How Trade Echoscores options flow.
Trade Echo puts two scores on options flow: a Flow Score on every OptionFlow print, and a Discovery score that ranks the day's standout opening prints. Here is what goes into each, and what neither one means.
Two scores, two jobs
- Flow Score (on OptionFlow): every print, scored from -100 to +100. It answers "which way does this print lean, and how strongly?"
- Discovery score (on Discovery): only the day's standout prints, ranked. It answers "which of today's large prints look most like new positions worth reading first?"
Most of this page covers the Discovery score, because it is the one that decides what reaches the Discovery list, Discovery alerts, the mobile app and Cortex AI.
What qualifies a print
A print has to pass these filters before it is scored at all:
- A premium floor. Small trades are ignored. The default Discovery view starts above the floor, and you can raise it but not lower it.
- Likely opening.The contract's volume must exceed its open interest, confirmed shortly after the print. Volume above open interest means at least part of it has to be new positions rather than closes.
- Single names. Index products (SPX, SPY, QQQ, NDX, RUT and VIX) are excluded, because their daily hedging volume would crowd out single-stock positioning.
- Tradable prices. Very high-priced contracts are left out.
What raises the score
Each trait below adds to the score. None of them alone puts a print at the top; the leaders show several at once.
- Size. Larger premium scores higher, in tiers.
- Volume against open interest.The more the day's volume exceeds existing open interest, the more likely the print is fresh positioning.
- Execution. Sweeps and blocks, and fills at or through the quote, score higher than passive mid-market fills.
- A confirming signal from our AlgoEdge feed on the same name.
- Short-dated and lower-priced contracts. Our review of flagged prints found that short-dated contracts drove the largest intraday moves, so they get a bonus, as do cheaper contracts.
What the score means, and what it does not
Move potential, not hit rate
The Discovery score ranks move potential: how much a print looks like a large, fresh position in a contract that can move a lot. It is not a win probability, it is not a percentage, and it is not on a 0-100 scale.
Our internal review of more than 1,400 flagged prints across eight sessions, run in early September 2026, shows why the distinction matters. The short-dated, cheaper prints the score now favors produced the biggest intraday spikes, and puts spiked about as much as calls. But held to the next day, most of those same prints lost value, and their worst drawdowns were deep. The score finds contracts that can move; it cannot tell you when to take profits.
That review covered one market regime and measured intraday highs, so treat it as context for the design, not a performance claim.
Scanning and history
- About once a minute through the trading session, the tape is rescanned and every qualifying print is scored.
- Nothing is lost intraday.Each day's picks are kept in a ledger with the time they were first seen, their latest score and their peak score, and you can look back at recent sessions by date.
- Spread across names. The top list favors different tickers over repeats of one name, and always keeps at least one put.
- Alerts use the same score. Discovery alerts fire on the same picks, with a minimum score you choose, by push or Discord.
The GEX and Charm tabs in Discovery use separate setup scores built from dealer positioning rather than flow. They are explained in Discovery Setup Scanners.
The OptionFlow Flow Score
Every print on OptionFlow carries a Flow Score from -100 to +100:
- The signis the print's directional lean. It comes from the trade's sentiment where available, and otherwise from where it filled between the bid and the ask: a call bought near the ask leans bullish, a put bought near the ask leans bearish.
- The size reflects conviction: premium, number of contracts, how far out of the money the strike is, whether volume exceeds open interest, and how decisively it filled toward one side of the spread.
Like the Discovery score, the Flow Score is a way to sort the tape, not a signal to trade on its own.
Common questions
Is the Discovery score a win probability?
No. It ranks prints by how many traits of a large, likely-opening position they show. A higher score means the print is more worth reading first, not that it is more likely to pay. It is not on a 0-100 scale and is not a percentage.
Why are SPX, SPY and QQQ left out of Discovery flow?
Index products trade enormous hedging and spread volume every day, which would crowd out single-name prints that more likely reflect a view on one company. Index flow is still in OptionFlow; Discovery focuses on single names.
Does a higher score favor calls over puts?
The size, open-interest, short-dated and lower-priced factors apply the same way to calls and puts, and Discovery always keeps at least one put in the top picks so a one-sided tape still shows both sides. Our own review found puts spiked about as much as calls.
How is the OptionFlow Flow Score different?
The Flow Score on OptionFlow rates every print from -100 to +100. Its sign is the print's directional lean, from where it filled between the bid and ask, and its size reflects conviction. The Discovery score only ranks the day's standout prints and has no sign.
See today's standout prints.
Open Discovery, or see how flow tools compare in our options flow tools comparison.