U.S. stocks fell on Friday (August 19) in a broad selloff led by megacaps, with the S&P 500 posting losses for the week after four straight weeks of gains. The S&P 500 lost 1.29% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.01%.
Options Broad View
A total volume of 42,579,202 contracts were traded on Friday. Broadly speaking, bullish contracts have been changing hands faster than bearish ones, with call options accounting for 52% of total options trades.
There are 7.21 million SPDR S&P500 ETF Trust options traded on Friday. Call options account for 52% of overall option trades. About $2 trillion of options expired last Friday, obliging holders to either roll over existing positions or start new ones. Particularly high volume was seen for the $420 strike put option expiring this Monday, with 132,865 contracts trading on last Friday.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: SPY, QQQ, BBBY, TSLA, AAPL, IWM, AMZN, OXY, AMC, AMD
Options related equity indexes are still top choices for investors, with 2.68 million Invest QQQ Trust ETF options contracts trading on Friday, 42% higher than the previous day.
Total trading volume for iShares Russell 2000 ETF increased by 44% from the previous day. Particularly high volume was seen for the $195 strike put option expiring this Monday, with 16,977 contracts trading last Friday.
Bed Bath & Beyond stock closes 40% lower and tumbles 11% in after hours trading, prompting a volume of 1.85 million options contracts traded on Friday. Particularly high volume was seen for the $10 strike put option expiring last Friday, with 94,674 contracts exchanging hands. The $10 strike put option contract skyrocketed 2500%+ in morning trading, driven by the 40% fall of BBBY stock.
According to a regulatory filing, GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen’s RC Ventures cut its entire stake in the retailer. RC Ventures sold almost 8 million shares on Tuesday and Wednesday at prices ranging from $18.68 to $29.22.
The news comes after it was disclosed on Thursday that RC Ventures had filed for the right to sell its 9.45 million shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) through JP Morgan Securities.
Shares of AMC Entertainment tumble 6.58% on Friday, prompting a volume of 662.8K options contracts traded on Friday. Particularly high volume was seen for the $15 strike put option expiring August 26, with 18,575 contracts trading on Friday. Call options account for 52% in overall option trades.
Unusual Options Activity
Occidental Petroleum saw options trading volume of 763,700 contracts, call options account for 78%. Particularly high volume was seen for the $70 strike call option expiring August 26, with 55,569 contracts trading on Friday, representing approximately 5,556,900 underlying shares of OXY.
In addition to BBBY and AMC, options interest in other meme stocks like GameStop and FuboTV also show an increase, with 359,583 and 104,600 contracts trading on Friday, respectively.
ProShares Ultrapro Short ETF also saw usual options activity. There are 252,395 volume contracts trading on Friday, call options account for 84%. Particularly high volume was seen for the $36 strike call option expiring this Friday, with 13,853 contracts trading on Friday, representing approximately 1,385,300 underlying shares of SQQQ.
Top 10 bullish stocks: OXY, AGNC, RVLV, PLTR, NVTA, LCID, APDN, REV, GME
Occidental stock popped 9.9% after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a request from Berkshire Hathaway to accumulate as much as a 50% stake in the oil producer on Friday .
Earlier this month, Berkshire disclosed it bought 6.68M more common shares of Occidental, bringing its stake in the energy company to 20.2%.
Some unusual put activity is being seen in AGNC Investment Corp. which is primarily being driven by a 30,258 contract block that was bought on October 21(st) 12.00 put at the ask price of $0.40 (open interest is 194). We know this block is a new position based on the open interest figure and we can assume the intent is bearish in nature since the trade took place at the ask price.
Top 10 bearish stocks: BBBY, AAPL, BAC, AMC, VST, SJT, F, TSLA, T, AMZN
Bond yields rose as US shares tumbled on Friday, denying Wall Street what would’ve been a notable fifth-straight week of gains as central bankers kept the aviary predominately hawkish.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, a surprise gung-ho outperformer during the post-May recovery, fell 2% on Friday. Apple, Tesla and Amazon are among top 10 bearish stocks.
However, there is a call option sweep with bullish sentiment in Apple stock. It expires in 117 days on December 16, 2022. Parties traded 13,380 contracts at a $175.0 strike. The total cost received by the writing party was $14.05 million.
For Tesla, there is a call option sweep with bullish sentiment. It expires in 19 days on September 09, 2022. Parties traded 1,250 contracts at a $800.0 strike. The total cost received by the writing party was $12.68 million.
Ford Motor Co. is facing a potential $1.7 billion in punitive damages after a Georgia jury reached a verdict Friday in a case involving a 2014 rollover of a Ford F-250 pickup truck that left two people dead.
The Gwinnett County jury determined that damages should be imposed on Ford for selling 5.2 million Super Duty trucks with what plaintiffs' attorneys said were dangerously weak roofs that could crush passengers in a rollover accident, according to James Butler, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case.
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