Home › A 7-Step Checklist Before You Trust an Options Flow Screenshot

A 7-Step Checklist Before You Trust an Options Flow Screenshot

Updated October 28, 2026 · Educational guide

Screenshots of “massive call buying” travel fast. Before reading anything into one, walk through these steps.

1. Read the contract: underlying, call/put, strike, expiration and days to expiration.
2. Find the side: did it trade at the ask (aggressive buy), the bid (aggressive sell) or the middle?
3. Compare size with open interest and with typical daily volume for that contract.
4. Translate to premium and compare with how heavily the stock's options normally trade.
5. Check the calendar: earnings, investor days, economic releases.
6. Look for other legs printed at the same moment — spreads change everything.
7. Verify tomorrow: did open interest increase by a similar amount?

If a screenshot omits most of this information, you can't evaluate it — which is itself useful to know.