The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply lower on Thursday (Feb 27), weighed down by a slump in chipmaker Nvidia after its quarterly report failed to rekindle Wall Street's AI rally, while investors focused on data pointing to a cooling U.S. economy.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 59,959,360 contracts was traded on Thursday.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: $NVDA(NVDA)$; $TSLA(TSLA)$; $PLTR(PLTR)$; $SMCI(SMCI)$; $AAPL(AAPL)$; $AMD(AMD)$; $AMZN(AMZN)$; $MSTR(MSTR)$; $NIO(NIO)$; $MARA(MARA)$
Source: Tiger Trade App
$Nvidia(NVDA)$ shares fell 8% in Thursday trading on giving "underwhelming" report after two years of blowouts. The chipmaker at the center of an AI spending boom, delivered good-but-not-great quarterly numbers on Wednesday, drawing a muted response from investors accustomed to blowout results.
The company also warned that gross profit margins would be tighter than anticipated as it rushes to roll out a new chip design called Blackwell. And there’s the risk of US tariffs weighing on results.
The mixed outlook comes at a shaky time for the AI industry. Nvidia shares have dipped this year on concerns that data center operators will slow spending. Chinese startup DeepSeek also has sparked fears that chatbots can be developed on the cheap, potentially reducing the need for Nvidia’s powerful chips for AI.
A total number of 7.78 million options related to $Nvidia(NVDA)$ was traded on Wednesday, 2.1 times higher than the 90-day average trading volume. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $115 strike put option expiring Mar 7, 2025, with a total number of 448,220 option contracts traded as of Thursday.
Source: Tiger Trade App
Unusual Options Activity
Source: Market Chameleon
Nasdaq ended 2.8% lower on Thursday. $ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ(SQQQ)$, which seeks daily investment results that correspond to three times the inverse (-3x) of the daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index saw an 8% increase.
Trump said 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would come into force from March 4, while Chinese imports would face a further 10% levy. Economists say tariffs may hurt US growth, worsen inflation and possibly spark recessions in Mexico and Canada. China vowed “all necessary measures” against the US moves.
A total number of 244,364 options related to $SQQQ(SQQQ)$ was traded on Thursday, 1.9 times higher than the 90-day average trading volume. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $32 strike call option expiring this Friday, with a total number of 30,751 option contracts traded as of Thursday.
Source: Market Chameleon
TOP Bullish & Bearish Single Stocks
This report shows stocks with the highest volume of bullish and bearish activity by option delta volume, which converts option volume to an equivalent stock volume (bought or sold).
If we take the total positive option delta volume and subtract the total negative option delta volume, we will get the net imbalance. If the net imbalance is positive, there is more bullish pressure. If the net is negative, there is more bearish pressure.
Top 10 bullish stocks: $INTC(INTC)$; $VTRS(VTRS)$; $NEE(NEE)$; $HPQ(HPQ)$; $MSFT(MSFT)$; $SMCI(SMCI)$; $GOOG(GOOG)$; $MS(MS)$; $AKAM(AKAM)$; $MU(MU)$
Top 10 bearish stocks: $NVDA(NVDA)$; $AMD(AMD)$; $PFE(PFE)$; $WBD(WBD)$; $PLTR(PLTR)$; $GOOGL(GOOGL)$; $AMZN(AMZN)$; $F(F)$; $AVGO(AVGO)$; $WBA(WBA)$
Source: Market Chameleon
Based on option delta volume, traders bought a net equivalent of 998,352 shares of $Intel(INTC)$ stock. The largest bullish delta came from buying calls.
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