Options flow

Where the institutional money is positioning. Read it as confirmation of your equity / futures direction, not as a standalone signal.

Whale events

Phihelm flags single-strike open-interest jumps that cross institutional thresholds:

Cash indexes ($SPX/$NDX/$RUT/$DJI): 5,000 contracts in 2h.
Futures + ETFs (ES/NQ/SPY/QQQ): 25,000 contracts in 2h.
$50M+ delta-weighted notional on any single strike — the dollar threshold that surfaces small-contract-count whales.

Look for

A WHALE_ACCUMULATION on the call side at a strike abovespot, while breadth is bullish. Smart money is positioning for a push higher.

GEX (gamma exposure)

The dealer's aggregate gamma position. Positive GEX = dealers fade moves (sell rallies, buy dips); range-stable. Negative GEX = dealers chase moves (buy rallies, sell dips); volatility expanding.

GEX positive + max pain near spot = quiet day, fade extremes.
GEX negative = trend day, momentum setups work.
GEX flips negative below a key level = air-pocket risk to the downside if that level breaks.

Max pain

The strike where total option holders lose the most at expiration. Over time, price tends to drift toward max pain — particularly in the last hour of an expiry day.

Avoid

Trading every WHALE alert. Most are routine institutional rebalances. The ones that matter cluster — multiple whales at the same strike within an hour. Single isolated alerts are noise.

The Options Read pill

The OPT panel surfaces a one-line regime call: STABLE, VOLATILE, CLUSTERED, SPREAD, FLIP RISK. Use it as the top-level filter. STABLE days are mean-reverting; VOLATILE days trend.