The market snapshot
Below the header, which names the underlying, the expiry and whether you are viewing a snapshot of a past session, a row of cards summarises the selected expiry and strike scope.
| Card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Underlying | The spot or futures level with its percentage change. |
| Max pain | The strike where option writers would pay out the least at expiry. |
| PCR OI | Total put open interest divided by total call open interest for the scope. |
| Call OI and Put OI | Total open interest on each side for the scope. |
| OI change (interval) | The net open-interest change in the selected interval. |
| Call volume and put volume (interval) | Contracts traded on each side in the interval. |
| Selected IV, premium and VWAP | Implied volatility and premium for the selected strikes, and the premium's volume-weighted average. |
Every card is calculated over the strikes you choose, so changing the strike range changes the whole page.
The charts and how to read them
Under Flow and positioning, each measure is plotted against time and compared with the underlying. The panels can be reordered with arrows, and Reset order restores the default layout.
| Chart | What it plots | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| OI Change | Call OI change and put OI change per interval, with the underlying price. | Where positions were added or removed in each bucket. Put additions are often read as support forming and call additions as resistance, though OI alone cannot show who wrote the contracts. |
| PE OI Chg - CE OI Chg | The difference between put and call OI change, with the underlying. | A net view of which side is adding more. A reading that moves opposite to price deserves a closer look. |
| Max Pain | How the max pain strike moves through the day, with the underlying. | A large intraday shift shows the OI picture changing. Price is not obliged to gravitate to it. |
| Open Interest | Total call and total put open interest over time. | Shows how large each side has grown and which side leads. |
| PCR | PCR on OI, on OI change and on volume, with the underlying. | Values above 1 mean more put-side than call-side activity for that measure. The three ratios answer different questions. |
| Volume | Call and put volume traded per interval. | High volume with a price move shows participation; a move on thin volume is less convincing. |
| ATM IV | Implied volatility at the money over time. | Rising ATM IV shows rising uncertainty or demand for options; falling IV shows premium cheapening. |
| ATM Straddle | ATM straddle premium with a VWAP overlay. | Compares the combined premium to its session average, a rough gauge of whether options are rich or cheap for the day. |
By default call series are drawn in red and put series in green, and the Swap colors button reverses this. Check the legend each time instead of relying on colour alone.
Controls that change what you see
- Symbol and expiry. Choose the underlying and the expiry. A multi-expiry blend combines selected expiries in one view for accounts that include it.
- Strike view and strike prices. Pick multiple strikes or a per-strike view, and set the strikes as ATM plus or minus a number of strikes or choose them individually. A follow-underlying option re-centres the ATM window on each timestamp, shown in the chart scope line as Dynamic ATM, so the strikes included can change through the day.
- Interval. Aggregate into 5-minute, 15-minute, 30-minute, 1-hour or 1-day buckets. Shorter buckets show timing; longer ones show direction with less noise.
- Buckets. In Full mode the active bucket is hidden until its time has passed by about 15 seconds, so every bar is complete. In Partial mode the latest bucket shows immediately and can still change.
- Tooltips and per-strike OI. Turn hover tooltips on or off, and show separate OI charts for each selected strike.
- Replay. Choose a historical date, press Play and set the speed, or drag the replay time slider to see how the page looked at a moment in the session.
A routine for reading the page
- Confirm the symbol, expiry, strike range and whether you are in live, snapshot or replay mode.
- Read the snapshot cards for the headline: PCR, max pain, the balance of call and put OI, and the interval change.
- Check ATM IV and the straddle: are options getting more or less expensive than the session average?
- Read OI change and the PE minus CE panel: which side is adding positions, and is it adding on strength or weakness in the underlying?
- Compare the three PCR lines with price. If they disagree, note a divergence to watch, not a signal.
- Use volume to judge participation, and open the option chain or Options Data workspace to inspect the strikes behind the pattern.
Reading it with care
Options Pulse shows aggregates over the strikes you choose, so a different range gives different lines. Open interest has a buyer and a seller for each contract, and the page cannot tell hedges, spreads and outright positions apart. Max pain and PCR levels are descriptive, not targets, and their meaning changes close to expiry when positions are rolled or closed quickly. A sustained shift in OI, PCR and the straddle pointing the same way across several buckets is more informative than a single spike on one panel.