL "raw transactions" including blocks, sweeps, conditional, non conditional, etc, pretty much shows you everything but T&S will not distinguish it for you, its up to you to figure it out...... what you looking for appears to be a block or sweep scanner that tell you if its a block or sweep and for that you would have to pay for a service that does that if you cant figure it out on your own

this should explain to you how T&S works
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/time-and-sales.asp

 

[Breakout Trader]

Hey guys, thank you all for your hard work and sharing, i have been working with this scan a bit and i have found that for the most part that if I use "delta" minimum .21 to max .55 i stay within the expected move for that particular period. not sure if anyone will find this helpful but wanted to share.

 

[Jonas99]

@luiscervantes30 There's almost nobody who can tell you if an UOA is a buy call or a sell call. The best indication is some services that provide if the trade got filled at ask or big which can give a clue. But that's still the best guess unfortunately.

@theelderwand do you still use the UOA scanner? I find scanner is confusing to me as exactly you pointed out as we don't know if it is a sell or buy call. If you do use scan, how do you implement the result without knowing if it's covered call or opening call and etc? TIA

 

[theelderwand]

I use the scanner in conjunction with other data, dark pool, WSJ, Benzinga, Chart patterns to see if i want to enter.

 

[luiscervantes30]

I'm just curious. Looking at this scanner, I get some call options. What I cannot find is are they buying or selling, is that possible?

Buying or selling you can only find out after the fact see what time order comes in and what the stock does if they bought at the bid or ask sometimes that is a tell tell to what direction.

 

[venkym]

Lots of buzz around Unusual Option Activity (UOA) so thought I'll share out this scanner that I fine tuned for my personal use.

The scanner looks for the following:

1. Option Volume of 10k or more
2. OI of 5k or less - Usually indicates fresh volume coming in or the part where Unusual comes from
3. Delta 0 -> 40 - You can fine tune this as you see fit. I try to stay close to the money
4. DTE 14 -> 100 - Best for getting long term ones that come here

This is just a starter to filter through and analyze how to play the UOA. Use this as a starter to find the options and then drill down. Best used on "All stocks", the indices are too noisy with many players whose underlying intentions are usually unclear.

Example from today:

Option chain for ELY:

As you can see there's already good OI in 20 and 21 in the call side and 22 has 10K volume come in with 1K OI. And on the PUT side you don't see much interest. This is an entry I'll try and test it.

There could be other things that might come into play as well, but nevertheless it's a good way to track how Unusual Option Activity shows it's hands and potentially give an insight into following smart money.

Share link: http://tos.mx/REAjsH9

Good one & add BTD in the scanner column if its below 5 & verify charts quickly to confirm the trend.

 

[ILIKESTOCKS]

Lots of buzz around Unusual Option Activity (UOA) so thought I'll share out this scanner that I fine tuned for my personal use.

The scanner looks for the following:

1. Option Volume of 10k or more
2. OI of 5k or less - Usually indicates fresh volume coming in or the part where Unusual comes from
3. Delta 0 -> 40 - You can fine tune this as you see fit. I try to stay close to the money
4. DTE 14 -> 100 - Best for getting long term ones that come here

This is just a starter to filter through and analyze how to play the UOA. Use this as a starter to find the options and then drill down. Best used on "All stocks", the indices are too noisy with many players whose underlying intentions are usually unclear.

Example from today:

Option chain for ELY:

As you can see there's already good OI in 20 and 21 in the call side and 22 has 10K volume come in with 1K OI. And on the PUT side you don't see much interest. This is an entry I'll try and test it.

There could be other things that might come into play as well, but nevertheless it's a good way to track how Unusual Option Activity shows it's hands and potentially give an insight into following smart money.

Share link: http://tos.mx/REAjsH9

Why is delta only .40 and if we raise it higher what are the ramifications of that in your opinion. What do you mean "I try and stay close to the money?"