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OPTIONS VOLUME

5 min · DYOR Education
FreeCOIN · Options
Goal

Take apart OPTIONS VOLUME — how many options were traded in a bar, and in what form.

OPTIONS VOLUME on BTC/USDT, 1h: the notional of calls and puts traded in an hour, $M
OPTIONS VOLUME on BTC/USDT, 1h: the notional of calls and puts traded in an hour, $M
What it shows

How many options were traded in a bar.

First, two words. The call on 1 BTC from the lesson “Options: what they are”: notional — 86,000, the value of the coin the option is written on. Premium — 1,000, the payment for the option itself. The premium is always much smaller than the notional.

Four modes:

  • Volume — the notional of calls and puts traded.
  • Premium — how much premium was paid for calls and for puts.
  • Taker flow — who started the trade: how much was bought at market and how much sold at market.
  • Block trades — the notional of block trades. A block trade is a large trade agreed directly, bypassing the order book.

Calls and puts are separate lines.

What it's for

See how many options were traded in a bar and in what form: notional, premium, who started the trade, block trades.

For example.

  • “Premium” mode: in an hour $3 m was paid for calls, $1 m for puts. The money went into rights to buy.
  • “Taker flow” mode shows which of that was taken at market and which was given at market.
  • A spike in “Block trades” mode is a large trade bypassing the order book. Visible in the same bar.
Where to find it
Indicators›COIN›Derivatives›OPTIONS VOLUME
Settings
FieldOptionsDefaultWhat it changes
ModeVolume
Premium
Taker flow
Block trades		VolumeWhat to count per bar.
- Want the size of trading in coin value — Volume.
- Want how much money was paid for the options themselves — Premium.
- Want who started the trades, market buyers or market sellers — Taker flow.
- Want only large trades bypassing the order book — Block trades.
Units$M
COINS		$MIn what to count.
- Want dollars — $M.
- Want coins — Coins.
ExchangeChartChartCannot be switched for options indicators: there are no other values in the list.
The options exchange is chosen by the “Options exchange” field below.
Options exchangeBinance
Deribit		BinanceWhose options to count.
The chart’s exchange does not affect this: the indicator takes only the coin from the chart.
- Want Binance options — Binance.
- Want the main options exchange, with 19 times more BTC open interest — Deribit.
In alerts

Metric OPTIONS. Condition fields:

Options exchangeExchangeMarket TypeCoinTimeframeOptions metric

“Options exchange” — Binance or Deribit. “Options metric” for this indicator: Volume Calls, Volume Puts and Volume Total in coins or $, Premium Calls and Premium Puts, Taker Calls Bought / Sold and Taker Puts Bought / Sold, Block Volume. The “Exchange” and “Market type” fields are in the form, but the options asset is taken from the coin.

Try it yourself
  1. Enable OPTIONS VOLUME on 1h in Volume mode.
  2. Switch the mode to Premium, then to Block trades.
What you should get. The numbers in Premium mode are tens of times smaller than in Volume. In Block trades most bars are empty; the rare spikes are large trades bypassing the order book.
Takeaway

Four modes: notional, premium, taker flow and block trades. Calls and puts are separate lines. The premium is always much smaller than the notional.

Quick check

How does “Premium” mode differ from “Volume” mode?

Show answer

Correct answer: Premium is how much was paid for the options themselves, Volume is the value of the coins under them

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