Option Movers | Apple Shows BEARISH Pressure Before Earnings; This Regional Bank's Trading Volume Surges 38 Times

U.S. stocks tumbled on the last trading day in January after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while dashing hopes for interest rate cut as soon as March.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 42,925,172 contracts was traded on Wednesday.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: $SPY(SPY)$; $QQQ(QQQ)$; $SPX(SPX)$; $TSLA(TSLA)$; $IWM(IWM)$; $AMD(AMD)$; $NVDA(NVDA)$; $MSFT(MSFT)$; $HYG(HYG)$; $AAPL(AAPL)$

Source: Tiger Trade App

$Apple(AAPL)$ is expected to report its Q1 FY'24 results earnings on Thursday after market close. Analysts expect Apple's revenue to be $117.97 billion, adjusted net income to be $32.320 billion, and adjusted EPS to be $2.105, according to Bloomberg's unanimous expectations.

Apple's 1Q results will likely indicate iPhone sales pressure in the greater China region amid increased competition from Huawei and reduced consumer spending.

Based on option delta volume, traders sold a net equivalent of -1,376,723 shares of $Apple(AAPL)$ stock. The largest bearish delta came from selling calls.

Source: Tiger Trade App

Chipmaker $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$ forecast first-quarter revenue below market estimates, as it grapples with uncertain demand for its AI server chips and a cyclical slump in sales of its programmable processors. Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company fell 2.54% to $167.69 on Wednesday.

A total number of 1.50 million options related to $AMD(AMD)$ was traded on Tuesday, 2.3 times higher than the 90-day average volume. IV shrank sharply from 101.1% to 44.3% after earnings report, which is more beneficial for the sell-side. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $170 strike expiring this Friday, with a total number of 97,074 option volume trading on Wednesday.

Unusual Options Activity

Source: Market Chameleon

Shares of $New York Community Bancorp(NYCB)$ tumbled 37.67% after the parent of Flagstar Bank swung to a fourth-quarter loss and slashed its dividend to shore up capital in the aftermath of its purchase of the assets of the collapsed Signature Bank.

A total number of 158,349 options related to New York Community Bancorp was traded on Wednesday, 35.9 times higher than the 90-day average volume. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $6 strike put option expiring this Friday, with a total number of 21,915 options trading on Wednesday. IV surged sharply to 97.9% after earnings release.

Source: Market Chameleon

TOP Bullish & Bearish Single Stocks

This report shows stocks with the highest volume of bullish and bearish activity by option delta volume, which converts option volume to an equivalent stock volume (bought or sold).

If we take the total positive option delta volume and subtract the total negative option delta volume, we will get the net imbalance. If the net imbalance is positive, there is more bullish pressure. If the net is negative, there is more bearish pressure.

Top 10 bullish stocks: $AMD(AMD)$; $PTON(PTON)$; $BA(BA)$; $UEC(UEC)$; $PLTR(PLTR)$; $TEVA(TEVA)$; $NAT(NAT)$; $BMBL(BMBL)$; $MRVL(MRVL)$; $T(T)$

Top 10 bearish stocks: $GOOGL(GOOGL)$; $AAPL(AAPL)$; $MSFT(MSFT)$; $RIG(RIG)$; $NIO(NIO)$; $CCL(CCL)$; $DWAC(DWAC)$; $WMT(WMT)$; $VLY(VLY)$; $TSLA(TSLA)$

Source: Market Chameleon

Based on option delta volume, traders sold a net equivalent of -2,439,482 shares of $Alphabet(GOOGL)$ stock. The largest bearish delta came from 15-Mar-24 155 Call, with traders getting short 588,535 deltas on the single option contract.

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