TSMC Joins Nvidia, AMD in Options Hotlist After Trump's Remarks on Semiconductors

$Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM)$   joined $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$  , $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$   , and $Broadcom(AVGO)$   in the hotlist of the day's most-active stock options as former President Donald Trump said Taiwan took the U.S.'s chip business.  

More than 250,000 TSMC stock options changed hands as of 12:49 p.m. in New York Wednesday, behind Nvidia's 3.98 million contracts, AMD' s 718,520 and Broadcom's 347,330.

The heaviest volume in TSMC options are found in contracts that give the holders the right to buy the stock at $175 across 17 expiration dates stretching through Jan. 16, 2026.

Investors and speculators are exiting calls that give the holders the right to buy TSMC shares at $175 as the stock price slumped below that level less than two days before the contract expires. Volume reached 7,830, surpassing open interest of 7,060. The volume jumped from just 467 calls on Thursday as the contract price sank 60% to $5.30.

The stock fell 6.6% to $173.83. Earlier, Trump said Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. He also said the U.S. lost its edge in the semiconductor industry because of Taiwan. Nvidia, which counts TSMC among its suppliers, and Broadcom each lost 7%, while AMD tumbled 8.4%.

Fund outflows from TSMC outpaced inflows by $80.51 million, that took this month's net outflows $1.53 billion, the second straight month that the stock saw funds pulled money from the stock.

Financial giants are also taking a bearish position on the stock option. At 11:23:13 a.m. in New York, a block trade was posted involving a buyer paying a $6.23 million premium for put options that give the holder the right to sell 520,000 TSMC shares by Jan. 17, 2025.

At that exact time, another bearish block trade was posted involving a financial giant who stands to collect a premium of $3.82 million for writing call options that give the holders the right to buy the same amount of TSMC shares at $230 each, expiring on that same date in 2025.

@TigerStars  @CaptainTiger  @TigerWire  @Daily_Discussion  @Tiger_chat  @Tiger_comments  @MillionaireTiger