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USO

United States Oil FundClose $121.32EOD only

Max Pain

$125.00

Next expiry Apr 22, 2026

Expected Move

±$7.58

6.2% from close

Price Gap

+3.68

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Low premium

P/C OI

1.60

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

4.0/10

Bullish tilt

Published snapshot: Apr 20, 2026 close

End-of-day snapshot

This page reflects USO options positioning from the latest published market-close snapshot. Intraday price and contract changes are not displayed.

Published Snapshot

Apr 20, 2026 close

USO Flow Report

Analysis based on market close April 21, 2026

Directional Theta Gang Flow Earnings Consensus

Historical consensus-supported lens with full content, report chain context, and metric rail.

Flow Verdict

Confidence:

8 / 10

base 5; +2 GEX/flow strongly aligned; +1 GEX positive (pinning); -0.5 spot 4.3% from MP; +0.5 VIX 20

Watch next session: Spot vs MP movement; Persistence of put buying/IV rise; GEX/delta-adjusting flow shifts

Flow Summary

Net premium: +$88.1M bullish

P/C volume ratio: 0.69

P/C OI ratio: 1.52

Options flow is net bullish: concentrated call interest and +22M GEX support pinning; downside risk if spot collapses toward MP or puts continue to spike.

Notable Prints

USO 2026-12-18 $275.00 Call

Vol: 1,551

OI: 104

Vol/OI: 14.9x

IV: 62.5%

Notional: ~$380K

Intent: directional long-term call buy or call spread leg

Dual read: long-term bullish vs. calendar/roll trade

Read-through: bullish view on multi-month crude upside or institutional position sizing

USO 2026-04-22 $122.00 Put

Vol: 6,030

OI: 411

Vol/OI: 14.7x

IV: 101.0%

Notional: ~$856K

Intent: near‑term protective hedging or aggressive short‑covering squeeze

Dual read: hedge vs. speculative downside bet

Read-through: heavy short‑dated put demand, raises near-term downside risk and pinning pressure

USO 2026-04-22 $127.00 Call

Vol: 17,349

OI: 1,536

Vol/OI: 11.3x

IV: 99.3%

Notional: ~$7.8M

Intent: near‑term call buying to push/fade pin or gamma-driven dealer hedging

Dual read: speculative upside bet vs. tactical liquidity/flow trade

Read-through: large same‑day call flow implies strong dealer delta exposure and potential upward short-term pressure

USO 2026-05-01 $125.00 Put

Vol: 3,322

OI: 506

Vol/OI: 6.6x

IV: 100.2%

Notional: ~$2.5M

Intent: Unclear flow intent

Read-through: Needs contextual interpretation.

USO 2026-04-22 $123.00 Put

Vol: 1,380

OI: 214

Vol/OI: 6.5x

IV: 102.3%

Notional: ~$228K

Intent: Unclear flow intent

Read-through: Needs contextual interpretation.

Institutional Positioning

Call additions: Probable long-dated and mid-term call buys (e.g., 275 Dec/Jan, 225/270 Jul) suggesting directional/carry exposure but could also be prop/spec or dispersion/gamma trades; request dealer flow or client IDs to disambiguate.

Put additions: Concentrated short-dated put buys (e.g., 122–125 Apr/May) and heavy put OI near ~30% below spot likely indicate downside protection or short-gamma positioning, though speculative selling or structured-product hedges are alternatives; ask for trade tickets or counterparty info.

GEX/DEX consistency: Positive GEX and DEX inflows are consistent with bullish flow, but consistency is circumstantial — verify with time-decay and intraday price response.

OI clusters: Notable OI cluster well below spot (puts) and longer-dated call clusters at higher strikes; treat as influential but not determinative without client-level data.

Hedging evidence: Short-dated put volume and elevated IV are suggestive of hedging/collar activity, but could reflect directional bets or volatility trades; confirm with dealer flow or position dumps.

Max pain context: Spot sits above measured MP; gamma pinning toward near-term strikes is plausible but not certain — validate by tracking OI changes, theta decay, and price reaction into expiries.

Signal vs Noise

~High-IV short-dated put prints are plausible hedges but may be speculative—validate with time-decay and trade metadata.

~Long-dated call activity likely signals institutional bullishness but could be carry/gamma/dispersion trades—seek counterparty IDs.

~Large OI cluster below spot is structurally relevant for pinning/gamma dynamics but its impact is conditional; monitor OI shifts and intraday price response.

Key Conclusions

📌Probable institutional bullish tilt, with short-dated protective puts creating plausible pinning risk near key strikes; confirm via dealer/client flow and OI changes.

⚠️Gamma flip and heavy put OI below spot raise plausible short-term downside squeeze/pin vulnerability; validate with time-decay, price reaction, and open-interest movement.

How to Use These Reports

This flow reflects the market close on April 21, 2026.

What the reports do

Each report translates the same market-close options snapshot into a specific lens such as directional bias, premium-selling posture, flow quality, or earnings setup.

How traders use them

Reports are most useful for narrowing the playbook, surfacing entry and risk context, and deciding which raw data page to inspect next.

What to remember

These are interpretation layers, not execution guarantees. Validate the setup against chain liquidity, expected move, and exposure before sizing risk.

If the report conviction and the raw data disagree, slow down and resolve the mismatch before sizing risk.