Daily Flow Deep Dive — July 21, 2026
Market Pulse
SPY reclaimed the 21 EMA today with a +0.83% push, its first close above in this stretch. Price sits above all key moving averages now, with the 8 EMA at 747.59 leading the stack. The 50 SMA at 743.81 is holding as support beneath. This is a clean bullish structure for the index.
QQQ jumped +1.85% but remains below the 21 EMA at 713.46, marking a fifth straight close under it. The 8 EMA at 708.03 is still below the 21 and 50 SMA at 718.83. Price recovered off lows but has not repaired the shorter-term damage. Bulls need a close back above 713 to change the tone.
VIX 17.05 (-8.58%)
Opening
Directional flow leaned heavily bullish at $790.3M against $178.7M bearish, a net $611.5M bull. Semiconductors dominated the tape with SNDK at $209.2M and MU at $146.0M leading all names. Bearish premium was scattered and small by comparison.
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.
