> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.unusualwhales.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> API requests use the base URL https://api.unusualwhales.com and require a bearer token in the `Authorization` header (`Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>`). Create and manage API tokens at https://unusualwhales.com/dashboard/api.
> For live market data inside an AI tool, use the Unusual Whales MCP server at https://unusualwhales.com/public-api/mcp.
> Instructions for agents using Unusual Whales tools: https://unusualwhales.com/skill.md

# Knowledge Base

> Consolidated Unusual Whales reference: a trading and finance glossary, options and flow concepts, greeks and volatility, and API, data, and account guides.

A consolidated reference for Unusual Whales: a trading and finance glossary, options and flow concepts, greeks and volatility, and API, data, and account guides. Each entry links to its source article on the site.

## Trading & Finance Glossary

### 13F Filings: What Are They, Who Files, and What Do They Reveal?

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/13f-filings-what-are-they-who-needs-to-file-and-what-can-be-gleaned](https://unusualwhales.com/information/13f-filings-what-are-they-who-needs-to-file-and-what-can-be-gleaned)*

A Form 13F is a quarterly SEC report that institutional investment managers with \$100 million or more in qualifying assets must file, disclosing their equity holdings, position sizes, and market values. Traders use it to track what large funds and "super investors" like Berkshire Hathaway or Bridgewater are buying, spot emerging institutional trends, and cross-check their own thesis on a stock. It leaves out short positions, most derivatives, bonds, foreign securities, and cash, so it's a partial and dated picture rather than a live one, and some managers "window dress" positions before quarter-end.

**Key point:** Filings are due 45 days after each quarter ends (May 15, Aug 14, Nov 14, Feb 14), so the disclosed positions are always at least six weeks old by the time they're public.

### After-Hours (AH)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/after-hours-ah](https://unusualwhales.com/information/after-hours-ah)*

After-hours trading is buying and selling stocks outside the standard 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET session, split into pre-market (before the open) and after-market (after the close). Traders use these windows to react to news, earnings, or global events ahead of the next regular session. Liquidity is generally thinner and bid-ask spreads wider than during regular hours, which makes price moves choppier, and earnings timing can thin liquidity further.

**Key point:** Lower liquidity and wider spreads mean the same order size moves price more in after-hours trading than in the regular session.

### Arbitrage (incl. dividend arbitrage)

*One-line note: what arbitrage is, and how dividend arbitrage shows up in options flow. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Arbitrage is buying and selling the same, or economically equivalent, asset in different markets at the same time to capture a price gap between them. Dividend arbitrage is a specific, options-based version of that idea, built around the mechanics of dividend payouts rather than a direct cross-exchange price gap.

**Arbitrage**

Arbitrage means simultaneously buying and selling an asset in different markets to profit from a price discrepancy between them. For example, if a stock is trading at $100 on the NYSE but $100.50 on a foreign exchange, an arbitrage trader could buy at $100 and immediately sell at $100.50 for a profit. It matters as a way to profit from short-lived pricing inefficiencies without taking a directional view on the asset.

Arbitrage is common in stocks, forex, and options, but these gaps are now mostly closed within milliseconds by high-frequency trading algorithms. Genuine, risk-free arbitrage is rarely available to a manual trader in liquid markets today.

**Key point:** High-frequency algorithms dominate modern arbitrage, so the classic manual "buy here, sell there" version is largely gone from liquid markets.

**Dividend Arbitrage**

Dividend arbitrage is a market-neutral options trade that has no directional bias. It seeks to exploit the market mechanics behind dividend payouts rather than a price gap between exchanges.

**When it happens.** The trade takes place on the session before a stock goes ex-dividend. If \$AAPL's ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 10, the dividend trade happens on Tuesday, January 9. If the ex-dividend date falls on a Monday, the trade happens the previous Friday.

**What it looks like.** A trader opens a deep in-the-money (ITM) call debit spread on the equity that trades ex-dividend the next session. This spread can be opened as a single multileg trade, or legged into via two separate single-leg trades. Because the strikes are deep ITM, the total premium transacted can run into the millions, or tens of millions, of dollars.

This activity can trip volume or premium scanners even though it carries no directional bias. As an example, $AVGO saw 3.5x its 30-day average options volume around a round of dividend-arbitrage call activity ahead of its June 20 ex-dividend date (with the market closed June 19 for the holiday). In that instance the call spreads were legged in via single-leg trades. A separate example on $RTX in 2024 showed the spreads opened outright as multileg trades instead.

**What actually happens.** After opening the spread, the trader exercises the long call, which leaves them long stock and short the corresponding calls. Because OCC assignment is random, there's no guarantee the trader gets assigned on their full short call position. If they're assigned on fewer than the full position, the calls they remain short on lose value as the share price drops on the ex-dividend date, while the loss on their long stock position is offset by the dividend they receive. Two traders acting as counterparties to each other's trade is common; certain options exchanges incentivize this activity with reduced fees, which is effectively the only way the trade turns a profit. Open interest on the exercised contracts typically drops off sharply afterward, as arbitrageurs compete with each other for the available open interest.

**Simple hypothetical.** Market Maker Jack buys a call spread from Market Maker Jill, who in turn buys a call spread from Jack, the day before ex-div. Both exercise their long calls. Now short the call legs of their spreads (and long stock from the exercised calls), they hope OCC assignment lands on fewer than their full short position. If it does, they end up short some calls and long shares, collecting the dividend on those shares. Any remaining options exposure can be hedged by buying inexpensive puts, legging into the "conversion" side of a reversal/conversion trade. The large volume of the trade crowds out the original natural short-call open interest, effectively transferring most of the profitable short-call, long-stock position to the two traders running the strategy.

**Advanced hypothetical.** Stock XYZ trades at $50 and is about to pay a $0.10 per share dividend. Assume Market Makers A and B agree to run the dividend trade in the $40 calls, where open interest starts the day at 10,000 contracts. A and B trade the $40 calls back and forth, each ending the day long 500,000 contracts and short 500,000 contracts. On the exercise date, 90% of the original open interest pool (9,000 of the 10,000 contracts) exercises their calls. A and B exercise all of their long positions, going long the corresponding stock, and their outcome from there depends on how the OCC randomly assigns their short calls, exactly as in the simple hypothetical above.

**Key point:** This strategy isn't replicable profitably by retail traders. Heavy ITM call volume the day before an ex-dividend date is a market-mechanics signal, not a directional one.

### Asset Allocation

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/asset-allocation](https://unusualwhales.com/information/asset-allocation)*

Asset allocation is how an investor splits a portfolio across asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, cash, and real estate, to manage risk and target returns. The right mix depends on risk tolerance, time horizon, and financial goals, for example a conservative investor holding more bonds and an aggressive investor holding more stocks. Proper allocation is the main lever for reducing portfolio volatility and cushioning against market downturns.

**Key point:** There's no universal "correct" allocation; it should shift with an investor's own risk tolerance, time horizon, and goals.

### Bonds, Yields, and Par Value

*One-line note: how bonds work, how corporate bonds are rated, how yield is measured, and what par value means. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Bonds are fixed-income securities representing a loan from an investor to a government, corporation, or other entity, paid back through coupon payments and return of principal at maturity. This page covers bond mechanics generally, the corporate bond credit-rating scale, how bond yield is measured and why it matters for the economy, and what par value means for both bonds and stocks.

**Bonds**

Bonds are fixed-income securities: in exchange for lending money, the bondholder receives regular interest payments (coupon payments) and gets the principal back when the bond matures. They're generally considered lower risk than stocks because of that steady income and defined repayment structure, though bond prices still fluctuate based on interest rates, inflation, and credit risk, meaning they aren't fixed after issuance.

Common types include government bonds (like U.S. Treasuries), municipal bonds, and corporate bonds. Investors use bonds for portfolio diversification, income generation, and capital preservation, especially during market downturns.

**Key point:** Bond prices aren't fixed after issuance; they still fluctuate with rate, inflation, and credit-risk changes.

**Corporate Bonds**

A corporate bond is a debt instrument a company issues to raise capital. Investors who buy corporate bonds lend money to the company in exchange for periodic coupon interest and repayment of principal at maturity.

Corporate bonds are classified by credit rating: investment-grade bonds (AAA to BBB-) are considered lower risk, while high-yield, or "junk," bonds (BB+ and below) carry more default risk in exchange for higher interest payments. Unlike stocks, corporate bonds provide fixed income, which is why conservative investors use them for stability and predictable returns.

**Key point:** The rating split at BBB-/BB+ is the line between investment-grade and high-yield ("junk") corporate bonds.

**Bond Yield**

Bond yield is the return an investor earns from holding a bond, expressed as a percentage. It's most commonly measured as current yield (annual interest payment divided by bond price) or yield to maturity (YTM), which factors in all remaining payments and the bond's final value.

Bond yields move inversely to bond prices: when interest rates rise, existing bond prices fall, and yields rise. Economists track bond yields to gauge market conditions, and watch specifically for a yield curve inversion, when short-term yields (like the 2-year Treasury) rise above long-term yields (like the 10-year Treasury). This has historically been a strong recession predictor, since it signals investors expect slower economic growth and lower interest rates ahead.

**Key point:** A 2-year yield rising above the 10-year yield (a yield curve inversion) is a widely tracked recession signal.

**Par Value**

Par value is the face value assigned to a bond or stock at issuance, set by the issuing company or government, and it doesn't necessarily reflect current market price.

For bonds, par value (commonly $1,000 per bond for corporate and government bonds) is the amount repaid to bondholders at maturity, and it's the base used to calculate coupon payments. For stocks, par value (often $0.01 or \$1 per share) is a nominal value used mostly for legal and accounting purposes, with little bearing on the market price, which moves based on supply, demand, and company performance.

**Key point:** Par value matters materially for bonds (it sets repayment and coupon amounts) but is largely symbolic for stocks.

### Book Value

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/book-value](https://unusualwhales.com/information/book-value)*

Book value is a company's net worth on paper, calculated as total assets minus total liabilities, approximating what it would be worth if liquidated today. Traders use it to gauge whether a stock looks over- or undervalued relative to its market price, and book value per share (BVPS) is the standard metric value investors use to find stocks trading below their book value. It doesn't capture intangible value like brand strength, intellectual property, or growth potential, so it's a baseline, not a complete picture of worth.

**Key point:** Formula: Book Value = Total Assets − Total Liabilities; value investors specifically look for stocks priced below this figure.

### Broker-Dealer

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/broker-dealer](https://unusualwhales.com/information/broker-dealer)*

A broker-dealer is a firm or individual that acts as both a broker, executing trades for clients, and a dealer, trading securities for its own account. Firms like Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley operate this way, earning revenue from commissions, spreads, and market-making. The SEC and FINRA regulate broker-dealers to keep trading practices fair.

**Key point:** A broker-dealer's dual role, executing client orders and trading its own book, is worth knowing when evaluating who's really on the other side of an order.

### Bull & Bear, Bullish & Bearish

*One-line note: the market-cycle terms and the UW-specific flow tags that share the same names. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Bull and bear market describe sustained, multi-month or multi-year price cycles. Bullish and bearish describe a directional view, and on Unusual Whales they also label specific premium calculations and per-trade tags in the flow feed. The two pairs are related in spirit but used differently in practice.

**Bull Market**

A bull market is a sustained rise in stock prices, generally defined as a gain of 20% or more from recent lows. It's typically fueled by strong economic growth, low interest rates, and high investor confidence, and can run for years, as with the 2009-2020 run. Investors in a bull market tend to favor growth stocks, technology names, and other risk-on assets that thrive in an expanding economy. Every bull market eventually corrects as part of the broader market cycle.

**Key point:** The 20%-gain-from-lows threshold is the mirror image of the 20%-decline definition used for a bear market.

**Bear Market**

A bear market is generally defined as a decline of 20% or more from recent highs in a major index like the S\&P 500. It's typically driven by economic downturns, high inflation, rising interest rates, or global crises, which prompt investors to rotate into defensive assets like bonds, gold, or dividend stocks. For long-term investors, a bear market can also present buying opportunities as stocks become undervalued.

**Key point:** The 20%-decline-from-highs threshold is the generally agreed-upon line that defines a bear market.

**Bullish**

Bullish describes the view that a position, sector, or the market as a whole will rise. It can apply to a single stock, bond, commodity, or the market overall.

On Unusual Whales, "bullish" also labels two specific things:

* **Bullish premium**: the dollar volume from ask-side call trades and bid-side put trades. The opposite is bearish premium, and bullish plus bearish premium equals total premium.
* **The bullish tag in the flow feed**: a call trade gets tagged bullish when it executes at or closer to the ask side. A put trade gets tagged bullish when it executes at or closer to the bid side. Nothing more, nothing less.

**Key point:** On the UW flow feed, "bullish" for a call means it printed near the ask, and for a put it means it printed near the bid, nothing more.

**Bearish**

Bearish describes the view that a position, sector, or the market as a whole will decline. It can apply to a single stock, bond, commodity, or the market overall.

On Unusual Whales, "bearish" mirrors the bullish definitions above:

* **Bearish premium**: the dollar volume from ask-side put trades and bid-side call trades. The opposite is bullish premium, and bearish plus bullish premium equals total premium.
* **The bearish tag in the flow feed**: a call trade gets tagged bearish when it executes at or closer to the bid side. A put trade gets tagged bearish when it executes at or closer to the ask side. Nothing more, nothing less.

**Key point:** On the UW flow feed, "bearish" for a call means it printed near the bid, and for a put it means it printed near the ask, nothing more.

### Capital Gain and Loss

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/capital-gain-and-loss](https://unusualwhales.com/information/capital-gain-and-loss)*

A capital gain is the profit from selling an asset, such as a stock, bond, or real estate, for more than its purchase price; a capital loss is the opposite, selling for less than you paid. Gains are classified as short-term (held one year or less, generally taxed at higher ordinary rates) or long-term (held more than a year, typically taxed at lower rates), a distinction that matters directly to options traders managing holding periods. Investors also use tax-loss harvesting, offsetting gains with losses, to manage their tax bill.

**Key point:** Holding a position past the one-year mark shifts a gain from short-term to the generally lower long-term capital gains rate.

### Cash Account

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/cash-account](https://unusualwhales.com/information/cash-account)*

A cash account is a brokerage account where an investor must pay in full for every security purchased, with no borrowing, unlike a margin account. Because there's no borrowed money involved, there's no margin call risk and the investor can't lose more than what they put in, which makes it the simpler, lower-risk option, especially for beginners. The tradeoff is settlement: after a trade, funds typically need the standard T+2 period to clear before they can be used again, and without borrowing power there's no way to amplify gains.

**Key point:** With no borrowing, a cash account can't lose more than the amount invested, but funds are tied up for the T+2 settlement window between trades.

### Compound Interest

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/compound-interest](https://unusualwhales.com/information/compound-interest)*

Compound interest is interest calculated on both the original principal and the interest already earned, letting an investment grow exponentially rather than linearly over time. A $10,000 investment earning a 7% annual return, compounded annually for 30 years, grows to roughly $76,122, far more than the \$10,000 contributed. The variable that matters most is time: the earlier money is invested, the more years compounding has to work.

**Key point:** Time in the market compounds returns; a $10,000 investment at 7% annually becomes about $76,122 after 30 years purely from compounding.

### Dark Pool

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/dark-pool](https://unusualwhales.com/information/dark-pool)*

A dark pool is a privately organized trading venue where institutional investors can execute trades away from public exchanges. Trades aren't shown publicly until after they've been executed and reported, which lets large investors move size without tipping their intent to the broader market beforehand.

**Key point:** Dark pool activity only becomes visible to the public after the trade has already been executed and reported, not before.

