QQQ Pulls Back as Whales Sell Over $70M in Puts: Is the Bottom Near?

$Invesco QQQ(QQQ)$   continued to pull back on Thursday, falling about 1% intraday to around $709. Long-term Treasury yields moved higher again, keeping valuation pressure on technology stocks.

Meanwhile, QQQ's options market saw a cluster of large put-selling trades. Traders are taking advantage of the pullback to sell downside risk while showing a willingness to take on QQQ exposure at lower levels.

Over $70 Million in Put-Selling Activity

Several large QQQ put sales appeared on Thursday:

– Sep. 18 $685 Put: 37,000 contracts, about $29.42 million in premium

– Sep. 18 $660 Put: 37,000 contracts, about $15.17 million

– Sep. 18 $682 Put: 17,000 contracts, about $11.24 million

– Oct. 16 $670 Put: 6,000 contracts, about $6.02 million

– Dec. 18 $710 Put: nearly 4,000 contracts, about $12.56 million

Together, these trades involved roughly $74 million in premium.

The $660 Put stands out in particular. QQQ's previous low sits at $661.73, almost exactly in line with the $660 strike. Traders sold 37,000 contracts worth roughly $15.17 million in premium, suggesting that some large players are willing to take on assignment risk near the previous low while betting that the odds of a much deeper breakdown remain limited.

Large sales also appeared in the $682 and $685 Puts, suggesting that the area where traders are willing to absorb downside risk extends from the previous low into the $680s.

$700 Faces the First Test

From a Gamma Exposure perspective, QQQ is currently below its $714.67 Gamma Flip, leaving the short-term setup vulnerable to larger swings. Meanwhile, $700 is both the Call Wall and Put Wall, making it the nearest key battleground.

If $700 holds, the pullback could begin to stabilize. If QQQ continues lower, $682–$685 marks a major put-selling zone, while $660–$662 combines the previous low with the 37,000-contract $660 Put sale, making it a more important downside support area.

On the upside, investors can watch around $715. A move back above the Gamma Flip would be a positive sign that the short-term structure is improving.

How to Read the Pullback

The main pressure on QQQ still comes from valuation compression caused by elevated long-term interest rates, while the earnings fundamentals of mega-cap technology and AI-related companies have yet to show clear deterioration.

Against that backdrop, more than $70 million in large put-selling activity sends a relatively constructive signal: some traders are using the pullback to take on downside exposure and are betting that the previous low could provide meaningful support.

In the near term, $700 is the first level to watch. If the correction deepens, $682–$685 could become the next area of support. As long as QQQ avoids a sustained break below its previous low of $661.73, the current options positioning remains more consistent with investors stepping in during the pullback.

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