Option Movers | Tesla Put Option Soars 105%; Walmart's Volume Surges 113%

Market Overview

The S&P 500 ended higher on Wednesday (Aug. 14), stretching its winning streak to five sessions, as the latest inflation data reassured investors betting the Federal Reserve would start cutting U.S. interest rates next month.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 37,944,253 contracts was traded.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: $Nvidia(NVDA)$, $Tesla(TSLA)$, $Apple(AAPL)$, $Starbucks(SBUX)$, $Amazon(AMZN)$, $Palantir(PLTR)$, $AMD(AMD)$, $Meta(META)$, $Microsoft(MSFT)$, $Intel(INTC)$

Shares of the $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ maker closed down 3.1% on Wednesday. Tesla stock was down about 19% year to date. Slowing global sales growth for electric vehicles has weighed on investor sentiment in 2024.

There are 1.24M Tesla option contracts traded on Wednesday. Call options account for 58% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $200 strike put option expiring August 16, with 91,416 contracts trading. The $200 strike put option expiring this Friday surged 105% on Wednesday. $TSLA 20240816 200.0 PUT$

$Palantir(PLTR)$ shares up 2% on Wednesday.

Palantir's Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, David A. Glazer, has recently engaged in significant trading of the company's stock, according to the latest SEC filings. Glazer sold a total of 180,000 shares of Class A Common Stock on the open market, resulting in proceeds of over $5.6 million. The transactions were executed in two separate batches on August 12 and August 14, 2024.

There are 389.31K Palantir option contracts traded on Wednesday. Put options account for 67% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $31 strike call option expiring August 16, with 32,437 contracts trading. $PLTR 20240816 31.0 CALL$

Unusual Options Activity

$Walmart(WMT)$ shares up 0.8% on Wednesday.

Any hint that spending at Walmart’s U.S. business is slowing faster than expected could throw stocks of other consumer-facing companies into a tizzy when the retailer reports its second-quarter results on Thursday morning.

Wall Street expects that while Walmart’s sales growth will be slightly lower than the peak levels reached during the pandemic, the company will still post solid results, meeting or beating the numbers analysts have penciled in. The consensus forecasts among analysts tracked by FactSet call for adjusted earnings of 65 cents a share from $168.6 billion in revenue.

There are 291,664 Walmart option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 113% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 57% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $66 strike put option expiring August 16, with 13,858 contracts trading. $WMT 20240816 66.0 PUT$

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.

Based on option delta volume, traders bought a net equivalent of 2,658,615 shares of $Microsoft(MSFT)$ stock. The largest bullish delta came from buying calls. The largest delta volume came from the 16-Aug-24 375 Call, with traders getting long 2,373,115 deltas on the single option contract. $MSFT 20240816 375.0 CALL$

Top 10 bullish stocks: $Exxon Mobil(XOM)$, $Microsoft(MSFT)$, $Terawulf(WULF)$, $New Fortress Energy(NFE)$, $Eli Lilly(LLY)$, $Peabody Energy(BTU)$, $Expedia(EXPE)$, $Starbucks(SBUX)$, $Palantir(PLTR)$, $Core Scientific(CORZ)$

Top 10 bearish stocks: $Tesla(TSLA)$, $International Paper(IP)$, $Alphabet(GOOGL)$, $Nvidia(NVDA)$, $Alphabet(GOOG)$, $Hecla Mining(HL)$, $Gold Fields(GFI)$, $Amazon(AMZN)$, $Kellanova(K)$, $Apple(AAPL)$

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