Intel closed at $97.71, up 0.19 percent.
A massive $16.63 million short strangle dominated session flow, selling a 2028 straddle to cap performance, while a separate $14.14 million long straddle bet on a major breakout. The tape skewed decisively bearish, with institutional activity heavily favoring premium collection and downside positioning over bullish conviction.
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Options Indicators
INTC’s implied volatility stands at 71.26%, while its IV percentile is 54.18%, which places current volatility in a neutral historical range rather than an extreme one. In other words, although the absolute IV level is relatively high, the percentile suggests options are not especially cheap or especially expensive versus INTC’s own recent history. The IV/HV ratio of 0.86 further indicates implied volatility is running somewhat below realized volatility, suggesting the current options pricing is not aggressively overstating near-term movement expectations. The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.81.
Large Trades
A premium-collecting two-leg short strangle generated a net credit of $16.63 million, making it the largest displayed trade. The position sold 2,500 Jan. 21, 2028 $100.00 calls, which were out of the money, and simultaneously sold 2,500 Jan. 21, 2028 $100.00 puts, which were in the money versus the $97.71 reference stock price. As a CALL+PUT combination sold for net credit, this structure is best viewed as a volatility-selling income trade that benefits if INTC remains relatively contained over time, while also reflecting a willingness to take on downside assignment risk from the short put and upside cap risk from the short call.
A long straddle-like directional volatility bet was opened for a net debit of $14.14 million through the purchase of 3,500 Jan. 15, 2027 $110.00 puts and 3,500 Jan. 15, 2027 $110.00 calls. With the put in the money and the call out of the money at the current reference price, this CALL+PUT combination represents a sizable net debit position that seeks a meaningful move in either direction, but because the strike sits above spot, it also carries a defensive tone with strong downside participation. Strategically, this is less about premium collection and more about paying up for convexity, hedging, or a high-conviction expectation that INTC will not stay near current levels.
Overall, the large-trade flow was bearish, with total bullish premium at $15.32 million versus $40.77 million on the bearish side, leaving a net bearish difference of $25.45 million. The directional read is clearly negative: although there was one very large net-debit two-sided volatility purchase, the broader tape was dominated by premium-selling call structures and bearish-leaning large trades, indicating that institutional activity was more focused on capping upside, collecting premium, and positioning for either restrained performance or downside risk rather than expressing sustained upside conviction.
Strategy Reference
Given the bearish large-trade conviction and neutral IV percentile, a trader seeking to define risk could consider a bear call spread using the Jan. 2028 $100.00 short call as a reference, while a neutral-to-bearish short put seller might look to the $85.00 strike for a lower probability of assignment given the current spot price.
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