---
title: "How to use TradingFlow for gold"
description: "A GLD walkthrough of TradingFlow: which ticker to open, how far its levels really are, why an 81.6% put tape needed one filter, and how to check the next morning whether anything stayed open."
date: 2026-11-05
url: https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/
language: en
authors: ["John Hu"]
tags: ["gold","GLD","options flow","Symbol Research","Option Trades","GEX"]
---

# How to use TradingFlow for gold

TradingFlow covers US-listed options, so for gold it shows GLD, the other gold ETFs and the miners. It has no spot gold, COMEX futures or options on futures. GLD has by far the most option activity of the group, so this guide uses it.

Numbers are from the session of **November 3, 2026** unless a line says otherwise, because its next-morning open interest was in when this was written. Screenshots are from the production app, and times are New York time. Tables that span many sessions come from the same data through the [TradingFlow connector](https://tradingflow.com/learn/connect-claude/).

These pages need a valid trial or paid plan, and eligible new accounts get seven days without a card. This is a product guide, not investment advice.

## Start with the right ticker

| Ticker | What it is | Option premium, Oct 5–Nov 3 |
|---|---|---|
| **GLD** | SPDR Gold Shares | $6.12B |
| **GDX** | VanEck Gold Miners ETF | $675M |
| **NEM** | Newmont | $123M |
| **IAU** | iShares Gold Trust | $109M |
| **AEM** | Agnico Eagle Mines | $87M |
| **GDXJ** | VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF | $79M |
| **B** | Barrick Mining | $53M |

Two tickers catch people out:

- **`GOLD` is Gold.com, Inc.**, with $1.3M of premium over the same sessions. Barrick is `B`.
- **`XAU` is the PHLX Gold/Silver Sector index**, not spot gold.

`GLDM` returns no match in search at the moment.

To keep GLD close, press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows), type `GLD` and click the heart. It joins your watchlist and appears under **Your symbols** on Home.

## Open GLD and read the levels

Open [GLD on the GEX view](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/symbols/GLD?tab=gex&tradingDate=2026-11-03). This link pins November 3. Remove `&tradingDate=2026-11-03` to get the latest session.

![GLD on the GEX view for the Nov 3 session: session line, Negative gamma read, nearest levels with Daily ATR distances, and the levels on the price chart](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/images/gld-gex-annotated.png)
*Production app, GLD, session of Nov 3, 2026 (captured Nov 5). (1) The session and when its structure was built. (2) The modeled regime. (3) The nearest levels, with distance in dollars, percent and Daily ATR. (4) The same levels on the chart, including the $400 Call Wall.*

Read it in this order:

1. **Session line.** Every number on the page belongs to the session named here.
2. **Regime.** GLD closed at $359.30 in **Negative gamma**, below its **Transition** level, the Gamma Flip, at $364.08.
3. **Distance in Daily ATR.** The Put Wall at $350 was 1.46 average daily ranges away. The Call Wall at $400 was 6.40. Dollars hide that difference, and a wall more than six daily ranges away says little about the next session.

These are modeled levels, not prices that must hold. [Greeks and GEX](https://tradingflow.com/docs/greeks-and-gex/) explains how they are built.

## Compare the levels with the open

GLD's regular session runs in US hours and gold does not stop, so much of GLD's move arrives as a gap at the open. From Oct 2 to Nov 3:

| | Average gap at the open | Average open-to-close move | Sessions where the gap was larger |
|---|---|---|---|
| **GLD** | 0.76% | 0.45% | 15 of 23 |
| **SPY** | 0.37% | 0.36% | 12 of 23 |

*Sizes are absolute, from daily candles.*

The levels cannot see that gap. The Nov 3 structure was built at 5:40 PM ET on Nov 3, and gold kept trading. The [Expected Move recipe](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/cookbooks/expected-move~2026-11-03?p_ticker=GLD) shows what options priced that day.

![Expected Move recipe for GLD as of Nov 3: the 11/04 expiry priced a 1.8% move, a range of $352.56 to $365.62](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/images/gld-expected-move-annotated.png)
*Production app, Expected Move recipe, GLD, as of the Nov 3, 2026 session (run Nov 5). (1) The session. (2) The symbol input. (3) The next-day expiry: a 1.8% move, or $352.56 to $365.62.*

What happened next:

- GLD opened Nov 4 at $369.60, up $10.30 (2.87%) from the $359.30 close.
- That open was above the 11/04 range, above the $368.91 top of the 11/06 range, and above the $364.08 flip, all before the regular session began.
- The session added another $2.90, closing at $372.50.
- That evening's structure read **Positive gamma**, with the flip at $365.06.

The recipe's range is one standard deviation, so a move outside it should happen about one time in three. The habit to take from this is simple: before using yesterday's levels on GLD, check where it opened against them.

## Read the tape, largest rows first

1. Open [Option Trades → Historical](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/option-trades/historical).
2. Click **All symbols**, type `GLD` and pick it.
3. Set the lookback to **Custom** and pick one date in **Date range**.
4. Click the **Premium** header until the arrow points down.

