Market Overview

The S&P 500 squeaked past its previous record closing high on Tuesday(Feb 18) at the top of a holiday-shortened week, with earnings season winding down, U.S. Federal Reserve minutes on tap, and geopolitical uncertainties churning in the background.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 49,764,581 contracts was traded.

Top 10 Option Volumes

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

SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC jumped 16% on Tuesday, up 83% this year.

The bulk of the gains came after a second-quarter business update where the company guided for $40 billion of revenue in its fiscal 2026, which was way above analysts' expectations.

There are 1.45 million SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC option contracts traded on Tuesday. Call options account for 72% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $60 strike call option expiring Feb 21, with 135,237 contracts trading. The $60 strike call option expiring this Friday surged 263% on Tuesday. $SMCI 20250221 60.0 CALL$

Intel shares rallied 16.1% on Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report that both Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing are potentially weighing bids that could result in splitting the embattled chipmaker.

There are 2.05 million Intel option contracts traded on Tuesday. Call options account for 78% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $30 strike call option expiring Mar. 21, with 94,025 contracts trading. $INTC 20250321 30.0 CALL$

Unusual Options Activity

Shares of Grab Holdings rose 8% on Tuesday after Singapore's government announced a 50% corporate income tax rebate as part of its 2025 budget.

There are 245.01K Grab Holdings option contracts traded on Tuesday. Call options account for 88% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $5.5 strike call option expiring Feb 21, 2025, with 16,563 contracts trading. $GRAB 20250221 5.5 CALL$

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 sold a net equivalent of -1,076,690 shares of Tesla Motors stock. The largest bearish delta came from selling calls. The largest delta volume came from the 21-Feb-25 Call, with traders getting short 456,509 deltas on the single option contract.

Top 10 bullish stocks: Super Micro Computer, Intel, Grab, Ford, AES Corp, Pfizer, Nvidia, Blue Owl Capital, Kenvue, Bilibili

Top 10 bearish stocks: Pacific Biosciences, Meta, Tesla, Alphabet, Alphabet, JetBlue Airways, Alibaba, Apple, CleanSpark, Faraday Future

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