Options Spy: Down 19% as expected, institutional sniping SNAP before the close

Markets focus on the Fed's latest interest rate decision. Tech companies such as Meta and Qualcomm will report quarterly earnings. The Federal Reserve will announce the resolution at 2 o 'clock on Thursday, 30 minutes after the press conference, the market is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, so that the interest rate reached a 22-year high, which represents the benchmark interest rate will reach 5.25-5.50%, is the Fed since the beginning of 2022 so far the 11th rate increase, and Chairman Bauer's press conference will be the focus of observation.

Microsoft reported lackluster fourth-quarter sales growth after the bell on Tuesday, due to slowing demand for cloud computing, and its revenue outlook for the current quarter fell short of market expectations, sending its shares down more than 3 percent after hours. After the earnings announcement, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on a conference call with analysts that it expects revenue of $53.8 billion to $54.8 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 (July-September), with a median growth rate of 8 percent at $54.3 billion, worse than the consensus market forecast of $54.94 billion.

Snap posted second-quarter earnings that beat market expectations after the bell on Tuesday, but fell more than 19 percent after hours on a weaker-than-expected third-quarter outlook. While revenue was slightly above analysts' expectations, it was down 4 percent from $1.11 billion in the same period last year, marking the second straight quarter of annualized revenue decline.

Meta Platforms will report earnings after the bell on Wednesday, and Wall Street is optimistic about its earnings expectations. New Street Research analyst Dan Salmon on Tuesday upgraded Meta's stock to "buy" from "neutral" and raised his price target to $350 from $285. The reason is that he is optimistic about Meta's steps in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Contrary to expectations, big options orders showed mixed results, with the current and next week expiring options showing a peak:

sell $META 20231020 330.0 PUT$

buy $META 20230804 310.0 PUT$

sell $META 20230901 300.0 CALL$

* 9:30 ~ 10:30 every day, real-time sharing of exclusive screening options large order, welcome to click to subscribe.

Option buyer open position (Single leg)

Highlight order:

$MTCH 20230825 36.0 PUT$

$BAC 20231215 25.0 PUT$

$PDD 20230915 105.0 CALL$

Note: This image data is from Tiger PC. This screening is a significant buy open position for options contracts in the market. The purchase of a call option means that the trader believes that the underlying has upward momentum, and the purchase of a put option means that the trader believes that the underlying has downward momentum. These contract openings typically indicate significant activity in the underlying stock, including whether the trader is willing to accumulate a long or short option position.

Option seller open position (Single leg)

Highlight order:

$RIVN 20230728 27.0 PUT$

$NIO 20240621 10.0 PUT$

$DDOG 20231020 130.0 CALL$

In the 40 minutes before the close on Tuesday, there was heavy selling of SNAP CALL options $SNAP 20230818 13.5 CALL$. SNAP reported a 19% drop in earnings after the bell.

Note: This image data is from Tiger PC. This screen is a significant sell open position for an option contract in the market. A sell of a call option means that the trader believes that the underlying trend has peaked, and a sell of a put option means that the trader believes that the underlying trend has bottomed. These contract openings typically indicate significant activity in the underlying stock, including whether the trader is willing to accumulate a long or short option position.

Options portfolio open position

Note: This image data is from Tiger PC. This screening is a significant portfolio of options contracts in the market. Portfolio opening includes a variety of underlying trends, requiring traders to further master the basic knowledge of options for analysis and judgment.