### Day Trading & the PDT Rule

*One-line note: what day trading is, and the account-size rule that limits it. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Day trading is buying and selling the same asset within a single trading day, and in the U.S., how much of it a trader can do is capped by account size under the Pattern Day Trader rule.

**Day Trading**

Day trading is a high-speed strategy where a trader buys and sells the same financial asset (stocks, options, forex, or crypto) within the same trading day, aiming to profit from short-term price movements rather than holding positions long-term.

Some generally accepted aspects of day trading: no overnight positions, since all trades are closed before the market closes; a focus on high-volatility, high-volume names, since rapid price movement is what's being traded; and a reliance on technical analysis (charts, indicators, price patterns) rather than company fundamentals. Some day traders also use margin, borrowed funds that amplify both potential gains and risk. Day trading is risky and requires skill, discipline, and knowledge of market trends.

**Key point:** Accounts under \$25,000 are capped at three day trades per rolling five-day window under the PDT rule.

**The Pattern Day Trader (PDT) Rule**

The Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule is a FINRA rule that requires U.S. traders with margin accounts under $25,000 in equity to limit themselves to three day trades within any rolling five-day period. It's aimed at limiting leveraged, high-frequency trading by undercapitalized accounts. Exceeding three day trades in five rolling days while under $25,000 in account equity can trigger a PDT restriction on the account.

**Key point:** Exceeding three day trades in five rolling days while under \$25,000 in account equity can trigger a PDT restriction on the account.

### Dividend

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/dividend](https://unusualwhales.com/information/dividend)*

A dividend is a cash payment a company distributes to shareholders out of its profits, paid on a monthly, quarterly, biannual, or annual schedule (an unscheduled one is called a special dividend). Three dates matter: the ex-dividend date, the record date (the ownership cutoff, which given T+2 settlement means owning the stock by the close of business the day before the ex-dividend date), and the payout date, when cash actually arrives. All else equal, a stock's price drops by roughly the dividend amount on its ex-dividend date, and heavy in-the-money call activity the day before is often dividend arbitrage rather than a directional bet.

**Key point:** On the UW flow feed, a currency emoji next to a ticker flags that its ex-dividend date is the next trading session.

### Earnings Per Share (EPS)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/earnings-per-share-eps](https://unusualwhales.com/information/earnings-per-share-eps)*

Earnings Per Share (EPS) measures how much profit a company generates per outstanding share, and it's one of the primary metrics investors use to gauge profitability and growth. A higher EPS generally signals a more profitable company, it feeds directly into valuation metrics like the P/E ratio, and investors track it over time to spot growth trends; adjusted EPS strips out non-recurring items for a cleaner read on ongoing earnings. Recent EPS results and projections for upcoming reports are available on the Unusual Whales Earnings page.

**Key point:** Adjusted EPS excludes one-time items, so compare that, not headline EPS, when judging a company's ongoing earnings trend.

### Federal Funds Rate

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/federal-funds-rate](https://unusualwhales.com/information/federal-funds-rate)*

The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which banks lend excess reserves to each other overnight, set by the Federal Reserve and one of the most influential rates in the U.S. economy. Higher rates make borrowing more expensive and tend to slow growth, while lower rates cheapen borrowing and encourage spending and investment; the Fed adjusts the rate to manage inflation, employment, and overall economic stability. Traders watch it closely because changes ripple through mortgage rates, equity valuations, and bond yields at the same time.

**Key point:** Fed rate moves affect mortgage rates, stocks, and bond yields simultaneously, which is why rate decisions move markets broadly, not just one asset class.

### Fiduciary

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/fiduciary](https://unusualwhales.com/information/fiduciary)*

A fiduciary is an individual or institution legally and ethically obligated to act in a client's best interest, a standard that applies to many financial advisors, investment managers, and trustees. Non-fiduciary advisors only need to recommend investments that are "suitable," which can allow products that pay them more even when a better option exists for the client, whereas fiduciaries must prioritize the client's interest and disclose conflicts. Anyone seeking financial advice should ask directly whether an advisor is a fiduciary before trusting a recommendation.

**Key point:** Ask directly whether an advisor is a fiduciary; "suitable" and "in your best interest" are legally different standards.

### Float

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/float](https://unusualwhales.com/information/float)*

Float is the number of a company's shares actually available for public trading, excluding shares held by insiders, executives, and large institutions that rarely trade. Low-float stocks tend to be more volatile because limited supply amplifies price swings on comparable order flow, while high-float stocks generally see smoother, more stable price action; traders watch float size to gauge both liquidity and manipulation risk. Low float is also a common ingredient in short squeezes.

**Key point:** A low float is what makes a stock prone to sharp, fast price swings on relatively modest volume, and a common precondition for a short squeeze.

### Floor Trading (and the % Floor metric)

*One-line note: what a floor trade is, who trades on the floor, and how Unusual Whales flags it. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Floor trading is the non-electronic side of the market, still executed in person on a physical trading floor. Unusual Whales flags this activity directly in the flow feed and quantifies it per contract with the % Floor metric.

**The Floor and Floor Trades**

The Floor of a stock exchange was historically the main venue for trading, though most market activity has since moved electronically. A floor trade is a non-electronic transaction executed on that physical trading floor, covering paired and non-paired auctions as well as cross orders negotiated in person between brokers and market makers in the trading pit.

Two distinct roles operate on the floor:

* **Floor trader**: an exchange member who trades in the pit for their own account, using the open outcry method.
* **Floor broker**: executes orders on behalf of clients rather than trading for themselves.

Trades still executed on the physical floor are flagged with a **FLOOR** tag in the Unusual Whales flow feed.

**Key point:** Look for the FLOOR flag in the UW flow feed to identify trades still executed on a physical trading floor rather than electronically.

**% Floor**

"% Floor" is the percentage of total trading volume for a given option contract that took place via a floor trade rather than electronically.

**Key point:** A high % Floor value flags that a meaningful share of that contract's volume was executed manually on the trading floor rather than electronically.

### Fund Types (mutual, money market, hedge)

*One-line note: how mutual funds, money market funds, and hedge funds differ. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

These are three common pooled-investment vehicles, ranging from the plain-vanilla mutual fund to the lightly regulated hedge fund. Each pools money from multiple investors, but they differ sharply in how they're managed, how liquid they are, and who they're built for.

**Mutual Fund**

A mutual fund pools money from many investors into a diversified, professionally managed portfolio of stocks, bonds, or other assets. Shares are bought or sold at the fund's net asset value (NAV), calculated once at the end of each trading day, not continuously like a stock.

Key features:

* **Diversification**: spreads investments across many securities, reducing single-position risk.
* **Professional management**: a fund manager makes the buy and sell decisions on investors' behalf.
* **Liquidity**: shares are bought or sold at end-of-day NAV.
* **Variety**: stock funds, bond funds, index funds, and money market funds all fall under the mutual fund umbrella.

Mutual funds suit long-term investors who want diversified market exposure without managing individual positions themselves. Management fees reduce net returns, so they're not free diversification.

**Key point:** Mutual fund orders execute at end-of-day NAV, not at a real-time intraday price.

**Money Market Fund (MMF)**

A money market fund is a type of mutual fund that invests in short-term, low-risk securities such as Treasury bills, certificates of deposit, and commercial paper. MMFs offer higher yields than a typical savings account while keeping high liquidity and stability, which makes them a common place to park cash during volatile markets.

Why investors use them:

* **Safety**: holdings are high-quality, low-risk assets.
* **Liquidity**: funds can be accessed quickly, similar to a bank account.
* **Better returns than savings accounts**: MMFs typically yield more, though they are not FDIC-insured the way a bank savings account is.

MMFs trade some safety-net insurance (no FDIC coverage) for better yield and same-day-like access to cash. They function as a safe holding spot for cash that's still earning a small return.

**Hedge Fund**

A hedge fund is a privately managed investment fund that uses more aggressive strategies, such as short selling, borrowed capital (leverage), and arbitrage, to generate returns for high-net-worth individuals and institutions.

Common hedge fund strategies:

* **Short selling**: betting on stock declines.
* **Leverage**: borrowing money to amplify returns, and losses.
* **Arbitrage**: exploiting small price differences between related assets.

Hedge funds face fewer regulations than mutual funds, which is exactly what lets them take on more risk in pursuit of higher returns. That same lack of regulation comes with higher fees and greater risk, which is why hedge funds are generally not suited to average investors.

**Key point:** Fewer regulatory constraints than mutual funds are what let hedge funds trade more aggressively, and also what makes them higher-fee, higher-risk vehicles. Unusual Whales tracks hedge fund and institutional flow on its [Institutions](https://unusualwhales.com/institutions) homepage.

### Fundamental Analysis

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/fundamental-analysis](https://unusualwhales.com/information/fundamental-analysis)*

Fundamental analysis evaluates a stock by examining financial statements, industry trends, and economic conditions to estimate its intrinsic value, aiming to find stocks that are under- or overvalued relative to that estimate. Key inputs include financial statements (revenue, earnings, debt, free cash flow), macro conditions (interest rates, inflation, industry growth), and competitive positioning (market share, brand strength, innovation). It's distinct from technical analysis, which studies price action and charts rather than the underlying business.

**Key point:** Fundamental analysis targets a company's long-term intrinsic value; technical analysis targets price behavior. The two are complementary, not interchangeable.

### Futures Contract

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/futures-contract](https://unusualwhales.com/information/futures-contract)*

A futures contract is a standardized agreement to buy or sell an asset, such as a commodity, index, or currency, at a set price on a specific future date, traded on an exchange for hedging or speculation. Unlike options, futures carry an obligation: both sides must settle at expiration, and contracts typically trade on margin, letting a trader control a large notional position with a fraction of the capital. Businesses use futures to hedge real exposure, for example an airline locking in fuel costs with oil futures, or a multinational like McDonald's offsetting foreign-currency revenue exposure with currency futures.

**Key point:** Unlike an option, a futures contract obligates both parties to settle at expiration; there's no choice to let it expire worthless.

### Index/Indices

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/index-indices](https://unusualwhales.com/information/index-indices)*

An index is a basket of stocks used to track and measure the performance of a specific market, sector, or asset class, with the S\&P 500 as the most widely followed example. You can't trade an index directly, but you can trade a mutual fund or ETF built to track it, such as SPY or VOO for the S\&P 500.

**Key point:** To get index exposure, trade an ETF or mutual fund that tracks it (like SPY or VOO for the S\&P 500), not the index itself.

### Institutional Investor

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/institutional-investor](https://unusualwhales.com/information/institutional-investor)*

An institutional investor is a large entity, such as a pension fund, mutual fund, ETF, or insurance company, that manages and invests money on behalf of clients rather than for itself. Because these entities control large pools of capital, their trades can move markets more than an individual retail order ever could. They also tend to execute faster, with more direct market access, and follow data-driven rather than emotional strategies.

**Key point:** Size and execution speed are what separate institutional flow from retail flow, which is why institutional activity is worth tracking separately.

### Interest Rate Risk

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/interest-rate-risk](https://unusualwhales.com/information/interest-rate-risk)*

Interest rate risk is the risk of investment losses caused by changes in interest rates: bond prices generally fall when rates rise and rise when rates fall. It hits fixed-income investments hardest, especially longer-duration bonds, but higher rates also raise borrowing costs for companies (pressuring stock prices) and mortgage rates (cooling real estate demand). Traders manage this exposure by favoring shorter-duration bonds, diversifying into stocks or commodities, or hedging with instruments like interest rate swaps.

**Key point:** Longer-maturity bonds are more sensitive to rate changes than shorter-maturity ones.

### IPO (Initial Public Offering)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/ipo-initial-public-offering](https://unusualwhales.com/information/ipo-initial-public-offering)*

An IPO is when a private company sells shares to the public for the first time and becomes listed on a stock exchange. Companies go public to raise capital, raise their profile, and let early investors and employees cash out their stakes. IPOs can be lucrative but tend to be volatile in early trading, since price discovery is still happening.

**Key point:** Trump Media ($DJT) traded as high as $74.43 on its March 2024 IPO day before settling around \$30, illustrating how wide first-day swings can get.

### Liquidity

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/liquidity](https://unusualwhales.com/information/liquidity)*

Liquidity is how easily an asset (a stock, option, or bond) can be bought or sold without moving its price. High-liquidity names, like Apple or Tesla, have tight bid-ask spreads and fast fills; low-liquidity names, like small caps or thinly traded option contracts, have wider spreads and more slippage. Checking liquidity before entering a trade matters most for options, where a wide spread can eat into a position's edge before it even moves.

**Key point:** High trading volume is the practical proxy for liquidity; low volume means wider spreads and more slippage risk.

### Margin

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/margin](https://unusualwhales.com/information/margin)*

Margin is money borrowed from a broker that lets a trader hold larger positions than their cash balance alone would allow, amplifying both gains and losses. Opening a leveraged position requires an initial margin deposit, and a maintenance margin must be kept in the account afterward; if equity falls below that maintenance level, the broker issues a margin call demanding more funds. In the U.S., FINRA requires a minimum of 25% equity in a margin account for most stocks, though brokers can set higher requirements based on the asset's risk.

**Key point:** If a margin trade moves against you, losses can exceed your original investment, not just wipe it out.

### Market Capitalization (Market Cap)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/market-capitalization-market-cap](https://unusualwhales.com/information/market-capitalization-market-cap)*

Market capitalization is a company's total stock value, calculated as stock price multiplied by total outstanding shares. It's the standard way to gauge a company's size: large-cap ($10B+, e.g. Apple, Microsoft) companies tend toward stability, mid-cap ($2B-$10B) carry moderate risk, and small-cap (under $2B) companies offer more growth potential with more volatility. Market cap is a common input for portfolio diversification and risk assessment.

**Key point:** Market Cap = Stock Price × Total Outstanding Shares.

### Market Maker

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/market-maker](https://unusualwhales.com/information/market-maker)*

A market maker is a firm or individual that continuously quotes both a bid and an ask for a security, providing the liquidity and depth that let other participants trade without needing to find a matching counterparty themselves. Market makers profit from the bid-ask spread and may also trade for their own account (principal trades). They're especially central to options markets, where pairing every buyer with a willing seller manually would be impractical.

**Key point:** Without market makers, options traders would have to find a direct counterparty for every single trade.

### Order Types

*One-line note: the four options trade actions, plus market, limit, and stop orders. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Placing a trade involves two separate decisions: what action you're taking (opening or closing a position) and what kind of order you use to get there (market, limit, or stop). Both matter for reading flow data correctly, since neither is labeled directly in most feeds.

**The four trade actions: BTO, BTC, STO, STC**

Every individual options trade is one of four actions: buy to open (BTO), buy to close (BTC), sell to open (STO), or sell to close (STC). Buying a contract to start a position is buying to open; selling that position afterward is selling to close. Writing a contract, such as a covered call, is selling to open; buying it back is buying to close.

A BTO position is always closed with an STC, and an STO position is always closed with a BTC. This matters for reading options flow because the data itself doesn't label a trade as BTO, STO, BTC, or STC, so it has to be inferred from volume, open interest, and fill side. A trader closing a $1,000,000 covered-call position looks nearly identical in the flow feed to a trader opening a fresh $1,000,000 call position.

**Key point:** UW's flow feed does not label trades as opening or closing; you have to infer it from volume, open interest, and fill side.

**Market Order**

A market order buys or sells immediately at the best available price, prioritizing speed of execution over price control. Buys fill at the lowest available ask, sells fill at the highest available bid.

