Option Movers | Palantir's Volume Surges 173% As Its Stock Soars 30%; Alibaba Sees About 80% Call Options Ahead of Earnings
Market Overview
The S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Tuesday (Feb. 6), as investors scrutinized a mixed bag of earnings at big U.S. companies and digested comments from Federal Reserve policy makers for clues about its first planned interest-rate cut.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 40,297,071 contracts was traded, down 2% from the previous trading day.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: $SPY(SPY)$, $QQQ(QQQ)$, $SPX(SPX)$, $PLTR(PLTR)$, $TSLA(TSLA)$, $NVDA(NVDA)$, $VIX(VIX)$, $IWM(IWM)$, $FXI(FXI)$, $BABA(BABA)$
Source: Tiger Trade App
Options related to equity index ETFs are still popular with investors, with 7.74 million $SPDR S&P500 ETF Trust(SPY)$ (SPY) and 3.45 million $Invest QQQ Trust ETF(QQQ)$ (QQQ) options contracts trading on Tuesday.
$Palantir(PLTR)$ shares soared more than 30% Tuesday, a day after the company released fourth-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations for revenue and showed strong demand for its artificial intelligence offerings.
There are 2.5 million Palantir option contracts traded on Tuesday, up 173% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 73% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $21 strike call option expiring February 9, with 113,733 contracts trading. PLTR 20240209 21.0 CALL
$iShares China Large-Cap ETF(FXI)$ (FXI), which seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of large-capitalization Chinese equities that trade on the HKEx, jumped 5.7% on Tuesday, most since January 2023 on a slew of signs Chinese authorities are strengthening their resolve to support slumping markets.
There are 884.1K FXI option contracts traded on Tuesday, up about 5 times from the previous trading day. Call options account for 83% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $26 strike call option expiring March 15, with 118,193 contracts trading. FXI 20240315 26.0 CALL
Unusual Options Activity
Source: Market Chameleon
$Alibaba(BABA)$ shares gained 4.8% on Tuesday, a day before the e-commerce giant’s earnings report, as part of a broad rally in the stocks of China-based companies after a sovereign fund promised to buy. Alibaba’s fiscal third-quarter report is due out before Wednesday’s opening bell.
There are 678.2K Alibaba option contracts traded on Tuesday, up 133% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 79% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $80 strike call option expiring February 16, with 36,931 contracts trading. BABA 20240216 80.0 CALL
$Snap(SNAP)$ on Tuesday reported revenue that trailed analysts’ estimates and issued a forecast that came in a bit below Wall Street expectations. The stock plunged 32.7% in extended trading.
Some investors seem to have made incorrect bets ahead of Snap’s earnings. There are 596.8K Snap option contracts traded on Tuesday, up 200% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 66% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $20 strike call option expiring February 16, with 52,814 contracts trading. SNAP 20240216 20.0 CALL
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 sold a net equivalent of -3,669,254 shares of Apple stock. The largest bearish delta came from selling calls. The largest delta volume came from the 09-Feb-24 190 Call, with traders getting short 2,127,687 deltas on the single option contract. AAPL 20240209 190.0 CALL
Top 10 bullish stocks: $PLTR(PLTR)$, $NOK(NOK)$, $RBLX(RBLX)$, $PFE(PFE)$, $PCT(PCT)$, $CCL(CCL)$, $QCOM(QCOM)$, $SHOP(SHOP)$, $CVNA(CVNA)$, $ARM(ARM)$
Source: Market Chameleon
Top 10 bearish stocks: $AAPL(AAPL)$, $NYCB(NYCB)$, $RIVN(RIVN)$, $SOFI(SOFI)$, $BAC(BAC)$, $AMZN(AMZN)$, $LUMN(LUMN)$, $MOR(MOR)$, $TSLA(STLA)$; $NVDA(NVDA)$
Source: Market Chameleon
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