Intel Corporation closed at 89.47 USD, down 2.85%.
Large options activity leaned defensive, with a $2.52 million long-dated put purchase easily outweighing a $1.38 million call buy. While the call trade shows some willingness to pursue long-term upside, the largest single order was a multi-year out-of-the-money put, indicating that institutional caution remains the dominant force in INTC’s options flow.
>>>Start OPTIONS trading & earn up to SGD 200 in rewards!
Options Indicators
INTC’s implied volatility is 59.13%, while its IV percentile stands at 16.33%, which indicates that although the absolute IV level is not low, it is sitting near the lower end of its own historical range. In other words, current option pricing looks relatively cheap, and volatility conditions are on the low side rather than elevated. With the IV/HV ratio at 1.02, implied volatility is only slightly above historical volatility, suggesting the options market is pricing risk in a fairly balanced way without a large volatility premium.
The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.92.
Large Trades
A PUT buy worth $2.52 million was the largest displayed trade, with 1,100 contracts purchased at the 80.0 strike expiring on 2028-12-15. With INTC referenced at $89.47, this put was out of the money at execution, which makes it a longer-dated bearish position aimed at downside exposure rather than immediate intrinsic value. The trade signals a willingness to pay meaningful premium for protection or for a sustained downside view over a multi-year horizon, and its size makes it the clearest large-trade expression of caution in the flow.
A CALL buy worth $1.38 million was the other displayed large trade, consisting of 3,737 contracts bought at the 105.0 strike expiring on 2026-10-16. Since the strike sat above the $89.47 reference price, this call was also out of the money, reflecting a bullish directional bet that requires upside follow-through over time. Strategically, this kind of trade points to appetite for leveraged upside participation rather than conservative income generation, but despite that constructive signal, the broader large-order flow still leans slightly bearish overall because the biggest individual trade was a sizable long-dated put purchase and aggregate sentiment in the bulk orders shows sellers and hedgers remaining somewhat more defensive than aggressively optimistic.
Strategy Reference
For a low assignment probability seller, the 70.00 strike put expiring within 30–45 days offers a wide cushion below the current price and aligns with the low IV percentile environment; alternatively, a bear put spread using the 85.00/80.00 strikes can capture the cautious sentiment without the full cost of a naked long-dated put.
Comments