Market orders are fast and virtually guaranteed to fill in liquid markets, since they don't wait for a specific price. The tradeoff is no price protection: execution can happen at an unexpected price, and slippage risk goes up in volatile or low-volume markets. Market orders suit traders who want immediate execution and are willing to accept the current price, particularly when trading liquid large-cap names or making small trades where minor price differences don't matter.

**Key point:** Use market orders when speed matters more than price precision, and stick to liquid names to limit slippage.

**Limit Order**

A limit order only executes at a specified price or better. A buy limit order fills at your set price or lower; a sell limit order fills at your set price or higher.

This gives a trader more control over execution price and avoids buying at inflated prices or selling too cheaply, at the cost of a guarantee that the order fills at all, since the market may never reach your limit. Limit orders suit precision traders who prioritize getting a specific price over immediate execution.

**Key point:** A limit order can go unfilled entirely if the price never touches your level.

**Stop Order**

A stop order is an instruction to buy or sell only after the price reaches a specified stop price. Once that stop price is hit, the order converts into a market order and executes at the next available price.

A stop-loss order (sell stop) limits losses by selling once the price falls to a set level: for example, a stock bought at $50 with a stop-loss set at $45 triggers a sale at the best available price if the stock drops to $45. A buy stop order enters a position once the price rises to a set level, often for breakout entries: a stock trading at $90, with a trader expecting continued upside past $95, could use a buy stop at $95 to ensure entry if that level is reached.

Stop orders help automate risk management by setting predefined exit points, and buy stops in particular can be used to confirm trend continuation. The tradeoff is that because the order becomes a market order once triggered, there's no guarantee of execution at the exact stop price, and short-term volatility can trigger it prematurely.

**Key point:** A stop order guarantees triggering at your stop price, but not the fill price, since it becomes a market order once triggered.

### Over-the-Counter (OTC) Market

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/over-the-counter-otc-market](https://unusualwhales.com/information/over-the-counter-otc-market)*

The OTC market is a decentralized market where securities trade directly between parties instead of through a major exchange like the NYSE or NASDAQ. It's commonly used for penny stocks, foreign stocks, and smaller companies that don't meet exchange listing requirements. OTC trading is less regulated, less liquid, and carries wider bid-ask spreads than exchange-listed trading, so it demands more due diligence.

**Key point:** Lower regulation on OTC means higher risk alongside any higher reward potential.

### Price-to-Earnings Ratio

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/price-to-earnings-ratio](https://unusualwhales.com/information/price-to-earnings-ratio)*

The P/E ratio compares a stock's price to its earnings per share (EPS), used to gauge whether a stock is overvalued, undervalued, or fairly priced relative to its earnings. Trailing P/E is based on the past 12 months of actual earnings, while forward P/E is based on projected future earnings. A high P/E suggests the market expects strong growth (or that the stock is overpriced), a low P/E suggests undervaluation or trouble, and the ratio is most meaningful when compared against industry peers or historical norms rather than in isolation.

**Key point:** Compare P/E against industry peers or historical averages, not as a standalone number.

### Recession

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/recession](https://unusualwhales.com/information/recession)*

A recession is a period of economic decline marked by falling GDP, rising unemployment, and reduced consumer spending, commonly identified as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Economists also weigh declining industrial production, falling corporate earnings, and weaker consumer confidence. Stock markets typically react negatively to recessions, and central banks often cut interest rates in response to stimulate recovery.

**Key point:** "Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth" is the common shorthand definition, though economists weigh other indicators too.

### Retail Investor

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/retail-investor](https://unusualwhales.com/information/retail-investor)*

A retail investor is an individual trading stocks, options, crypto, or other assets for their own account through an online brokerage, as opposed to on behalf of an institution. Retail investors trade smaller sizes, execute more slowly than institutions, and are more prone to following news and social media (like r/WallStreetBets) than institutional, data-driven strategies. Commission-free trading apps and the rise of crypto and options have significantly grown retail participation in recent years.

**Key point:** Retail trading can produce large gains but carries higher risk, particularly when trading on margin or chasing hype-driven moves.

### Revenue

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/revenue](https://unusualwhales.com/information/revenue)*

Revenue is the total money a company generates from sales before any expenses are deducted, often called the "top line" since it's the first figure on an income statement. It's calculated as price per unit times units sold, and it's a core indicator of business health: rising revenue signals demand, while declining revenue can signal weakening sales or market conditions.

**Key point:** Revenue is measured before expenses; it is not the same as profit.

### Risk Tolerance

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/risk-tolerance](https://unusualwhales.com/information/risk-tolerance)*

Risk tolerance is an investor's ability and willingness to endure losses in pursuit of returns, shaped by age, financial situation, goals, and emotional response to volatility. It ranges from conservative (bonds, blue-chip stocks) to moderate (a mix of stocks and bonds) to aggressive (growth and speculative assets). It varies significantly from trader to trader, so it's worth defining your own risk and reward parameters rather than copying someone else's.

**Key point:** Risk tolerance is personal; matching your position sizing to your own tolerance matters more than matching anyone else's.

### Short Selling, Short Interest & Short Squeezes

*One-line note: how shorting works, how to read short interest, and how a squeeze forms. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Short selling is a bet that a stock's price will fall; short interest is how you measure how much of that bet is on the table for a given stock; a short squeeze is what happens when that bet goes wrong all at once.

**Short Selling**

Short selling is a strategy where a trader borrows shares, sells them at the current market price, and aims to buy them back later at a lower price to profit from the decline. The mechanics: borrow shares from a broker, sell the borrowed shares at market price, buy them back later (hopefully lower), then return the shares to the lender and pocket the difference.

Unlike a long position, where losses are capped at 100% if the price goes to zero, short selling carries unlimited loss potential if the price rises instead of falling. It also requires margin, since brokers may demand additional collateral, and a short squeeze can force a trader to buy back shares at a steep loss. Short selling is used for hedging, speculation, or betting against stocks seen as overvalued. Short selling and short interest data for U.S.-listed stocks is available on the Unusual Whales [Shorts](https://unusualwhales.com/shorts) page.

**Key point:** Unlike a long position where losses are capped at 100%, short selling has theoretically unlimited downside if the price keeps rising.

**Short Interest**

Short interest is the total number of shares sold short but not yet covered (closed out), expressed as a percentage of a company's total outstanding shares. It's a gauge of bearish sentiment: high short interest may signal that investors expect a stock to decline, while low short interest indicates limited bearish bets against it.

The short interest ratio, or days to cover, measures how long it would take short sellers to close their positions given average daily trading volume. Excessive shorting sets the stage for a short squeeze if the stock unexpectedly rises, which is exactly what happened with Volkswagen in 2008 and GameStop (\$GME) in 2021.

**Key point:** Short interest data for any U.S.-listed stock is viewable on the Unusual Whales [Shorts](https://unusualwhales.com/shorts) page.

**Short Squeeze**

A short squeeze happens when a heavily shorted stock spikes in price, forcing short sellers to buy back shares to cover their positions. That buying pressure pushes the price even higher, creating a feedback loop of rising prices and short sellers scrambling to exit.

The typical sequence: high short interest builds up (a large percentage of a stock's shares are shorted), an unexpected catalyst hits (positive news, strong earnings, a big investor buy-in), short sellers get trapped as the stock rises and face margin calls, and the resulting forced buying fuels even more upward momentum.

GameStop (GME) in 2021, where retail traders on Reddit's r/WallStreetBets squeezed hedge funds out of billions, and Volkswagen in 2008, which briefly became the world's most valuable company as a result of a squeeze, are the two textbook examples. Momentum traders watch for stocks with high short interest combined with a rising price as the setup, since both conditions together are what enable a squeeze; options traders sometimes buy out-of-the-money calls to profit from the potential surge. Short squeezes can produce large profits, but they carry extreme risk, since stocks often crash back down once the momentum fades.

**Key point:** Momentum and options traders watch for high short interest combined with a rising price as the setup, since both conditions together are what enable a squeeze.

### Stock Buyback

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/stock-buyback](https://unusualwhales.com/information/stock-buyback)*

A stock buyback (share repurchase) is when a company buys back its own shares from the market, reducing shares outstanding. This can raise earnings per share, support the stock price, and signal management confidence, and it's used as an alternative to dividends for returning capital to shareholders. Critics argue heavy buyback activity can prioritize short-term price support over long-term reinvestment in the business.

**Key point:** Buybacks reduce share count, which mechanically boosts EPS even without any change in underlying earnings.

### Stock Types: Common, Blue-Chip, Growth & Value

*One-line note: the basic ownership stock class, and the three profiles investors use to classify it. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Common stock is the base ownership unit nearly every equity investor holds. Blue-chip, growth, and value are overlapping ways to describe what kind of common stock a company's shares are, based on stability, growth rate, and price relative to fundamentals.

**Common Stock**

Common stock represents ownership in a publicly traded company and entitles shareholders to voting rights and, if the company issues them, dividends. Shareholders benefit from capital appreciation when the stock price rises but also bear the risk of price declines.

In a bankruptcy, common stockholders are last in line for repayment, after bondholders and preferred stockholders. Common stock is riskier than bonds but offers greater long-term growth potential, which is why it's a core part of most investment portfolios.

**Key point:** Common stockholders sit last in the repayment line in a bankruptcy, behind both bondholders and preferred shareholders.

**Blue-Chip Stock**

Blue-chip stocks are shares of large, well-established, financially stable companies with a history of strong performance, names like Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Coca-Cola (KO). These companies tend to have steady earnings, lower volatility, and consistent dividend payouts.

Investors favor blue-chip stocks for their resilience during market downturns and for long-term compounding. The tradeoff is that blue chips rarely produce the explosive gains smaller, higher-risk stocks can, in exchange for more reliable returns and lower risk.

**Key point:** Blue chips trade lower volatility and steadier dividends for smaller upside potential than growth or small-cap stocks.

**Growth Stock**

A growth stock is a company expanding its revenue and earnings faster than the overall market average. These companies typically reinvest profits into the business rather than paying dividends, focusing on scaling.

Characteristics include high revenue growth (sales and earnings increasing rapidly), no or low dividends (profits reinvested into expansion), a high P/E ratio (investors paying a premium for future potential), and a concentration in technology, biotech, and other disruptive industries. Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) are commonly cited examples of stocks that delivered outsized returns from this profile over time.

**Key point:** A high P/E ratio paired with little or no dividend is the signature trait that separates a growth stock from a value or income stock.

**Value Stock**

A value stock is one that appears undervalued compared to its financial performance and intrinsic worth. These stocks typically show a low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, a high dividend yield, and strong fundamentals despite being overlooked by the market.

Value stocks are often traded at a discount relative to earnings, book value, or cash flow, and tend to belong to established companies with steady profits that also pay dividends, providing passive income. Value investing means buying such stocks when they're undervalued and holding them long-term, betting on eventual price appreciation as the market recognizes their worth.

**Key point:** Low P/E plus high dividend yield are the two most common screening traits for identifying value stocks.

### Technical Analysis

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/technical-analysis](https://unusualwhales.com/information/technical-analysis)*

Technical analysis is a trading approach that uses charts, patterns, and indicators, rather than company fundamentals, to predict future price movement based on historical price action and volume. Core tools include support and resistance levels, trendlines, candlestick patterns, and indicators like RSI, moving averages, MACD, and Bollinger Bands. It's widely used for identifying entry and exit points, particularly by day and swing traders, though past price action doesn't guarantee future results and sudden news can disrupt chart-based setups.

**Key point:** Technical analysis works across markets (stocks, forex, crypto, commodities) but is often paired with fundamental analysis for stronger conviction.

### Trading Halts (circuit breakers & volatility halts)

*One-line note: the two main mechanisms exchanges use to pause trading. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Exchanges use two related but distinct mechanisms to pause trading during extreme moves: market-wide circuit breakers and single-stock volatility halts. Both exist to prevent panic selling and give the market time to absorb new information.

**Circuit Breaker**

A circuit breaker is a mechanism exchanges use to temporarily halt trading market-wide during extreme volatility. In the U.S., circuit breakers trigger at three levels based on the S\&P 500's intraday decline:

* **Level 1**: a 7% drop halts trading for 15 minutes.
* **Level 2**: a 13% drop halts trading for another 15 minutes.
* **Level 3**: a 20% drop halts trading for the rest of the day.

Circuit breakers were introduced after the 1987 stock market crash and were triggered during the COVID-19 selloff in 2020.

**Key point:** A 20% intraday S\&P 500 decline (Level 3) shuts trading down for the rest of the session, not just 15 minutes.

**Volatility Halt**

A volatility halt is a temporary trading suspension on a single stock, triggered by sudden, extreme price movement in that name within a short period. Volatility halts are enforced by exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq under Limit Up-Limit Down (LULD) rules, which keep a stock's price within a specified band.

Common triggers for a volatility halt:

* Excessive price swings in a short timeframe, in either direction.
* Pending news that could significantly impact the stock's price.
* Regulatory concerns or trading imbalances.

Most volatility halts last 5 to 10 minutes, though severe market-wide events can pause trading longer. Traders watch for these halts as a potential signal of high-impact news or liquidity issues in the stock.

**Key point:** Volatility halts can be tracked live on the Unusual Whales [Trading Halts](https://unusualwhales.com/trading-halts) page.

### Treasuries: T-Bills, T-Notes, T-Bonds

*One-line note: the three main U.S. Treasury debt instruments, grouped by maturity. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Treasury Bills, Notes, and Bonds are all debt securities issued by the U.S. government, differing mainly by how long they take to mature and how they pay investors. All three are considered low-risk since they're backed by the U.S. government.

**Treasury Bill (T-Bill)**

A Treasury Bill is a short-term debt security with maturities ranging from a few days up to one year. T-Bills are sold at a discount to face value and pay no periodic interest; the return comes entirely from the difference between the discounted purchase price and the full face value paid at maturity.

T-Bills are low-risk and highly liquid, easily bought and sold in the market, which makes them a common short-term safe-haven instrument for investors looking for traditionally safer, short-term options.

**Key point:** T-Bills don't pay interest directly; the return is the discount between purchase price and face value at maturity.

**Treasury Note (T-Note)**

A Treasury Note is a U.S. government debt security with maturities of 2 to 10 years, paying fixed interest every six months and returning principal at maturity. It sits between T-Bills and T-Bonds in duration, balancing yield and risk, and its price is more sensitive to interest rate changes than a T-Bill's but less than a T-Bond's.

The yield on the 10-year T-Note in particular is a widely watched benchmark for mortgage rates, business loans, and broader economic forecasting.

**Key point:** The 10-year T-Note yield is a key benchmark rate that other borrowing costs (like mortgages) are priced off of.

**Treasury Bond (T-Bond)**

A Treasury Bond is a long-term U.S. government debt security with maturities of 20 to 30 years, paying fixed coupon interest every six months and returning principal at maturity. It's the longest-duration of the three, and longer maturity means T-Bonds typically carry a higher yield than shorter-term Treasuries to compensate investors for that duration.

Investors and economists closely monitor T-Bond yields, since they influence mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, and broader economic conditions.

**Key point:** T-Bonds have the longest maturity (20-30 years) of the three main Treasury types, which is why they carry the highest yield of the group.

### Underlying Asset

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/underlying-asset](https://unusualwhales.com/information/underlying-asset)*

The underlying asset is the stock, ETF, index, or other instrument that an options contract is based on; when trading an option, you're speculating on the price movement of that underlying. For example, in an AAPL $235C 03/28/2025 contract, Apple ($AAPL) stock is the underlying asset. The underlying's price movement is the primary driver of the option's value.

**Key point:** An option's value is derived from, and moves with, its underlying asset's price, not traded as an independent instrument.

