What Is Snapshot?
Snapshot is a real-time sentiment read of the market or a specific ticker, built from options flow data. It shows you whether call buying or put buying dominates and how lopsided the balance is, giving you a quick directional lean before you dig into the detail of OptionFlow or position sizes in Dark Pool.
Snapshot is a confirmation tool, not a standalone signal. It works best when it agrees with your other data, and it works as a warning sign when it disagrees. Use it to pressure-test a thesis, not to build one from scratch.
When to Use It
Check Snapshot when you have a directional idea and want to see whether the broader flow environment supports it. If you are about to enter a long based on an OptionFlow sweep and a clean DealerEdge setup, a quick Snapshot check takes 15 seconds and tells you whether the overall market sentiment is aligned or working against you. It is also useful pre-market to gauge overnight flow and at mid-session to spot sentiment shifts on names you are watching.
Your First Sentiment Read
- Open Snapshot. The main view shows the market-wide sentiment read by default: a bullish (green) bar and a bearish (red) bar with a ratio displayed between them. Bullish flow means call buying dominates; bearish means put buying dominates.
- Set your time filter. Start with Today for an intraday read. If you are doing pre-market research, switch to Yesterday to see overnight sentiment. Use This Week for a swing-trade directional lean.
- Read the flow strength ratio. This is the core output. A ratio of 1x to 2x means mixed flow with no clear conviction. A ratio at 3x or above means one side is dominant enough to be worth noting. A ratio at 5x or above is extreme and worth treating with extra scrutiny, either as confirmation of a strong trend or as a potential contrarian setup.
- Search a specific ticker. Use the search box to pull sentiment for a single name. Compare its ratio to the broader market. If the market is 2:1 bullish but your ticker is showing 5:1 bullish, it has strong relative bullish sentiment worth pairing with a flow or positioning check.
- Note any intraday shift. If you loaded Snapshot at 10 AM and the ratio was 3:1 bullish, and you check it again at 1 PM and it has flipped to 2:1 bearish, that is a mid-session sentiment shift. Shifts like that are worth watching on the chart for confirmation.
Reading the Output
The flow strength ratio is the primary number. Here is how to interpret it:
- 1x to 2x: Mixed flow. Neither side has a meaningful edge. This is normal background noise for most sessions. Do not trade on it alone.
- 3x or above: One side is clearly dominant. This is the minimum threshold worth using as a confirmation factor. A 3:1 bullish ratio does not mean you buy everything, but it does support bullish setups you are already building a case for from other tools.
- 5x or above: Extreme sentiment. At this level, two things become possible. First, the trend is very strong and flow is all-in on one direction. Second, the market may be reaching a short-term exhaustion point where a contrarian fade could work if the chart confirms a reversal pattern. Treat 5x-plus readings with care: do not chase the trend just because sentiment is extreme, but do not fade it without a chart confirmation either.
The time filters change what period of flow the ratio reflects. Today is the full current session. Yesterday is the prior session, useful for gap context. This Week smooths out single-day noise and gives you a swing-trade read. Last Week reveals sector rotation and weekly trend structure. Custom lets you set any date range for research or backtesting a specific period.
For Example
For example, you are looking at a potential long on META after a strong OptionFlow sweep on near-term calls. You open Snapshot, search META, and set the filter to Today. The ratio is 4:1 bullish, meaning roughly four dollars of bullish flow for every dollar of bearish flow. You also check the market-wide sentiment and find the broader market is running 2:1 bullish. META's sentiment is twice as strong as the market in the same direction. That relative strength, combined with the OptionFlow sweep you already saw, supports the long thesis. If instead the market-wide sentiment was 3:1 bullish but META showed 1.2:1 (essentially neutral), that would be a warning sign that the options market is not behind the move in that specific name despite the broader market rally.
Pairing Snapshot with Other Tools
Snapshot on its own is a starting point, not a complete analysis. Here is how it fits into a full read:
Pair Snapshot with OptionFlow to go from a broad sentiment read to the specific prints driving it. If Snapshot shows 4:1 bullish on AAPL, OptionFlow tells you whether that is one large sweep or sustained activity across the session. Sustained multi-print activity is stronger than a single large trade.
Pair Snapshot with DealerEdge to check whether the gamma environment supports the direction sentiment is pointing. A 4:1 bullish Snapshot reading in a GEX Rating 1 or 2 environment (positive gamma, price stabilizing) has a different character than the same reading in a Rating 4 or 5 environment (negative gamma, moves amplified). In positive gamma, a strong bullish read may fade back to the Anchor. In negative gamma, it can extend much further.
Pair Snapshot with Dark Pool to see if equity positioning backs the options sentiment. Options flow can be one-sided from hedging activity. If dark pool also shows accumulation at key levels in the same direction, the signal has more weight.
Common Mistakes
- Using Snapshot as a standalone trade signal. A 4:1 bullish ratio is not a buy order. It is one input. You still need a chart setup, a defined entry, a stop, and at least one confirming signal from another tool before acting.
- Ignoring the time filter. Checking "This Week" sentiment when you are making an intraday decision gives you stale data relative to the move you are trading. Match the time filter to your holding period: Today for day trades, This Week for swings.
- Fading extremes without chart confirmation. A 6:1 or 7:1 reading can feel like a contrarian opportunity, but extremes often get more extreme before they reverse. Only fade a sentiment extreme when the chart shows an actual reversal pattern, such as a topping candle or a break of a key level, not just because the ratio looks high.
- Applying market-wide sentiment to a single ticker without checking ticker-specific flow. The market-wide read can mask divergence in an individual name. Always pull the ticker-specific view before using Snapshot to support a trade on a single stock.
Where to Go Next
Snapshot gives you the ratio. 4 Sentiment Trading Strategies Using Snapshot goes further: it covers the specific execution frameworks for following the flow at 3x-plus, playing contrarian at 5x-plus extremes, trading mid-session sentiment shifts, and using ticker-specific sentiment for relative strength reads and precision entries. That article also covers how to size and manage each strategy type, including when to use tight stops versus giving the trade room to breathe.