When a large options trade prints, one of the most revealing details isn't the size or the premium — it's where in the spread it filled. That single data point separates a passive, patient order from someone slamming the market to get in right now. We call this fill aggression, and it's the meter at the bottom of every OptionFlowTracker card.
First, the spread
Every option has a bid (the highest price buyers are offering) and an ask (the lowest price sellers will take). The midpoint sits halfway between. Where a trade executes inside — or outside — that range tells you who was in a hurry.
At the bid
The trade filled at the lowest price in the spread. That usually means the seller was the aggressor — they accepted the buyer's standing offer to get filled. On a call, selling into the bid often reads bearish (or like profit-taking on a winner); on a put, selling into the bid often reads bullish.
At the midpoint (mid)
A fill in the middle of the spread is neutral on urgency — typically a negotiated or pegged order, neither side desperate. It tells you a big trade happened, but not who pushed.
At the ask
The trade filled at the asking price, meaning the buyer lifted the offer — they paid up to get in without waiting. This is the first real sign of conviction: someone wanted the position enough to take the seller's price.
Above the ask (AA)
The most aggressive fill of all. The buyer paid more than the posted ask — sweeping through multiple price levels or exchanges to fill a large order immediately. This is the "I need this position now" signal, and the one we weight most heavily. A sweep filled above ask into low open interest is someone making an urgent, high-conviction bet.
Direction still depends on the contract
Aggression tells you who pushed, not which way. A call bought above the ask is aggressively bullish; a put bought above the ask is aggressively bearish. Pair the fill with the contract type — which is why our cards show the fill badge, the call/put, and a bullish/bearish tag together.
The caveat
Aggressive fills aren't automatic signals. A single above-ask print into massive existing open interest may just be one player adjusting a position, not new conviction. That's why we never read fill aggression alone — we confirm it against next-day open interest, check whether it was a sweep or a block, and make sure the chart agrees before it earns a place in the research.
The takeaway
The closer a fill sits to the ask — and especially above it — the more someone was willing to pay for immediacy. That willingness is one of the clearest fingerprints of conviction in the options market.
Research and education only. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.