Market Overview
On July 16, The U.S. major indexes closed as follows: Dow Jones declined 0.20% at 52,552.97; S&P 500 declined 0.51% at 7,533.77; NASDAQ declined 1.47% at 25,881.95. A broad pull-back in semiconductors offset resilience in several mega-cap names, leaving all three benchmarks in the red by the bell.
The total trading volume of US stock options was 65,627,947, Average daily option volume was 62,895,201. 46% puts, 54% calls. 1,319 stocks have option volume that is greater than their 30 day moving average volume.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: NVIDIA、Tesla Motors、AAPL、Netflix、Micron Technology、Microsoft、SpaceX、Intel、Amazon.com、Oracle。
Large orders in Apple options trading indicate bullish sentiment
Apple shares rose 1.76%, hitting a new high against the market trend, with gains exceeding 15% in July.
Large Trades
A bullish bull call spread worth $6.25 million was one of the day’s most notable large trades, pairing the purchase of 1,174 AAPL 305.0 calls expiring July 31, 2026 with the sale of 1,174 AAPL 315.0 calls expiring September 18, 2026. With the stock reference price at $333.26, both strikes were already in the money, which makes this structure a defined-upside bullish positioning rather than a pure lottery-ticket call chase. The spread was executed for a net debit, consistent with a trader willing to pay premium for upside participation while capping part of the gain through the short 315 call.
Strategically, this reflects a constructive directional view on AAPL, with the trader expressing bullish intent in a risk-defined way rather than through outright long calls.
Overall sentiment across all large trades was clearly bullish, with $15.98 million in bullish flow versus $7.04 million in bearish flow, leaving a net bullish difference of $8.94 million. The directional judgment is therefore decisively positive, as bullish capital outweighed bearish capital by a wide margin.
Palantir is expected to maintain a steady upward trend
Thursday, Palantir Technologies Inc. closed at USD 134.44, up 0.51%. Large options activity on the day featured a complex, multi-leg bullish combination worth over $3.08 million and a significant $1.42 million bearish call sale, highlighting a market with a constructive but tempered outlook.
Large Trades
A multi-leg cross-expiry CALL+PUT combination worth $3.08 million was the largest large trade of the day, built with long in-the-money 129.0 calls expiring on 2026-07-17 and a series of short out-of-the-money puts and calls expiring mostly on 2026-07-24. The structure reflects a combination strategy rather than a simple outright option bet, and based on the displayed legs it was established for a net debit, as the premium paid for the long 129.0 calls outweighed the premium collected from the short 130.0 puts, 125.0 puts, 141.0 calls, and 116.0 puts.
Strategically, this looks like a directional bullish position with financing elements: the trader bought intrinsic-value upside exposure through the in-the-money calls while partially offsetting cost by selling downside puts and upside calls in the following week, suggesting a view that PLTR can stay firm or grind higher without exploding far beyond the short-call strikes.
The use of short puts also points to a willingness to assume downside risk in exchange for premium, reinforcing the idea of a moderately constructive outlook rather than a pure hedge.
Overall sentiment from all large trades leaned bullish, with $2.63 million in bullish flow against $1.89 million in bearish flow, leaving a net bullish difference of $0.74 million. The directional judgment is moderately bullish rather than overwhelmingly so, because the day’s strongest flow was driven by a large debit-funded multi-leg position that retained meaningful upside exposure, while the notable bearish activity came mainly from call premium selling that implied capped upside and expectations for consolidation rather than outright collapse.
In short, institutional-sized positioning in PLTR suggests a constructive market bias, but one tempered by expectations that gains may be controlled and accompanied by active premium harvesting above the market.
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Risks
Implied volatility typically contracts rapidly after earnings, a phenomenon commonly referred to as IV crush, which can significantly reduce the value of long option positions even if the stock moves in the anticipated direction. In addition, time decay accelerates as options approach expiration. Investors should carefully assess the risk profile of any options strategy before establishing positions.
Disclaimer: This analysis is based on publicly available market data and is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Options trading involves substantial risk, and investors may lose more than their initial investment.
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