![GLD Option Trades for Nov 3 sorted by premium: Put Flow 81.6%, Moneyness 16.5%, and the largest rows, all deep in-the-money puts printed at a few timestamps](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/images/gld-tape-all-annotated.png)
*Production app, Option Trades, GLD, session of Nov 3, 2026 (captured Nov 5). (1) Put Flow is 81.6% of $310.40M. (2) The Moneyness card: out-of-the-money premium is 16.5%. (3) The largest rows share a few timestamps. (4) The ★ beside Size and the change beside OI, both explained below.*

Puts were $253.16M of $310.40M. Before calling that bearish, read the rows. The largest ones are puts far above the share price, such as the Dec $470 put at $111.20 with GLD near $359. Its delta is about −0.89.

They dominate because premium is price × contracts × 100. 1,100 of those $470 puts came to $12.2M. 4,500 Jan $390 calls at $5.21 came to $2.3M: about four times the contracts for under a fifth of the premium.

They also arrive in bursts. Three timestamps, 15:15:08, 15:15:20 and 15:32:03, carried $177.1M, which is 57% of the day's GLD premium. All 44 rows were in-the-money puts with floor-trade codes (SLFT and MLFT).

This was not one odd day:

| Oct 5–Nov 3, 22 sessions | Premium | Puts | In-the-money puts | Out of the money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **GLD** | $6.12B | 69.6% | 61.1% | 27.7% |
| **SLV** | $2.43B | 74.9% | 69.7% | 19.5% |
| **GDX** | $675M | 48.9% | 20.4% | 63.8% |
| **SPY** | $40.79B | 51.1% | 19.2% | 54.7% |
| **QQQ** | $51.16B | 54.9% | 22.7% | 59.8% |

The tape does not say what these prints are. Each could be a directional bet, a hedge, a spread leg or a closing trade. It does mean GLD's raw **Put Flow** tells you little until you separate them. The split swings fast too: the next session was 55.2% calls of $198.79M.

## Filter to out-of-the-money

The **Moneyness** card already gives the total: premium in out-of-the-money contracts, $51.36M here. To see those contracts:

1. Click the funnel button beside the symbol. It shows the current view's name, such as **Default**.
2. Under **Moneyness**, untick **In The Money** and **At The Money**.
3. Press **Apply filters**, then check that GLD and your date are still set.

Filter edits and the sort order save to the selected view, so they will still be on next time. Tick the boxes again or use **Reset to Defaults** when you finish, and click **Date Time** to restore the sort. On plans with Saved Filter Sets, **Create from Current View** keeps this as its own view.

![The same GLD session filtered to out-of-the-money: calls 62.3%, puts 37.7% of $51.36M, three rows at 12:47:33, and open interest changes](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/images/gld-tape-otm-annotated.png)
*Production app, Option Trades, GLD, session of Nov 3, 2026, Moneyness set to Out of The Money (captured Nov 5). (1) The applied filter. (2) Calls and puts of $51.36M. (3) Three rows in the same second. (4) The change in open interest.*

The same session now shows calls at 62.3% and puts at 37.7%. That still is not a bullish tape. **Bullish Flow** was $13.26M and **Bearish Flow** $15.55M, because the side matters as much as the type. The largest call row, those 4,500 Jan $390 calls, printed at the **Bid**, and its **Sentiment** column reads BEARISH.

Timestamps matter here too. That call row shares 12:47:33 with 1,500 Jan $355 puts and 1,500 Dec $345 puts, both at the **Ask**, and all three carry the Multi Leg Cross code (MLCT). Read them as one package, not three separate views. [Option Trades](https://tradingflow.com/docs/option-trades/) covers the other columns, and **Side estimate** is an estimate, not proof of who traded.

## Check whether anything stayed open

A session's trades reach open interest (OI) the next morning, so this step waits a day. Two marks on the row help:

- **The number beside OI** is the change from the row's OI to the latest known OI. On an older row it includes later days as well.
- **The ★ beside Size** is a same-day estimate. It appears when a print is larger than the row's OI plus earlier volume, and its tooltip reads "likely a new position."

For Nov 3, the check looks like this:

| Contract | Premium | Contracts | ★ | OI, Nov 3 | OI, Nov 4 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2026 $470 put | $21.37M | 1,925 | Yes | 751 | 751 | 0 |
| Nov 2026 $420 put | $18.87M | 3,138 | Yes | 1,159 | 1,159 | 0 |
| Dec 2026 $420 put | $16.35M | 2,700 | Yes | 2,698 | 2,416 | −282 |
| Jan 2027 $430 put | $10.57M | 1,500 | Yes | 1,464 | 1,463 | −1 |
| Jan 2027 $355 put | $3.83M | 3,514 | No | 43,885 | 44,502 | +617 |
| Nov 2027 $400 call | $3.51M | 1,389 | No | 140 | 1,443 | +1,303 |
| Jan 2027 $390 call | $3.23M | 6,200 | No | 11,503 | 16,565 | +5,062 |

The four starred puts carried far more premium than the rows below them and added no open interest. The Dec $470 put traded 4,551 contracts across Oct 30, Nov 2 and Nov 3, while its OI stayed at 751 every morning through Nov 4. The rows that added contracts were a fraction of the size in dollars.

