Western Digital closed at USD 556.67, up 1.51%.
The session saw significant options activity dominated by a large bullish call purchase, pointing to targeted conviction for long-term price appreciation rather than short-term hedging.
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Options Indicators
WDC’s implied volatility is 113.75%, and with an IV percentile of 98.80%, current option volatility is clearly in an elevated regime. This means options are priced expensively relative to the stock’s own recent volatility history, with the market assigning a very high premium to near-term movement. The IV/HV ratio of 0.99 suggests implied volatility is roughly in line with realized volatility, but given the extremely high percentile reading, overall option pricing remains rich rather than cheap.
The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.07.
Large Trades
A CALL buy worth $12.93 million was the standout large trade in WDC, with 2,300 contracts purchased at the 590.0 strike expiring on 2026-08-21. With the stock reference price at $556.67, this call was out-of-the-money at the time of the trade, making it a clear upside-directed position rather than intrinsic-value exposure. The buyer is effectively expressing a bullish longer-dated view that WDC can rally above the strike over time, and the size of the premium suggests a meaningful conviction trade aimed at leveraged upside participation.
Overall sentiment in WDC large options flow was decisively bullish, with total bullish premium of $12.93 million versus bearish premium of $0.00 million, leaving a net difference of $12.93 million to the bullish side. The directional judgment is clearly bullish, as the entire large-trade sample consisted of aggressive upside call buying and there were no offsetting bearish blocks. The character of the flow points to traders positioning for a longer-term advance, with appetite for out-of-the-money call exposure indicating expectations for further upside rather than defensive hedging.
Strategy Reference
For traders seeking to sell premium in this elevated volatility environment while managing risk, a bear call spread using strikes above the recent large call purchase, such as selling the 600 strike and buying the 610 strike, could define risk and collect premium with a low probability of assignment.
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