### Volatility Index (VIX)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/volatility-index-vix](https://unusualwhales.com/information/volatility-index-vix)*

The VIX, often called the "Fear Index," measures the stock market's expected volatility over the next 30 days, derived from S\&P 500 options prices. A VIX reading above 30 generally signals market uncertainty or fear, while a reading below 20 suggests stability and investor confidence. Traders use it both to hedge against market swings and to speculate on volatility directly, and sharp spikes are commonly read as a warning sign of a sell-off or economic stress.

**Key point:** VIX above 30 signals elevated fear/uncertainty; below 20 signals relative calm.

### Yield Curve

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/yield-curve](https://unusualwhales.com/information/yield-curve)*

The yield curve plots interest rates on U.S. Treasury securities (T-Bills, T-Notes, T-Bonds) across different maturities, reflecting investor expectations for rates and the economy. A normal curve (long-term yields above short-term) signals expected growth, an inverted curve (short-term yields above long-term) is widely read as a recession warning, and a flat curve suggests economic uncertainty. Economists and investors track it closely because an inverted yield curve has historically preceded recessions.

**Key point:** An inverted yield curve (short-term rates higher than long-term) is the classic historical recession warning signal.

## Options & Flow Concepts

### Assignment, Exercise & Pin Risk

*One-line note: what happens at the end of an option's life, from both sides of the contract. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Exercise and assignment are two sides of the same event: the buyer's decision to invoke their right, and the seller's obligation to fulfill it. Pin risk is the uncertainty that can surround that event when a strike lands right at the underlying's price into expiration.

**Exercise**

Exercising an option means the holder invokes their right to buy the underlying, for a call, or sell it, for a put, at the strike price. American-style options can be exercised at any time before expiration; European-style options can only be exercised on the expiration date itself. Exercise is typically done when the option is in the money and offers better value than simply selling the contract.

**Assignment**

Assignment is what happens when an option seller (writer) is required to fulfill the contract: deliver the underlying at the strike for an assigned call, or buy the underlying at the strike for an assigned put. It's usually triggered when the option is in the money at expiration, or when the buyer exercises early. Assignment is the seller's side of the same event as exercise.

**Pin Risk (Options Expiration)**

Pin risk occurs when an option's strike sits very close to the underlying's market price right at expiration, making it unclear whether the contract will be exercised or expire worthless. This creates uncertainty for both buyers and sellers, but it's a particular risk for sellers, especially those short the contract, since an unexpected exercise can trigger unwanted stock assignment after the market has closed. The danger is specifically post-close: assignment can be triggered by after-hours price movement once you can no longer react to it.

Example: a trader short the SPY $610 call near expiration faces pin risk if SPY is trading right around $610 into the close, since it's unclear whether SPY will close above or below \$610.

### Breakeven Price

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/breakeven-price](https://unusualwhales.com/information/breakeven-price)*

Breakeven price is the underlying price at which a position neither profits nor loses at expiration. For a long call it's the strike plus premium paid; for a long put it's the strike minus premium paid.

**Key point:** Breakeven is calculated purely from strike and premium, so it moves as soon as you know the price paid for the contract.

### Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/exchange-traded-fund-etf](https://unusualwhales.com/information/exchange-traded-fund-etf)*

An ETF is a fund holding a diversified basket of assets (stocks, bonds, commodities) that trades on an exchange like a single stock. ETFs offer diversification, exchange-hours liquidity, and typically lower expense ratios than mutual funds, and can be passively index-tracking (SPY, QQQ) or actively managed.

**Key point:** Unlike mutual funds, ETFs trade and price intraday, not just once at close.

### Expiration: Dates, Cycles, DTE & Weeklies

*One-line note: how options expiration is scheduled and measured. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Every option contract has a fixed lifespan that ends on its expiration date. This page covers how that date is set, how it repeats across an underlying's expiration cycle, how it's measured in days to expiration (DTE), and how weekly contracts fit into the picture.

**Expiration Date**

The expiration date is the final day an options contract remains valid. After it, the option is either exercised, if it's in the money, or expires worthless, if it's out of the money (or ATM with no value left); there's no in-between. Standard contracts typically expire on the third Friday of the month, while daily, weekly, and quarterly contracts follow different schedules. Traders need to track expiration dates to manage positions effectively.

**Expiration Cycle**

The expiration cycle is the schedule on which an underlying's options contracts expire. Standard monthly contracts expire on the third Friday of the month, while weekly and quarterly contracts follow their own separate cycles. Knowing an underlying's cycle matters both for liquidity, since standard monthlies are usually the most liquid, and for managing time-sensitive strategies.

**DTE (Days to Expiration)**

DTE is the number of calendar days, not trading days, remaining until a contract's expiration date. An option expiring the same day is called "0 DTE." A contract showing negative DTE has already expired.

**Weekly Options (Weeklies)**

Weekly options, or "weeklies," are contracts that expire every week instead of monthly, typically on Friday for equities. They let traders target short-term price moves, earnings announcements, or market events. Weeklies tend to carry higher implied volatility and faster time decay than standard monthly options, which raises risk but suits short-term strategies like scalping, spreads, and hedging. That faster decay cuts both ways: it's a risk for buyers and a potential edge for premium sellers.

Traders commonly use "weeklies" to mean "this week's expiration," though the term applies to any weekly-cadence expiration, not just the current week.

### Flex Options

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/flex-options](https://unusualwhales.com/information/flex-options)*

Flex ("flexible exchange") options let traders customize expiration date (any business day, up to 15 years out), strike price (any level), exercise style (American, European, Asian), and settlement type (cash or physical), while still clearing through the OCC with the same counterparty protection as standard options. Flex open interest has grown from about 3% of total OI in January 2023 to about 7% by January 2025, but retail traders generally can't access them directly; eligible investors submit a request for quote through their broker to the exchange. When a Flex contract's terms end up within 2.5 years of a standard expiry with identical strike, expiration, and settlement, it becomes eligible for consolidation: its entire OI merges into the standard contract, which can make OI jump by more than the prior day's volume with no corresponding volume of its own.

**Exposure note:** On Unusual Whales, FLEX open interest is not included in the greek or GEX exposure calculations; those surfaces are built from the standard listed series only, so FLEX contracts do not contribute to the exposure figures.

**Key point:** A standard contract's OI increasing by more than the previous day's volume isn't necessarily an error; check for pending Flex option consolidation before assuming a data issue.

### Flow Feed Columns & Metrics

*One-line note: quick definitions for the % Change, % Diff, % Multi, % Total Vol, P/C Ratio, SSIA, and Spot columns on the flow feed. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

These are the smaller reference metrics that show up as columns on the flow feed. Each is defined below on its own; none require much more than a one- or two-line explanation to use correctly.

**% Change**

Percentage change on a contract is the change in its price from the previous close. A contract that closed at $1.00 and is now trading at $1.50 shows a 50% change. This is a per-contract price move, not a stock-price or premium-flow metric.

**% Diff**

Percentage difference is the gap between the stock price and the traded contract's strike price. It's positive when the contract is out of the money and negative when it's in the money, so the sign tells you moneyness at a glance.

**% Multi**

% Multi is the percentage of a contract's total volume that was transacted as part of a multi-leg trade. Use it to gauge how much of a contract's activity is coming from spreads versus single-leg trades, rather than reading raw volume as all directional single-leg flow.

**% Total Vol**

% Total Vol is the share of an underlying equity's total trading volume that a specific options contract accounts for. A contract with a 35% Total Vol reading means 35 out of every 100 trades in that equity's overall activity were for that specific contract. This measures concentration of activity in one contract relative to the whole underlying's volume, not the contract's absolute size.

**P/C Ratio**

The Put/Call Ratio compares total puts traded to total calls traded, calculated by dividing put volume by call volume. It's a raw volume ratio, not premium-weighted, so a few large-premium trades on one side won't be reflected proportionally.

**SSIA**

Short Stock Interest Arbitrage (SSIA) is an advanced arbitrage strategy, generally limited to market makers, that exploits deep in-the-money puts. A holder of a deep ITM put forgoes interest income on the exercise proceeds by not exercising early. SSIA involves simultaneously buying and selling a large, roughly equal number of deep ITM puts and immediately exercising the long side; because exercises are randomly assigned, this lets the arbitrageur capture a disproportionate share of the existing short open interest, and the interest income that comes with it.

UW flags likely SSIA activity with an emoji in the feed. The tell is heavy volume on a deep ITM contract with little to no change in open interest afterward. Like ITM call activity around an ex-dividend date, SSIA volume is arbitrage-driven, not a directional bet, so don't read it as bullish or bearish flow.

**Spot**

The Spot price is simply the price at which a given transaction occurred. It's transaction-specific, not a single running quote for the contract. Traders typically read the Spot price together with the bid-ask spread to gauge a trade's sentiment.

### Income & Protective Strategies (covered, protective, collar, CSP)

*One-line note: covered calls/puts, protective calls/puts, collars, and cash-secured puts. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

This family of strategies pairs an option with an existing or intended stock position, either to generate income against shares already held or to hedge a position against an adverse move. All are built around owning (or shorting) 100 shares per contract.

**Covered call**

A trader who owns 100 shares of stock may sell (write) a covered call. The trader receives a credit for selling the call and takes on the obligation to sell those 100 shares at the strike price if assigned. It's typically used to generate income on a position expected to stay flat or move down modestly.

Selling a naked call, without shares as collateral, carries a high risk of ruin because of a call's theoretically unlimited upside. Owning the shares as collateral is what turns that otherwise unlimited-risk short call into a defined, capped-outcome trade: if the trade goes against the seller, the outcome is losing the shares at the strike rather than facing unlimited loss.

**Covered put**

A trader who is short 100 shares of stock may sell (write) a covered put. The trader receives a credit for selling the put and takes on the obligation to buy those 100 shares back at the strike price if assigned. This is the short-side mirror of a covered call, and it requires an existing short stock position. Common uses: reducing the cost basis of the short shares, generating yield from the short position, and systematic profit-taking.

**Protective call**

A protective call is buying one at-the-money or out-of-the-money call to offset the risk of an existing short position of 100 shares. As the stock rises, losses on the short shares are offset by gains on the call. This is the hedge for a short stock position, the mirror image of a protective put for a long position.

**Protective put**

A protective put is buying one at-the-money or out-of-the-money put (one contract per 100 shares) against stock a trader owns or is buying, to offset losses from a short-term downward move. If the shares drop sharply, gains on the put offset the loss on the shares. This is the standard hedge for a long stock position against a sudden downside move.

**Collar**

A collar protects an existing stock position against downside by buying one OTM put and selling one OTM call, one of each per 100 shares owned. As the stock falls, the position gains value (the put gains, the call loses), offsetting the loss on the shares. The tradeoff is a hard cap on upside: the position loses value as the stock rises past the short call's strike. A collar trades away upside potential in exchange for downside protection; it's a defined-range strategy, not a free hedge. The structure is similar to a bearish risk reversal.

**Cash secured put**

A cash secured put is selling (shorting) an out-of-the-money put at the strike where a trader would be willing to buy 100 shares. It's used by traders who want to buy 100 shares only if the price falls to a specific level: they collect a credit for selling the put and take on the obligation to buy 100 shares at the strike if assigned. The trade only makes sense if the seller is genuinely willing to own 100 shares at the strike price, since assignment is the intended outcome, not a risk to avoid.

### Modified & Nullified Trades

*One-line note: what a struck-out trade in the flow feed means, and how to tell a modification from a nullification. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

A trade in the flow feed that appears with a line struck through it has been nullified (cancelled) or modified. Both are normal, exchange-sanctioned occurrences, not errors in UW's data.

**What a Struck-Out Trade Means**

Under rules like CBOE Rule 6.77, exchanges allow both parties to a trade to mutually agree to nullify an execution; once they agree, one party must notify the exchange so the cancellation can be disseminated. Exchanges also allow a mutual price adjustment for trades that meet obvious-error or catastrophic-error criteria under rules like CBOE Rule 6.87, within specific timeframes.

The exchange data UW receives does not specify which of the two happened, a nullification or a modification. There's no explicit flag distinguishing them; you have to look at the surrounding tape.

**Telling Modification from Nullification**

The tell is whether a similarly sized trade shows up on the tape shortly after the strike-out:

* If a similarly sized trade appears shortly after, often flagged with an out-of-sequence trade code (OSEQ), that's a strong sign the original was **modified**, and the new print is the corrected version.
* If no such trade appears, and the contract's daily volume simply drops by the struck-out amount, it's more likely the original was **nullified** outright.

If you're tracking flow on a contract and see a red strike-out, scan the surrounding feed for a matching replacement trade before concluding either way.

**Worked Examples**

**Nullification (QRVO):** On a given day, two executions of 10,000 contracts each print on QRVO 115c 8/21. The second execution gets struck through, indicating it was modified or nullified. Daily volume for the contract had reached 20,000 after both prints; once the cancellation is processed, volume drops back to 10,000. No trade of similar size or appearance shows up afterward to account for the missing print, so this reads as a straight nullification rather than a modification.

**Modification (CZR):** A 4,250-contract print on CZR 30c 7/17 gets struck out. Shortly after, at timestamp 12:36:10, a similarly sized trade appears on the tape carrying the OSEQ (out-of-sequence) trade code. Nothing explicitly labels it as the replacement, but the size and timing line up closely enough that it's very likely the modification.

### Moneyness (ITM, ATM, OTM)

*One-line note: how a strike's position relative to the underlying's price determines intrinsic value. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Moneyness describes where an option's strike sits relative to the underlying's current price, and it determines whether the contract carries intrinsic value. Every option falls into one of three states: in the money (ITM), at the money (ATM), or out of the money (OTM).

**ITM (In the Money)**

An option is ITM when it has intrinsic value. A call is ITM when its strike is below the underlying's price; a put is ITM when its strike is above the underlying's price.

Example: with AAPL trading at $182.50, a 180C is $2.50 ITM, and a 185P is \$2.50 ITM.

**OTM (Out of the Money)**

An option is OTM when it contains only extrinsic value and no intrinsic value. A call is OTM when its strike is above the underlying's price; a put is OTM when its strike is below the underlying's price.

Example: with AAPL trading at \$182.50, a 190C is OTM, and a 175P is OTM.

Because OTM options have no intrinsic value, their entire premium is extrinsic, making it fully subject to time decay and changes in implied volatility.

**At the Money (ATM)**

An option is ATM when its strike is equal to or very close to the underlying's current market price. Like OTM contracts, ATM options carry no intrinsic value, only extrinsic value driven by implied volatility and time to expiration. That makes them the most sensitive of the three states to changes in implied volatility, which is why they're commonly used in strategies built around expected price movement or volatility shifts.

### Net Flow

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/net-flow](https://unusualwhales.com/information/net-flow)*

Net Flow is a proprietary UW tool tracking real-time options activity for a single equity, in contrast to Market Tide, which tracks the whole market. It aggregates ticker-wide call and put premium and plots it as green (calls) and red (puts) against the underlying's price. Calls bought at the ask add to net call premium and calls sold at the bid subtract from it (e.g., $15,000 in ask-side calls plus $10,000 in bid-side calls nets to +$5,000); mid-priced trades aren't counted, and each individual transaction is capped at a $2 million contribution to the net figure. That \$2 million cap is a property of the Net Flow chart. If you pull the underlying net premium data from the API (the net premium ticks endpoint), no per-transaction cap is applied, so the raw ticks sum to the true premium with no clipping.

**Key point:** Rising call premium alongside falling put premium reads bullish; the reverse reads bearish. The \$2M per-transaction cap applies to the chart, not to the raw net premium ticks the API returns.

