L2 and Time and sales can tell you a lot…just not when shorting is occurring…because a “short” leg technically only becomes an open short position (or short interest) two days AFTER the trade when it is settled. Up to that point it can simply be a long trade without the offsetting leg having been completed.
But granted all those color and shapes become a kind of real time Rorschach test in the OTC…LMAO!