Arabic version: تداولات الخيارات تثير تساؤلات جديدة حول أسهم الرقائق
According to Cnbc, bears continued building positions against semiconductor shares on Friday, with unusually large options activity in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, Micron and Nvidia drawing attention. By midday, more than 180,000 SMH puts had traded, compared with 50,000 calls. Put premium totaled $46 million, versus $26 million in calls, based on ThinkOrSwim and SpotGamma data.
SpotGamma data indicated that 129,000 of the SMH put contracts appeared to have been bought by volume. Separately, Barchart data showed the ratio of open interest in SMH puts to calls rising to 1.95, its highest level since the second week of August. The equivalent ratio for the Invesco QQQ Trust also continued its recent increase, reaching 1.51.
In Nvidia, a trader bought 100,000 puts with a 180 strike shortly after the opening bell. The contracts expire Jan. 15 and cost $21 million, making them the day’s biggest options trade in the stock. If the position was speculative, Nvidia would need to decline 22% by expiration.
Micron activity was also notable. Although call volume ran 40% above average, roughly $270 million in premium was connected to likely put buying, according to SpotGamma. A series of deep in-the-money puts expiring in June 2028 accounted for part of the difference. About 125 puts, carrying strikes from 2,250 to 2,500, traded nearer the ask and appeared to be bought, while 50 trades at the 2,050 strike were likely sold. Micron shares were trading around $1,030.
Taken at face value, the Micron trades represented a net $14.5 million bearish spread with an options delta near negative one, functioning like a synthetic short position. Traders may use deep in-the-money puts instead of shorting shares when borrowing costs are high or when they want defined risk, since an option buyer can lose no more than the premium paid. Jason DeLorenzo, owner and founder of Volland, cautioned that bid-ask analysis can be difficult for far out-of-the-money trades with low open interest and volume.