### Option Value (Extrinsic & Theoretical)

*One-line note: the non-intrinsic components of an option's premium, and how a fair price is modeled. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

An option's premium is made up of intrinsic value plus extrinsic value, and traders also lean on a modeled theoretical value to judge whether that premium looks fair.

**Extrinsic Value**

Extrinsic value, also called time value, is the portion of an option's premium not explained by intrinsic value. It's driven by time to expiration, implied volatility, and market demand. Even an in-the-money option carries some extrinsic value because of potential future price movement, and that value decays as expiration approaches. Out-of-the-money contracts are made up entirely of extrinsic value, since they have no intrinsic value at all.

Extrinsic value is what decays over time (theta) and expands or contracts with implied volatility (vega); intrinsic value does neither.

**Theoretical Value**

Theoretical value is a model-derived fair-price estimate for an asset, used to judge whether the market price is over- or underpriced. For options, this typically comes from the Black-Scholes model or a binomial pricing model, using strike price, time to expiration, volatility, and interest rates as inputs. For stocks, methods like discounted cash flow (DCF) are used instead; for bonds, present value formulas factoring in interest rates and future cash flows.

Theoretical value is useful for spotting mispriced assets, informing decisions beyond just the current market price, and managing risk. But it's a benchmark, not a guarantee: actual market prices can and do deviate from it due to supply, demand, and investor sentiment.

### Options Strategies for High Volatility

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/options-strategies-for-high-volatility](https://unusualwhales.com/information/options-strategies-for-high-volatility)*

High implied volatility inflates premiums across all strikes and expirations, widens bid-ask spreads, and increases vega's influence relative to theta. Premium-selling, defined-risk strategies tend to perform well in this environment because they capitalize on the inflated premium while capping loss: vertical credit spreads (bear call or bull put spreads), iron condors (a bull put spread plus a bear call spread), calendar and diagonal spreads (selling near-term, buying longer-dated), long put butterflies, and ratio spreads (buying fewer contracts at one strike, selling more at another). Strategies to avoid include naked option selling (outsized-move risk is amplified), buying straddles/strangles after volatility has already spiked (premium is already inflated), and far-OTM lottery tickets. Suggested risk management includes cutting position size 30-50%, widening stops, and taking profits earlier (40-60% of max).

**Key point:** High IV favors premium sellers with defined risk (credit spreads, iron condors) over premium buyers, since buyers are paying inflated prices for the same payoff.

### Premium

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/premium](https://unusualwhales.com/information/premium)*

Premium is the total dollar value of an options transaction (spot price times contract size), and it shows up as a column in the flow feed. Ticker-level activity breaks it out further: call premium and put premium (total value of call vs. put activity), bullish premium (ask-side calls plus bid-side puts) and bearish premium (ask-side puts plus bid-side calls), and neutral premium (mid-trades, cross trades, and modified/cancelled/late reports). Net premium, tied to Market Tide and Net Flow, tracks the running daily change: ask-side call activity adds to net call premium, bid-side call activity subtracts from it, and mid trades are excluded.

**Key point:** Bullish/bearish premium is defined by trade side (ask vs. bid), not by call vs. put alone, so a bid-side call sale counts as bearish premium.

### Probability of Profit (PoP)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/probability-of-profit-pop](https://unusualwhales.com/information/probability-of-profit-pop)*

Probability of Profit (PoP) is the statistical likelihood that an options trade finishes profitable at expiration, calculated from the stock price, strike, implied volatility, and time to expiration using pricing models like Black-Scholes. For a long call it estimates the odds the stock finishes above the breakeven (strike plus premium paid); for a short put, the odds it stays above the breakeven (strike minus credit received). PoP is not a guarantee and not the same as expected value: a 90% PoP trade with a small win and a large loss on the 10% can still be a worse bet than a 40% PoP trade with a favorable payoff ratio.

**Key point:** Always pair PoP with risk/reward, not with PoP alone, since a high PoP does not imply positive expected value.

### Put

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/put](https://unusualwhales.com/information/put)*

A put option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell an asset at a set strike price on or before expiration, and it gains value as the underlying falls. Put buyers use puts to speculate on downside or hedge a portfolio, while put sellers are typically betting on upside (or stability) but can be forced to buy shares at the strike if the underlying is below it at expiration.

**Key point:** A put seller who is assigned must buy shares at the strike price even if the market price is lower.

### Reading the Tape: Sweeps, Crosses, Fills & Opening Flow

*One-line note: the trade types and patterns that show up on the flow feed, and what each one does and doesn't tell you. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Beyond a trade's side and size, the flow feed flags a handful of distinct execution patterns worth recognizing on sight: sweeps, crosses, repeated-hit fill sequences, and opening flow. Each has its own tag and its own limits on what it actually reveals.

**Sweeps**

A sweep, formally an Intermarket Sweep Order, is a market order, typically a large one, that breaks itself into smaller pieces to fill simultaneously across multiple exchanges at the best available prices. UW flags these in the flow feed with a SWEEP tag. Sweeping lets a large order reach liquidity sitting outside the single best posted bid and offer, by hitting several exchanges at once instead of resting on one.

A SWEEP tag reflects order-routing mechanics, not by itself a statement about trade direction or about size relative to open interest. A sweep can be opening or closing, bought or sold; the tag only tells you how the order was routed.

**Crosses**

A cross trade happens when a broker executes matched buy and sell orders for the same security across different client accounts and reports it to an exchange. These are typically peer-to-peer transactions, often the result of one market maker offloading a position to another. UW flags these with a CROSS tag.

Cross trades give no indication of directionality, since both sides of the trade are pre-arranged by the same broker rather than crossing the open market. Every cross trade is automatically assigned side NONE, because there's no bid/ask context to read direction from.

**Repeated Hits: Ascending and Descending Fills**

Repeated Hits alerts fire on a chain of more than 5 trades on the same contract, grouped within 100 milliseconds of one another, excluding multi-leg and floor trades. Total premium across the chain must exceed a market-cap-scaled threshold: $10K for smaller-cap underlyings, $50K for underlyings with a market cap over $50B, and $100K for underlyings with a market cap over \$500B.

* **Descending Fill:** the fill price trends down from the start of the chain to the end.
* **Ascending Fill:** the mirror image, the fill price trends up from the start of the chain to the end.

Both alerts use identical grouping, filtering, and premium thresholds; the only difference is the direction the fill price moves across the sequence.

**Opening Flow**

Opening flow describes options activity where new contracts are being opened. By definition, this can only be BTO (buy to open) or STO (sell to open); a closing trade can't be opening flow. Identifying opening flow is central to following what smart money is doing, since a large opening trade signals a new position being built rather than an existing one being unwound.

The flow feed doesn't state directly whether a trade opened or closed a position. When a trade's size exceeds the contract's existing daily volume plus its open interest, the trade can be confirmed as opening, since there aren't enough existing contracts for it to be a close. For example: a contract has 100 daily volume and 50 open interest, and a 250-contract trade hits the tape. That trade must be opening, because 250 is more than the 150 contracts that could otherwise account for it. When a trade meets this bar, it gets tagged as opening in the flow feed.

A trade without this tag was not necessarily a closing trade; it simply couldn't be confirmed as opening by the math. Many trades don't land on numbers clean enough to prove it directly.

When the numbers don't line up cleanly, two supporting signals help build the case for opening flow: a high volume-to-open-interest ratio, and a skew of that volume toward one side (bid or ask). For example, a contract with 0 volume and 1,000 open interest sees a run of trades from 1 to 100 contracts each, bringing volume to 7,500, all executing at or closer to the ask. The exact opening amount within that 7,500 can't be pinned down precisely, but the high volume relative to open interest, combined with the skew to the ask, makes it clear that opening flow has taken place.

### Roll (Rolling an Option)

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/roll-rolling-an-option](https://unusualwhales.com/information/roll-rolling-an-option)*

Rolling means closing an existing options position and opening a new one at a different strike, a different expiration, or both, typically to manage risk, extend a trade, or adapt to changing conditions. A roll can be done for a credit or a debit depending on how the new contract's price compares to the old one. In the flow, this shows up as a large exit in one contract alongside a simultaneous large entry in another, e.g. a trader exiting 30,000+ $RIOT $15c contracts while opening the \$14c further out, rolling both down in strike and out in expiration.

**Key point:** "Rolling down and out" means moving to a lower strike and a later expiration in the same trade.

### Spreads (credit & debit)

*One-line note: what a spread is, and the call credit/debit spread pair as a worked example. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

A spread is an options strategy in which a trader simultaneously buys and writes different contracts of the same type (calls or puts) on the same underlying asset, with different strikes and/or expirations. Because it uses two different contracts, a spread is a multi-leg trade. Note this is not the same thing as the bid-ask spread.

**Spread by itself is vague**

The term "spread" alone doesn't tell you much: always pair it with call/put and credit/debit to know the actual position and risk profile.

* A spread built entirely from calls is a **call spread**; entirely from puts, a **put spread**.
* A spread can be opened for a **debit** (a debit spread, costs money to open) or for a **credit** (a credit spread, brings in money to open).

Combining these gives the four standard names: call credit spread (bear call spread, bearish), call debit spread (bull call spread, bullish), put credit spread, and put debit spread.

**Call credit spread (bear call spread)**

Used to speculate on a neutral to slightly-decreasing stock price with neutral to decreasing volatility. Built by selling a call at one strike and simultaneously buying a call at a higher strike, same expiration. The trader receives a net credit, smaller than selling the call alone, but in exchange caps max loss at the width between strikes minus the credit received. The bought higher-strike call is what caps the loss; without it, this would be a naked short call with unlimited risk.

**Call debit spread (bull call spread)**

Used to speculate on a price increase with neutral to modestly increasing volatility. Built by buying a call at a lower strike and selling a call at a higher strike, same expiration. The trader pays a net debit, smaller than buying the call alone, but gives up the long call's unlimited upside in exchange: max profit is capped at the width between strikes minus the debit paid. The sold higher-strike call is what reduces the cost, at the price of capping the gain.

### Stock Splits (and their effect on options)

*One-line note: what a stock split is, and how it flows through to existing options contracts. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

A stock split changes a company's share count and share price without changing the total value of a position, and that principle carries through to options contracts on the stock as well.

**Stock Split**

A stock split increases (forward split, e.g. 2-for-1) or decreases (reverse split, e.g. 1-for-10) the number of a company's shares while adjusting the price per share so the total market value stays unchanged. Companies use forward splits to make shares more affordable and more liquid for retail investors, to attract more traders, and sometimes to signal confidence in growth, all without changing company fundamentals. A split doesn't change a company's valuation, but it often draws increased trading interest.

Reverse splits move the other direction: fewer shares, higher price per share. Companies typically use a reverse split to meet an exchange's minimum bid-price requirement. For example, a company can face delisting from NASDAQ if it trades below the typical \$1.00 minimum closing bid for 30 consecutive business days.

Existing options contracts get adjusted for the new share count and strike prices whenever a split occurs.

**How a Split Affects Existing Options**

Your total equity value is unchanged by a split or reverse split, and the same holds for options positions: contract count and strike price adjust proportionally, but total position value doesn't change.

**Regular split example:** With imaginary stock $ABC trading at $100, a 10:1 split turns one share worth $100 into ten shares worth $10 each (total value unchanged). Applied to options, the owner of one $ABC $100 strike call (premium $1.00) would own ten $10 strike calls (each valued at \$0.10).

A real example: in November 2023, Pelosi purchased 50 NVDA $120C contracts (12/20 expiration). After NVDA's 10:1 split, that position became 500 NVDA $12C contracts.

Another real example: Walmart ($WMT) performed a 3:1 stock split. A trader holding one $WMT $180C contract (5/17/2024 expiration), bought for $2.40, ended up with three $WMT $60C contracts at roughly $0.80 each after the split, assuming other factors like stock price fluctuation stayed equal. The total premium spent, $240, stayed the same, only the number of contracts and the strike changed.

**Reverse split example:** With imaginary stock $DEF trading at $10, a 1:10 reverse split turns ten shares worth $10 each into one share worth $100 (total value unchanged). Applied to options, the owner of one $DEF $10 strike call (premium $0.10) would end up with one $DEF \$100 strike call, but unlike a standard option, which controls 100 shares, this new contract controls only 10 shares.

This is known as a non-standard option. Non-standard options carry a "1" appended after the underlying's ticker (for example, BAC1), can control fewer than 100 shares, and can also carry a cash component. Non-standard options cannot be opened; brokerages will only accept orders to close them.

**On Unusual Whales data:** historical price candles are split-adjusted, and volume is adjusted by the same split factor and effective date as price (price divided, volume multiplied), so a past split rescales earlier bars, including their volume. Because the adjustment is applied backward, a future split retroactively rescales all prior history, so a stored value is not point-in-time stable across a later split. There is no raw or unadjusted candle option and no dividend adjustment; the Data Shop bulk files are split-adjusted the same way.

**Key point:** A stock split changes an option's strike and contract quantity proportionally, but it does not change the total dollar value of the position. In a reverse split, that adjustment can produce a non-standard option that accepts closing orders only.

### Straddles & Strangles

*One-line note: long straddles and long strangles, how they're built and what they need to pay off. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Straddles and strangles are both two-leg strategies that buy a call and a put on the same underlying to speculate on a large move and rising volatility, without taking a directional bet. The difference is strike selection: a straddle uses one shared strike, a strangle uses two different (typically OTM) strikes.

**Long straddle**

A long straddle speculates on an increase in volatility and a large move in the underlying, up or down. It's built by buying one at-the-money call and one at-the-money put, same strike, same expiration. If a stock is trading at $100, a trader wanting to open a straddle would buy one $100 call and one \$100 put of the same expiration date.

Straddles are typically opened around a known catalyst, such as earnings or a news event. The risk isn't blowup risk, it's time decay: since the call profits from upside and the put profits from downside, a sideways or small move lets the two legs largely cancel each other out, and the position loses value as expiration approaches. Max loss is capped at the debit paid to open the position. Profit potential is theoretically unlimited on the upside (the call has no cap) and large but bounded on the downside (the put's gain is capped by the stock reaching \$0).

**Worked example (AAPL):** With AAPL trading at $177.81, a trader buys to open the $177.50 call and the $177.50 put, same expiration (8/25/2024), for $2.87 and $1.91 respectively. Total cost is a debit of $478, the max loss, which occurs if AAPL stays near $177.81 through expiration. Breakevens sit at $172.72 and $182.28, roughly a 2.5-2.9% move from entry; the underlying needs to move well past those points before the trade turns profitable, and the bulk of the profit potential shows up on moves considerably larger than that (for example, a move to roughly $191 or \$164).

**Long strangle**

A long strangle speculates on a large move in the underlying, up or down, plus a rise in volatility. It's built by buying one out-of-the-money call and one out-of-the-money put, same expiration, different strikes. Because both legs are OTM, a strangle is typically cheaper to open than a straddle, but it needs a larger move to reach breakeven.

Max loss is the total premium paid, realized if both contracts expire worthless. Max profit is theoretically unlimited on the upside, since the call can keep gaining as the stock rises, and large but capped on the downside, since the put's gain is bounded by the stock reaching \$0.

### Strike Price

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/strike-price](https://unusualwhales.com/information/strike-price)*

The strike price is the pre-determined price at which an option holder can buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying asset, and it's a major driver of the option's value. A contract is in the money (ITM) when the strike favors the holder and out of the money (OTM) when it requires a bigger move to become profitable. For example, an $NSP 65P 2/21/2025 contract has a strike of $65.

**Key point:** ITM/OTM status is defined purely by where the strike sits relative to the current price, for calls above spot is OTM and below spot is ITM, and the reverse for puts.

