What Is Brandon Chapman’s Surveillance Console?
Brandon Chapman’s Surveillance Console is a real-time options tracking tool available to members of his program at TheoTrade. It is designed to surface unusual institutional options activity — large block trades in calls and puts — that signal where smart money may be positioning before a significant price move develops.
Rather than manually scanning thousands of options contracts every day, the console does the heavy lifting for you. It flags trades that meet specific criteria indicating institutional conviction, giving members a focused, actionable list of setups to evaluate each trading session.
This tool is central to Brandon Chapman’s trading methodology at TheoTrade and is what members use to identify the Ghost Print signals and block trades that define his approach.
How the Surveillance Console Works
The console monitors options activity across the market in real time and triggers an alert when a trade meets Brandon’s core criteria — a minimum volume of 2,000 contracts where the volume is greater than the existing open interest. When both conditions are met, the trade appears on the console for members to review.
The logic behind this is straightforward. When options volume exceeds open interest on a given contract, it means new money is coming into that position — not just existing traders reshuffling. Combined with a minimum volume threshold of 2,000 contracts, this filters out noise and surfaces only the trades that carry real institutional weight.
Breaking Down Every Column in the Console
Brandon walks members through each column in the console so they understand exactly what they’re looking at. Here’s what each one means:
Symbol The stock ticker associated with the options activity. Clicking on a symbol pulls up the chart directly so members can review price action alongside the options data.
Call or Put Whether the flagged contract is a call option or a put option. Calls give the buyer the right to purchase the stock at the strike price — meaning they expect the stock to rise. Puts give the buyer the right to sell — meaning they expect the stock to fall.
Strike Price The exercise price of the option — the price at which the buyer has the right to buy or sell the stock. This is one of the key data points because the strike price relative to the current stock price tells you where institutions are targeting.
Expiration Date When the option contract expires. A short dated expiration signals high conviction — the institution expects the move to happen quickly. A longer dated expiration suggests a more patient institutional position building over time.
Location — Bought or Sold This is one of the most important columns in the console. It tells you whether the option was bought or sold based on where it was filled relative to the bid-ask spread.
- Filled at or above the ask — the option was bought, indicating bullish conviction on calls or bearish conviction on puts
- Filled at the bid — the option was sold
Brandon’s primary focus is on options being bought — specifically calls bought at or above the ask for bullish setups, and puts bought at or above the ask for bearish setups. This distinction separates genuine institutional positioning from routine market activity.
Volume The total number of contracts traded on that option for the day at the time the alert triggered. The console requires a minimum of 2,000 contracts to flag a trade, filtering out smaller retail activity.
Open Interest The total number of existing contracts outstanding on that option from previous sessions. When today’s volume exceeds open interest, it confirms that new money is entering the position — a key signal of fresh institutional activity.
Volume to Open Interest Ratio A direct comparison of volume to open interest. When volume is greater than open interest the console triggers, signaling that the day’s activity represents more contracts than previously existed — a strong indicator of new institutional positioning.
Sizzle Index The sizzle index tells you how much today’s total options volume — both calls and puts — compares to the stock’s average daily options volume. A sizzle index of 12, for example, means options are trading at 12 times their normal daily volume. The higher the sizzle index the more unusual and significant the activity.
Percent Change How much the option price changed from the previous day’s close to the point when the alert triggered. While not the primary signal, this adds context — particularly when puts are being bought and the option price is rising, confirming bearish momentum.
Stock Volume The total number of shares of the underlying stock traded at the time the alert triggered. This provides additional context about overall market interest in the name.
Sector The market sector the stock belongs to — technology, healthcare, energy, and so on. This allows members to quickly identify where institutional activity is concentrated on any given day and focus their analysis accordingly.
Time The exact time the options print triggered the alert. This is particularly useful for members who want to track intraday patterns or understand whether institutional activity is happening at the open, midday, or into the close.
How to Use the Console in Practice
Brandon recommends a focused approach when working through the console each session. Rather than trying to trade every alert, members should:
- Filter for bought activity — focus on options filled at or above the ask
- Look for high sizzle index readings — the higher the multiple above average the more significant the signal
- Match the direction to the strike — understand whether the strike price represents a realistic target given current price action
- Consider the timeframe — short dated options with high volume signal near-term conviction while longer dated activity suggests institutional accumulation
The console can also be filtered by sector, allowing members to zero in on areas of the market seeing the most unusual activity on any given day.
Why This Approach Works
Most retail traders react to price. By the time a stock is moving on the news, the institutional position is already in place. Brandon’s Surveillance Console flips that dynamic — by tracking where institutions are positioning in the options market before a move develops, members can identify setups with defined direction, target, and timeframe rather than chasing price after the fact.
As Brandon puts it, you don’t need a complicated setup to use this tool. A screen, an internet connection, and about 30 minutes a day is all it takes to work through the console and identify the setups worth trading.
Access the Surveillance Console Through Block Hunter at TheoTrade
Brandon Chapman’s Surveillance Console is available exclusively to Block Hunter members at TheoTrade. Along with weekly trade alerts, live masterclass sessions, Ghost Hour analysis, and the private Block 100 chat, the console gives members a professional-grade institutional tracking tool built around Brandon’s 23-year trading methodology.
