Market Overview
Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Friday (Aug 14), with the S&P 500 dipping from a record high, as investors digested weaker-than-expected retail sales data.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 61,337,843 contracts was traded, of which 59% were call options.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: Tesla Motors, NVIDIA, SpaceX, Micron Technology, Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon.com, Intel, Broadcom, Palantir Technologies Inc.
Micron Technology closed at $971.66 last Friday, reflecting a 2.30% increase. MU’s implied volatility is 65.19%, while its IV percentile stands at 21.51%, which indicates that although the absolute IV level is not low, it is still sitting near the lower end of its own historical range. In that context, current option pricing appears relatively cheap, and overall volatility is on the low side compared with where it has traded in the past.
A CALL buy worth $7.98 million was the standout large trade, with 1,500 contracts purchased at the 1350.0 strike expiring on 2026-11-20. With MU referenced at 971.66, this call is clearly out-of-the-money, making it a higher-conviction bullish position that needs substantial upside over time to pay off.
The long-dated tenor suggests the buyer is positioning for a meaningful upside move rather than a short-term fluctuation, and the transaction reads as a directional bullish bet with leveraged exposure to a large rally in the stock.
Unusual Options Activity
AMD closed at US$514.39, up 6.50% last Friday. AMD’s implied volatility stands at 59.27%, while its IV percentile is 39.44%, which places current volatility in a broadly neutral range rather than at an extreme. Even though the absolute IV level is relatively high, the percentile suggests AMD options are not especially expensive versus their own recent history.
A PUT sale worth $4.37 million was the largest large trade of the session, with 1,100 contracts sold at the $400.00 strike expiring on 2027-03-19. With AMD referenced at $514.39, this put sits out of the money, making it a moderately bullish income-style position: the seller is collecting premium while expressing confidence that the stock is unlikely to fall below that strike by expiration, or is willing to accumulate shares at a much lower effective entry level if assigned.
A CALL sale worth $1.49 million was the second notable large trade, with 1,500 contracts sold at the $535.00 strike expiring on 2026-09-04. Since the strike is above the current stock reference of $514.39, the call is out of the money, and the trade reflects a bearish-to-cautious stance: the seller is monetizing premium while signaling expectations that AMD may struggle to sustain a move above $535.00 into expiration.
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