### Synthetic Positions

*One-line note: what a synthetic position is, plus the synthetic long and synthetic short. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

A synthetic position uses a combination of options, and sometimes the underlying, to replicate the risk and reward profile of another position, such as a long, short, or neutral stock exposure, without directly buying or selling the asset. Traders build these to adapt to market conditions, hedge, or gain capital or tax efficiency. Common types include the synthetic long, the synthetic short, a synthetic covered call (short stock plus a long call), and a synthetic straddle (calls and puts combined to mimic a straddle). "Synthetic" describes any options combination built to mimic another position's payoff, not one single strategy.

**Synthetic long**

A synthetic long replicates the risk and reward profile of owning stock without buying shares, by buying a call and selling a put at the same strike and expiration.

* **Buy a call** (bullish bet): gives the right to buy the stock at a set price.
* **Sell a put** (bullish bet): obligates the trader to buy the stock if assigned.

Since both legs share the same strike, the position behaves like owning the stock outright: if the stock rises, the call gains value; if the stock falls, the short put may be assigned, forcing a stock purchase just as ownership would. The short put is what creates real assignment risk here: if the stock falls below the strike, the trader can be forced to buy shares.

Advantages: requires less capital upfront than buying shares, offers leveraged long exposure, and can carry potential tax advantages in certain cases. Disadvantages: obligation to buy the stock if assigned on the short put, margin requirements may apply to the short put, and the position is exposed to time decay and volatility changes.

**Synthetic short**

A synthetic short replicates short selling a stock without borrowing shares, by buying a put and selling a call at the same strike and expiration.

* **Buy a put** (bearish bet): gives the right to sell the stock at a set price.
* **Sell a call** (bearish bet): obligates the trader to sell the stock if assigned.

Since both legs share the same strike and expiration, the position behaves like a short stock position: if the stock drops, the put gains value; if the stock rises, the short call may be assigned, forcing a sale just as a short seller would experience. The short call side gives this position theoretically unlimited loss potential if the underlying rallies hard.

Advantages: no need to borrow shares, avoiding hard-to-borrow fees, and a capital-efficient way to take a bearish position without a direct short sale. Disadvantages: unlimited loss potential if the stock rises significantly, margin requirements for the short call, and exposure to time decay and volatility shifts.

### The Basic Option Positions (long/short calls & puts, naked)

*One-line note: the four building-block option trades and what "naked" means. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Every options trade, no matter how complex, is built from four basic actions: buying a call, buying a put, selling a call, and selling a put. Combine any two or more and you get a multi-leg strategy; the combination determines the risk profile.

**The four building blocks**

Every options position reduces to one or more of these:

* **Buying a call** (long call)
* **Buying a put** (long put)
* **Selling a call** (short call, naked or covered)
* **Selling a put** (short put, naked or cash-secured)

Any two or more of these can be combined into a more complex strategy. A long call plus a short call at a different strike makes a call spread. A short call plus a long put makes a synthetic short. A long call plus a short put makes a synthetic long. Different combinations carry very different risk profiles, and some, particularly naked short positions, carry theoretically unlimited loss. Learn these four building blocks first; every multi-leg strategy is just a combination of them.

**Long call**

A long call (a call bought to open) behaves most like owning the stock outright: as the stock rises, the call's value should rise with it. It has a theoretically unlimited upside, so profit potential grows the higher the stock price goes. Max loss is capped at the premium paid.

**Long put**

A long put (a put bought to open) behaves most like shorting the stock: as the stock falls, the put's value should rise. Its max theoretical gain is limited, since the stock can't go below \$0, but its max loss matches a long call's: the full premium paid.

**Short call**

A short call (a call sold to open) is a bet that the underlying stays below the strike price by expiration. For example, with XYZ trading at $23, selling a $24 call for $0.50 sets a breakeven of $24.50 at expiration ($24 strike + $0.50 premium received), though the position's market value can move against the seller before expiration too.

Because a stock's price can rise without theoretical limit, selling a call without owning shares as collateral, or without a further OTM call to cap risk via a spread, carries a high "risk of ruin." A surprise move, like an earnings beat or a buyout, can cause outsized losses.

**Short put**

A short put (a put sold to open) is a bet that the underlying does not fall to the strike price by expiration. Like short calls, short puts carry a large downside, capped only by the stock reaching \$0. If the stock finishes below the strike, the seller is obligated to buy shares at the strike price even though the market price is lower.

**Naked calls and naked puts**

A naked (short) option is sold without owning the underlying (for calls) or without sufficient cash to cover the obligation (for puts). Naked calls carry unlimited loss potential if the stock rallies sharply. Naked puts expose the seller to steep losses on a sharp decline, bounded only by the stock reaching \$0. Because of this risk, brokers generally require significant margin and trading experience before allowing naked option selling.

### The Bid-Ask Spread

*One-line note: what the bid-ask spread is, why it behaves differently in options than in stocks, and how UW surfaces it. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

The bid-ask spread is the gap between the highest price a buyer will pay for a contract (the bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (the ask). It is a proxy for liquidity: a wide spread signals a thin, less active market for that contract, and a tight spread signals the opposite.

**What the Spread Measures**

A seller can find a buyer at the bid price; a buyer can find a seller at the ask price. The distance between the two is a measure of supply and demand as much as it is a measure of liquidity. For example, an option contract with a bid of $1.20 and an ask of $1.35 has a spread of $0.15 per share, or $15 per contract, since a standard contract represents 100 shares.

The bid and ask at the time of each transaction are shown in the flow feed, and the spread is one of the inputs UW uses, alongside the fill price, to help infer whether a trade was buyer- or seller-initiated. That inference is covered in full on the Trade Side page; the point to keep in mind here is that fill price relative to the spread is an input to a probabilistic read, not a labeled fact.

**Why Options Spreads Run Wider Than Stock Spreads**

Stock spreads for liquid names are often a penny or two. Options spreads are typically wider and more variable, for a few structural reasons:

* **Fragmented liquidity.** A single underlying can have dozens or hundreds of contracts across different strikes and expirations, splitting volume across many instruments instead of one.
* **Lower volume per contract.** Most individual contracts trade far less often than their underlying stock.
* **Market maker risk.** Market makers pricing options take on volatility exposure and time-decay risk, and price wider spreads as compensation.
* **Implied volatility uncertainty.** Options pricing requires estimating future volatility, which adds a layer of uncertainty that widens quotes.

**How the Spread Affects Buyers and Sellers**

Buying to open typically means paying at or near the ask; selling to open typically means receiving at or near the bid. Either way, the spread works against the trader who has to cross it.

**Buying example:** XYZ's $50 call (30 days to expiration) is quoted $1.50 bid / $1.70 ask, a $0.20 spread. Buying at the ask means starting $0.20 per share below the $1.60 midpoint. The underlying now has to move enough to clear not just the premium paid, but the extra cost of the spread. The spread effectively raises the buyer's breakeven.

**Selling example:** ABC's $75 put (45 days to expiration) is quoted $2.80 bid / $3.10 ask, a $0.30 spread. Selling at the bid means collecting $2.80 versus a $2.95 midpoint, or \$0.15 less. That directly reduces the premium collected and shrinks the cushion against an adverse move.

For multi-leg strategies, such as an iron condor, the spread cost on each leg stacks. The combined cost across all legs can fully offset a position's theoretical edge, so evaluate the total spread cost across a strategy, not just the price at the midpoint of any one leg.

**Where Spreads Run Wide or Tight**

Spread width is not uniform across a chain:

* **Strike distance:** at-the-money contracts tend to have the tightest spreads because they trade the most; far out-of-the-money contracts tend to have wider spreads as a percentage of their value; deep in-the-money contracts can carry wider absolute spreads simply because their prices are higher.
* **Time to expiration:** near-term contracts (inside 30 days) tend to be tighter; longer-dated contracts tend to be wider, reflecting greater uncertainty and lower volume.
* **Underlying liquidity:** high-volume, large-cap names tend to have tighter spreads than low-volume, small-cap names.
* **Time of day:** spreads are typically widest at the open and close, and tend to tighten mid-day.

**Trading Around the Spread**

A few practical habits reduce the cost of crossing the spread:

* Use limit orders, not market orders, and start near the midpoint.
* Favor contracts with meaningful open interest and daily volume over illiquid ones; tighter markets mean tighter spreads and better fills.
* When comparing strategies, weigh the cumulative spread cost, not just the theoretical payoff. A single long option can carry less spread cost than an equivalent multi-leg structure.
* Expect spreads to widen at the open and close, and consider timing entries for the middle of the session.
* Be patient with limit orders; price often moves through several levels over the course of a session.

**The Chain Bid/Ask Column**

The Chain Bid/Ask bar breaks down bid, mid, ask, and no-side activity for a given contract. It appears as a column in the flow feed and inside the flow pop-up's historical contract data. In the flow feed, the bar reflects side activity up to the trade in question; in the flow pop-up, it reflects the most current data available.

Chain Bid/Ask bars are commonly confused with Bullish/Bearish bars. They are not the same thing: Chain Bid/Ask measures where trades landed relative to the spread, not a directional read on the underlying.

### Trade Codes

*One-line note: what trade codes are and what each common code means. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

A trade code is a designator attached to every options transaction that adds context about how the trade was executed. Every trade in the flow feed carries one, visible via the CODE column (you may need to turn it on from the Columns menu). Trade codes follow the CBOE's published stock/options condition code standard, so the same code carries the same meaning across exchanges.

**Execution and Timing Codes**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| AUTO | The transaction was executed electronically. |
| ISOI | Execution of an order identified as an Intermarket Sweep Order. Processed like a normal transaction. |
| LATE | The transaction is reported late but is in the correct sequence; no later transactions have been reported for the contract. |
| OSEQ | The transaction is reported late and out of sequence; later transactions have already been reported for the contract. |

**Cancellation Codes**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| CANC | A previously reported transaction (not the last or the opening report) is now cancelled. |
| CNCL | The last reported transaction for the contract is now cancelled. |
| CNCO | The first (opening) transaction reported for the contract that day is now cancelled, even though later transactions have since been reported. |
| CNOL | The only transaction reported for the contract that day is now cancelled. |

**Opening and Reopening Codes**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| OPEN | A late report of the opening trade, out of sequence; other transactions have already been reported for the contract. |
| OPNL | A late report of the opening trade, in the correct sequence; no other transactions have been reported for the contract. |
| REOP | A reopening of a contract in which trading had previously been halted. |

**Extended Hours and Compression**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| EXHT | An extended-hours trade, executed outside regular market hours. |
| MCTP | A multilateral compression trade in a proprietary product, executed outside regular trading hours at prices derived from end-of-day markets. |

**EXHT and MCTP do not update a contract's Open, High, Low, or Closing prices**, so both can appear in the feed without moving those reference values.

**Multi-Leg Codes**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| MLET | Electronic execution of a multi-leg order traded in a complex order book. |
| MLAT | Execution of an electronic multi-leg order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided auction mechanism with an exposure period, in a complex order book (Price Improvement, Facilitation, or Solicitation mechanisms, among others). |
| MLCT | Execution of an electronic multi-leg order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided crossing mechanism with no exposure period (e.g. Customer to Customer Cross, or QCC with two or more legs). |
| MLFT | A non-electronic multi-leg order executed on a trading floor against other multi-leg orders, including Paired and Non-Paired Auctions and Cross orders on the floor. |
| MASL | Execution of an electronic multi-leg order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided auction against single-leg orders/quotes. |
| MESL | Electronic execution of a multi-leg order traded against single-leg orders/quotes. |
| MFSL | A non-electronic multi-leg order executed on a trading floor against single-leg orders/quotes, including Paired and Non-Paired Auctions on the floor. |
| CBMO | Execution of a non-electronic multi-leg order (at least 3 legs) in a proprietary product. The trade price may fall outside the current NBBO. |

**Single-Leg Codes**

| Code | Meaning |
| - | - |
| SLAN | Execution of an electronic order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided auction with an exposure period (Price Improvement, Facilitation, or Solicitation mechanisms, among others). |
| SLAI | The Intermarket Sweep Order variant of the above: an ISO-marked order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided auction with an exposure period. |
| SLCN | Execution of an electronic order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided crossing mechanism with no exposure period (e.g. Customer to Customer Cross, or QCC with a single leg). |
| SCLI | The Intermarket Sweep Order variant of the above: an ISO order stopped at a price and traded in a two-sided crossing mechanism with no exposure period. |
| SLFT | A non-electronic single-leg order executed on a trading floor. |

A further set of related single- and multi-leg auction, cross, and floor-trade codes (for example TLET) round out the standard, covering additional complex- and floor-execution scenarios beyond the common ones listed above.

### Trade Side: Bought vs Sold (and How UW Determines It)

*One-line note: how UW labels trade side, how that feeds into a bought/sold read, and why neither is a guarantee. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Nothing in the options tape explicitly states whether a given trade was a buy or a sell order, or whether it opened or closed a position. UW infers direction from where a trade printed relative to the bid-ask spread, and infers opening versus closing from trade size against existing volume and open interest. Both are probabilistic reads, not labeled facts, and this page covers how to make them responsibly.

**The Four Ways to Transact an Option**

Every options trade is one of four base actions: buy a call, sell a call, buy a put, or sell a put. Each of those splits further into opening or closing:

* **Buying to open (BTO)** starts a new long position.
* **Buying to close (BTC)** closes an existing short position.
* **Selling to open (STO)**, also called writing, starts a new short position.
* **Selling to close (STC)** closes an existing long position.

A trader bullish on a stock might buy a call to open, then sell that call to close when ready to exit. A trader bearish on a stock might buy a put to open, then sell it to close. Selling (writing) a covered call or a cash-secured put is a sell-to-open trade; buying it back later is a buy-to-close.

None of the four actions are labeled directly on the tape. The trade only shows a fill price, a size, and a side. Working out which of the four occurred is inference, built from the same tools this page walks through.

**Side: Where a Trade Printed**

Side is a flow feed column showing where along the bid-ask spread a trade executed. Every trade is tagged with one of four values:

* **ASK** – the trade printed at or closer to the ask.
* **BID** – the trade printed at or closer to the bid.
* **MID** – the trade printed exactly between bid and ask.
* **NONE** – the bid-ask spread wasn't a meaningful reference for this print. This covers cross trades, out-of-sequence or late prints, and trades that were later modified or cancelled. NONE does not mean no side occurred; it means the spread wasn't a relevant reference for that particular print.

**How Side Is Determined**

Side is set from two inputs at the moment of the trade: the contract's NBBO (national best bid and offer) and the actual fill price. A fill at or closer to the NBBO ask is labeled ASK, a fill at or closer to the NBBO bid is labeled BID, and a fill exactly at the midpoint is labeled MID. It is derived purely from fill price versus the quoted spread at execution time, not from any exchange-reported buy/sell flag, because no such flag exists in the data UW receives.

**From Side to Bought/Sold: The Inference**

UW uses side and fill price, together with supporting context, to build a thesis about whether a trade was a buy or a sell. This is never a certainty. An at-ask fill is a higher likelihood of being a buy, not a guarantee; an at-bid fill is a higher likelihood of being a sell, not a guarantee. Treat any bought/sold read as a probabilistic thesis, not a confirmed fact, and use the flow feed alongside other context to strengthen or weaken it rather than relying on side alone.

**Calls, Puts, and Bullish/Bearish Labels**

A call is not inherently bullish, and a put is not inherently bearish. Sentiment depends on whether the trade is a buy or a write:

* Buying a call to open is bullish.
* Writing (selling to open) a call is bearish.
* Buying a put to open is bearish.
* Writing (selling to open) a put is bullish.

