Print

What Is a Print?

A print is a completed trade appearing on the time-and-sales tape — the real-time record of every executed transaction. When an options order fills, it “prints” to the tape: a record showing symbol, strike, expiration, option type, transaction price, number of contracts, exchange, and timestamp.

The term comes from an era when trade data was literally printed on paper ticker tape. Today, “the print” refers to the transaction record itself, and to say a trade “printed” means it executed and appeared on the consolidated tape.

Why It Matters for Options Traders

Prints are the atomic units of tape reading. Options flow analysis is built on aggregating and interpreting prints — identifying which are significant, what they suggest about intent, and whether a pattern is forming.

Not all prints are equal. Traders assess several attributes:

• Size: A 5,000-contract print in a name trading 200 contracts per day is a dramatically different signal than a 50-contract print in an actively traded name. Size relative to typical volume and open interest determines significance.
• Price relative to bid-ask: A print at the ask indicates the buyer was the aggressor — they paid up to get filled immediately. A print at the bid indicates seller aggression. Prints mid-spread suggest a negotiated transaction, often a block trade arranged with a market maker.
• Exchange routing: Where a trade prints matters. Some exchanges attract retail flow; others attract institutional activity. A print routing to an exchange known for institutional blocks carries different context than the same print on a retail-heavy venue.
• Volume vs. open interest: When a print’s contracts exceed or represent a substantial portion of open interest at that strike, it likely represents new positioning rather than an existing position being closed.

Options flow scanners continuously ingest and evaluate prints, applying filters and scoring to surface the subset worth a trader’s attention. The raw tape generates thousands of prints per session; the scanner does the initial triage.

Key Characteristics

• Execution record: The print is the confirmed, completed transaction — not an order, not a quote, but a fill
• Tape timestamp: Prints appear on the consolidated tape in sequence, providing a chronological record of market activity
• Ask-side vs. bid-side: Execution at the ask indicates aggressive buying; execution at the bid indicates aggressive selling
• Mid-market prints: Transactions printing between bid and ask typically represent negotiated block trades
• Repeat pattern significance: Multiple prints in the same contract within a session, especially if escalating in size, suggest intentional accumulation
• Scanner input: Every print flowing from the options tape feeds the algorithms behind options flow scanners, which score and alert on anomalies