Market Overview

U.S. stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday(Feb 19) and the S&P 500 notched its second straight all-time closing high as investors scrutinized the minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting and digested U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 46,302,742 contracts was traded.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: Super Micro Computer, Nvidia, Tesla, Palantir, Intel, CBOE Volatility Index, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alibaba

Shares of SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC rallied 8% on Wednesday, fully recovering from losses following Hindenburg Research’s accounting violation accusations from last summer.

There are 2.76 million SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC option contracts traded on Wednesday. Call options account for 62% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $60 strike call option expiring Feb. 21, with 162,738 contracts trading. $SMCI 20250221 60.0 CALL$

Palantir Technologies Inc. fell 10% on Wednesday following a report that US Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth plans to slash military spending.

“Palantir’s US government segment growth — more than 40% in the past two quarters — may have much greater exposure to any cuts in the US defense budget,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh wrote in a note. He added that government sales make up more than half of the company’s total revenue.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth has ordered senior military leaders to develop plans for cutting 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to a memo sent to senior officials. Bloomberg previously reported news of the intended cuts, before distribution of the memo.

There are 1.64 million Palantir Technologies Inc. option contracts traded on Wednesday. Put options account for 58% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $110 strike put option expiring Feb. 21, with 56,905 contracts trading. The $110 strike put option expiring this Friday surged 990% on Wednesday. $PLTR 20250221 110.0 PUT$

Unusual Options Activity

Intel stock fell 6% Wednesday, ending a massive upswing in which shares notched their biggest five-day gain in Intel's history as a publicly traded company. The decline came as analysts expressed skepticism over recent reports of potential deals with TSMC and Broadcom to break up the storied US chipmaker.

There are 945.85K Intel option contracts traded on Wednesday. Call options account for 69% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $30 strike call option expiring Mar 21, 2025, with 55,756 contracts trading. $INTC 20250321 30.0 CALL$

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.

Based on option delta volume, traders bought a net equivalent of 2,013,172 shares of Tesla Motors stock. The largest bullish delta came from buying calls. The largest delta volume came from the 21-Feb-25 Put, with traders getting long 525,353 deltas on the single option contract.

Top 10 bullish stocks: Grab, Super Micro Computer, Nvidia, Microsoft, Tesla, CenterPoint, Celsius Holdings, Hims & Hers Health, Unity, Microvision

Top 10 bearish stocks: Palantir, NIO, CleanSpark, AMD, KE Holdings, Mara Holdings, Healthpeak Properties, Nikola, Bank of America, Merck

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