Combined with side, the shorthand is:

* Call at the ask = bullish
* Call at the bid = bearish
* Put at the ask = bearish
* Put at the bid = bullish

This labeling only holds if two things are both true: the trade is actually an opening trade, and the ask-equals-buy, bid-equals-sell assumption is correct for that print. Both are inferences. If either one is wrong, the sentiment read flips.

**Opening vs. Closing: Using Volume and Open Interest**

Distinguishing opening flow from closing flow matters because they carry very different sentiment. A trader who bought $1,000,000 in calls to close a covered position looks identical on the tape to a trader who bought $1,000,000 in calls to open a new position, but the two trades mean opposite things.

There is one hard rule: when a trade's size exceeds the sum of the contract's prior daily volume and its existing open interest, that trade cannot be anything but opening, since there aren't enough existing contracts for it to be a close. When a trade meets this bar, UW tags it as opening in the flow feed. The absence of that tag does not mean a trade wasn't opening, only that the math didn't confirm it cleanly; many trades don't land on round numbers that make the case unambiguous.

Absent a clean numeric confirmation, two supporting signals help build the case: a high volume-to-open-interest ratio, and a skew of that volume toward one side (bid or ask). Neither pins down the exact opening amount, but together they can make a strong case that opening flow has taken place.

**Worked examples of opening flow:**

* $EVA $**0.5C 3/15/2024:** bid/ask spread of $0.15–$0.20, fill at \$0.20 (right at the ask), size 470 contracts against 0 open interest. Size exceeds prior volume plus open interest, so this is confirmed opening flow, and the ask fill points toward it being bought.
* $CRON $**4C 1/16/2024:** bid/ask spread of $0.25–$0.35, fill at \$0.33, size 100 contracts. The fill isn't exactly at the ask, but it sits meaningfully closer to the ask than the bid, and size again confirms an opening trade.
* $CHWY $**21.5P 2/2/2024:** bid/ask spread of $2.45–$2.49, fill at \$2.45 (right at the bid), size 175 against 67 open interest. Size exceeds prior volume plus open interest, confirming an opening trade, and the bid fill points toward it being sold to open.
* $LLY $**617.5P 2/2/2024:** bid/ask spread of $8.15–$8.80, fill at \$8.20. Not exactly at the bid, but close given the wide spread; comparing size against existing volume and open interest again supports an opening read.

A broader example of the supporting-signal approach: a contract shows 0 volume and 1,000 open interest. A run of trades from 1 to 100 contracts each brings volume to 7,500, all executing at or near the ask. The exact opening amount within that 7,500 can't be pinned down, but the combination of a high volume-to-open-interest ratio and a clear skew to the ask makes it clear that opening flow has taken place.

By definition, opening flow can only be BTO or STO. A closing trade, by contrast, can never exceed existing open interest in this way, since it's drawing down a position that already exists.

**Why Trades Can Print Outside the Bid-Ask Spread**

Unusual Whales does not offer a "Below Bid" or "Above Ask" filter, because trades can print outside the NBBO through routine exchange mechanics, not because of unusual urgency or conviction. Three common causes:

**Facilitation ISOs.** A large order gets split across multiple exchanges to fill efficiently. Example: a hedge fund wants to buy 3,150 LMT 425 puts at up to $4.75. Its prime broker submits a Facilitation Intermarket Sweep Order (on Cboe exchanges, a "Sweep and AIM"), and the auction is broadcast to all market participants. Four market makers respond at improving prices across different exchanges (50 at $4.30, 200 at $4.40, 150 at $4.50, 92 at $4.60), and the broker fills the remaining 2,658 contracts at $4.70 on its preferred exchange. Several of those fills print "Above Ask" relative to the $4.25 x $4.40 NBBO at the time, not because the trade was urgent or high conviction, but because it's the outcome of an efficient multi-exchange auction.

**Solicitation ISOs.** A large order is negotiated all-or-nothing ("fill or kill"). Example: a hedge fund wants to sell 1,650 META 715 calls at a minimum of $9.50. Its broker submits a Solicitation ISO for 1,650 contracts at $9.65 with the fill-or-kill condition; a market maker's bid at $9.55 meets the criteria and the trade executes there. Against an NBBO of $9.65 x \$9.85, this prints "Below Bid," again reflecting a negotiated price under a specific order condition rather than urgency.

**Floor trades.** Some contracts, notably in the SPX complex, still trade via open outcry on a physical floor. A trade agreed to face-to-face and then manually entered into the exchange system can lag the market by the time it's recorded, so the market may have moved and the print can land outside the NBBO by the time it hits the tape. This is an execution-timing artifact, not a signal of conviction.

In all three cases, a print above the ask or below the bid reflects order-routing or execution-timing mechanics, not trader urgency. That's why an "outside the spread" filter would be misleading rather than useful, and why UW doesn't offer one.

### Volume & Open Interest

*One-line note: how volume and open interest are each defined, and how they interact. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Volume and open interest are two of the most commonly used, and most commonly confused, data points in options trading. Both count contracts, but they measure different things and update on different schedules.

**Volume**

Volume is the total number of shares or contracts that have traded during the session. It updates live intraday and only ever increases. Any kind of transaction counts toward it, whether it's buying to open (BTO), selling to open (STO), buying to close (BTC), or selling to close (STC): volume does not differentiate between bought or sold options, any traded contract counts as 1 unit of volume regardless of direction.

**Example:** Jack buys to open 100 contracts (volume is now 100). Jill sells to open another 100 contracts (volume is now 200). Joe, who already owned 50 contracts, sells to close his position (volume is now 250).

**Open interest**

Open interest (OI) is the total number of outstanding contracts. It can be referenced for a specific contract or aggregated across an entire equity. OI does not update intraday, and it is a literal count: it doesn't matter whether the contracts were bought to open or sold to open, any existing contract counts. Because of this, high open interest on a call isn't inherently bullish, and high open interest on a put isn't inherently bearish.

New open interest values are disseminated market-wide during the premarket of each trading session, generally completed by around 6:30 to 6:45 AM ET, at which point OI for all contracts becomes available to view. Incorrect open interest values are occasionally sent out market-wide; when this happens, they self-correct the following session.

**Example:** The \$ABC 100 strike call has 0 open interest Monday morning. During Monday's session, a trader buys to open 5 contracts, with no other activity. Tuesday morning, open interest on those contracts is 5. During Tuesday's session, that trader sets a sell order to close the position, and another trader's buy order for 5 contracts fills against it. One position closed and one opened, at the same size. Wednesday morning, open interest remains at 5, unchanged, even though real trading activity occurred.

**How they interact**

Because open interest is a net figure and volume is a gross figure, the two can diverge sharply within a single session:

* A close and a new open at the same size can offset each other exactly, so volume rises while open interest doesn't move at all in the next session's snapshot. This is the mechanic that confuses most traders: it's possible to see a trader "open" 1,000 contracts but the next session's OI doesn't rise by 1,000, or see a 10,000-contract position closed while OI barely budges. Open interest moves on the net of opening versus closing activity, not on the gross number of contracts traded, so large volume can coincide with little or no OI change.
* Volume does not tell you that existing open-interest positions are being closed or rolled to a different strike. It only shows where market participants are actively trading contracts today, not what happens to the positions already on the books.

**Reading volume by strike**

Because gamma is highest at the money and largest for near-dated contracts ("gamma is a short-term phenomenon"), volume analysis for intraday flow should focus most heavily on the closest expiration.

**Worked example (NVDA):** On a day NVDA fell almost 10%, heavy put volume clustered on far-OTM strikes (110P, 107P, 105P, 100P) with minimal call volume on the same strikes, for example roughly 83,000+ volume on the 100P against roughly 4,000+ on the 100C. That concentration by strike and side corroborated the day's price action, but volume alone still leaves open questions volume can't answer on its own: whether the contracts were bought or sold, whether they were part of a spread, or what else might be driving the move.

## Greeks & Volatility

### Gamma Exposure (GEX)

*One-line note: what GEX measures, how to read the Gamma View, and how UW's GEX methodologies compare. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Gamma Exposure (GEX) is the assumed dollar value of gamma that market makers need to hedge per 1% move in the underlying's price. A positive value is long gamma, a negative value is short gamma.

**What GEX Assumes**

GEX is built on a model, not a direct measurement of market maker books. The model assumes market makers are the counterparty to most options transactions, and that on balance investors sell calls and buy puts to hedge their portfolios, leaving market makers on the other side: long calls and short puts. Market makers aren't taking a directional view here; providing liquidity is their job, and the resulting inventory is unwanted directional risk they then neutralize by buying or selling shares of the underlying.

If a market maker has one open contract with a gamma of 0.05, and the underlying moves 1%, that market maker is assumed exposed to 0.05 gamma × (100 shares × 0.01) × stock price × the relevant underlying parameter. Total exposure is the sum of this calculation across all open contracts, based on daily open interest (shown in purple on UW's charts) or volume (shown in yellow).

Long call positions carry positive gamma: as the stock price rises and delta approaches 1, market makers hedge by selling shares, and they buy shares back if price falls. Short put positions carry negative gamma: as price rises and delta falls toward -1, market makers hedge by buying shares, and they sell if price falls.

This produces GEX's effect on realized volatility. When GEX is large and positive, market makers are assumed to sell into rallies and buy into dips, which tends to dampen volatility. When GEX is large and negative, they're assumed to buy into rallies and sell into drops, which tends to amplify volatility.

**The Gamma View**

The [Gamma View](https://unusualwhales.com/stock/QQQ/greek-exposure?tab=Gamma) visualizes gamma, calculated from open interest each morning based on the underlying's spot price at the prior close, in four ways:

1. **Daily Gamma Exposure (GEX)**: the sum of call gamma and put gamma across all strikes and all expiries. On average, realized volatility tends to be lower when this sum is positive and higher when it's negative.
2. **Gamma Exposure by Strike**: which strikes, summed across all expiries, hold the most gamma exposure. The strike with the most net positive or net negative gamma won't always match the strike with the most call or put gamma individually; it depends on the sum of call gamma (positive) and put gamma (negative) at each strike.
3. **Gamma Exposure by Expiry**: which expiration date, summed across all strikes, holds the most gamma exposure.
4. **Largest GEX by Strike and Expiry**: GEX by strike for a single expiry, selectable from a dropdown.

Note that this data is derived from open interest and updates once per day, in the morning, after the OI update. It is not a real-time feed; intraday changes in price or volume don't move it until the next day's OI update.

Gamma is larger in near-dated expiries than further-dated ones, and within a given expiry, gamma is largest at the at-the-money strike and shrinks in both directions as strikes move further away.

### Reading Largest GEX by Strike and Expiry

Because gamma concentrates near the money in near-dated expiries, the Largest GEX by Strike and Expiry view can highlight potential mean-reversion zones for those expiries. Traders holding short-dated contracts have limited time to act and often monetize positions as price approaches key strikes, which can produce buying or selling pressure around those levels.

Worked example: on a pre-market snapshot from Tuesday, March 19, 2024, the largest put (negative) GEX bar for that week's MSFT expiration sat at the $415 strike, slightly out of the money against MSFT's Monday close of $417.32. The largest call (positive) GEX bar for the same expiration sat at $425. A speculator long the $415 puts would see them appreciate as price approached $415; if price then reversed instead of continuing lower, near-the-money put holders motivated to lock in gains could add to buying pressure. On the day, MSFT did trade down into the $415 range (low of \$415.55) before reversing higher, consistent with that mean-reversion read.

**GEX Methodologies, Ranked**

Unusual Whales offers several GEX methodologies of differing data quality, ranked here from clearest signal to least clear:

### 1. Periscope SPX MM GEX

[Periscope](https://unusualwhales.com/periscope/market-exposure), available only for SPX, runs on a dataset provided directly from CBOE, with a 10-minute refresh on Retail Pro and a 1-minute refresh on Retail Max. SPX options trade exclusively on CBOE (unlike, say, SPY, which trades across more than a dozen exchanges), which gives this dataset a direct line to actual buy/sell data rather than an assumption-based estimate. It also separates customer orders from market maker orders and returns exposure figures only for market maker positioning. Every other GEX methodology, on UW or elsewhere, infers positioning from volume or open interest rather than confirmed trade-side data.

### 2. Intraday Volume, with Bid/Ask Side Attribution

This builds on plain intraday volume (below) by adding trade-side attribution: trades at or near the ask are inferred as customer buys, and trades at or near the bid are inferred as customer sells. It's a meaningful improvement over volume alone, but it's still assumption-based. Available on the [Greek Exposure page](https://unusualwhales.com/stock/SPY/greek-exposure?tab=Spot) under Directionalized Volume, including a heatmap view.

### 3. Intraday Volume

This methodology uses raw intraday options volume instead of stale open interest, assuming dealers are long all calls and short all puts traded. It's still flawed: a contract opened and closed within the same session nets to no real position, but this methodology counts that round trip as two transactions the market maker must hedge. Available on the [Greek Exposure page](https://unusualwhales.com/stock/SPY/greek-exposure?tab=Spot) under Total Volume.

### 4. Open Interest

The [classic GEX view](https://unusualwhales.com/stock/SPY/greek-exposure?tab=Gamma) uses options open interest data provided daily by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), assuming dealers are long all calls and short all puts in open interest. Because open interest updates only once per session, in the premarket, this view is the simplest and least accurate of the four, and it does not reflect intraday positioning changes.

### Max Pain Theory

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/max-pain-theory](https://unusualwhales.com/information/max-pain-theory)*

Max pain is the strike price at which the largest dollar value of outstanding options (calls and puts combined) would expire worthless, theoretically inflicting the most loss on option holders. It's calculated by, for each in-the-money strike, multiplying the difference between stock price and strike by open interest at that strike, summing the put and call dollar values, repeating across strikes, and taking the strike with the highest total loss. Max pain theory holds that market makers and large institutions have some incentive to push price toward this level near expiration, though this is disputed and treated as one input among many rather than a reliable predictor. Because it depends on open interest, max pain updates only once per day.

**Key point:** Max pain is OI-driven and updates only once daily, and the "gravitational pull toward max pain" idea is a contested theory, not a confirmed mechanism.

### The Greeks (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Charm, Vanna)

*One-line note: definitions and sign conventions for the options greeks, first through third order. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Options greeks are derivatives of an option's price, each measuring a different rate of change: with respect to the underlying price, with respect to time, or with respect to volatility. They're grouped into first, second, and third order, based on how many derivatives removed they are from price.

**First-Order Greeks**

The first-order greeks each measure the option price's sensitivity to one input:

* **Delta**: change in option price relative to a change in the underlying's price
* **Theta**: change in option price over time
* **Rho**: change in option price relative to a 1% move in the risk-free rate
* **Vega**: change in option price relative to a 1% move in implied volatility (IV)

### Delta

Delta ranges from 0 to 1 for long stock, long calls, and short puts, and from 0 to -1 for short stock, long puts, and short calls.

**Delta Exposure (DEX)**, viewable on the [GEX/DEX/Vanna/Charm page](https://unusualwhales.com/stock/SPY/greek-exposure?tab=Delta), is the assumed delta exposure that market makers carry. The model assumes market makers sit on the other side of investor hedging flow: buying the calls and selling the puts that investors buy to hedge their portfolios. If a market maker has one open contract with a delta of 0.05, that market maker is assumed exposed to 0.05 × 100 shares of delta. Total exposure is the sum of exposure across all open contracts, based on daily open interest.

### Theta

Theta is the decline in an option's price due to the passage of time. It works against long call and put holders, and in favor of short call and put sellers. It also accelerates sharply as expiration approaches, rather than decaying at a constant rate.

