Which stocks have unusual options activity

Screening Filters

1. list_exchange: ['XNYS', 'XNAS', 'XASE']

   • Purpose: Limit stocks to major U.S. exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, NYSE American).
   • Rationale: Your question explicitly targets the US market. These are the primary U.S. stock exchanges where options are most actively traded and best monitored, ensuring cleaner data and more reliable “unusual options activity” signals.

2. is_optionable: True

   • Purpose: Include only stocks that actually have listed options.
   • Rationale: Unusual options activity can only exist if options are tradable on the underlying stock. This filter removes all stocks that don’t have an options chain, focusing the search strictly on optionable names.

3. option_unusual_activity: True

   • Purpose: Directly target stocks currently showing unusual options activity (e.g., volume or open interest meaningfully above typical levels, abnormal sweeps, etc.).
   • Rationale: This is the core of your request. Instead of showing all optionable stocks, we specifically screen for those where options trading stands out versus historical norms or typical patterns—exactly what you’re asking about.

4. market_cap: {'min': '500000000'} (≥ $500M)

   • Purpose: Filter out very small, illiquid, or highly speculative micro-caps.
   • Rationale: Many micro-cap names might show odd prints that look like “unusual” activity but are just noise in thin markets. A minimum market cap of $500M focuses on more established companies where unusual options flows are more meaningful and less likely to be random or manipulated.

5. monthly_average_dollar_volume: {'min': '500000'} (≥ $500K traded per day on average)

   • Purpose: Ensure sufficient liquidity in the underlying stock.
   • Rationale: For options activity to be actionable or reliable, the underlying shares should trade reasonable dollar volume. This reduces the impact of a few small trades distorting the signal and helps surface names where institutional or sizable flows are more likely to show up.

6. price: {'min': '5', 'max': '500'} (Price between $5 and $500)

   • Purpose: Exclude ultra-low-priced “penny” stocks and extremely high-priced shares.
   • Rationale:
     • Below $5: Often very speculative or structurally risky; options activity can be erratic and less informative.
     • Above $500: Options are often very expensive per contract and traded by a narrower set of participants, which can skew “unusual” readings.
     • This range keeps results in a zone where options are more actively and broadly traded, making unusual activity more interpretable.

Why Results Match Your Question

• You asked for U.S. stocks with unusual options activity.
• The exchange filter ensures they are U.S.-listed.
• The optionable + unusual options activity filters directly target names where options exist and are currently trading in an atypical or heightened way.
• The market cap, liquidity, and price filters refine the list to more liquid, established, and practically tradable stocks, where unusual options activity is more likely to be meaningful rather than random noise.

Together, these filters yield a focused, realistic list of U.S. stocks that are currently experiencing noteworthy, unusual options activity.