Daily Flow Deep Dive — August 4, 2026
Finished travelling now so these wll now be produced on time going forward. Apologies.
Market Pulse
SPY closed up 1.80% at 771.33, its 3rd straight close above the 21 EMA. Price is stacked cleanly over the 8 EMA at 750.98 and the 21 at 746.83. The 50 SMA sits at 745.2 and the 200 SMA is way below at 698.47. This is a full uptrend with every moving average pointed the same direction.
QQQ ripped 3.40% to 723.85, its 2nd close above the 21 EMA. Price reclaimed the 50 SMA at 714.71 in this move. The 8 EMA at 696.37 and 21 at 699.79 are below and need to catch up. The 200 SMA at 644.97 is far beneath the tape. Strong session with room for the shorter averages to curl higher.
VIX 16.50 (+4.04%)
Opening
Bullish premium dominated at $527.3M against $163.9M bearish for a net $363.5M bull lean. Semis and megacap tech carried the flow with MSFT ($41.0M), MU ($40.2M), and TSM ($38.9M) leading. Bearish tickets were small and scattered.
Options Flow Heat Map
Dark Pool Heat Map
Dark Pool Side Accuracy
The prints shown here represent filtered institutional block activity from the raw SIP tape. Extended-hours clearing prints, broker-matched crosses, and post-close settlement noise are removed before scoring. Side direction is classified using execution price relative to the live bid/ask at each print — the AGG% score shows how decisively price crossed the spread: 100% swept the ask, 0% hit the bid.
Prints marked ◆ carry the highest conviction. A corresponding options hedge was detected on the same name within 30 seconds, independently confirming both the block and its direction via Black-Scholes delta matching. Where the options tape and dark pool agree on the same name simultaneously, the signal is institutional across both markets.
For unconfirmed prints, side is a strong inference. Confidence is highest in liquid, tight-spread names. In wide markets or lower-ADV names, treat direction as context rather than conviction until corroborated by the options tape or the technical picture.
Note that CG trade was later confirmed as a roll so not bullish. High strike was opening and bid side. OI this morning also confirms.
