Market Overview

U.S. stocks ended mixed Thursday(Apr. 17), with the Dow losing ground as sharp moves lower in healthcare stocks shaped a volatile close to the holiday-shortened week.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 50,739,235 contracts was traded.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Strategy, Palantir, Amazon, Hertz Global, AMD, Meta, Intel

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. stock rose on Thursday after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management had amassed a nearly 20% stake in Hertz Global Holdings Inc. in a bet on the rental car company’s turnaround plan and that tariffs would boost the value of its vehicles.

There are 566.26K Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. option contracts traded on Thursday. Call options account for 50% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $8 strike call option expiring Apr. 17, with 80,324 contracts trading.

NVIDIA stock fell nearly 3% Thursday, extending the AI chipmaker's 7% decline the prior day after disclosing that the US government had effectively banned exports of its chips to China.

There are 5.50 million NVIDIA option contracts traded on Thursday. Call options account for 55% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $100 strike put option expiring Apr. 17, with 380,712 contracts trading.

Unusual Options Activity

UnitedHealth surprised investors with what its CEO said was an "unusual and unacceptable" quarterly earnings miss, and it lowered its outlook for the full year due to higher-than-expected medical costs, sparking a more than 20% selloff in shares that reverberated across the sector.

There are 313.36K UnitedHealth option contracts traded on Thursday. Call options account for 57% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $450 strike put option expiring Apr. 17, 2025, with 13,932 contracts trading. The $450 strike put option expiring this Thursday surged 167%.

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 768,355 shares of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. stock. The largest bullish delta came from buying calls. The largest delta volume came from the 17-Apr-25 8 Call, with traders getting long 659,640 deltas on the single option contract.

Top 10 bullish stocks: Hertz Global, Biohaven, Pfizer, Ardelyx, American Airlines, Carnival, Kinder Morgan, Exxon Mobil, Eli Lilly, Micron

Top 10 bearish stocks: Intel, Petroleo Brasileiro, Bank Of America, Amazon, Ford, Core Scientific, Grab, Starbucks, Verastem, Permian Resources

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