- More than 180,000 puts traded in SMH by midday Oct 9, against 50,000 calls, with $46 million of premium tied to puts versus $26 million in calls.
- The put-to-call open interest ratio in SMH rose to 1.95, its highest since the second week of August, while the ratio for the Invesco QQQ Trust rose to 1.51.
- In Nvidia, a buyer purchased 100,000 180-strike puts expiring Jan. 15 for $21 million shortly after the open, the largest options trade in the stock that day.
- In Micron, about 125 deep in-the-money puts with strikes from 2,250 to 2,500 traded near the ask, suggesting purchases, while 50 trades at the 2,050 strike were likely sales. Micron shares traded around $1,030.
- Options analysts said bid-ask spreads are difficult to read for these trades because dealers accept a haircut on one leg while earning a better premium on the other.
Quotes
“Spreads have difficulty being categorized by midpoint analysis as well, because dealers are willing to take a haircut on one leg while getting a better premium with the other”