James Calloway is an options educator and content creator in Phoenix, Arizona who runs a small community teaching retail traders how to read flow. He has been an OptionsBell user for six months. Recorded July 22, 2026.
Why OptionsBell for teaching
Accessibility. My students aren't professionals. They can't afford $150 a month for an API or $149 a month for a terminal. The Unusual Whales API is a separate $150 a month. FlowAlgo is $149 on the monthly plan. Cheddar Flow is $85 to $99 depending on the tier. My students are retail traders with day jobs, and those prices just put it out of reach for them.
OptionsBell is $24.99 with everything included: email alerts, API, MCP. I can tell a student, "sign up, set your tickers, and you'll see flow on your stocks within a day." That's an actual onboarding path.
How he uses it in class
I screen-share the email alerts. We look at the top print, so the contract, the premium, the Vol/OI ratio. Then we pull the flow history for that symbol and look at the pattern over time.
The MCP server makes that easy. I ask Claude, and it returns the series. My students get to see the whole workflow without having to learn a terminal. For teaching, that's where the value is.
The most common student feedback
"Why didn't I know about this sooner?" That's the one I hear. They've been trading blind. Then they see a $4.4M call on BHVN or a $27.5M put on TSLA, and they realize the market was telling them something they weren't listening to.
OptionsBell is the translation layer. It takes the tape and puts it in their inbox. That's what the product is.
Any criticism?
It's US equities only. Seven thousand tickers. If I taught international options, I'd need something else. But for the 7,000+ US tickers it does cover, the signal is clean and you can't beat the price.
As an educator, that's the product I needed. My students can afford it, they can understand it, and they can act on it. That's the pitch, really.
They realize the market was telling them something they weren't listening to. OptionsBell is the translation layer.
If you're where James's students start, begin with how to read options flow: sweep vs block and the Vol/OI ratio, the two numbers every alert leads with.
Full interview transcript
Recorded transcript, lightly edited for readability.
Interviewer: Today we're speaking with James Calloway, an options educator and content creator in Phoenix, Arizona. James has been using OptionsBell for six months.
James Calloway: Six months. I run a small community that teaches retail traders how to read flow.
Interviewer: Why OptionsBell for your teaching?
James Calloway: Accessibility. My students aren't professionals. They can't afford $150 a month for an API or $149 a month for a terminal.
The Unusual Whales API is a separate $150 a month. FlowAlgo is $149 on the monthly plan. Cheddar Flow is $85 to $99 depending on the tier. My students are retail traders with day jobs, and those prices just put it out of reach for them.
OptionsBell is $24.99 with everything included: email alerts, API, MCP. I can tell a student, "sign up, set your tickers, and you'll see flow on your stocks within a day." That's an actual onboarding path.
Interviewer: How do you use it when you teach?
James Calloway: I screen-share the email alerts. We look at the top print, so the contract, the premium, the Vol/OI ratio. Then we pull the flow history for that symbol and look at the pattern over time.
The MCP server makes that easy. I ask Claude, and it returns the series. My students get to see the whole workflow without having to learn a terminal. For teaching, that's where the value is.
Interviewer: What's the most common feedback you get from students?
James Calloway: "Why didn't I know about this sooner?" That's the one I hear. They've been trading blind. Then they see a $4.4M call on BHVN or a $27.5M put on TSLA, and they realize the market was telling them something they weren't listening to.
OptionsBell is the translation layer. It takes the tape and puts it in their inbox. That's what the product is.
Interviewer: Any criticism of the product?
James Calloway: It's US equities only. Seven thousand tickers. If I taught international options, I'd need something else. But for the 7,000+ US tickers it does cover, the signal is clean and you can't beat the price.
As an educator, that's the product I needed. My students can afford it, they can understand it, and they can act on it. That's the pitch, really.