How do you read options flow as a beginner?

Start with one alert rather than the whole feed. Read it in four parts: the contract (ticker, strike, expiry), the size (premium paid and volume against open interest), the execution (whether it hit the ask, the bid, or crossed as a block), and the context (earnings, the chart, dealer gamma). Only when several of those agree is the print worth acting on.

What is unusual options activity?

Unusual options activity is an options trade that is large or aggressive relative to that contract's own history: heavy premium, volume well above existing open interest, and an execution that suggests urgency. TraderMatrix scores every trade on volume-to-open-interest, premium size, bid-ask execution and days to expiration, and flags those scoring 85 or above.

What is the difference between a sweep and a block trade?

A sweep is one order split across several exchanges at once to fill immediately, which signals urgency. A block is a single large trade negotiated off the public order book, which signals size and planning. A golden sweep is a sweep that is also large enough to qualify as a block.

How long does it take to learn to read the tape?

The mechanics take about an afternoon: the four parts of an alert, what volume against open interest means, and which prints are ordinary hedging. Recognising the patterns quickly enough to use them takes weeks of watching. Watch the feed without trading first.

Do I need a subscription to learn on TraderMatrix?

No. The learning hub, the trading glossary and the tool guides are open to everyone without an account. A subscription unlocks the live scanners and screeners themselves, and it starts with a seven-day free trial.

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Tool guide

Harvest Finder

Reads your connected broker, finds the losers in your taxable accounts, and suggests correlated cousins to swap into so you book the loss and keep the exposure. Beta-sized dollars and the wash-sale buy-back date included.

Open the tool →

What it is

Tax-loss harvesting into a correlated cousin. Sell the loser, buy the cousin, not the twin. Harvest Finder reads your connected broker, finds the positions sitting at a loss in your taxable accounts, and suggests two or three correlated tickers that are not "substantially identical" to swap into, so you book the loss and keep roughly the same exposure.

How cousins are picked

Daily returns: each day's close divided by the day before, minus 1.
Correlation: Pearson correlation of the two return series over the last 90 trading days. 1.0 moves in lockstep, 0 is no relationship. Only cousins at 0.70 or higher are offered; below that you see "no good cousin right now" with the best number.
Beta, for sizing: covariance of the holding and the cousin divided by the variance of the cousin. "RKLB moves 1.4x WARP" means you need about $1.40 of WARP for every $1 of RKLB to carry the same risk.

The numbers are recomputed every night after the close.

What it never suggests

Another share class of the same company (GOOG for GOOGL), a fund tracking the same index (VOO for SPY), or a single-stock fund on the holding. Two funds holding the same asset (one spot bitcoin ETF for another) and funds that overlap almost completely are shown with a gray-zone warning.

The wash-sale window

The window is 30 days before and after the sale. A purchase of the same ticker anywhere in it, in any account, a reinvested dividend, a put you sold that gets assigned, or a call you buy can disallow the loss. Buying it in an IRA, Roth or HSA kills the loss permanently. Harvest Finder flags recent purchases, warns when a retirement account holds the same ticker, and shows the first safe buy-back date (sale date + 31).

Account types

Brokers do not report which accounts are retirement accounts. Harvest Finder reads the account name and lets you set each account to Taxable or Retirement yourself.

This is a tax move, not a hedge

The cousin falls when the original falls. That is the point. Re-check before every swap: 90 days is one regime, and correlations drift.

Not tax advice. Talk to your CPA.

Concepts used here