Market Overview

The S&P 500 ended down on Wednesday (Feb. 12) after a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation reading added to worries that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates anytime soon, while CVS Health and Gilead Sciences rallied after upbeat quarterly reports.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 45,969,259 contracts was traded, up 11% from the previous trading day.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: TSLA, NVDA, SMCI, INTC, AAPL, PLTR, BABA, VIX, HOOD, AMZN

Source: Tiger Trade App

Tesla shares closed up 2.4% on Wednesday, snapping five consecutive days of losses. It fell more than 16% over the five days. Investors have been fretting about CEO Elon Musk’s distractions, including his move to wrest control of OpenAI from Sam Altman, and his involvement running the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency for the Trump White House. On Wednesday, Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg initiated coverage of the stock with a Buy rating and price target of $475.

There are 2.79 million Tesla option contracts traded on Wednesday, down 12% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 61% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $340 strike call option expiring February 14, with 101,768 contracts trading. TSLA 20250214 340.0 CALL

Super Micro Computer shares gained 2.8% on Wednesday after giving an aggressive long-term revenue outlook and saying it “believes” it will meet a Nasdaq deadline to file audited financial results.

There are 1.14 million Super Micro option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 19% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 61% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $40 strike call option expiring February 14, with 101,768 contracts trading. SMCI 20250214 40.0 CALL

Unusual Options Activity

Source: Market Chameleon

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba jumped another 4.9% on Wednesday amid reports that the Chinese tech and e-commerce giant is partnering with Apple to create artificial intelligence features for Apple products in China.

There are 645.77K Alibaba option contracts traded on Wednesday, down 6% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 78% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $120 strike call option expiring February 14, with 26,256 contracts trading. BABA 20250214 120.0 CALL

Intel shares jumped another 7.2% on Wednesday. Writing about rumors out of Asia Wednesday morning, Baird analyst Tristan Gerra said there are "discussions from the Asia supply chain" regarding a potential tie-up between Intel and one of its biggest rivals in the semiconductor industry, TSMC. Details are scanty at this point, but investors seem to like the idea of the two forging closer ties.

There are 876.54K Intel option contracts traded on Wednesday, down 16% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 77% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $20 strike call option expiring January 16, 2026 with 69,742 contracts trading. INTC 20260116 20.0 CALL

Upstart delivered strong fourth quarter results, comfortably exceeding Wall Street expectations across all metrics. Additionally, the fintech company provided upbeat revenue guidance for both the first quarter and full fiscal year 2025, boosting investor confidence and driving the stock up 31.8% on Wednesday.

There are 326.82K Upstart option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 163% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 69% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $90 strike call option expiring February 14, with 25,829 contracts trading. UPST 20250214 90.0 CALL

TOP 10 S&P 500 Bullish & Bearish

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 sold a net equivalent of -1,684,231 shares of Intel stock. The largest bearish delta came from selling calls. The largest delta volume came from the 16-Jan-26 Call, with traders getting short 1,935,006 deltas on the single option contract.

Top 10 bullish stocks: PLTR, NVDA, CVS, SMIC, AAPL, PFE, PCG, F, CSCO, FCX

Top 10 bearish stocks: INTC, CMCSA, GOOG, GILD, UBER, AMD, AMZN, ORCL, PG; XOM

Source: Market Chameleon

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