Keep the limits in mind. Rising OI shows contracts were opened, not who holds which side. Flat OI after heavy volume means opening and closing netted out, or contracts changed hands. [Option Chain and OI](https://tradingflow.com/docs/option-chain-and-oi/) goes further.

To find contracts like these without scanning the tape, open [Rank Contracts](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/rank/contracts), scope it to GLD and sort by **Δ OI**. That number reflects the previous session's trades, while the **Premium** beside it is the current session's. A contract count alone can also mislead: the largest rise on Nov 4 was the Jan 2027 $900 call, up 5,425 contracts after $32,225 of premium on Nov 3, ahead of the $390 call in the table.

## Ask whether gold's volatility is high

Open [GLD on the Vol view](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/symbols/GLD?tab=vol&tradingDate=2026-11-03).

![GLD Vol view for Nov 3: IV30 22.2%, RV20 22.1%, IV30 minus RV20 +0.0 points, IV Rank 6.3% labeled cheap, IV Percentile 27.5%](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/how-to-use-tradingflow-for-gold/images/gld-vol-annotated.png)
*Production app, GLD, Vol view, session of Nov 3, 2026 (captured Nov 5). (1) Implied against recent realized volatility. (2) IV Rank. (3) IV Percentile.*

One screen gives three different answers:

1. **IV30 − RV20 is +0.0 points.** Options priced 22.2%, and GLD realized 22.1% over the last 20 sessions. Against what GLD just did, options carried no premium.
2. **IV Rank is 6.3%, labeled cheap.** IV30 sat near the bottom of its one-year range. One spike in the past year can stretch that range and pull this number down.
3. **IV Percentile is 27.5%.** IV was lower than this on 27.5% of the past year's days, which is low but less extreme.

So "cheap" answers one question, against the past year's range. Then compare the group, because gold names do not move together:

| Nov 3 | IV30 | RV20 | IV Rank | IV Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **GLD** | 22.2% | 22.1% | 6.3% | 27.5% |
| **IAU** | 21.9% | 22.2% | 5.8% | 23.5% |
| **GDX** | 43.9% | 42.7% | 25.7% | 35.1% |
| **GDXJ** | 55.2% | 49.0% | 49.8% | 74.5% |
| **NEM** | 39.3% | 35.8% | 3.6% | 1.6% |
| **AEM** | 46.3% | 45.2% | 44.7% | 52.6% |
| **B** | 43.8% | 38.1% | 25.0% | 28.3% |
| **SPY** | 16.9% | 11.2% | 17.4% | 81.7% |

Miners report earnings and GLD does not, so check the date before comparing: Barrick was due on Nov 9.

## Run the same read as a recipe

Recipes with a **Symbol** input answer one question on one screen. Type a ticker and press **Run**, or use these links, which already carry GLD:

- [Expected Move](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/cookbooks/expected-move?p_ticker=GLD): what each expiry prices.
- [Gamma Levels](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/cookbooks/gamma-levels?p_ticker=GLD): the regime and the largest concentrations around spot.
- [Max Pain Lookup](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/cookbooks/max-pain-lookup?p_ticker=GLD): the max pain strike at the nearest expiry.

[Scheduled emails](https://tradingflow.com/blogs/scheduled-deliveries/) only cover recipes without inputs, so these need a manual run. [Cookbooks](https://tradingflow.com/docs/cookbooks/) lists the rest.

## Ask about what you are looking at

**Ask AI** on the symbol page opens [TradingFlow AI](https://tradingflow.com/learn/tradingflow-ai/) on the current view. To work from Claude, [connect it to TradingFlow](https://tradingflow.com/learn/connect-claude/). A prompt to start from:

> For GLD on 2026-11-03, leave out in-the-money contracts. List the ten largest contracts by premium with their side, then show each one's open interest on 2026-11-04.

Check any row you plan to rely on against the tape.

## A routine for gold

1. **Before the open:** on GEX, note the session, the regime and each level's distance in Daily ATR.
2. **At the open:** compare the open with those levels and with the Expected Move range.
3. **After the close:** on the tape, read the **Moneyness** card, filter to out-of-the-money, sort by premium, and note **Side estimate** and shared timestamps.
4. **Next morning:** read the OI change on the rows you noted.
5. **When volatility matters:** on Vol, read IV30 − RV20 first, then IV Rank and IV Percentile.

## What this cannot tell you about gold

TradingFlow shows US-listed options data. It has nothing on spot gold or COMEX futures positioning, CFTC reports, ETF creations and redemptions, physical demand, real yields or the dollar. Use other sources for those.

Within the options data, GEX is a model, **Side estimate** is an estimate, and open interest does not say who holds what. None of this predicts where gold goes next, and nothing here is a recommendation to trade.

Start from [TradingFlow App Home](https://www.tradingflow.com/app/home), or go straight to [GLD](https://app.tradingflow.com/app/symbols/GLD?tab=gex). For the full tour of the page, read [Symbol Research](https://tradingflow.com/learn/symbol-research/).

---

Research and education, not investment advice.