Multi-leg order
Two or more option or stock legs executed together as one strategy. Reading one leg alone can reverse the apparent direction of the trade.
Spreads, straddles, strangles, collars and rolls are entered as multi-leg orders so all legs fill together at a net price. Each leg still prints on the tape, and a scanner that shows the legs separately can make a hedged position look like an outright bet.
A call purchase paired with a call sale at a higher strike, for example, has a capped value and a reduced cost. Scanners that flag complex or multi-leg prints help separate these from single-leg trades.
Illustrative example (hypothetical numbers, not a real trade): a trader buys 100 of the $50 calls at $3.00 and sells 100 of the $55 calls at $1.20 in one order. The tape shows a $30,000 call purchase and a $12,000 call sale, while the position itself is an $18,000 debit spread worth at most $50,000 at expiration.