U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday (Feb 21), extending their selloff in the wake of dour economic reports and closing the book on a holiday-shortened week fraught with new tariff threats and worries of softening consumer demand.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 73,484,280 contracts was traded on Friday.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: NVDA; TSLA; PLTR; SMCI; AAPL; VIX; AMZN; BABA; MSTR; AMD

Source: Tiger Trade App

Nvidia stock has had a tumultuous few weeks, and Friday was no exception. Shares fell another 4%, putting the stock price nearly flat for 2025 at $134.

A flood of Wall Street previews of the company's fourth-quarter results, which are expected after the close on Wednesday, suggest that investors shouldn't expect any particular revelations.

"We are unlikely, in our view, to see a strong positive catalyst to shares out of earnings," wrote Stifel analyst Ruben Roy in a research note on Thursday.

A total number of 4.81 million options related to Nvidia was traded, of which 62% were call options.

Source: Market Chameleon

Bearish options related to Nvidia saw big gains on Friday. For example, the $125 strike put option expiring this Friday soared 115.7%.

$NVDA 20250228 125.0 PUT$

Source: Tiger Trade App

Tesla closed 4.7% lower on Friday to $337.8 after electric-vehicle peer Rivian Automotive posted better-than-expected gross profits on Thursday evening, and Tesla recalled some cars in the U.S.

Shares of Rivian Automotive dropped 4.7% to $12.97 after the company reported its first positive gross profit as a publicly traded company, some $140 million for the fourth quarter. Wall Street was looking for $64 million, according to FactSet.

A total number of 3.12 million options related to Tesla was traded, of which 55% were call options. Bearish options related to Tesla saw big gains on Friday. For example, the $325 strike put option expiring this Friday soared 208.22%.

$TSLA 20250228 325.0 PUT$

Source: Tiger Trade App

Unusual Options Activity

Source: Market Chameleon

Palantir Technologies stock slid another 4.6% to $101.35 on Friday after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to slash its $850 billion budget by 8%, or about $50 billion. The government was Palantir's largest customer in 2024, representing nearly 42% of its total revenue, with most of that coming from the DoD and branches of the military.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has also adopted a new Rule 10b5-1 plan, which is used by executives and other insiders to sell their company's shares based on a set of parameters that they give to brokers.

A total number of 1.88 million options related to Palantir was traded, of which 52% were call options. Bearish options related to Palantir saw big gains on Friday. For example, the $100 strike put option expiring this Friday soared 58%.

Source: Tiger Trade App

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: AAPL; PYPL; F; DVN; MRNA; WBA; KKR; FSLR; WFC; AKAM

Top 10 bearish stocks: NVDA; TSLA; AMD; AMZN; MSFT; GOOGL; SMCI; PFE; WMT; VZ

Source: Market Chameleon

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