Market Overview
On Sep 15, The U.S. major indexes closed as follows: Dow Jones declined 0.63% at 52,093.11; S&P 500 fell 0.45% at 7,585.73; NASDAQ declined 0.78% at 25,981.57. Softer sentiment around big-cap technology and renewed macro concerns kept all three benchmarks in the red by the closing bell.
According to MarketChameleon, the total trading volume of U.S. stock options on that day was 51,117,457, while the average daily option volume was 63,385,629. Puts accounted for 44% of the volume and calls for 56%.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: NVIDIA, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Meta Platforms, Inc., Amazon.com, AAPL, Intel, Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices, Palantir Technologies Inc..
Coinbase's Bull Call Spread Targets $200-$202.50 by 2026 Despite 10% Drop
In the latest session, Coinbase Global, Inc. closed at $172.11, down 10.10%. Despite the sharp single-day pullback, options activity showed a notable exception to bearish flow: one large bullish call spread was put on for $48,100 net debit, positioning for upside toward the $200.00-$202.50 area by September 2026.
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Large Trades
A bullish call spread put on for $48,100 net debit was the standout large trade in COIN, built by buying the 2026-09-18 $200.00 calls and selling the 2026-09-18 $202.50 calls in the same 1,924-contract size. With both strikes above the $172.11 reference share price, both legs were out of the money, making this a defined-risk upside structure rather than an immediate intrinsic-value position. The trader paid a net debit to position for a moderate advance toward the $200.00-$202.50 area by expiration, which signals a directional bullish bet while capping upside in exchange for lowering entry cost versus an outright long call.
Overall, the large-trade flow in COIN leaned clearly bullish. The fact that the session’s only highlighted block was a debit-funded bull call spread suggests traders were willing to spend premium for upside exposure, but in a disciplined, risk-defined way rather than chasing unlimited convexity.
SPCX Sees $177.6 Million Deep ITM Put Combination and Synthetic Short
SpaceX closed at $143.49, down 3.15 percent. SpaceX options lit up with a massive $177.60 million deep in-the-money put combination, headlining a session dominated by institutional bearish positioning. Alongside this directional put-buying surge, a synthetic short structure added further conviction to the downside view. With both trades concentrated in September 2026 expirations and aligned with a clear expectation of continued weakness, the large-order flow painted a decisively negative picture for the underlying.
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Large Trades
A directional put-buying combination worth $177.60 million was the standout large trade of the session. This same-direction double-long put structure involved buying 15,000 contracts of the September 18, 2026 $205.00 put for $92.55 million and another 15,000 contracts of the September 18, 2026 $200.00 put for $85.05 million, for a total net debit of $177.60 million. With SPCX referenced at $143.49, both puts were already in the money, which makes this an aggressive bearish positioning with substantial intrinsic value as well as downside convexity. Strategically, the buyer appears to be paying heavily for continued downside participation and potentially a large directional move lower, rather than simply purchasing cheap tail protection.
A synthetic short position with a net debit of $1.39 million was the other featured large trade. The structure paired the purchase of 18,000 September 18, 2026 $137.00 puts for $1.60 million with the sale of 18,000 September 18, 2026 $160.00 calls for $216,000, creating a synthetic put option sized at $1.82 million by the sum of the two legs. Relative to the $143.49 reference price, the long put was out of the money and the short call was also out of the money, so this trade expresses a clean bearish view through a risk-efficient synthetic short setup.
The bulk-order profile therefore suggests traders are positioning for continued weakness in SPCX, with sentiment skewed decisively toward downside risk rather than stabilization or recovery.
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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