Market Overview
A strong rebound by financials helped Wall Street's main indexes close firmly positive on Thursday after some of the country's largest lenders came to the rescue of embattled First Republic Bank.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.17%, the S&P 500 gained 1.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.48%.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 48,139,686 contracts was traded on Thursday, down 3.06% from the previous trading day.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: SPY, QQQ,TSLA, IWM, AMZN, NVDA, AAPL, AMD, VIX, META
Options related to equity index ETFs are popular with investors, with 11.08 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and 4.39 million Invesco QQQ Trust options contracts trading on Thursday.
Total trading volume for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and Invesco QQQ Trust rose 2.78% and 17.38% from the previous day. 56% of SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust trades bet on bearish options.
Microsoft gained 4.05% on Thursday as it is testing the "power of next-generation AI" with Microsoft 365 Copilot with "select commercial customers."
There were 798,417 Microsoft option contracts traded on Thursday, jumping nearly 50% from the previous day. Call options account for 59% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $277.5 strike call option expiring Mar 17, with 54,196 contracts trading.
Most Active Options
1. Most Active Trading Equities Options:
Special %Calls >70%: Alphabet; Snap Inc; Alibaba; Bed Bath & Beyond
Special %Puts >60%: First Republic Bank
2. Most Active Trading ETFs Options
Special %Calls >70%: Nasdaq100 Bear 3X ETF; SPDR Gold Shares; iShares Silver Trust
Special %Puts >70%: $iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF; iShares MSCI Brazil ETF
3. Top 10 Most Active Trading Indexes options
Special %Calls >60%: NQX
Special %Puts >70%: MXEA; MXEF
Unusual Options Activity
First Republic Bank surged 9.88% on Thursday as the biggest US banks pledged $30 billion of fresh cash for it to stem the turmoil that has sent depositors fleeing from regional banks and shaken the country’s financial system.
There were 761,361 First Republic Bank option contracts traded on Thursday, surging over 200% from the previous day. Put options account for 69% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $35 strike call option expiring Mar 17, with 11,263 contracts trading.
NVIDIA Corp jumped 5.42% on Thursday amid overall market strength following Credit Suisse's announcement of a loan from the Swiss National Bank and reports of banks discussing a capital infusion into First Republic BankFirst Republic Bank.
There were 1,201,857 NVIDIA Corp option contracts traded on Thursday, rising over 50% from the previous day. Put options account for 53% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $250 strike call option expiring Mar 17, with 60,961 contracts trading.
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: AAPL, NVDA, AMZN, GOOGL, AMD, FRC, AAL, F, GOOG, FCX
Top 10 bearish stocks: BAC, META, PARA, INTC, GS, TSLA, PCG, MU, DISH, DAL
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