A contract with theta of -0.05 loses five cents per contract per day at that moment, but the rate itself increases as expiration nears. For example, an AAPL \$210 call had theta of -0.101 at 39 days to expiration (DTE), -0.132 at 25 DTE, and -0.49 at just 4 DTE, a roughly 5x jump in the final three weeks. The closer a contract gets to expiration, the faster theta eats into its remaining value.

### Vega

Vega is the change in an option's value relative to a 1% move in implied volatility. IV should be thought of as the market's annualized prediction for the price range of an asset: when IV is lower, the predicted price range is narrower, and vice versa.

### Rho

Rho is the change in an option's price relative to a 1% change in the risk-free interest rate.

**Second- and Third-Order Greeks**

Second-order greeks measure the rate of change of a first-order greek:

* **Gamma**: rate of change of delta per \$1 move in the underlying
* **Vanna**: change in delta per change in volatility
* **Charm**: rate of change of delta over time (delta decay)
* **Vera**: change in rho per change in volatility
* **Veta**: change in vega over time
* **Vomma**: rate of change of vega per change in volatility

Gamma is the only second-order greek that responds directly to price movement in the underlying, which is why it's often discussed alongside the first-order greeks rather than grouped strictly with the others.

### Gamma

Gamma is the instantaneous rate of change of delta. It's the same for calls and puts: long calls and long puts have positive gamma, short calls and short puts have negative gamma.

Gamma underlies gamma exposure (GEX), covered in a separate article: [Gamma Exposure (GEX)](https://unusualwhales.com/information/what-is-gamma-exposure-gex).

### Vanna

Vanna is the change in delta with respect to a change in implied volatility (equivalently, the change in vega with respect to a change in the underlying price). When IV rises, the spread of delta widens, and vanna measures that widening.

Vanna behaves the same way for calls and puts, but with opposite sign: vanna is positive for calls and negative for puts. When IV rises, positive vanna amplifies delta for calls (pushing it toward 1) and diminishes delta for puts (pushing it toward -1). When vanna is lower, delta is less sensitive to IV changes, so a given IV move produces a smaller delta shift.

You can view this on the Vanna Exposure tool at any DTE, including 0DTE, which shows net, net-call, and net-put vanna exposure by strike.

### Charm

Charm, also called delta decay, measures how an option's delta changes purely from the passage of time, as distinct from gamma, which measures delta's change from price movement. At-the-money delta stays at roughly 50 regardless of how close expiration is, but away from the money, delta drifts as time passes.

Charm can be positive or negative: positive charm means delta rises over time, negative charm means it falls. Charm exposure is also sensitive to implied volatility: high IV amplifies charm effects, and low IV dampens them.

### Vera, Veta, and Vomma

* **Vera** is the change in rho relative to a change in volatility.
* **Veta** is the change in vega relative to the passage of time.
* **Vomma** is the rate of change of vega relative to a change in volatility.

### Volatility (Implied, Realized, IV Rank, Implied Move, Skew)

*One-line note: how UW defines and calculates implied volatility, realized volatility, IV rank, implied move, and skew. Source: unusualwhales.com/information.*

Volatility describes how much a security's price moves or is expected to move. Unusual Whales tracks it from several angles: what the options market expects going forward (implied volatility), what actually happened (realized volatility), how current expectations compare to the past year (IV rank), how much movement is priced in for a specific window (implied move), and how that pricing varies across strikes and expirations (skew).

**Implied Volatility (IV)**

Implied volatility is the options market's forward-looking expectation of how much a security's price will move over a given period. It is not derived from historical price action; it reflects what the market currently expects, which can shift on news and rumors alone, or on known upcoming events like earnings calls or investor days, even without any change in the stock's price.

All else equal, higher IV means higher options premiums, and lower IV means lower premiums. Some equities are structurally more volatility-prone than others.

**Realized Volatility (RV)**

Realized volatility, also called historical volatility, is the actual price movement a security has experienced over a past period, typically measured as the standard deviation of its historical returns. Where implied volatility looks forward, realized volatility looks backward at what already happened.

Large price swings, surprise events, and unexpected news drive realized volatility higher; calm periods bring it down. All else equal, higher realized volatility indicates more erratic or uncertain past price action, while lower realized volatility indicates steadier, more predictable moves. Some equities tend toward higher realized volatility than others.

Realized volatility can be tracked and filtered across multiple timeframes on the [Market Maps page](https://unusualwhales.com/market/maps).

**IV Rank (IVR)**

IV Rank measures where a security's current implied volatility sits relative to its own IV range over the trailing 52 weeks, scaled 0 to 100. A value of 0 represents the year's lowest IV reading; a value of 100 represents the year's highest.

For example, if a ticker's 52-week IV range is 40% to 80% and its current IV is 60%, its IVR is 50.

IVR is relative to that specific ticker's own 52-week range, not an absolute volatility level: a "high" IVR on a normally low-volatility stock can still correspond to a low absolute IV reading. Stock screeners and the Ticker Screener can sort by IV rank, and Market Maps lets you view IVR alongside realized volatility across timeframes.

**Implied Move**

Implied move is the amount a stock's price is expected to move over a period, by default through the end of the current week. It's most relevant ahead of binary events with a clear outcome that can significantly shift price in either direction, most commonly earnings announcements, but also FDA approvals or major legal rulings. These events tend to push options premiums higher as the market prices in a bigger potential swing.

Unusual Whales calculates implied move as the cost of the front-month at-the-money straddle multiplied by 0.85. It's shown as a percentage, with a corresponding dollar amount, and can be found on the Earnings Table, queried through the Discord bot, or viewed from the flow pop-up.

**Skew**

Skew is the uneven pricing of options across different strike prices or expirations, typically driven by supply and demand rather than by the underlying model itself. In most markets, put options trade at a premium to calls because of demand for downside protection, creating what's called volatility skew.

Skew also appears in other forms: time skew, the difference in pricing between short-term and long-term options, and index skew, the difference in pricing between single stocks and broad indices. Traders watch skew as a gauge of market sentiment and as a potential source of trade setups.

### When Do Greeks and Open Interest Update on Unusual Whales?

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/when-do-greeks-and-open-interest-update-on-unusual-whales](https://unusualwhales.com/information/when-do-greeks-and-open-interest-update-on-unusual-whales)*

Open interest updates once per market day, at approximately 6:45 AM eastern, reflecting the prior session's OI (via the OCC's process, outside UW's control). Friday's OI isn't available until Monday morning (or Tuesday, if Monday is a holiday). Volume-based Greeks (gamma, and identically for charm/vanna) update in real time throughout the session, on both the exposure chart and the intraday line chart. OI-based Greeks first update a few minutes after the 6:45 AM OI refresh (pre-market gamma values use either the prior close's gamma or a modeled pre-market gamma, with quality improving once trading opens and the montage tightens), then continue updating in real time. The intraday OI-based chart, however, only updates during the trading session. The Gamma View / Delta View OI-based tables and charts (Daily GEX/DEX, by Strike, by Expiry, Largest GEX/DEX by Strike and Expiry) recalculate exactly twice per day: once shortly after the 6:45 AM OI update, and again shortly after market open.

**Key point:** Volume-based greek charts update in real time; anything OI-based (which is most of the Gamma/Delta View tables) updates on a fixed twice-daily schedule, at \~6:45 AM eastern and again at market open, not continuously.

For anyone reading these values through the API rather than the website charts, three different endpoints refresh on three different cadences, so match the cadence to the endpoint. The contract-level `/api/stock/{ticker}/greeks` endpoint (per-strike delta, gamma, theta, vega, charm, vanna) refreshes intraday and transaction-driven: roughly every 30 to 60 seconds for liquid contracts, every few minutes for illiquid ones. The OI-based dealer exposure `/api/stock/{ticker}/greek-exposure` (and its `/strike` and `/expiry` variants, which back the Gamma and Delta View tables) updates once per trading day, keyed to the market open. The volume-based `/api/stock/{ticker}/spot-exposures` (directionalized-volume exposure) updates about once per minute during the cash session, 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM eastern. A row that carries only a `date` stamp is not therefore a once-a-day figure: the contract-level greeks move through the session under that same date.

## API & Data

### How To Check Your API Usage

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/how-to-check-your-api-usage](https://unusualwhales.com/information/how-to-check-your-api-usage)*

API usage is reported in the response headers of any successful request, so no separate usage endpoint is needed. `x-uw-daily-req-count` is your successful hits so far today and `x-uw-token-req-limit` is your daily cap; `x-uw-minute-req-counter` and `x-uw-req-per-minute-remaining` track the current minute, and `x-uw-req-per-minute-reset` gives milliseconds until the per-minute counter resets. Daily usage numbers reset at 8PM eastern. Read these headers with any HTTP client (the reference example uses Python's `httpx`) on any call that already succeeds, rather than hitting a dedicated stats endpoint. As of July 1, 2026 there is no binding per-minute rate limit on any tier, so the per-minute headers are informational only and not a cap. The daily limit (reset at 8PM eastern) is the only limit that binds, and on the Advanced tier the daily limit is now uncapped. Streamed websocket messages do not count against the daily limit; it meters REST requests only.

**Key point:** The per-minute limit was removed on July 1, 2026, so the per-minute headers are informational, not a cap. The daily limit (reset at 8PM eastern, uncapped on Advanced) is the only limit that binds, and websocket streaming is not counted against it.

### How to Fix 404 Errors When Using AI Tools With the Unusual Whales API

*Source: [https://unusualwhales.com/information/how-to-fix-404-errors-when-using-ai-tools-with-the-unusual-whales-api](https://unusualwhales.com/information/how-to-fix-404-errors-when-using-ai-tools-with-the-unusual-whales-api)*

AI coding tools like Cursor, Windsurf, ChatGPT, and Claude sometimes hallucinate Unusual Whales API endpoints, generating plausible-looking URLs that don't exist and produce 404 or "Something went wrong" errors. The fix: pull the full OpenAPI spec from `https://api.unusualwhales.com/api/openapi` (13K+ lines, select all with Ctrl+A), save it into your project as `api_spec.yaml`, and instruct the AI tool to only use endpoints from that file. In both Cursor and Windsurf, prompting the agent afterward to review its code against `api_spec.yaml` and correct any URL routes not present in the file reliably fixes the hallucinated calls. Before concluding any endpoint is missing, confirm against this live spec rather than trusting a tool's guess.

**Key point:** A 404 from an AI-guessed endpoint name means the tool hallucinated the route, not that Unusual Whales lacks the data; ground the tool in the live OpenAPI spec before trusting any "endpoint doesn't exist" claim.

## Account & Billing

### Plans & Pricing

`plans-and-pricing` · new page (not from the /information crawl)

Prices change often and promotions run through the year, so this page does not hardcode dollar amounts. For current pricing, always use the live pages:

* API plans: [https://unusualwhales.com/pricing?product=api](https://unusualwhales.com/pricing?product=api)
* Whale Bundle (web platform + API): [https://unusualwhales.com/pricing?product=whale-bundle\&interval=annual](https://unusualwhales.com/pricing?product=whale-bundle\&interval=annual)
* Web platform plans and everything else: [https://unusualwhales.com/pricing](https://unusualwhales.com/pricing)

What is listed below is what each package includes, since the inclusions are stable even when the price is not. If an inclusion here ever disagrees with the live pricing page, the pricing page is correct.

**API plans**

Every API tier includes the same core data. The two tiers differ in how many requests per day you get and whether the streaming and premium data layers are switched on.

**Included in every API tier (Basic and Advanced):**

* Real-time options flow, 100% market coverage, enriched with bid, ask, greeks, open interest, and volume
* Real-time Nasdaq equities data
* Congressional and insider trades
* Dark pool
* Net Premium, Market Tide, GEX, and Earnings
* Daily open interest, including FLEX OI transfer
* MCP support and custom skills for AI agents

**How the tiers differ:**

* **API Basic:** 2-year historical lookback, 40,000 requests per day (higher on the annual plan). For individual developers. It comes with a 7-day free trial for new API subscribers: no charge today, and billing starts after the trial. You can upgrade to Advanced or to an annual plan at any time and pay only the difference.
* **API Advanced:** 2-year historical lookback, unlimited requests per day, plus the streaming and premium layers below. For power users and teams.

**Added at the Advanced tier (and up):**

* 1-minute SPX Market Maker Exposure
* Websocket streaming (option trades, SPX Periscope, and more)
* Premium endpoints: forex, commodities, economic indicators, digital currencies, top movers, IPO calendar, statistics, and extended fundamentals
* CME futures: live tape over websocket, plus candles, settlement, and open interest

Websocket messages do not count against your daily request limit, which meters REST calls only. There is no longer a per-minute request cap on any tier; the daily limit is the only one that binds, and it resets at 8PM eastern.

**Startup, Startup with Kafka, and Enterprise (contact-based, not on the self-serve page):**

* **Startup:** everything above plus 160,000 requests per day, 2-year lookback, websocket streaming, all premium endpoints, personal or commercial use rights, a custom S3 pipeline, a delayed-data option, and email and Discord support. Redistribution licensing is available upon approval. CME futures and SPX Periscope are separate add-ons on this tier rather than included by default (contact [enterprise@unusualwhales.com](mailto:enterprise@unusualwhales.com) or [oskar@unusualwhales.com](mailto:oskar@unusualwhales.com)).
* **Startup with Kafka:** adds a Kafka cluster for real-time streaming of option trades, insiders, equities, and more.
* **Professional and Enterprise:** custom solutions.

Redistribution (reselling data or alerts to your own customers) is not self-serve. It is granted upon approval and negotiated with terms. Route redistribution and enterprise questions to [enterprise@unusualwhales.com](mailto:enterprise@unusualwhales.com) or [oskar@unusualwhales.com](mailto:oskar@unusualwhales.com).

**Whale Bundle (web platform + API)**

The Whale Bundle pairs the Unusual Whales web platform (the dashboard and tools) with API access in one subscription. There are two tiers, Bundle Basic and Bundle Pro. For the exact, current feature set, use the live bundle page linked at the top, since the API side of a bundle applies the same feature gates as the standalone API tiers (websocket streaming, premium endpoints, and CME futures are not on the entry tier).

**Bundle Basic includes:**

* Full dashboard and tools at the Retail Max tier, including 1-minute GEX Periscope on the platform
* Mr. Whale AI market analyst, with 3x the usage of the Basic Annual platform plan
* Unusual Predictions access
* API access with 120,000 requests per day and 2-year lookback (vs 40,000/day on standalone API Basic)
* Data Shop credits
* MCP support for AI tool integration
* Email and Discord chat support (personal use only)

**Bundle Pro includes everything in Bundle Basic, plus:**

* Unlimited daily API requests
* Websocket streaming and the full premium endpoint set on the API side (forex, commodities, economic indicators, digital currencies, top movers, IPO calendar, statistics, extended fundamentals)
* Increased Data Shop credits
* Mr. Whale AI analyst with enhanced usage

The exact API feature inclusion at each bundle tier is best read from the live bundle page. On the standalone API tiers, websocket streaming, premium endpoints, and CME futures begin at Advanced, so treat the entry bundle tier as carrying the platform plus core API rather than the full streaming and premium stack.

**Buying and managing a subscription**

* Sign up or upgrade from the pricing pages linked at the top. Upgrades are prorated: you pay only the difference when moving to a higher or longer plan.
* API subscribers get access to the API help channels in Discord by linking their Discord account on the settings page ([https://unusualwhales.com/settings](https://unusualwhales.com/settings)).
* For enterprise, redistribution, or custom pipelines, contact [enterprise@unusualwhales.com](mailto:enterprise@unusualwhales.com) or [oskar@unusualwhales.com](mailto:oskar@unusualwhales.com).